The forever optimist Michael Caine, who finally parted ways with acting after enjoying 8 decades in showbiz, didn’t have it easy as a kid. While Caine had loving parents, especially his mother, whom he described as a very strong Cockney woman, whose teachings still reside with the 90-year-old, his life away from his mom at the age of six was brutal.
Considering the World was in a crisis following the events of World War II, Caine, and his brother were evacuated to the countryside and were placed with different families during the Blitz. While on one hand, a young Caine was safe from the constant bombing campaigns led by the Nazis at London, things weren’t any better for him under the care of his new family.
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Michael Caine’s Mother Beat His Abuser to a Pulp
Having suffered from rickets as a child following malnutrition, things further worsened for a young Michael Caine after he shifted with this new family during the Blitz. Caine recalled him and another boy under this family’s care being physically abused and neglected. Worst of all, the Batman Begins Star was often locked in a cupboard under the stairs whenever the couple went out for weekends, which caused him to develop “lifelong claustrophobia”.
Eventually, after his mother Ellen Maria Burchell came to know about the situation following her visit to the house, she beat the woman to a pulp and rescued Caine from the abusive household. Going into detail about the matter, Caine said,
“They weren’t wicked people. They took in the children for the money, and then didn’t want to look after them. They wanted to go away for the weekend and didn’t want to cart these dirty tykes from London around with them. Of course, when my mother came, she nearly went to prison for assaulting the woman. She beat her up.”
But saving up her kid from the abusive household wasn’t the lone heroic thing his mother did, as years later, Caine would come to know about one secret, which further deepened his love for her.
Michael Caine’s Respect for His Mother Further Deepened After Learning Her Decades-Long Secret
Not only did she keep things going after Caine’s father left to serve his nation in the war and “made a man of me [Caine]” at the age of six, but his mom also kept on serving her disabled kid in secrecy. Prior to meeting the Oscar winner’s father, Maria Burchell bore a son, who became disabled after an epileptic fit. But instead of abandoning him after meeting Maurice Micklewhite Sr. and starting a new family, she kept on serving her disabled son in secrecy for 30 years. Upon learning this secret, Caine’s admiration for his mother further deepened, stating (via Belfast Telegraph),
“To have been able to have done that for this boy who was never going to get better, who was never going to be any advantage to her, or go to work, make any money or anything. She was incredible, my mother.”
There’s no wonder why Michael Caine remains such an optimist despite having a struggling childhood at the height of WWII, thanks to his mother, whose determination and grit kept him going.
