Michael Douglas

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Family

American actor, director and producer, from a noted family as the first son of actor Kirk Douglas. Douglas was awarded an Oscar in 1975 as producer of the year's best picture "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" and won another Oscar in 1988 as best actor in "Wall Street." Kirk and Diana Dill Douglas divorced when Michael was five years old. He and his younger brother, Joel stayed with their mother in Westport, Connecticut where she remarried. His mother remembers Michael as a happy child but after her divorce from his father he displayed behavioral problems. After a reassuring visit to a child psychologist, Michael would grow up in an Ivy League environment attending Choate, a private New England school. He spent school holidays with his father in Hollywood and was raised by his mother and stepfather. He had no interest in drama at school and talked to his mother about becoming something sensible like a lawyer, businessman, or real estate agent. Upon graduation from Choate, he enrolled at the University of California, Santa Barbara in 1963. Living the life of a hippie, he roomed in a commune in the hills of Santa Barbara. He loved to race hot rods and bikes, fly glider planes and dive off high places all for the adrenaline rush. In his third year, he reluctantly chose to major in drama because he felt the courses were easier. By taking production jobs like assistant to a cutter, Douglas was able to learn about show business. He went to New York to take more acting lessons and appeared in off-Broadway plays. Returning to Hollywood, he made his debut in "Hail, Hero," 1969 and fell in love with actress Brenda Vaccaro establishing a five-year relationship. His big break came in the TV series, "Streets of San Francisco." Quitting four years into the series he produced the movie "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," winning five Academy Awards in 1975, including best picture. He followed his success with his many other films including "China Syndrome," " Romancing the Stone" and "War of the Roses." He made a major hit with the picture, "Fatal Attraction" and won his second Oscar as Best Actor in "Wall Street" on 4/11/1988. Douglas continued to play characters that stirred sexual tensions in the movies from "Basic Instinct" to "Disclosure." He is a multimillionaire businessman who owns his own production company, but he will be the first to say that he considers himself lazy, unambitious, and carries the fondest memories of life as a beach bum in the early 60s. In 1977, Douglas met Georgetown University student Diandra Luker (born 4/16/1956) at a Washington party. He was 32 and she was the 19-year-old daughter of an Austrian diplomat. Unimpressed by his acting career, she fell in love with him. He proposed in nine days and they married six weeks later. The couple's son Cameron was born in 1980. After 18 years of marriage, Diandra filed for divorce in July 1995 for joint custody of their son. The couple had separated and then reunited twice but the philandering of her husband broke up their marriage. The couple owned property in Santa Barbara, Aspen, Manhattan and Majorica, Spain. Diandra, however, became the sole owner of the properties in Santa Barbara, Aspen, and Spain after a $45 million divorce judgment was handed down against Douglas. In 1992, he entered a Tucson rehab center for alcohol abuse. By spring 1999, Douglas, 55 admitted to a relationship with actress Catherine Zeta-Jones, 30 and they vacationed together in June at the same time as his divorce was finalized from a 22-year marriage. On 8/08/00 in Los Angeles, they welcomed their son, Dylan Michael at 7 lb., 7 oz. They married at a $1.5 million extravaganza with 350 guests on 11/18/2000, Manhattan, NY. The couple welcomed their second child, Carys, on April 21, 2003. Michael's half-brother Eric Douglas was found dead in his apartment on July 6, 2004. In mid-August 2010 he announced that he has a cancerous throat tumor and will begin treatment. Link to Wikipedia biography