** Michael Caine **
Michael Caine&amp;#39;s oft-discussed working-class mannerisms are more than endearing idiosyncrasies. &amp;quot;I expressed my rebellion by never getting rid of my Cockney accent,&amp;quot; he has said. Turns out holding on to that part of his past, refusing to belie his roots, helped distinguish Caine from his contemporaries, some of whom opted to shade their less privileged backgrounds. He didn&amp;#39;t possess O&amp;#39;Toole&amp;#39;s good looks or Burton&amp;#39;s intensity. Instead, he relied on less celestial qualities&amp;amp;#8212and those everyman glasses of his younger days&amp;amp;#8212to win parts. Woody Allen used him in Hannah and Her Sisters because he was believable as a &amp;quot;regular man.&amp;quot; And he was scrappy, unentitled, and relentless, grabbing role after role as if working to keep the clothes on his back. Ah, but for that, he had an ace up his sleeve: His contracts have stipulated he keep his characters&amp;#39; wardrobes. &amp;quot;I&amp;#39;m the original bourgeois nightmare,&amp;quot; Caine once said. &amp;quot;A Cockney with intelligence and a million dollars.&amp;quot;&amp;amp;#8212ALEX FRENCH
Dark, heavy frames make a statement. Think of them not as bookish but as perennially cool.