Michael Caine’s former home in England is looking for a new owner.
Originally built in the 17th century, the home in the small village of North Stoke, Oxfordshire, is on the market for $13.4 million in partnership with listing agent Victoria Knight at Savills in Henley-on-Thames.
Located near the River Thames, the home is set on an 8.3-acre property and features landscaped gardens, 600 feet of private riverside access and a one-bedroom guest cottage, a two-bedroom lodge and a barn with its own kitchen.
The legendary actor lived in the six-bedroom home for 15 years, and in that time made many changes.
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“Sir Michael Caine lived at Rectory Farm House with his family from 1984 to 1999,” Knight told Mansion Global. “In those 15 years, he made significant improvements – renovating the original 17th-century gabled house and adding a modern extension.”
Some of the changes include a living/dining space known as the Long Room, a game room, a library, an indoor swimming pool, a spa and a 16-person sauna. The outside also features a dining area next to an outdoor kitchen.
In addition, the home features a cinema room, a drawing room, a full bar, a music room and a tennis court on the property.
“Despite its 600 feet of frontage, the house cannot be seen from the river and is surrounded by beautiful gardens and grounds,” a statement about the house read. “Beneath the formal lawns, waterside meadows are also a haven for all manner of wildlife including otters, swans, kingfishers, hedgehogs, sparrowhawks, buzzards, rooks and deer.”
Caine began his acting career in 1956 with small roles in TV and film. He has gone on to become one of the most successful actors in Hollywood, receiving a career total of six Academy Award nominations, winning two for his roles in “Hannah and Her Sisters” and “The Cider House Rules.”
After nearly a decade in the industry, Caine had his big break when he starred in the 1964 film, “Zulu,” getting his first Academy Award nomination just three years later in 1967, when he starred as the lead in “Alfie.” His other nominations are for the films, “Sleuth,” “Educating Rita” and “The Quiet American.”
When looking back on his career during an interview with NPR in November 2018, Caine said, “Life depends a lot on timing for all of us. And my timing was perfect.”
“Ten years. Ten years. Someone wrote a leading play with a character called Alfie who was a cockney layabout womanizer, you know? No one had ever written a play like that in England,” he said of his breakthrough role. “And it was an era when everybody became something, you know what I mean? It was quite extraordinary.”
He has starred in many iconic films, including “Miss Congeniality,” “The Dark Knight,” “The Italian Job” and “Interstellar,” which is often referred to as one of the best science fiction films ever made.
The last time Caine appeared on-screen was in the 2023 movie, “The Great Escaper.”
In his memoir, “Don’t Look Back, You’ll Trip Over,” the 92-year-old actor shared his experience working with the late Heath Ledger while filming “The Dark Knight,” writing that he was initially skeptical about Ledger’s casting.
“He was a lovely guy, very gentle and unassuming,” Caine wrote of Ledger, via Entertainment Weekly. “I wondered how he was going to play the Joker, especially as Jack Nicholson’s take had been so iconic. Brilliantly, Heath ramped up the character’s psychotic side rather than going for one-liners. His Joker was deeply, deeply warped and damaged, though you never find out exactly why, or what he’s really looking for.”
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