MICHAEL CAINE IS eighty years old today, and what a career he has behind him.

We’ve whittled down the 12 reasons why we think he’s the coolest dude ever.

Feel free to add your suggestions in the comments section below.

1. You were only supposed to blow the bloody doors off

Maybe Caine’s most infamous movie line ever, from 1969′s The Italian Job.

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2. Batman

Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, The Dark Knight Rises, where would they be without Alfred?

With the Batman Begins cast (AP Photo/Chris Weeks)

The 2008 premiere of The Dark Knight (Ian West/PA Archive/Press Association Images)

The Dark Knight Rises (Matt Sayles/Invision/AP)

3. He’s worthy of an exhibition

The Museum of London has opened an new exhibition celebration Caine’s career and his birthday.

It traces his life from Cockney rebel to Hollywood legend through a series of photographs, portraits and film clips.

He’s also been made a freeman of the City of London.

Geoff Caddick/PA/PA Wire

4. Muppet Christmas Carol

It’s only the greatest Christmas film ever (jostling for position with National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, Elf, It’s a Wonderful Life, Home Alone etc), and he sings in it!

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5. Dirty Rotten Scoundrels

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6. Look how cool he is in all of these pictures

With the cast of Alfie in 1965 (PA/PA Wire)

With Sue Lloyd filming The Ipcress File in 1964 (AP Photo/Robert Dear)

Taking a break from filming Gambit in 1966 (AP Photo)

PA Photos/PA Archive/Press Association Images

Promoting Alfie in 1966 (AP Photo/Jean Jacques Levy)

Filming The Eagle Has Landed with Kurt Steiner in 1967 (AP Photo)

7. You princes of Maine, you kings of New England

Another of his classic lines, this time from The Cider House Rules.

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8. Other people’s impressions of him

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9. His impression of himself

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10. Inception

Yui Mok/PA Wire

11. Madness wrote a song about him

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12. This quote about Jaws: The Revenge (which he was in)

I have never seen it, but by all accounts it is terrible. However, I have seen the house that it built, and it is terrific.

Honourable mentions for his work in Children of Men, Get Carter, Zulu, Hannah and Her Sisters, The Man Who Would Be King, Sleuth, Mona Lisa, A Bridge Too Far, The Ipcress File, Educating Rita

WAIT! We almost forgot Miss Congeniality!

13. Miss Congeniality

GLIDING HERE!

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