Michael Douglas Net Worth

Biography of Michael Douglas

Michael Douglas is a famous actor and producer, a representative of a famous acting dynasty. Among his awards are two Oscars and millions of audience hearts. There were no downs in Michael’s career, only ups, because every role he played is impeccable.

Childhood and family

Michael Kirk Douglas is the son of the famous Spartak, Kirk Douglas, whose parents emigrated from Russia at the beginning of the 20th century, and actress Diana Darrid (died in 2015). Michael was born in New Jersey on September 25, 1944, two and a half years later he had a younger brother, Joel.

In 1951, Douglas Sr. divorced his wife, but Kirk and Diana maintained a good relationship, so that their sons did not feel a lack of parental attention. Michael stayed with his mother, who did not try to restrain her son’s violent temperament and too free disposition.

Despite the fact that Michael studied well, he was expelled from school. The guy skipped classes, rode a motorcycle, drank and was impudent to teachers, not recognizing any authorities other than his father. Kirk was an ideal for him, because he, the son of a Jewish junk dealer, managed to get out of the very bottom of society and became a movie icon for all of America.

After watching the first film with his father, Michael also wanted to become an actor, but Kirk was against it and sent his son to a military school. Several years spent at the school hardened the character of the future actor, after graduating from it, he insisted on his own and entered the acting course at the University of California.

Career. star start

Envious people said that Michael’s father had a hand in the brilliant start of Michael’s career, but these were just talks. Although it cannot be denied that Michael clearly inherited talent and strong character from his father, and from his mother he received fine features and long eyelashes as a gift.

The first role of the young actor was the main one: in the 1971 social drama The Summer Tree, he played twenty-year-old Jerry, who returns home to inform his parents that he has been expelled from the university and now he must go to Vietnam. The picture was a success because of the hot topic revealed by director Anthony Newley, as well as because of the talented and handsome young Douglas.

In the next picture, Michael starred in the company of Ben Gazarra, in the 1972 mystical drama Mad Man, he played a young doctor who received a call from his late brother and this call was the beginning of inexplicable events and terrible deaths in a small town.

In the same year, the young actor starred in the family film “Napoleon and Samantha”, which became a classic of American children’s films. The main child role was played by ten-year-old Jodie Foster, who was injured during filming when she was attacked by a lion.

The serial crime detective “Streets of San Francisco” consolidated the success of the first films with the participation of the rising star. In the series, Michael played a young detective Keller, and he refused an understudy and performed all the tricks himself. Without waiting for the end of the first season, Douglas left the series in connection with the idea that captured him to become a producer.

Douglas Sr. was set to star in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, as he owned the film rights to Ken Kesey’s famous novel. It took Michael a lot of time and nerves to dissuade his father and insist on the candidacy of Jack Nicholson. In 1975, the picture won four Oscars and brought fabulous profits to the Douglas dynasty. Much later, in his autobiography Son of the Garbage Man, Kirk would write that he would have given every last cent to play the part instead of Nicholson.

1978 was marked by the release of the thriller China Syndrome. In this picture, Michael played a major role and acted as a producer, his partner was Jane Fonda. The success of this film was incredible, the picture received five nominations for an Oscar and five for the Golden Globe.

While continuing to produce, Michael starred in films, each of which invariably became an event.

Best Roles

One of the most memorable roles of Michael Douglas is the role of adventurer Jack Colton in the 1985-1986 films Romancing the Stone and Jewel of the Nile. Michael’s partner was Kathleen Turner, and his student friend Danny DeVito, who played an antiques dealer, also starred in these films.

In the same company, Michael starred in the mind-blowingly funny comedy The War of the Roses, where he played the role of Oliver, with whom his ex-wife Barbara, played by Turner, shares a house. The role of the lawyer was played by Danny DeVito – it was his hero who found the dead spouses who had crashed on the chandelier as a result of hostilities.

In the 1987 psychodrama thriller Fatal Attraction, the actor played in a duet with Glenn Close, who terrorized the family of the hero Michael. The film received an incredible number of nominations and awards and entered the top ten best films of the year.

For the role of Greco in the drama “Wall Street”, which also starred Daryl Hannah, as well as Charlie and Martin Sheen, the actor received an Oscar.

The role of detective Nick Curran, investigating the murder of a rock star, in the 1992 thriller Basic Instinct is also considered one of Douglas’ most successful hits. His character is under the spell of the heroine Sharon Stone, and does not seem to notice obvious truths. But no matter how perspicacious the viewer, the end of the picture is unpredictable.

In 1993, Michael stunned the world with his role in Enough! His character was unlucky, failures literally fell upon him, turning life into hell, and when the cup of patience overflowed, a quiet office worker took up arms. The film stars Robert Duvall and Barbara Hershey.

From 1994 to 1999, Douglas starred in ten films, according to everyone’s opinion, one of the most significant is the thriller The Game, in which Sean Penn played the role of the hero’s brother Michael. The film was named the best picture of the year and was a huge success. Another outstanding work of this period is “Perfect Murder”, a thriller in which Michael plays the deceived husband of the heroine Gwyneth Paltrow. Having conceived the perfect murder, he turns to his wife’s lover, offering him a substantial reward for the death of a liar, but the case takes a very unexpected turn and unpredictable consequences. The role of the lover was played by Viggo Mortensen.

The year 2000 enriched the world cinematography with the picture “Traffic”, marked by all existing awards. Douglas’ company on the set was Benicio del Toro, Dennis Quaid and the beautiful Catherine Zeta-Jones. In addition to drugs, the picture of Steven Soderbergh raised other serious issues and caused a resonance in society.

Not often pleasing his fans with work in comedy projects, in 2003-2006 he played in the comedies “Wedding Party”, “Family Values” and “He, Me and His Friends.”

In the 2007 black comedy My Dad’s a Crazy, the actor played a real psycho who returned from a hospital, but never gave up his obsession to find the treasure. The role of the daughter of a deranged dad was played by Evan Rachel Wood.

In Reasonable Doubt, a political detective with an unpredictable denouement, Douglas played a district attorney who is trying to convict of crimes a young journalist played by Jesse Metcalfe.

In Stephen Sodeberg’s thriller Knockout, the actor rallied around him a brilliant ensemble cast: Gina Carano, Ewan McGregor, Chaning Tatum.

The most unexpected way, embodied by the brilliant Douglas on the screen, is the role of the entertainer Liberace in the drama Behind the Candelabra. In the role of Liberace’s lover shone … Matt Damon. How could you imagine that two such brutal guys could play gays so authentically? Of course, because they can do everything.

In 2014, Michael appeared as a cynical, fun-seeking wealthy businessman in the thriller The Survival Game. The following year, he joined the cast of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, playing the role of Hank Pym in Ant-Man.

In the action movie, released in the spring of 2017, The Secret Agent, the famous Douglas played the mentor of the heroine Noomi Rapace, John Malkovich and Toni Colette also played in the film. In 2018, the film “Ant-Man and the Wasp” was completed, in which the actor’s partners were Michael Peña, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Laurence Fishburne.

Personal life of Michael Douglas

The first wife of the actor was a girl who had nothing to do with the acting profession. Austrian Diandra Looker was the daughter of a high-ranking official, in 1977 Michael and Diandra got married. Their son Cameron was born in 1978. Relations in a couple were even, but one day Michael was “stuck” by routine, and in 1997 he left Diandra.

Michael’s firstborn, Cameron, tried his hand at acting, but without success. In 2009, he was accused of smuggling illegal substances on an especially large scale. He spent 5 years in prison.

In 1998, at the show of The Mask of Zorro, Michael Douglas saw Catherine Zeta-Jones and was so fascinated by the girl that he directly told her that he wanted to become the father of her children. It is not known what scared Katherine more then – Michael’s directness or the fact that he had not yet been officially divorced, but she refused to continue the acquaintance. But Michael was his father’s true son, and there was no bulwark that could resist him, just as Katherine did not. After six months of courtship, she gave up.

Michael and Katherine were born on the same day, they both believe that they were destined for each other by fate. In 2000, their first child, Dylan, was born, and soon the actors got married. Daughter Carys was born in 2003.

When Michael was diagnosed with cancer in 2010, Katherine did everything for him to recover and win the fight against a terrible disease. Stress and worries for a loved one affected her health, and the actress showed signs of a mental disorder. Despite the dissatisfaction of Michael, who, due to his illness, did not consider mental problems a disease at all, the spouses still managed to cope with this problem.

Michael Douglas now

At the end of 2018, Michael Douglas’ star was unveiled on the Hollywood Walk to coincide with the fiftieth anniversary of his career.

In 2018, the premiere of the Chinese drama action movie “The Planet of the Beasts” took place, in which Chinese actors starred with Douglas. The picture was not well received in Europe and America, partly due to the presence of animated footage, the amount of which seemed to many film critics to be redundant.

The comedy serial project The Kominsky Method, in which the actor plays an acting teacher, was more cordially received. For this role, the actor received another Golden Globe in January 2019.

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