He started out in life as Maurice Joseph Micklewhite. He was to later take his more famous surname from his favourite film The Caine Mutiny.
During his youth, he took on a variety of jobs, which included dish-washer, pie maker and pneumatic drill operator. He did his National Service with the Royal Fusiliers and served in Korea. After that, he continued with manual jobs, while acting in his spare time.
Early in his acting career, he understudied Peter O'Toole in the London stage hit The Long, The Short and The Tall. When O'Toole dropped out Michael took over. The recognition gained through touring with the play enabled him to get further film and TV work.
His big break came in 1963 at the age of 30, when he was given the role of Lietenant Gonville Bromhead in the epic, star-studded historical adventure Zulu.
Other famous roles of the sixties include that of down-to-heel spy Harry Palmer in The Ipcress File (1965) and its two sequels, as well as womanising cockney Alfie (1966), for which he received his first Best Actor Oscar nomination.
He took on the role of a psychotic hard man in the gritty, gangster thriller Get Carter (1971). Other parts he was to play in that decade included a 17th century mercenary in The Last Valley (1971) and a dashing Scots swashbuckler in Kidnapped (1971).
Moving to America, he demonstrated his comic skills in films such as California Suite (1978), Sweet Liberty (1985) and Surrender (1987).
He receieved an Oscar nomination for his performance as the dissolute English professor in Educating Rita (1983) and finally won a Best Supporting Actor for his role as a philandering husband in Hannah and Her Sisters (1986).
Other successes of the eighties included a part in the British film Mona Lisa. (1986), as well as the US comedy Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988), playing alongside comedy star Steve Martin.
Recent outings have included the independent British film Little Voice (1998), for which he won a Golden Globe, and The Cider House Rules, an adaptation of John Irving's World War II novel, for which he was nominated for an Oscar for best supporting actor.
The actor, who received a knighthood in 1993, has come a long way since his early days and on occassion has commented that his working class roots have sometimes prevented him from being taken seriously.
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