Michael Douglas

Michael Kirk Douglas (born September 25, 1944) is an American actor and producer, primarily in movies and television. Douglas's first television exposure was that of Karl Malden's young college educated partner, Insp. Steve Keller in the popular 1970s crime drama, The Streets of San Francisco, a role he played from 1972 to 1976.
Douglas is a two-time Academy Award winner, first as producer of 1975's Best Picture, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Best Actor in 1987 for his role in Wall Street.

Douglas was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey, the son of celebrated American actor Kirk Douglas and Bermudian actress Diana Dill. His paternal grandparents, Bryna Sanglel and Herschel Danielovitch, were Jewish immigrants from Russia,[1] while his mother and maternal grandparents, Ruth Rapalje Neilson and Lt. Col. Thomas Melville Dill, were natives of Devonshire Parish, Bermuda.[2] His maternal grandfather served as the Attorney General of Bermuda and was a commanding officer of the Bermuda Militia Artillery. Douglas graduated from the prestigious Eaglebrook School in Deerfield, Massachusetts before going on to Choate Rosemary Hall in Wallingford, Connecticut. Douglas graduated from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 1968 with a B.A. in dramatic arts where he is also the Honorary President of the UCSB Alumni Association.

Having a famous father opened many doors to Michael that would have been closed to other young Hollywood hopefuls. Douglas starred in the long-running TV series The Streets of San Francisco from 1972 to 1976. He 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).
His fortunes changed when he starred in the 1984 romantic adventure comedy Romancing the Stone. The film was followed a year later in 1985 by a sequel, The Jewel of the Nile. In 1987, Douglas starred playing in Fatal Attraction with Glenn Close and the film became a world-wide hit. In 1988, Douglas received an Academy Award for acting in the leading role of Wall Street which would lead to many roles playing characters much like Gordon Gekko. Douglas later starred as Mr. Rose, a successful lawyer similar to this character's personality, in The War of the Roses, which featured previous co-stars Kathleen Turner and Danny DeVito. In 1989 he starred in the hit international police crime drama Black Rain opposite Andy Garcia and Kate Capshaw and was directed by acclaimed filmmaker Ridley Scott (Alien, Gladiator).
In 1992, Douglas revived his slick, worldly character when he 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. Then in 1994 Douglas and Demi Moore starred in the hit movie Disclosure focusing on the hot topic of sexual harassment but from the man's perspective. This gave a more rounded discussion on the controversial topic in the workplace and has help smooth out the female bias that mostly men do the harassment in the workplace. In 1998, Douglas received the Crystal Globe award for outstanding artistic contribution to world cinema at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.[3]
Douglas's skill at character acting continued to make him 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.
Douglas on being asked to do Basic Instinct 2: "Yes, they asked me to do it a while ago, I thought we had done it very effectively; Verhoeven is a pretty good director. I haven't seen the sequel. I've only done one sequel in my life, The Jewel of the Nile, from Romancing The Stone. Besides, there were age issues, you know? Sharon still looks fabulous. The script was pretty good. Good for her, she's in her mid-40s and there are not a lot of parts around. The first one was probably the best picture of her career—it certainly made her career and she was great in it".[4]
Douglas will soon star in Tragic Indifference, a courtroom thriller based on a landmark liability case against Ford, according to Variety. Douglas will play the attorney who took Ford to court on behalf of a single mother from Texas who was paralyzed and nearly died after an accident. The trial exposed the automaker's indifference to flaws in its SUVs. The movie will be based on Adam Penenberg's 2003 book of the same name. Douglas will play Attorney Tab Turner, who represented Donna Bailey after the Ford Explorer she was riding in rolled over following a Firestone tire failure.[5]
On December 17, 2007 it was announced that Douglas was the new voice of NBC Nightly News, some two years after Howard Reig, the previous announcer, retired.

Michael Kirk Douglas, a színész házaspár, Kirk Douglas és Diana Hill fia. 1944. szeptember 25-én született a New Jersey-beli New Brunswickban. Szülei hogy némi fegyelmet tanuljon, beíratták a Black Fox katonai akadémiára, de mindig nagyon várta a szünidőt, mert a vakáció alatt sok időt töltött édesapjával, akit elkísért a forgatásokra is. Ekkoriban ismerkedett meg a filmezéssel, s egyre inkább megtetszett neki a dolog, és a Yale Egyetem helyett inkább a Santa Barbara-i Kaliforniai Egyetem drámatagozatára iratkozott be, ahol Dany DeVito lett a szobatársa. A filmvásznon a Hail, Hero! című alkotásban debütált, pacifista hippit játszott, aki úgy dönt, Vietnamba megy harcolni. Ezután számos kisebb szerepben tűnt fel, majd 1972-ben Karl Malden oldalán a San Francisco utcáin című tévésorozatban a heves, ifjú Steve Keller felügyelőt alakította. A Kína szindrómában Jane Fonda és Jack Lemmon társaságában szerepelt - őket Oscar-díjra jelölték. Színészként addig nem respektálták igazán, de A smaragd románca férfi főszerepe meghozta számára a népszerűséget. A Danny DeVito, Kathleen Turner és Douglas trió A Nílus gyöngyében megint együtt szerepelt, s a DeVito által rendezett Rózsák háborúja című fekete komédia mindhármuknak lehetőséget adott arra, hogy megcsillantsák színészi talentumukat. Később olyan sikeres filmek következtek, mint a Végzetes vonzerő, és az Olver Stone rendezte Tőzsdecápák, amelyért Michael elnyerte a legjobb férfialakításért járó Oscart, Golden Globe-díjat is kapott, és a kritikusok díjában is részesült.

Michael Douglas több mint harminc évet felölelő karriert futott be színészként, miközben játszott színpadon, mozifilmekben és tévéfilemkben egyaránt. 1975-ben kipróbálta magát a független filmek világában az Oscar-díjas Száll a kakukk fészkére (One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest) című filmben.Az 1969-es The Experiment (r.: Ellen M. Violett) című tévédrámával vált ismertté.A San Francisco utcáin (The Streets of San Francisco) című tévésorozatért, amelyet 1972-ben kezdtek vetíteni, háromszor jelölték Emmy-díjra.A Kína-szindróma (The China Syndrome) című 1979-es filmjének eredeti forgatókönyvét Oscar-díjra jelölték.További jelentősebb filmjei: Kóma (Coma; 1978), A törvény ökle (The Star Chamber; 1983), A nagy futás (Running; 1979), A tánckar (A Chorus Line; 1985), A smaragd románca (Romancing the Stone; 1984), A Nílus gyöngye (The Jewel of the Nile; 1985), Végzetes vonzerő (Fatal Attraction; 1987), Tőzsdecápák (Wall Street; 1987; legjobb színésznek járó Oscar-díj), Fekete eső (Black Rain; 1989), A rózsák háborúja (The War of the Roses; 1989), Felhők közül a nap (Shining Through; 1992), Elemi ösztön (Basic Instinct; 1992), Összeomlás (Falling Down; 1993), Zaklatás (Disclosure; 1994), Szerelem a Fehér Házban (The American President; 1995), Játsz/ma (The Game; 1997), Tökéletes gyilkosság (A Perfect Murder; 1998), Wonder Boys - Pokoli hétvége (Wonder Boys; 2000; Golden Globe- és BAFTA-díj jelölés), Traffic (Traffic; 2000; négy Oscar-díj), Ne szólj száj! (Don’t Say a Word; 2001), Túl nagy család (It Runs in the Family; 2003), Apósok akcióban (The In-Laws; 2003).2002-ben Emmy-díjra jelölték a Will és Grace (Will & Grace) című sorozatban vendégszereplőként nyújtott alakításáért.