In an interview with Rolling Stone,
actor Michael Caine revealed that he was advised not to play gay
roles.
The 85-year-old Caine has appeared in
more than 130 films over the course of 70 years.
Caine's latest film, King of
Thieves, opened last month in the United States. He also appears
in the upcoming film Medieval.
“You were one of the first major
actors to play gay roles, in movies like California Suite and
Deathtrap. Today no one bats an eye when actors play
characters of a different sexuality, but what did you hear at the
time?” asked Rolling Stone.
“It was a bit dicey to do – people
said it could be a career killer and what are the girls going to
think of you? A couple of people said, 'Do you really want to do it,
Michael? People will think you’re gay.' I said, 'No, they won’t.
They know I’m an actor.' I loved doing that. Many of my friends
were gay, so I’d studied them and their movements and speech, so I
basically knew what I was doing. And the parts were so very good.”
Caine described a kiss between himself
and Christopher Reeve as “a bit of a disaster.”
“I’d never kissed a man on the lips
before. Chris Reeve and I had to do a romantic scene [in Deathtrap].
Neither of us had ever kissed another man before, so we drank a
couple of brandies. Then when it came time for the dialogue, we
couldn’t remember it. So the kiss was a bit of a disaster,” Caine
said.
Caine also credited the success of his
47-year marriage to separate bathrooms.
“You must have separate bathrooms,”
he
said. “You've got to be able to spend some time out of the way
of each other. We never share a bathroom. Never. Ever. If you
start to get into trouble, buy a new bathroom.”