How much is Michael Caine worth?
| Net Worth: | $90 Million |
|---|---|
| Profession: | Professional Actor |
| Date of Birth: | March 14, 1933 (age 89) |
| Country: | United Kingdom |
| Height: | 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) |
About Michael Caine
Michael Caine is an English actor who has become famous for his distinctive cockney accent and starring in several high grossing films over the past 60 years. The actor is still working today with a massive 115 movies under his belt, and in total, his films have grossed a combined eight billion dollars worldwide, making him one of the highest grossing box office stars in history.
In his later years, Caine became somewhat of a household name in action movies after becoming close with celebrated movie director, Christopher Nolan, and was involved in the billion-dollar The Dark Knight trilogy. Caine’s most popular movies include Alfie, The Italian Job, The Muppets Christmas Carol, and The Dark Knight.
During his time in the industry, the actor has been completely transparent as to why he has worked on some of the movie in his filmography, and it’s no secret that he has accepted roles for the only purpose of collecting a paycheck. Caine has elaborated that he only chooses great roles, but if there aren’t any, then he chooses the “okay roles”, and if there are none of those available, he’ll choose “the ones that pay rent.”
However, the rent part is hyperbole, as Caine states that though he has never seen Jaws: The Revenge, he knows it’s terrible, but with his salary he was able to build his own house. The movie that had a budget of $23 million, is estimated to have budgeted $5 million dollars of that money for Caine. That was back in the late 1980s too, that amount is the equivalent of $13.5 million dollars today.
Some other movies among the many that he starred in only for the money are The Island, and Beyond the Poseidon Adventure. He earned about $10 million dollars between the two.
Of course, of the estimated $115 million dollars Caine has earned from his time spent on Hollywood sets, not all of them are bad experiences. Taking a look at how his movies perform at the box office gives us an inkling into how financially successful the actor has been. What’s more, it is easy to see that a man like Michael Caine loves everything about acting. In fact some of his statements about doing movies “only for the money” seem somewhat tongue in cheek.
Some of his highest grossing movies at the box office, have been Austin Powers In Goldmember which earned $296.7 million, Now You See Me which earned $351.7 million, and Kingsman: The Secret Service which earned $414.4 million. The best performance Caine has seen at the box office is with The Dark Knight trilogy, which has made over $2.6 billion dollars globally.
The movie that skyrocketed Caine to stardom and earned him the reputation as “the king of cool” and Britain’s version of Steve McQueen, was Alfie in 1966. In it, Caine played the titular character. A young womanizing man who was leading a self-centered life when events cause him to finally question his behavior. The film was a massive hit, grossing $18.8 million off a budget of just $800,000.
Following that, Caine led a band of conmen in one of the most thrilling, exciting, and hilarious heist movies of not only the sixties, but of all time, in The Italian Job.
The 1969 crime caper is popular for many things, including Caine’s line of dialogue, “You’re only supposed to blow the bloody doors off,” which was voted the second funniest line in movie history. And the movie’s cliffhanger is one of the most talked about and debated endings to a film there has ever been.
The following two decades saw Caine widen his net and take on a more varied selection of roles outside of his cockney charmer archetype. 1983 saw the release of Educating Rita, a BAFTA winning and Academy Award nominated movie co-starring Julie Walters about an English Literature teacher and a working-class Liverpudlian hairdresser, with neither of whom being happy with their lives.
Caine continued down the avenue of existential comedy-dramas by working with the king of existential comedy-dramas, Woody Allen, and starring in Hannah and Her Sisters alongside Mia Farrow and Carrie Fisher. For his role in the movie, the cockney actor won his first Academy Award.
The 90s were quiet for Caine, and he struggled to get many major roles. His most successful movie of that decade was The Muppet Christmas Carol in 1992, but after that he wouldn’t see the same success again until the 2000s. However, when 2005 arrived, audiences enjoyed a Michael Caine Renaissance, as working with Christopher Nolan reignited the flame inside Caine to act.
Caine took on the role of Alfred Pennyworth, Bruce Wayne’s butler in Nolan’s Batman Begins, and he reprised the role for two sequels, The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises. Since then, Caine has starred in every single Nolan written movie, aside from Man of Steel. Everything from the dream heist thriller Inception, to the planet trotting Interstellar, and the save the world movie Tenet.
In the 60s, every man wanted to be him and every woman wanted to be with him. Caine quickly became a British cultural icon, and he was the first ever actor to keep his cockney accent, which has become somewhat of a calling card for the actor. Choosing to keep his accent was extremely risky at the time, as this was when only British actors who spoke the proper Queen’s English would be looked at as professional.
Besides his accent, which some people might see as nothing more than a novelty, Caine has more than anything been noted for his dynamic acting skills. Whether it’s a critical darling that will soak up all the Oscars come awards season, or some high-octane action fodder, the British actor treats the work in the exact same way. When playing Ebenezer Scrooge in The Muppet Christmas Carol, Caine explained that he would act as if he was playing Scrooge for the Royal Shakespeare Company, and he will not do anything, in his words, “muppety.” He played Scrooge in the most dramatic way possible, and Jim Henson, the creator of The Muppets, was in complete agreement.
Caine’s personal bond with director Christopher Nolan ushered in a wave of new movies in Caine’s later career. The actor has claimed that his role of Alfred in The Dark Knight trilogy is “one of the greatest things I have done in my life.” And he’s right, as his work with Nolan completely changed the perception audiences had of him, and though he may be seen as the charismatic king of cool to one generation, he is now seen as the British elder statesman to a new generation.
Caine’s Total Net Worth
In a total dollar amount, Caine has earned more than two thirds of his career earnings in his later career. Even while at times being paid an inflation-adjust lower paycheck amount. That is to say, being paid $5 million dollars for his role in 1987’s Jaws: The Revenge is similar to he having been paid $13 million dollars today in 2022.
In total, it is estimated that Michael Caine has earned $115 million dollars in career earnings. That is including all of his appearances in films, as well as appearing in over 25 TV series and in addition to his producing work, and the hundreds of appearances that he has made as himself.
Of that amount, $9-10 million is expected to have been paid in business related costs. The remainder, $105.5 million, will have been taxed at a rate of around 50% as Caine has resided in the United Kingdom and earned through times of taxes that were 83% in the 1970s. Of course he earned far greater sums in low tax years of around 45% and taxes in the UK for a brief period, in 1988, were as low as 40% for the top tax bracket. He also maintained a mansion in Beverly Hills, California and a condo in Miami. However the tax situation was much the same in the United States as it was in Britain, with high federal income taxes until the year of 1987.
Since 1999, Caine had lived in Keston Lodge estate in leafy Surrey, he downsized in 2021 and moved to London. He also sold his property in California and it is believed that he lives in Chelsea Harbour. After tax, it is estimated that Caine’s career earnings are at around $52.75 million, having paid around the same amount in taxes.
Michael Caine married Patricia Haines in 1954 and they later separated and divorced eight years later, in 1962. It was some time before Caine’s career hit the stratosphere in the late 60s but he had still earned a small fortune by that time, perhaps $1.5 million dollars. When it came to making a divorce settlement to Patricia, it is estimated that the amount would have been about $500,000. Which might sound like very little but it was a lot of money for Caine at the time, considering that figure is the equivalent of around $5 million dollars today. Patricia died fifteen years later, in 1977. She had one child with Michael, Dominique Caine.
Then in 1973, Caine married Shakira Baksh who is now known as Shakira Caine, or Lady Caine. They remain together and have had one child, Natasha Caine. Michael’s personal life has been peaceful and he has not made any trouble or had much trouble come his way. He has been most satisfied with his career saying “I got to play football with Pelé, for God’s sake. And I danced with Bob Fosse.” It is unlikely that he sunk into depression or blew through many millions of dollars as many other actors have done.
In fact, his biggest problem has only been his recent extreme fame. He claims that he can get by airport security unnoticed based on his various looks and disguises, but has said, “the moment I would say ‘Hi I’m Michael Caine’, I could stand there for hours having to answer lots of questions and so on.” So Michael Caine is no longer actually called Michael Caine, not legally anyway. He changed his legal name by deed so he could save time on airport security.
Considering the era in which Michael Caine earned much of his wealth, inflation was so rampant at the time that money was being periodically invested into the stock market. While the stock market was a heck of a ride, nowadays if you look at the charts it doesn’t seem that way. The immense growth in recent years has smoothed out what was a rollercoaster ride for those invested. While it may appear that individuals like Caine should have earned some $100 million dollars in the UK’s FTSE 100 based on its growth, that is unlikely the case. A more conservative figure is that he likely earned around $40-50 million dollars in investment returns.
In his personal life, it is estimated that Caine may have spent $20-25 million dollars of his career earnings but also probably possesses assets valued at around $10-15 million, not including investment assets but including his car collection of classic cars. Therefore, it is estimated that Michael Caine has a net worth of around $90 million dollars.
Summing-Up
Thanks to his cheeky cockney accent, his commitment to the art, and his industry relationships, Caine is one of just four actors who have been nominated for an Academy Award in five different decades. With a mix of both classics and box office Goliaths under his belt, Michael Caine has earned millions during his career, and still does.
