Michael Douglas says his parents divorced when he was about five, and he grew up mostly in New York with his mother.
“my folks got divorced, um, at a very young age, when I was like, about five”
Person
Michael Douglas
1 episodes · 23 quoted claims
Michael Douglas says that in 1963 a beach-scene brochure drew him to the University of California, Santa Barbara.
“Now, this was 1963. I had never seen back east a two-piece bathing suit in my life, not yet on a college brochure.”
After a year off from college, Michael Douglas worked at a Mobil gas station in Westport, Connecticut, and was named Mobil man of the month.
“that's when I went to the Mobil gas station, my hometown of Westport, Connecticut, and was the Mobil man of the month.”
Michael Douglas declared theater as his major at UC Santa Barbara because it was the subject he knew most about.
“That was when I declared theater as my major and began my pursuit”
Michael Douglas says he began his acting career with severe stage fright and would vomit before going on stage.
“I could not walk onto a stage without a waste basket right off stage, which I would puke into”
Michael Douglas's stepfather William Darrett was on the board of the National Playwrights Conference in Waterford, Connecticut, where Douglas worked in summers.
“my stepfather, William Darrett, who I grew up with, was on the board of a new theater called the National Playwrights Conference in Waterford, Connecticut.”
Michael Douglas says he signed with CBS's film division and made five poorly received movies.
“CBS back then had a film division. I signed a contract, I went out to California and proceeded to make five turkeys”
Producer Quinn Martin's lawsuit against ABC led to a two-hour introductory movie and a commitment of 26 episodes for The Streets of San Francisco.
“Quinn had this lawsuit with this brand new network called ABC, and he won the lawsuit. And the result of winning the lawsuit was a two-hour introduction movie to the series”
Michael Douglas says he spent about 104 hours of television with Karl Malden on The Streets of San Francisco over five years.
“So that was five years. I did 104 hours, uh, that I spent with Carl Malden.”
Kirk Douglas had developed One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and staged it on Broadway, but the production did not succeed.
“My father had developed and gone back himself to Broadway to do the show. It hadn't worked out.”
Milos Forman flew to California and met Douglas and Saul Zaentz at Douglas's home in Benedict Canyon, where he laid out his vision for Cuckoo's Nest.
“he flew all the way out to California. And he sat down with us at my my place up in Benedict Canyon and opened the first page, and he told us exactly what he wanted to do.”
Michael Douglas says the Cuckoo's Nest producers tried to cast Gene Hackman as the lead, but he declined.
“We tried, uh, we tried to get Gene Hackman, Gene Hackman passed.”
Michael Douglas says he finally felt he had stepped out of his father's shadow in the year of Fatal Attraction followed by Wall Street, when he also won an Oscar.
“it was the year, uh, the year of, uh, of Fatal Attraction, followed by Wall Street”
Michael Douglas says the studio first wanted Debra Winger for Romancing the Stone before it settled on Kathleen Turner.
“the studio wanted Debra Winger, uh, that's another story, and, uh, and then, and then, and it worked out, and then finally the studio, you know, had met Kathleen Turner”
Michael Douglas says that on The China Syndrome he originally was not going to act, and Richard Dreyfuss was slated for the third lead role.
“originally, I wasn't gonna play the part Richard Dreyfuss was gonna play the f- the third role”
Michael Douglas says several actresses, including Colleen Dewhurst and Geraldine Page, turned down the role of Nurse Ratched in Cuckoo's Nest.
“Colleen Dewhurst, Geraldine Page, they all turned it down. They, they didn't, they didn't wanna play play the, uh, play the part.”
Michael Douglas says his mother was Bermudian and his father, Kirk Douglas, was a Russian Jew.
“my childhood, I think, is pretty interesting in terms of my mother being Bermudian and my father a Russian Jew”
After surviving cancer, Michael Douglas starred in the Liberace project directed by Steven Soderbergh and co-starring Matt Damon.
“I was really fortunate enough to have this Liberace project, uh, with Steven Soderbergh and Matt, uh, Damon”
Michael Douglas says he took the Ant-Man role because he had never made a green-screen film.
“I said, Well, you know, I've never done a green screen. I haven't done a green screen picture, so I wanna do that.”
Michael Douglas did the series The Kominsky Method with producer Chuck Lorre and co-star Alan Arkin.
“So this situation with, uh, with Chuck Lorre and Alan Arkin The Kominsky method”
Michael Douglas says an eight-episode Ben Franklin series took a full year to make, after which he realized he was deeply tired.
“the Ben Franklin series, Uh, came up 8 episodes took all year that, and after that, I realized I was tired”
Michael Douglas says he and his father have about 160 movies between them, and that his father wrote about ten books.
“Between the film in the film Industry, 160 movies. Uh, my dad, uh, was a very prolific, he wrote about 10 books”
Michael Douglas says his son was in federal prison for seven and a half years.
“Had issues with my son, he was in federal prison for 7 1/2 years,”