Michael Caine Shares What Tom Cruise Asked Him When They First Met

Legendary actors Michael Caine and Tom Cruise have known each other for a long time, but did you know the duo met before the latter was even famous? In new details of their first encounter, Caine reveals that the then-budding young actor asked him for advice— and what, exactly, the elder British icon thought of the young lad at the time.

The new quotes come from Don’t Look Back, You’ll Trip Over: My Guide to Life, Caine’s new memoir, as excerpted by UK newspaper, The Sunday Times (via Deadline). The actor was “doing a big event for Educating Rita,” hhis 1983 film, when he turned around to find a “young actor, very polite, asking questions about how not to be just a flash in the pan.”

That young actor was, of course, a pre-fame Tom Cruise. “Probably around the time of Risky Business.”

What Advice Did Michael Caine Give Tom Cruise?

Cruise’s politeness wasn’t the only thing that stood out about Cruise. In Caine’s estimation, “There was something special about him. He had a great attitude, this sense of poise.” So it is probably of no surprise that Cruise was as forward-thinking and mindful about achieving career longevity— something Caine knows a thing or two about. (And Cruise does, too.)

Unfortunately, the newly retired Caine admits that, “I can’t remember what I said” to Cruise at the time. “But,” as the Alfie actor stated plainly, “it obviously didn’t do him any harm!”

(Editorializing, but, if anyone out there reading this has Tom Cruise’s cell phone number and wants to call him and ask what advice Michael Caine gave him that night, plenty of people would be interested.)

“What interests me is that he is really one of the last true stars in movies. … There are so few nowadays — not like John Wayne or Humphrey Bogart or Cary Grant.”

Caine went on to laud Cruise as one of the last great movie stars. “What interests me is that he is really one of the last true stars in movies. People will go to see a film just because he’s in it. Brad Pitt is a star, Morgan Freeman has some of that quality too. There are so few nowadays — not like John Wayne or Humphrey Bogart or Cary Grant.”

The two acclaimed and awarded actors have remained friends since. “I’ve known Tom for more than 40 years,” Caine said. Cruise even surprised the actor. “For my 90th birthday, Shakira — my wife of 51 years — arranged for Tom Cruise to come to my dinner at the River Café as a surprise. I was very touched.”

Of course, the Cruise story is just one of many engaging tidbits featured in the excerpts (as told to journalist Matthew d’Ancona), given the longevity of Caine’s career. Vin Diesel, Richard Burton, Laurence Olivier, The Italian Job, James Bond and even a film review from Vladimir Putin all come up in the excerpts, proving the follow-up to his 2018 memoir, Blowing the Bloody Doors Off, will be high atop the wish lists of many a cinephile across the world.