Michael Douglas
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Michael Douglas | |
 Douglas at the Cinedom Movie Theater in Cologne, Germany, January, 1997 |
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| Birth name | Michael Kirk Douglas |
| Born | September 25, 1944 (age 62) New Brunswick, New Jersey, United States |
| Spouse(s) | Diandra Luker (1977-2000) Catherine Zeta-Jones (2000-present) |
| Notable roles | Insp. Steve Keller in The Streets of San Francisco Jack T. Colton in Romancing the Stone and The Jewel of the Nile Det. Nick Curran in Basic Instinct William 'D-Fens' Foster in Falling Down Dan Gallagher in Fatal Attraction President Andrew Shepherd in The American President Gordon Gekko in Wall Street |
| Academy Awards | |
|---|---|
| Best Picture 1975 One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest Best Actor 1987 Wall Street |
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| Golden Globe Awards | |
| Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama 1987 Wall Street Cecil B. DeMille Award (2004) |
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Michael Kirk Douglas (born September 25, 1944) is an Oscar-winning and Emmy Award-nominated American actor and producer, primarily on movies and television, who arose to fame as Karl Malden's young partner, Insp. Steve Keller in the popular 1970s crime drama, The Streets of San Francisco.
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[edit] Biography
[edit] Early life
Douglas was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey to celebrated American actor Kirk Douglas and Bermudian actress Diana Dill. His paternal grandparents, Herschel Danielovitch and Bryna Sanglel, were Jewish immigrants from Russia, while his mother and maternal grandparents, Lt. Col. Thomas Melville Dill and Ruth Rapalje Neilson, were natives of Devonshire, Bermuda;[1] 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, which is the same school Glenn Close attended. Douglas graduated from the University of California Santa Barbara in 1968 with a B.A. in dramatic arts.
[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. 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 another Academy Award, this time for acting in the leading role of Wall Street which would lead to many roles playing characters much like Gordon Gecko. Douglas later starred as Mister 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 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. In 1998, Douglas received the Crystal Globe award for outstanding artistic contribution to world cinema at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.[2]
Douglas' 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 his fimiliar visage but 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 has aged gracefully and is no longer doing the sex scenes. 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."[3]
[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. They have two children, Dylan Michael (born August 8, 2000) and Carys Zeta (born April 20, 2003).[4]
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 and Swansea.
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.[5] He is a notable Democrat and has donated money mainly to Democratic candidates.[6]
In 1997, New York caddy, James Parker, sued Douglas for USD$25 million.[7] 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
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Diana Dill |
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Kirk Douglas |
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| Diandra Luker |
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Michael Douglas |
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Catherine Zeta-Jones |
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Joel Douglas |
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Peter Vincent Douglas |
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Eric Douglas | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Cameron Douglas |
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Dylan Michael Douglas |
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Carys Zeta Douglas |
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[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 | |
| 1978 | Coma | Dr. Mark Bellows | |
| 1979 | Running | Michael Andropolis | |
| The China Syndrome | Richard Adams | (producer) | |
| 1980 | It's My Turn | Ben Lewin | |
| 1983 | The Star Chamber | Superior Court Judge Steven R. Hardin | |
| 1984 | Romancing the Stone | Jack Colton | (producer) |
| 1985 | A Chorus Line | Zach | |
| The Jewel of the Nile | Jack Colton | (producer) | |
| 1987 | Wall Street | Gordon Gekko | |
| 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 | (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 | (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 | Racing the Monsoon | Unknown | (announced)(co-producer) |
| You, Me and Dupree | Mr. Thompson | ||
| The Sentinel | Pete Garrison | (actor/producer) | |
| 2007 | The Mechanic | Kevin Bishop | (announced) |
| The Ride Down Mt. Morgan | Lyman Felt | (in development) | |
| Smoke & Mirrors | Jean Robert-Houdin | (announced) | |
| The King of California | Charlie | (post-production) |
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ http://www.conovergenealogy.com/Pages/douglas.html
- ^ 33rd Karlovy Vary IFF Awards. Retrieved on September 25, 2006.
- ^ "In conversation with Michael Douglas". Empire (August 2006). Retrieved on 2007-02-21.
- ^ Carys - a name rooted in love. BBC News (2003-04-22). Retrieved on September 25, 2006.
- ^ Messengers of Peace. United Nations. Retrieved on December 23, 2006.
- ^ Michael Douglas's Federal Campaign Contribution Report. NEWSMEAT. Retrieved on December 23, 2006.
- ^ "The Smoking Gun Archive:", The Smoking Gun. Retrieved on December 23, 2006.
[edit] External links
- Michael Douglas at the Internet Broadway Database
- Michael Douglas at the Internet Movie Database
- Michael Douglas at the Notable Names Database
- Michael Douglas at the TCM Movie Database
- Michael Douglas at Yahoo! Movies
- Michael Douglas Unofficial Fan website
- Michael Douglas Personal Documents Archive at the Wisconsin Historical Society
- Michael Douglas at TV.com
| 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 |
A-Z of films • Academy Awards • Actors • Animators • Box office • Cinematographers • Critics • Directors • Editors • Festivals • Film series • Golden Globes • Hollywood • Movie theatres • Producers • Production companies • Score composers • Screenwriters • Silent films • Studios • Stunt performers • AFI 100 Years
| 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 | |
Categories: 1944 births | Academy Award winners | American cheerleaders | American film actors | American television actors | Best Actor Academy Award winners | Bermudian people | Douglas family | Jewish American actors | Living people | New Jersey actors | People from New Brunswick, New Jersey | University of California, Santa Barbara alumni
