Sir Michael Caine used to drink "a bottle of vodka a day".
Sir Michael Caine
The 'Youth' star has opened up about his hard drinking past and credits his wife Shakira - who he married in 1973 - for "calming" him down.
He told Radio Times magazine: "I was a bit of a piss artist when I was younger. I used to drink a bottle of vodka a day and I was smoking too, several packs a day.
"Without her, I would have been dead long ago. I would have probably drunk myself to death. I tell her everything. I was famous when I met her, but I couldn't have got this far without her."
The 82-year-old actor is always praising her spouse, and previously insisted he has never been "tempted to stray" from her because she is his perfect woman.
He said: "In this business, you're surrounded by beautiful women - but I've got one at home, so I've never been tempted to stray.
"We also pre-empted any of that kind of danger because I never went on location without her. Going on location is a killer: Among actors they say, 'Well, location doesn't count. I never went with that saying, because I never went on location without her. Simple."
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