The son of legendary actor Kirk Douglas, Michael was born on Sept. 25, 1944 in New Brunswick, NJ. The uber-charming mega-star, known for playing sexy roles opposite conniving leading ladies, was discouraged from acting by his famous father, who was frustrated with the competitive demands of the industry. The young Douglas surged ahead anyway, starting his career in the late 60s with leading roles in the unpopular films “Hail, Hero!” and “Adam at 6 A.M.”. His career was soon bolstered by a recurring role on the popular TV series “The Streets of San Francisco”, and in 1975 Douglas received an Academy Award for his role as producer on Best Picture winner “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”.
After Douglas left “Streets” in 1975, his career was left at somewhat of a standstill, and he starred in only one major hit, 1979’s “The China Syndrome”, before superstardom greeted the actor in 1984 with the release of the Robert Zemeckis adventure film “Romancing the Stone”. The hit action-comedy, in which he co-starred with Kathleen Turner, spawned a popular sequel (1985’s “The Jewel of the Nile”) and kicked off an extraordinary decade for the famously intense actor. In 1987, Douglas starred with Glenn Close in one of the most iconic films of the 80s, Adrian Lyne’s seething erotic thriller “Fatal Attraction”. The film’s psychotic, high-impact plot made ‘bunny-boiling’ into a national catch phrase and its enormous success made Douglas one of the highest paid stars in Hollywood.
Douglas won a Best Actor Oscar for his next role, playing the immoral investment tycoon Gordon Gekko in Oliver Stone’s “Wall Street”, a character that emblematized a decade of excess, homogeneity, and corporate coercion. His next two films were Ridley Scott’s “Black Rain” and his third team-up with Kathleen Turner in the biting comedy “The War of the Roses”, both of which were box office hits. The actor’s “Fatal Attraction” image was reinvigorated in 1992 with one of his biggest successes, the twisty, sex-filled “Basic Instinct”. A shockingly racy coda to an AIDS-obsessed decade, the instantly-notorious film hit a major nerve with audiences, grossing an astounding $350 million worldwide and making co-star Sharon Stone a super-charged sex icon.
The world continued to be kind to Douglas throughout the 90s, which saw him give excellent performances in films like “The Ghost and the Darkness”, “A Perfect Murder”, and David Fincher’s underrated “The Game”. In 2000 Douglas starred in “Wonder Boys” and “Traffic”, two terrific, award-winning films that brought the actor considerable acclaim. That same year, his 23-year marriage to Diandra Douglas ended, and soon after he married the much-younger Catherine Zeta-Jones. The couple have two children together.
Douglas can currently be seen in “The Sentinel” alongside Kiefer Sutherland and Eva Longoria, and is appearing in the comedy “You, Me, and Dupree” in the summer of 2006. Like his father before him, Douglas has exhibited an incredible longetivity that owes everything to his immense talent.