Life Story

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		Michael Douglas Interview

Michael Kirk Douglas (born September 25, 1944 in New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA) is an Oscar-winning American actor and producer. He is the son of actor Kirk 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 (for example, 1979's Running).

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 and finally made him a super-star at the age of 40. 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. Both Douglas and Close attended the same prep school, Choate Rosemary Hall. In 1988, Douglas received another Academy Award, this time for acting in the leading role of Wall Street.

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.

Personal: Michael is the son of the celebrated actor Kirk Douglas and Bermudian actress Diana Dill. He married Diandra Luker on 20 March 1977. They had one son, Cameron, born on 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, 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 (born August 8, 2000) and Carys (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 Zellwegger, and Brad Pitt, rebuking him for divorcing actress Jennifer Aniston in order to "go hold orphans with Angelina Jolie". Douglas later apologized for his remarks regarding Pitt and Jolie, claiming he had been misquoted.

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 the 2004 primary elections, Douglas endorsed the unsuccessful candidacy of Rep. Dick Gephardt. Like most of his Hollywood peers, he is a staunch supporter of the Democratic Party.

 

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