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Michael Douglas biography

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Michael Douglas is an American actor best known for his roles on TV's Streets of San Francisco and in the films Wall Street, Fatal Attraction and Wonder Boys.

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Synopsis

Michael Douglas, son of movie star Kirk Douglas, was born in New Jersey in 1944. He gained fame after starring in the cop show Streets of San Francisco (1972–77). His film career took off shortly thereafter, with starring roles in The China Syndrome (1979), Romancing the Stone (1984) and Wall Street (1987), for which he won an Academy Award. Later films include Fatal Attraction (1987),

Quotes

"For an actor, it's great fun to play one of these hungry white sharks. Audiences love to hate them."
– Michael Douglas

"The one thing that men and women have in common—they both like the company of men."
– Michael Douglas

Basic Instinct (1992) and Wonder Boys (2000).

Early Life

Michael Kirk Douglas was born on September 25, 1944, in New Brunswick, New Jersey, to actor Kirk Douglas and his wife, Diana Dill. Michael grew up with three brothers: Joel, Peter and Eric. He studied drama at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and in New York at the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre and the American Place Theatre. 

Career Beginnings

Michael Douglas began his Hollywood career as an assistant director on some of father Kirk Douglas's 1960s films. After roles in several television dramas, he gained notoriety by co-starring with Karl Malden in the 1970s TV series The Streets of San Francisco (ABC, 1972-77). He also directed two episodes of the show.

In 1975, Douglas served as executive producer for Milos Forman's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, which went on to win five Academy Awards, including one for best picture. In 1979, he starred with Jane Fonda and Jack Lemmon in the film The China Syndrome, which he also co-produced.

Acclaimed Film Actor

Douglas landed his first leading man role in Romancing the Stone (1984), portraying Jack Colton, an Indiana Jones-type adventurer. This successful teaming of Douglas with Danny DeVito and Kathleen Turner led to a sequel, The Jewel of the Nile (1985). The three worked again in The War of the Roses (1989), a black comedy about an ugly divorce.

In 1987, Douglas made two films that reflected a much darker side: Fatal Attraction, in which he played an adulterer stalked by an ex-lover (played by Glenn Close); and co-starred in Oliver Stone's Wall Street as the corporate raider Gordon Gekko, whose trademark slogan is "Greed is good." For this role, Douglas won an Academy Award for best actor. He continued exploring his dark side years later, co-starring with Sharon Stone in the thriller Basic Instinct in 1992.

In 1988, Douglas formed a production company, Stonebridge Entertainment, Inc., which produced Joel Schumacher's Flatliners (1990) and Richard Donner's Radio Flyer (1992). In 1993 he produced Made in America, then starred as a sexually harassed man in Michael Crichton's Disclosure (1994), and as the titular Chief Executive Officer in Rob Reiner's The American President (1995), co-starring Annette Bening.

In 1994, he signed a development deal at Paramount that included The Ghost and the Darkness (1996), The Game (1997) and A Perfect Murder (1998). He executive-produced The Rainmaker (1997), starring Matt Damon, as well as John Woo's 1997 action film, Face/Off. Douglas earned critical acclaim for his starring role as a rumpled novelist and English professor in Wonder Boys (2000).

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