Sir Michael Caine reveals 'special' Tom Cruise turned to him for Hollywood advice

Sir Michael Caine has revealed came to him for advice when he was starting out in Hollywood.

The 91-year-old screen icon has revealed that around the time of the Hollywood star's standout performance in 1981's 'Risky Business', the ' ' star, 62, picked his brain on how to achieve longevity in the acting business. Caine quipped that whatever it was that he told him didn't do him "any harm" and insists he always knew Cruise was destined for big things.

He told The Sunday Times newspaper: "I turned around and there was this young actor, very polite, asking questions about how not to be just a flash in the pan. That was Tom, probably around the time of Risky Business.

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"I can't remember what I said, but it obviously didn't do him any harm! There was something special about him. He had a great attitude, this sense of poise. 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 pair have remained friends all these years later, and he was "very touched when his wife, Shakira, Lady Caine, 77, had Tom be a surprise guest at his 90th birthday last March." He added: "[Shakira] arranged for Tom Cruise to come to my dinner at the River Cafe as a surprise. I was very touched."

Caine has starred in more than 160 films over a career that spanned eight decades but retired from acting after last year's 'The Great Escaper' because he doesn't want to play the "old man". He told the BBC's 'Today' programme: "I keep saying I'm going to retire, well I am now, because I figured, I've had a picture which is - I played the lead and it's got incredible reviews.

"The only parts I'm liable to get now are old men, 90-year-old men, and I thought well I might as well leave with all this. I've got wonderful reviews. What am I going to do to beat this?"

In September, it emerged that full of people as he performed a daring stunt above the small town. Members of the public looked up in alarm as Tom undertook daredevil stunts above Bicester, north Oxfordshire. One local shared video footage of a plane flying manically above the town while a helicopter followed the flight path - presumably filming all the airborne action.

Many others took to comments section of the post to joke about the noise and claim they were going to make an official complaint to the Hollywood star - One user wrote: "So now I know who to complain to about flying low over my property!!! I demand an in person apology with flowers and a tux."

Another wrote: "Saw the biplane and helicopter going back and forth this morning over Arncott." And a further film fan typed: "Saw it this morning over ambrosden ,wondered what was going on." And it seemed the stunt ended up crossing counties, as another fan wrote: "They made it all the way to Buckingham today, two biplanes and a helicopter."

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