SIR Michael Caine has explained his long running feud with legendary director Alfred Hitchcock - they fell out after the actor turned down a gory role in 1972 thriller FRENZY.
The Alfie star admits he was eager to work with the late movie legend, but when Hitchcock approached him about taking the lead role in the grisly film he turned it down.
And Caine reveals the director never forgave him for the snub.
He says, "He offered me the part of a sadist who murdered women and I won't play that. I have a sort of moral thing and I refused to play it and he never spoke to me again. It was a film based on a real killer who cut women to smithereens. I said, 'I can't play this. I don't want to play it.' (After I turned the role down) I would see him (Hitchcock) every Friday at Chasen's restaurant (in Los Angeles) and he would totally ignore me."
The role in Frenzy eventually went to Barry Foster and it became Hitchcock's first film to earn an R-rating in the United States.