Michael Douglas (Michael Douglas) - biography, filmography and personal life (photo)

Michael Douglas (full name Michael Kirk Douglas) - actor, superstar of Hollywood, was born on September 25, 1944 in the city of New Brunswick, New Jersey. Parents, famous actors Kirk Douglas and Diane Douglas Darryd, divorced when Michael was five years old. The boy stayed with his mother, graduated from school, and then for a long time could not decide how to build a further life. In the end, Michael Douglas, whose biography then opened his first page, entered the "American Place Theater" in New York.

First roles

Student years passed quickly, Douglas was full of energy and was preparing for his first roles in the movies. The debut role of the young actor played in the television series "Streets of San Francisco", which was shot for four years - from 1972 to 1976. Michael's character was Police Inspector Steve Keller, recently graduated from college, a detective by vocation. However, work on television did not quite suit Douglas, he wanted to participate in film projects, the more he watched the dizzying career of his father, Kirk Douglas.

The first "Oscar"

At that time, director Miloš Forman proceeded to shoot the film "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest", which Kirk Douglas was to produce. Michael persuaded his father to give him the rights of the producer and set to work. The picture made a furor, with a microscopic budget of 4.4 million dollars box office amounted to about 110 million. In addition, the film received five "Oscars" and a large number of nominations. One "Oscar" went to Michael Douglas for creating the best film in 1976.

Then the actor Michael Douglas who had already taken part in the last series of "Streets of San Francisco" and in 1978 took part in the production of the action-packed thriller "Coma", in which he played the main role. His character, Dr. Mark Belous, does not at first believe in information about criminal events in the clinic, but the horrifying facts eventually make him wary.

"Chinese syndrome"

In 1979, the movie "The Chinese Syndrome" directed by James Bridges, about the catastrophic events at the nuclear power plant, appeared on the screens. Douglas became the producer of the film project and, in addition, played one of the main roles in the film. His character Richard Adams, television operator, along with television reporter Kimberly Wells (Jane Fonda), gets to the nuclear power plant at the time of the accident. The confrontation between TV men and major officials from the atomic energy department begins, which do not stop at anything, just to prevent publicity of what happened at the station. The film received several prestigious awards, among which were "Oscar", "Golden Globe" and BAFTA.

Accident

The accident that occurred with Michael Douglas in 1980 on the ski slope, for a long time brought the actor out of action. Three years was needed for treatment, and Michael returned to work only in 1983. He played a major role in the movie "Star Chamber" Peter Hayams, but the picture did not have success. But the adventure film, shot by director Robert Zemeckis in 1984, entitled "Roman with a stone," made a sensation. This was promoted by the magnificent game of the Hollywood star Kathleen Turner and Michael Douglas himself. The producer of the film again made Michael Douglas. The box office at the box office 12 times exceeded the cost of producing films, in addition, "Roman with a stone" received several awards.

Adventure movies

The following year, hot on the heels of "Roman with a stone" was released the film "The Pearl of the Nile" directed by Lewis Teague. Familiar characters - Jack Colton and Joanne Wilder - live in abundance, but a measured existence without adventure begins to bore them. And when the Arab sheikh invites the writer to take up writing his biography, she agrees. And then the adventures began, Joan is kidnapped, the sheikh turned out to be a mother adventurer, an international criminal. Jack Colton goes in search of his girlfriend, taking with him an old friend of Ralph (Denny De Vito). "The Pearl of the Nile" was accepted by the public more restrained compared to the previous film. This time the awards did not follow.

Men's weaknesses than they end

Two years after the adventure stories Michael Douglas starred in one of his best films "Fatal Attraction," directed by Adrian Lyne. In this thriller picture, the protagonist, Dan Gallagher's lawyer, also had adventures, but a slightly different character. The quiet life of the lawyer ended when his wife and daughter left to visit their parents, and Dan remained alone with his freedom. The lawyer met at the office of the firm he was serving, an interesting woman named Alex Forrest and immediately invited her to spend time together. The woman agreed, and they instantly became lovers. We spent several hours in the house of Gallagher, then settled in Alex's apartment. By the end of the second day, Dan was going to return home, but his mistress decided not to let him go. To begin with, she opened her veins, and the distraught lawyer rushed to do her bandaging and reassure him in every possible way ... The film received the BAFTA award, six Oscar nominations and four Golden Globe nominations. After the release of the movie "Fatal Attraction," movies with Michael Douglas began to enjoy even greater popularity.

Douglas main movie

In the same 1987 Douglas starred in his main picture, for which he received the Oscar and Golden Globe awards . It was the movie "Wall Street" directed by Oliver Stone. In the center of the story is the activity of brokers on the Wall Street exchange, the experienced Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas), the beginning ambitious broker Bad Fox (Charlie Sheen) and the aging Karl Fox, father Bad (Martin Sheen). Both Gordon and Bud are not very clean when making deals, they are not hesitating to violate the law regulating exchange trade. Bad's father, like an honest old man, does not support his son's questionable methods, once he has a heart attack. Bad regards the father of Gordon Gekko as the cause of his illness and arranges a provocative deal for him, as a result of which Gekko loses a huge amount of money. In retaliation, Gordon surrenders Bad Fox to the financial police.

"War of the Rose"

In 1989, director Danny De Vito removed the psychological tragicomedy "War of the Rose." On the set again met Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner. Denny DeVito himself played a lawyer, and Douglas and Turner had a happy married couple, whose happiness was short-lived, and minor quarrels soon developed into a major, all-consuming conflict with a deadly ending. The audience was perplexed, how it is possible to create on such a flat ground such global problems within the same family. As it turned out, it is possible, and events according to the scenario developed in a logical way, both opposing sides were right each in their own way, and no one wanted to give in.

Personal life

The personal life of Michael Douglas can not be called cloudless. If the roles in the film projects brought success and fame to the actor, then in ordinary life he had to suffer. Married Michael was twice, the first wife was Dyandra Luker, born in 1958, they were married in 1977. A year later, the married couple had a son, Cameron. For twenty-three years, Diandra and Michael were together, and divorced in 2000. The fate of their son, Cameron Douglas, was tragic: in 2010 he was imprisoned for five years for drug trafficking.

While still married to Diandra, Michael became acquainted with the English actress Catherine Zeta-Jones. Catherine did not ask how old Michael Douglas, although it was obvious that the age difference is huge. When a woman loves, she does not think about such things. Perhaps this acquaintance caused the actor's divorce with his wife, according to the chronology of events, one can conclude that Michael Douglas divorced when Zeta-Jones was already pregnant. Catherine is younger than Michael for 25 years, has a beautiful appearance, friendly character and is one of the most successful movie stars of the present time. Michael and Catherine in 2000 had a son, Dylan Michael. Daughter of Carys Zeta was born in 2003.

In 2010, Michael Douglas showed a throat cancer, before the end of the year the actor underwent a course of treatment, and the results were encouraging. A little later he announced a full recovery. During this difficult period, Catherine Zeta-Jones was close and supported her husband in every possible way. But soon she fell ill with a mental disorder in the form of severe depression. In August 2013, the couple almost got divorced, but already in December 2013, it was announced about reconciliation. Today Michael Douglas, whose biography contains many pages about his difficult fate, is preparing to shoot another film with his participation. The appearance of the actor has changed significantly, recently he began to think about the time to change the role and play the role of aging characters. Perhaps the best movies with Michael Douglas are yet to come.