Michael Douglas Biography

Actor / Movie Producer

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Son of screen legend Kirk Douglas, Michael Douglas has been a familiar leading man of the screen since he played a young, hip cop in the TV series The Streets of San Francisco (1972-77). He left the show in 1975 to produce the hit feature One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (based on the novel by Ken Kesey and starring Jack Nicholson). The film went on to win 5 Oscars, and Douglas became a successful producer as well as a reliable box office star throughout the 1980s and early '90s. His top films as a leading man include The China Syndrome (1979, with Jane Fonda), Romancing the Stone (1984), Fatal Attraction (1987, with Glenn Close), Wall Street (1987, directed by Oliver Stone; Douglas won an Oscar as best actor for playing ruthless corporate privateer Gordon Gekko), and Basic Instinct (1992, with Douglas a cop obsessed with slinky suspect Sharon Stone). His output slowed a little after he married actress Catherine Zeta-Jones in 2000 and they had two kids: Dylan (born 2000) and Carys (b. 2003). His film in the 2000s include The Wonder Boys (2000, starring Tobey Maguire), Steven Soderbergh's Traffic (2000), The Sentinel (2006, starring Kiefer Sutherland) and Ghosts of Girlfriends Past (2009).

Extra credit: Douglas and Zeta-Jones were born 25 years apart on the same day: September 25th... He was married to the former Diandra Luker from 1977 until their divorce in 2000. Their son, Cameron, was born in 1978... Cameron Douglas was arrested on 28 July 2009 and charged with posession of and intent to distribute methamphetamine. His girlfriend, Kelly Sott, was arrested the next month after she was caught smuggling heroin to him in court inside an electric toothbrush... Michael Douglas is no relation to 1970s TV talk show host Mike Douglas.

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