Sir Michael Caine has told how he was woken in his hotel bed by fellow film legend Brigitte Bardot.

One was an up-and-coming British actor, the other was already a famous siren of the silver screen.

When Sir Michael Caine met Brigitte Bardot in the Swinging Sixties, something happened between the two. But for more than 40 years the nature of their encounter has remained a secret.

Now Sir Michael has revealed how he was woken in his hotel bed by the actress when they were both working in Spain on separate films in 1964.

The actor, then 31 and single, said Bardot, then 30, sneaked into his room, where he had gone for an early night, and demanded he go out dancing with her instead.

The revelation was made in an interview for The Sunday Telegraph ahead of the publication of his new autobiography, The Elephant to Hollywood.

Sir Michael, who helped David Cameron’s election campaign by backing the Conservatives, denied the pair had enjoyed a romance.

Bardot, who at that time was in the media spotlight after divorcing the father of her only child, Jacques Charrier, was in Spain filming Shalako. Sir Michael was in Almeria recording Play Dirty.

“I went to bed early one night, because I was completely knackered and I had to be up at six the next day, and I felt a hand on my shoulder and opened my eyes,” he said.

“It was Brigitte Bardot. She had paid the bloody doorman to let her in, and she said: ‘We’re going out dancing, Michael, you’ve got to come with us.'”

Despite agreeing to her request the pair “never had a romance”, he said. He did not include the anecdote in his book “because no one would have believed me”.

His recollection contrasts with claims by his friend and former minder Johnny Morris, who said the actor tried unsuccessfully to seduce Bardot.

“Despite his very best amorous advances over a number of days, Miss Bardot continue to keep Caine at arm’s length,” said Morris in 2002.

In his latest interview, Sir Michael admitted his sex life during his Swinging Sixties heyday was busy but that he was “never a philanderer” and “not a man who could go to a prostitute”.

“I was a sort of Alfie. We all were. We were young, rich and not bad looking and famous, who was going to turn us down?”

He led a quieter life after meeting Shakira, who would become his wife, in 1973. “We became a team, with her the quieter, better looking half,” he said.

Sir Michael, now 77, also admits he is “a rabid right-winger” when it comes to paedophiles, adding: “If you want to bring back hanging for them then I’m your man. I’ll pull the lever. Don’t get me started on that. I hate it. I can’t see a movie where a child gets kidnapped.”

He said he only moved to Hollywood in the late 1970s because he “got clobbered by the super tax, which was 82 per cent”.

He also spoke of how he was asked in if he was gay because of his portrayal of Harry Palmer in The Ipcress File.

“In Hollywood they watched me in the Ipcress File and asked if I was gay. No Hollywood hero would wear glasses and cook a meal for a woman,” he said.