Michael Douglas

Professional

Douglas starred in the long-running TV series The Streets of San Francisco from 1972 to 1976. Michael Douglas also 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).

Michael Douglas as Gordon Gekko in Wall Street

His fortunes changed when he starred in the 1984 romantic adventure comedy Romancing the Stone. His role in this hit movie re-introduced Douglas as a capable and likable leading man. The film was followed a year later in 1985 by a sequel, The Jewel of the Nile. In 1987, Douglas starred 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. Douglas later starred in The War of the Roses, which featured previous co-stars Kathleen Turner and Danny DeVito.

In 1992, Douglas 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.

Douglas continued to be 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.

Personal

Douglas is the son of the celebrated actor Kirk Douglas and Bermudian actress Diana Dill. He 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. He 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.

Michael Douglas after his visit aboard a P-3C Orion, at Naval Air Station Sigonella, Sicily, June 19, 2004.

In 2000, after 23 years of marriage, Diandra divorced Douglas, complaining of his womanizing, absenteeism, and not being a proper father to Cameron. Douglas married Welsh actress Catherine Zeta-Jones on November 18, 2000. She is exactly 25 years younger than Douglas (they were both born on September 25) . They have two children, Dylan Michael (born August 8, 2000) and Carys Zeta (born April 20, 2003). Despite his previous marital problems Douglas has been an outspoken critic of other celebrities for their divorces, including Julia Roberts, Renee Zellweger, and Brad Pitt, rebuking him for divorcing actress Jennifer Aniston in order to "hold orphans for Angelina Jolie." Douglas later apologized for his remarks regarding Pitt and Jolie, claiming he had been misquoted.

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. He is a notable Democrat and has donated money mainly to Democratic candidates.

He 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 and Majorca.

Controversy

In 1997, New York caddy, James Parker, sued Douglas for USD$25 million. Parker accused Douglas of smacking him in the groin with an errant golf ball, causing Parker to lose a testicle and his job. Parker claims Douglas was unsympathetic and tried to give him US$60 to disappear. Parker also accused Douglas of using racial slurs as he was leaving the golf course. Douglas claimed that one of his associates was the one responsible for the accident with the errant ball, and the case was later settled out of court.

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
	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	Unknown	(pre-production)
	2006	Racing the Monsoon	Unknown	(announced)(co-producer)
	You, Me and Dupree	Mr. Thompson
	The Sentinel	Pete Garrison	(actor/producer)
	2004	The Beautiful Country	Man on TV	Footage from Wall Street.
	Tell Them Who You Are	Himself	(documentary)
	2003	The In-Laws	Steve Tobias
	It Runs in the Family	Alex Gromberg
	Direct Order	Narrator	(documentary)
	2001	Don't Say a Word	Dr. Nathan R. Conrad
	In Search of Peace	Narrator	(documentary)
	One Night at McCool's	Mr. Burmeister	(producer)
	2000	Traffic	Robert Wakefield
	Wonder Boys	Professor Grady Tripp
	1999	One Day in September	Narrator	(documentary)
	Get Bruce	Himself	(documentary)
1998	A Perfect Murder	Steven Taylor
1997	The Game	Nicholas van Orton
1996	The Ghost and the Darkness	Charles Remington	(executive producer)
1995	The American President	President Andrew Shepherd
1994	Disclosure	Tom Sanders
1993	Falling Down	William "D-Fens" Foster
	1992	Basic Instinct	Nick Curran
	Shining Through	Ed Leland
	Oliver Stone: Inside Out	Himself	(documentary)
	1989	The War of the Roses	Oliver Rose
	Black Rain	Det. Sgt. Nick Conklin
	1987	Wall Street	Gordon Gekko
	Fatal Attraction	Dan Gallagher
	1985	A Chorus Line	Zach
	The Jewel of the Nile	Jack Colton	(producer)
1984	Romancing the Stone	Jack Colton	(producer)
1983	The Star Chamber	Superior Court Judge Steven R. Hardin
1980	It's My Turn	Ben Lewin
	1979	Running	Michael Andropolis
	The China Syndrome	Richard Adams	(producer)
1978	Coma	Dr. Mark Bellows
1972	Napoleon and Samantha	Danny
1971	Summertree	Jerry
1970	Adam at Six A.M.	Adam Gaines
1969	Hail, Hero!	Carl Dixon
1966	Cast a Giant Shadow	Jeep driver	minor role

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