The British actor was flattered when he learned Russian leader Vladimir Putin used to watch his Harry Palmer films in the late 1960s with his comrades in the KGB.
Caine tells WENN, “A friend of mine met Putin and he was head of the KGB then and he said, ‘Tell Mr. Caine we used to watch those movies and laugh because he was such a clever spy and we were never that clever.'”
And the actor insists his Palmer was a much better spy than James Bond – because Caine’s creation, based on novelist Len Deighton’s bespectacled character, was such a normal guy.
He adds, “James Bond was so obvious he couldn’t possibly be a spy because he drew so much attention to himself. My spy is the ordinary guy doing his own shopping in the supermarket. There is a reality to it.”
