Movie icon Christopher Walken lived "like a caveman" for over a week after Hurricane Sandy knocked out the power to his Connecticut home.

The Deer Hunter legend, 69, was one of the millions of residents on America's East Coast left without electricity or hot water after the superstorm struck on 29 October (12), forcing the actor to live a very basic existence until power could be restored to the area.

He tells the New York Post, "I don't have an iPad, I don't have a cellphone, I don't have a computer... so when the trees went down, I was in the dark. I was like a caveman for eight days! The lights went out... and that meant no water, no phones, no light! And this time of year, it gets dark at about 4.30 (pm) and it got cold in the house. So it was just me and the cat...

"The minute I went to bed, the cat would get under the covers and never move. Just a little bit of heat."

The conditions at home were so bad, Walken refused to allow his wife, casting director Georgianne, to return to their property from a work trip: "I said, 'Don't come here, because there's barely enough stuff (to survive on). Stay put.'"