Michael Caine
During the Korean War, British actor Michael Caine, strangely, received his first meaningful awareness of the worth of life when he was enrolled as a soldier in the British army. It was while fighting on the front lines, face to face with the enemy, that the meaning of life dawned on him; just when he was certain his own life was about to be extinguished, he realised what it meant to be alive. He believes that every man should serve in the military for at least six months in order to obtain a taste of the life-changing experience he had while in the military.
Caine ended up contracting malaria and had to be hospitalised for a few days. He made the decision to return to his homeland of London in order to pursue his acting goals… and the rest, as they say, is history. His first major break came when he was cast as a British army private in the war film A Hill in Korea, in which he played a British army private.