Michael Douglas

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Michael Douglas
Michael Douglas, June 2004
Born	Michael Kirk Douglas September 25, 1944 (1944-09-25) (age 63) New Brunswick, New Jersey, United States
Years active	1966-present
Spouse(s)	Diandra Luker (1977-2000) Catherine Zeta-Jones (2000-)
Awards won Academy Awards Best Picture 1975 One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest Best Actor 1987 Wall Street Golden Globe Awards Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama 1988 Wall Street Cecil B. DeMille Award 2004 Lifetime Achievement Other Awards Theatre World Award 1971 Pinkville

Michael Kirk Douglas (born September 25, 1944) is an American actor and producer, primarily in movies and television. Douglas's first television exposure was that of Karl Malden's young college educated partner, Insp. Steve Keller in the popular 1970s crime drama, The Streets of San Francisco, a role he played from 1972 to 1976. Douglas is an Emmy Award- and two-time Academy Award-winner, first as producer of 1975's Best Picture, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Best Actor in 1987 for his role in Wall Street.

Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Early life 1.2 Career 1.3 Personal life 1.4 Family tree 2 Filmography 3 References 4 External links

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life

Douglas was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey, the son of celebrated American actor Kirk Douglas and Bermudian actress Diana Dill. His paternal grandparents, Bryna Sanglel and Herschel Danielovitch, were Jewish immigrants from Russia,^[1] while his mother and maternal grandparents, Ruth Rapalje Neilson and Lt. Col. Thomas Melville Dill, were natives of Devonshire Parish, Bermuda.^[2] His maternal grandfather served as the Attorney General of Bermuda and was a commanding officer of the Bermuda Militia Artillery. Douglas graduated from the prestigious Eaglebrook School in Deerfield, Massachusetts before going on to Choate Rosemary Hall in Wallingford, Connecticut. Douglas graduated from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 1968 with a B.A. in dramatic arts where he is also the Honorary President of the UCSB Alumni Association.

He has one younger brother called Joel (1947) and two half brothers, Peter (1955) & Eric (1958) (from his father's 2nd marriage).

[edit] Career

Having a famous father opened many doors to Michael that would have been closed to other young Hollywood hopefuls. Douglas starred in the long-running TV series The Streets of San Francisco from 1972 to 1976, where Douglas had on- and off-screen chemistry with Malden, who became a second father to him, during the show's run. He received an Academy Award as producer for One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest in 1975. Although Douglas was a capable actor on Streets, his career was somewhat stagnant after the series, and he only appeared in occasional movies which were usually less than popular (e.g., 1979's Running).

His fortunes changed when he starred in the 1984 romantic adventure comedy Romancing the Stone. The film was followed a year later in 1985 by a sequel, The Jewel of the Nile. In 1987, Douglas starred playing in Fatal Attraction with Glenn Close and the film became a world-wide hit. In 1988, Douglas received an Academy Award for acting in the leading role of Wall Street which would lead to many roles playing characters much like Gordon Gekko. Douglas later starred as Mr. Rose, a successful lawyer similar to this character's personality, in The War of the Roses, which featured previous co-stars Kathleen Turner and Danny DeVito. In 1989 he starred in the hit international police crime drama Black Rain opposite Andy Garcia and Kate Capshaw and was directed by acclaimed filmmaker Ridley Scott (Alien, Gladiator).

In 1992, Douglas revived his slick, worldly character when he appeared alongside Sharon Stone in the film Basic Instinct. The movie was a huge hit, and sparked controversy over its depictions of bisexuality and lesbianism. Then in 1994, Douglas and Demi Moore starred in the hit movie Disclosure focusing on the hot topic of sexual harassment, but with a twist—Douglas plays a man harassed by his new female boss. In 1998, Douglas received the Crystal Globe award for outstanding artistic contribution to world cinema at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.^[3]

Douglas's skill at character acting continued to make him one of the most sought-after actors in Hollywood and commands a hefty sum for his roles. After the commercial failure of It Runs in the Family (2003), Douglas did not star in a movie for three years, until The Sentinel in 2006. A year prior to the release of It Runs in the Family, he guest-appeared on an episode of the popular television sitcom Will and Grace, as a gay cop attracted to Will Truman (Eric McCormack); the performance earned Douglas an Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Show. His Fatal Attraction co-star, Glenn Close, appeared in the following episode of the series and also earned an Emmy nomination for her performance.

Douglas on being asked to do Basic Instinct 2: "Yes, they asked me to do it a while ago, I thought we had done it very effectively; (Paul) Verhoeven is a pretty good director. I haven't seen the sequel. I've only done one sequel in my life, The Jewel of the Nile, from Romancing The Stone. Besides, there were age issues, you know? Sharon still looks fabulous. The script was pretty good. Good for her, she's in her mid-40s and there are not a lot of parts around. The first one was probably the best picture of her career—it certainly made her career and she was great in it".^[4]

Douglas will soon star in Tragic Indifference, a courtroom thriller based on a landmark liability case against Ford, according to Variety. Douglas will play the attorney who took Ford to court on behalf of a single mother from Texas who was paralyzed and nearly died after an accident. The trial exposed the automaker's indifference to flaws in its SUVs. The movie will be based on Adam Penenberg's 2003 book of the same name. Douglas will play Attorney Tab Turner, who represented Donna Bailey after the Ford Explorer she was riding in rolled over following a Firestone tire failure.^[5]

On December 17, 2007 it was announced that Douglas was the new voice of NBC Nightly News, some two years after Howard Reig, the previous announcer, retired.^[6]

[edit] Personal life

Douglas married Diandra Luker on March 20, 1977. They had one son, Cameron (born December 13, 1978). In 1980, Douglas was involved in a serious skiing accident which sidelined his acting career for three years. In September of 1992, he underwent treatment for alcohol abuse at Sierra Tucson Center. In 2000, after 23 years of marriage, Diandra divorced Douglas.

Douglas married Welsh actress Catherine Zeta-Jones on November 18, 2000; they were both born on September 25, though 25 years apart. She claims that when they met in Deauville, he used the line "I'd like to father your children".^[7] They have two children, Dylan Michael (born August 8, 2000) and Carys Zeta (born April 20, 2003).^[8]

Douglas and Zeta-Jones hosted the annual Nobel Peace Prize concert in Oslo, Norway on December 11, 2003. They acted as co-masters of ceremony in the concert celebrating the award given to Shirin Ebadi. In 2006, he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Letters (D.Litt.) from the University of St. Andrews. Douglas and his family divide their time between their homes in: Pacific Palisades, California; New York City; Aspen, Colorado; Bermuda; Majorca, Spain; Swansea, Wales; and Ridgewood, New Jersey.

Douglas is an advocate of nuclear disarmament, is a supporter of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation and sits on the Board of Directors of the Ploughshares Fund. In 1998 he was appointed UN Messenger of Peace by Secretary-General Kofi Annan.^[9] He is a notable Democrat, has donated money mainly to Democratic candidates^[10] and is backing Hillary Clinton for the 2008 U.S. Presidential election.

In 1997, New York caddy James Parker, sued Douglas for USD$25 million.^[11] Parker accused Douglas of hitting him in the groin with an errant golf ball, causing Parker to lose a testicle and his job. The case was later settled out of court.

[edit] Family tree

Diana Dill

Kirk Douglas

Anne Buydens

Diandra Luker

Michael Douglas

Catherine Zeta-Jones

Joel Douglas

Peter Douglas

Eric Douglas

Cameron Douglas

Dylan Michael Douglas

Carys Zeta Douglas

[edit] Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1966	Cast a Giant Shadow	Jeep driver	minor role
1969	Hail, Hero!	Carl Dixon
1970	Adam at Six A.M.	Adam Gaines
1971	Summertree	Jerry
1972	Napoleon and Samantha	Danny
1975	One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest		Producer (Academy Award for Best Picture)
1978	Coma	Dr. Mark Bellows
1979	Running	Michael Andropolis
	The China Syndrome	Richard Adams	(actor/producer)
1980	It's My Turn	Ben Lewin
1983	The Star Chamber	Superior Court Judge Steven R. Hardin
1984	Romancing the Stone	Jack Colton	(actor/producer)
1985	A Chorus Line	Zach
	The Jewel of the Nile	Jack Colton	(actor/producer)
1987	Wall Street	Gordon Gekko	Academy Award for Best Actor
	Fatal Attraction	Dan Gallagher
1989	The War of the Roses	Oliver Rose
	Black Rain	Det. Sgt. Nick Conklin
1992	Basic Instinct	Nick Curran
	Shining Through	Ed Leland
	Oliver Stone: Inside Out	Himself	(documentary)
1993	Falling Down	William "D-Fens" Foster
1994	Disclosure	Tom Sanders
1995	The American President	President Andrew Shepherd
1996	The Ghost and the Darkness	Charles Remington	(actor/executive producer)
1997	The Game	Nicholas van Orton
1998	A Perfect Murder	Steven Taylor
1999	One Day in September	Narrator	(documentary)
	Get Bruce	Himself	(documentary)
2000	Traffic	Robert Wakefield
	Wonder Boys	Professor Grady Tripp
2001	Don't Say a Word	Dr. Nathan R. Conrad
	In Search of Peace	Narrator	(documentary)
	One Night at McCool's	Mr. Burmeister	(actor/producer)
2003	The In-Laws	Steve Tobias
	It Runs in the Family	Alex Gromberg
	Direct Order	Narrator	(documentary)
2004	The Beautiful Country	Man on TV	Footage from Wall Street.
	Tell Them Who You Are	Himself	(documentary)
2006	You, Me and Dupree	Mr. Thompson
	The Sentinel	Pete Garrison	(actor/producer)
2007	King of California	Charlie
2009	The Ghosts of Girlfriends Past	Uncle Wayne	filming
	Beyond a Reasonable Doubt	TBA	filming
	Money Never Sleeps	Gordon Gekko	pre-production

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Michael Douglas at the Internet Broadway Database
• Michael Douglas at the Internet Movie Database
• Michael Douglas at the TCM Movie Database
• Michael Douglas at Yahoo! Movies
• Michael Douglas at TV.com
• Michael Douglas Unofficial Fan website
• Michael Douglas Personal Documents Archive at the Wisconsin Historical Society

Awards
Preceded by Paul Newman for The Color of Money	Academy Award for Best Actor 1987 for Wall Street	Succeeded by Dustin Hoffman for Rain Man
Preceded by Bob Hoskins for Mona Lisa	Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama 1988 for Wall Street	Succeeded by Dustin Hoffman for Rain Man
Preceded by Al Pacino	Donostia Award, San Sebastian International Film Festival 1997	Succeeded by Jeanne Moreau Anthony Hopkins John Malkovich
Preceded by Gene Hackman	Cecil B. DeMille Award 2004	Succeeded by Robin Williams

v • d • e Academy Award for Best Actor Henry Fonda (1981) · Ben Kingsley (1982) · Robert Duvall (1983) · F. Murray Abraham (1984) · William Hurt (1985) · Paul Newman (1986) · Michael Douglas (1987) · Dustin Hoffman (1988) · Daniel Day-Lewis (1989) · Jeremy Irons (1990) · Anthony Hopkins (1991) · Al Pacino (1992) · Tom Hanks (1993) · Tom Hanks (1994) · Nicolas Cage (1995) · Geoffrey Rush (1996) · Jack Nicholson (1997) · Roberto Benigni (1998) · Kevin Spacey (1999) · Russell Crowe (2000) Complete List · (1928–1940) · (1941–1960) · (1961–1980) · (1981–2000) · (2001-present)

Persondata
NAME	Michael Douglas
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Michael Kirk Douglas
SHORT DESCRIPTION	actor, producer
DATE OF BIRTH	September 25, 1944
PLACE OF BIRTH	New Brunswick, New Jersey
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH