Michael Douglas' Main TV Roles Show Character(s) The Streets of San Francisco Inspector S… Movies That Shook the World Michael Dou… Sunday Morning Shootout Michael Dou… TV Land Moguls Michael Dou…

Main Movie Roles 2010 - Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps 2009 - Beyond a Reasonable Doubt 2009 - Ghosts of Girlfriends Past 2007 - King of California 2007 - Dinosaurs Alive 2006 - You, Me and Dupree 2006 - The Sentinel 2004 - Tell Them Who You Are 2003 - It Runs in the Family 2003 - The In-Laws 2001 - One Night At McCool 2001 - Don't Say A Word 2000 - Wonder Boys 2000 - Traffic 1998 - A Perfect Murder 1997 - The Game 1996 - The Ghost and the Darkness 1995 - The American President 1994 - Disclosure 1993 - Falling Down 1992 - Shining Through 1992 - Basic Instinct 1989 - The War of the Roses 1989 - Black Rain 1987 - Wall Street 1987 - Fatal Attraction 1985 - The Jewel of the Nile 1985 - A Chorus Line 1984 - Romancing the Stone 1983 - The Star Chamber 1979 - The China Syndrome 1978 - Coma 1972 - Napoleon and Samantha 1966 - Cast a Giant Shadow

BIOGRAPHY:

Michael Douglas is one of the few actors who actually appears to be a walking paradox. A household name, an estimated worth of over $200 million, a father (Kirk Douglas (I)) who was one of the world's biggest film stars in the 1950s and 1960s, and a wife whose father is younger than he is, Douglas has indeed gained fame and acclaim. His parents (Kirk and wife Diana Douglas) divorced when he was six, and he went to live with his mother and her new husband.

Only seeing Kirk on holidays, Michael attended Eaglebrook school in Deerfield, Massachusetts, where he was about a year younger than all of his classmates. Deciding he wanted to be an actor in his teenage years, Michael often asked his father about getting a "foot in the door". Kirk was strongly opposed to Michael pursuing an acting career, saying that it was an industry with many downs and few ups, and that he wanted all four of his sons to stay out of it. Michael, however, was persistent. When he started his career in the early 1970s people were all too ready to tag him as "the next Kirk Douglas". He defied all those critics by accepting sensitive, quiet, hippie-type roles, a far cry from the macho, leading-man, all-American hero parts that his father was most famous for. It didn't earn Michael much credibility, but it earned him his own identity.

His first real break came on the TV series "The Streets of San Francisco" (1972) opposite screen veteran Karl Malden. Michael gained quite a following on this show, and left it to produce One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975). His own life was never brilliant either. He had dreams of acting alongside brother Joel Douglas (I), the one brother out of his three to which he was closest (he would only see Peter Douglas (II) and the late Eric Douglas (I) when he visited his father), but Joel wanted no part of the acting his family was famous for. Michael married the young Diandra Douglas (b. Diane Luker in 1958) in 1977, and they had one son together, Cameron. The marriage eventually failed, as Diandra claimed that she was sick of his womanizing, absenteeism, and not being "a proper father to Cameron".

In the 1980s Michael tried his hand at comedies, the most successful being Romancing the Stone (1984), its sequel The Jewel of the Nile (1985), and The War of the Roses (1989), in which he co-starred with Danny DeVito and Kathleen Turner (I). It was in the 1990s, though, in which he gained the most notorious aspects of his reputation. He starred in Basic Instinct (1992), a thriller, heavy on sex and violence, that was a worldwide hit. Having played a similar role in Fatal Attraction (1987), it did indeed appear that he was being typecast in "man against woman" type roles, and pictures like Disclosure (1994) did nothing to dissuade that opinion. He finally tried to break away from this image with The American President (1995) and The Ghost and the Darkness (1996), yet when he started dating Catherine Zeta-Jones, 25 years his junior, this image continued, even after their marriage.

After two children with Jones, Michael is trying to settle down to become a more "family-oriented" actor. The comedy Wonder Boys (2000) and the Douglas-clan movie It Runs in the Family (2003) were only minor hits, and it appears Michael is again looking for a career change. Trying his hand now at light-hearted comedies, like the re-make of The In-Laws (2003/I), he hopes to break away from his past reputation.


TRIVIA:

• (1968) Graduated with a B.A. from U.C. Santa Barbara along with singer 'Jack Johnson (I)' (qv) and actor 'Ossie Beck' (qv).
• Half-brother of 'Peter Douglas (II)' (qv) and 'Eric Douglas (I)' (qv).
• Five days after completing _Black Rain (1989/I)_ (qv), he started filming _The War of the Roses (1989)_ (qv).
• Michael is exactly 25 years older than his wife, 'Catherine Zeta-Jones' (qv). The two of them share a birthday, September 25th.
• Father of 'Cameron Douglas (I)' (qv).
• Son of 'Kirk Douglas (I)' (qv) and 'Diana Douglas' (qv).
• Stepson of 'Anne Buydens' (qv).
• Initially turned down the role of Judge Wakefield in _Traffic (2000)_ (qv). He later accepted only after the script underwent extensive re-writes.