Michael Douglas shot to fame in The Streets of San Francisco, won the Oscar for producing One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, and won Best Actor for his iconic performance as Gordon Gekko in Wall Street. He appeared in Basic Instinct, and most recently, the Ant-Man films and The Kominsky Method. So, let’s get to know the untold story of Michael Douglas, his wife, Welsh actress Catherine Zeta-Jones, and his children.

Hollywood Royalty

Michael Kirk Douglas was born to Hollywood royalty in New Brunswick, New Jersey, on September 25th, 1944. His father was legendary screen actor Kirk Douglas, star of Spartacus. Kirk’s birth name was Issur Danielovitch, and his Jewish parents immigrated to the USA from the Russian Empire, modern-day Belarus.

Dana Evans & Kahleah Copper

Michael’s mom was British actress Diana Dill, who hailed from Bermuda. You may know her for playing Martha Evans from Days of Our Lives or Peg from the hilarious Steve Martin film Planes, Trains, and Automobiles.

His Parents Divorce

When Michael was born, Kirk Douglas hadn’t appeared on the silver screen. He made his film debut in The Strange Love of Martha Ivers when Michael was two years old. However, when Michael was seven years old and his younger brother Joel was four, his parents divorced in 1951.

Two years later, Kirk met producer Anne Buydens (pictured), while filming 1953’s Act of Love. The two married the following year and went on to have two boys, Peter and Eric Douglas, Michael’s half-brothers.

Michael’s Education

Michael attended Allen-Stevenson School, a private boys’ elementary school in New York City, before attending Eaglebrook School in Deerfield, Massachusetts, and Choate Preparatory School in Wallingford, Connecticut. The youngster picked up his filmmaking education by watching his ever-present father make classic films like The Vikings and Stanley Kubrick’s Paths of Glory and Spartacus.

Following in his parent’s footsteps, Michael studied drama at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and graduated with a B.A. in 1968. He continued his acting education at New York’s American Place Theater.

Early Career

Michael’s first TV role was in a 1969 CBS Playhouse special, The Experiment, in which he was credited as “M.K. Douglas.” That November, he set up his first production company, Bigstick Productions, Ltd.

Douglas made his screen debut in the 1969 Vietnam-era antiwar film Hail, Hero!, which earned him a nomination for the Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Male Newcomer. Over the next three years, he appeared in Adam at 6 A.M., Summertree, and Disney’s Napoleon and Samantha.

Romancing the Stone

In 1980, Michael had a serious skiing accident that sidelined his career for three years. His next big success was playing exotic bird smuggler Jack T. Colton in 1984’s Romancing the Stone. He and Kathleen Turner go on an Indiana Jones-style adventure in Colombia’s jungles.

The film was so popular that a sequel, The Jewel of the Nile, came out the following year. Douglas was happy to play a rugged Harrison Ford-like leading man, but he wanted to get his teeth into a more dark, edgy role.

Wall Street

In 1987, Oliver Stone cast Douglas in his crime drama Wall Street. The film tells the tale of Bud Fox — played by Charlie Sheen — a green-gilled young stockbroker who gets taken under the wing of an unscrupulous Wall Street player and corporate raider named Gordon Gekko.

Wall Street portrayed everything wrong with 1980s yuppie excesses, with Gordon Gekko famously declaring, “Greed, for lack of a better word, is good.” The film was a huge success, but Michael almost lost out on the role of his lifetime…

Gordon Gekko

Writer-director Oliver Stone originally wanted Richard Gere to play Gordon Gekko, but the studio wanted Warren Beatty. Stone recalls, “I was warned by everyone in Hollywood that Michael couldn’t act.” But when it came to filming, Stone was blown away, saying, “When he’s acting, he gives it his all.”

Stone added he saw “that villain quality” in Douglas and that he “always thought he was a smart businessman.” Michael also admitted struggling with Gekko’s long speeches, but he won the Academy Award for Best Actor anyway!

Fatal Attraction

Hot off the tail of his success playing Gordon Gekko in Wall Street, Douglas went from villain to victim in Adrian Lyne’s 1987 thriller Fatal Attraction. After his character, Dan Gallagher, has a one-night stand with bunny-boiler Alex Forrest (Glenn Close, pictured, left), she stalks him and his family.

Michael followed this up with 1989’s neo-noir action thriller Black Rain. The same year, he reteamed with Romancing the Stone co-star Kathleen Turner to star in the satirical black comedy The War of the Roses.

Basic Instinct

After appearing in Flatliners and several box-office flops like Stone Cold, Double Impact, Eyes of an Angel, Shining Through, and Radio Flyer, Michael was back to his best in Paul Verhoeven’s erotic thriller Basic Instinct. And once again, he was back on the streets of San Francisco, playing another police homicide detective.

This time, Detective Nick Curran investigates a wealthy rock star’s homicide but becomes entangled in a passionate relationship with a seductive crime writer and prime suspect Catherine Tramell, played by the gorgeous Sharon Stone.

Falling Down

Shooting Falling Down against the backdrop of the real-life 1992 Los Angeles, Douglas gave his most unhinged performance playing William “D-Fens” Foster. Experiencing the worst day of his life, the divorced, unemployed defense engineer slowly loses his mind at the state of America as he tries to cross Los Angeles to get home in time for his daughter’s birthday.

The former brow-beaten ordinary Joe turns psycho and takes on a Korean store owner, Whammyburger employees, gangbangers, and the police with an ever-increasing arsenal, ending with a rocket launcher!