Michael douglas

All his biographies inevitably begin with the announcement that Michael is the son of Kirk Douglas . The physical resemblance gives them away, especially because of the dimple on the chin, so characteristic of both. But his greatest bond is found in his profession. Father and son have shown how prolific they are in the world of celluloid. Kirk Douglas is 90 years old and has participated in more than 90 titles, while Michael, at 62, has participated in more than 50, as an actor and producer. Beyond the imposing shadow of his father, Michael is himself a man of the movies.

Michael was born in New Jersey and as a child he found that the Douglas family was not one of those who ate partridges in stories. At the age of six his parents divorced, and Michael was left in the care of her mother, Diana, and her new husband, so he only saw her father on vacation. Still, the protagonist ofEspartaco supervised the education of his children and opposed any of them dedicating themselves to the cinema. It was of little use to him with Michael, who turning a deaf ear, chose to be an actor. Once the decision was made, he took care to obtain a good training at the American Place Theater and the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York. As expected, he made his film debut at the hands of his father, although more than a debut it was a contact. In the giant’s shadow(1966), starring Kirk Douglas, Michael did not even appear in the credits. The title of the film could herald an uncertain future for Michael, but he knew how to show that there was plenty of room in the cinema for two Douglases. Initially he seemed to focus his career on characters other than his ‘heroic’ father, perhaps to seek his own identity. He happened with the protagonist of Heroes (1969), a young pacifist who gets ready to go to Vietnam and win the affection of his parents. This drama was Michael’s true film debut and was the beginning of a constant in his life: leading role. Thus began his career, but not his fame. Michael Douglas became known thanks to the small screen and the series in which he starred with Karl Malden ,The streets of San Francisco (1972-1976), where he was a young detective. During his television years, Douglas tried his hand at directing for an episode of the series. The experience must not have been gratifying because he never did it again. Instead, in 1975 he launched into production, which he has not abandoned and is compatible with his acting career. In 1975 he bought from his father the rights toSomeone flew over the cuckoo’s nest . The experience was unbeatable: it featured Milos Forman as the director and Jack Nicholson as the lead, and it won the Oscar for best film. As a producer, he has rotated the projects that he only produced (deadly line ,Made in America ) with whom he also starred (The China Syndrome ,The demons of the night ).

The actor Michael Douglas and the producer have in common that most of their films fall between thrillers (Black Rain ,glow in the dark ,The Game ) and drama (A day of furyprodigious youth ). Far from being pigeonholed, his filmography has allowed him to play very different characters and work with film greats such as Jack Lemmon , Jane Fonda , Ridley Scott , Joel Schumacher , Robert Duvall , Annette Bening , Sean Penn and Steven Soderbergh .

Just as his career is not a drama, on rare occasions Michael Douglas has made concessions to comedy. draw attentionAfter the Green Heart (1984), an adventure film with a dose of humor that he made together with Kathleen Turner and Danny DeVito . The success led to the sequel,The jewel of the Nile (1985). And it is that the comic was not bad, and also the trio Turner, Douglas, DeVito fit wonderfully. The proof is that they worked together again inThe War of the Roses . By the time he made this film, Douglas had already entered a select club by winning the Best Actor Oscar forWall Street (1987), by Oliver Stone . With this second statuette, Michael entered the small Olympus of Oscar holders for best actor and best film, which also includes Laurence Olivier .

Between 1980 and 1983 Douglas was recovering from an accident and away from the cinema. It was a difficult time, although the worst on a personal level came from 1987. In that year he starred inFatal Attraction , highly erotic tape by Adrian Lyne , director of 9 ½ weeks . The problems did not come immediately since the thriller gave him international fame, but they opened the gap of gossip that was consolidated withBasic Instinct (1992), another thriller with torrid scenes, which raised Sharon Stone as an erotic myth. The Paul Verhoeven tapedid him a disservice as rumors spread that Michael was addicted to sex. And it didn’t help that Diandra Douglas left her husband after thirteen years of marriage and one child together. As if that were not enough, in 1994 she starred inHarassment with Demi Moore . Here he was a victim of workplace bullying, but continuing to see him with his pants down didn’t help his reputation. Over the years he has acknowledged a problem with alcohol and that he went to therapy, but he doesn’t understand where people got it from that his problem was sexual.

Douglas redirected his life with a romantic comedy The President and Miss Wade (1995) and little by little the filmmaker was talked about again, instead of the man, thanks to titles like A Perfect Crime (1998). Thus came the turn of the millennium and Michael Douglas experienced it with unbeatable luck. The actor participated in the OscarTraffic (2000), where he shared the bill with Catherine Zeta-Jones , just the year the couple got married. He has two children with her, and he has no qualms about saying: “From the moment I met her and we formed our family, I am a new man. She is the woman of my life, a dream ”. With a calmer family life and a consolidated career, Michael embarked on a family project. He produced and starred inFamily Things (2003), appropriate title for a drama in which Kirk Douglas plays Michael’s father, Cameron Douglas plays his son, and Diana Douglas plays his mother. In short, all Douglas make themselves.

Acting is an intrinsic part of Michael Douglas’s life, and he explains it this way: “When you make movies with your heart, it hurts when you hear people call you a calculating businessman.” And it must be true that he likes this, because Douglas barely takes a breath between movies. In recent times he has played a role in You, Me and Now… Dupree . InThe shadow of suspicion fights for his innocence by becoming a false culprit. And he just finished shooting The King of California , a drama in which he plays a father recently released from a mental institution. Dad Kirk can rest easy, it seems that the saga continues, his son has risen to the occasion.