Michael Douglas

The Gift

Michael Kirk Douglas  or better known Michael Douglas was born September 25, 1944. Michael Douglas is an American actor and producer, primarily in movies and television. He has won three Golden Globes and two Academy Awards; first as producer of 1975's Best Picture, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and as Best Actor in 1987 for his role in Wall Street. Douglas received the AFI Life Achievement Award in 2009 Michael Douglas is the son of actor Kirk Douglas, who is ranked #17 on the American Film Institute's list of the greatest male American screen legends of all time.

Michael Douglas started his film career in the late '60s and early '70s, appearing in little known films like Hail, Hero! and Summertree. His first significant role came in the TV series The Streets of San Francisco from 1972 to 1976, where he starred alongside Karl Malden. Douglas later said that Malden became a "mentor" and someone he "admired and loved deeply". After Michael Douglas left the show, he had a long association with his mentor until Malden's death on July 1, 2009. In 2004, Michael Douglas presented Malden with the Monte Cristo Award of the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center in Waterford, Connecticut, for the Lifetime Achievement Award.

In 1975, Michael Douglas received from his father, Kirk Douglas, the rights to the novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Michael went on to produce the film of the same name with Saul Zaentz. Douglas considered playing the starring role, but decided against it after considering himself too old. The lead role went to a young Jack Nicholson, who ended up winning the Academy Award for Best Actor. Still, Douglas won the Award for Best Picture for producing it.

After leaving Streets of San Francisco in 1976, Michael Douglas appeared in the medical thriller Coma in 1978 and Running in 1979. In 1979, he both produced and starred in The China Syndrome, a dramatic film co-starring Jane Fonda and Jack Lemmon about a nuclear power plant accident (the Three Mile Island accident took place 12 days after the film's release).

Michael Douglas ' acting career was propelled to fame when he starred in the 1984 romantic adventure comedy Romancing the Stone. It also helped launch Kathleen Turner to stardom, reintroduced Douglas as a capable leading man, and gave director Bob Zemeckis his first box-office success. It was followed a year later by a sequel, The Jewel of the Nile.

The year 1987 saw Michael Douglas star in the thriller Fatal Attraction with Glenn Close. That same year he played tycoon Gordon Gekko in Oliver Stone's Wall Street for which he received an Academy Award as Best Actor. He reprised his role as Gekko in the sequel Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps in 2010, also directed by Stone. 

Michael Douglas again paired with Kathleen Turner for the 1989 film The War of the Roses, which also starred Danny DeVito. In 1989, he starred in Ridley Scott's international police crime drama Black Rain opposite Andy García and Kate Capshaw. The film was shot in Osaka, Japan. 

In 1992, Michael Douglas had another successful starring role when he appeared alongside Sharon Stone in the film Basic Instinct. The movie was a box office hit, and sparked controversy over its depictions of bisexuality and lesbianism. In 1994, Douglas and Demi Moore starred in the hit movie Disclosure focusing on the topic of sexual harassment with Douglas playing a man harassed by his new female boss. Other popular films he starred during these decade were Falling Down, The American President, The Ghost and the Darkness, The Game (directed by David Fincher), and a remake of Alfred Hitchcock's classic - Dial M for Murder - titled A Perfect Murder. In 1998, Douglas received the Crystal Globe award for outstanding artistic contribution to world cinema at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. 

In 2000, Michael Douglas starred in Steven Soderbergh's critically acclaimed film Traffic, opposite Benicio del Toro and future wife Catherine Zeta-Jones. That same year, he also received critical acclaim for his role in Wonder Boys as a professor and novelist suffering from writer's block. Michael Douglas was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Drama as well as several other awards from critics.

It was announced on August 16, 2010, that Michael Douglas was suffering from throat cancer and will undergo chemotherapy and radiation treatment. On August 31, 2010 Michael Douglas appeared on Late Show with David Letterman and confirmed that the cancer was at an advanced stage IV. In November 2010, Michael Douglas was put on a special weight gain diet by his doctors due to the excessive weight loss leaving him weak. On the 11th January 2011, however, he said in an interview that the cancer has gone.