Michael Douglas has had one heck of a career, but it turns out that the acting legend almost took a different path in life from a very early age. And it was for one very specific reason.
Douglas grew up moving between Hollywood and the East Coast, with his father, three-time Oscar nominee and Spartacus icon Kirk Douglas, and actress Diana Dill having split when he was very young. And specifically, with his father, Douglas explained that he was often distracted by his acting career, visiting movie sets and attending parties with other celebrities.
Because of that, as well as seeing how much his father was away, he didn’t want to become an actor.
“I resented it,” he told PEOPLE in this week’s cover story.
However, he couldn’t stay away, getting his start in his late 20s with a lead role on the ABC drama The Streets of San Francisco. He then went on to produce the hit movie “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” which won an Oscar when Douglas was 31 years old. He also won an Oscar for his role as Gordon Gekko in Wall Street.
In his new memoir, Douglas also reflects on his relationship with his father and dealing with the “weight of his legacy.”
“He was a Superman — and for any kid, you would just look at your dad and say, ‘How could I ever be the man that he is?’ I dealt with it and his overwhelming presence and pressure by closing down,” he explained.
Kirk Douglas Survived A Helicopter Crash In 1991
In 1991, Kirk Douglas was involved in a helicopter crash that claimed the lives of two men. He was one of the three survivors and wrote about it in his 2000 memoir Climbing the Mountain: My Search for Meaning, in which he said that it became “the most important day of my life.”
The helicopter was being flown by Kirk’s friend, but it collided with a Pitts aerobatic plane that was taxiing down the runway in a touch-and-go safety exercise.
“I didn’t know that from this day forward I would be asking: Why did they die? Why was I alive?,” he wrote in the book.
In his new book, Michael Douglas also reflected on this, saying that his father “completely changed” following the helicopter crash as well as the stroke he suffered shortly after.
“Unfortunately, actors are known for being fairly self-involved. Dad’s compassion for his family, for the world, took over, and a new person evolved [along with] a vulnerability. We enjoyed and savored the third act of Dad’s life. It brought us a lot closer,” Michael explained.
Michael Douglas Reveals Why He Decided to Write A Memoir
Douglas is releasing a memoir titled “One Helluva Ride,” with the name symbolizing the fact that his life “was a roller coaster starting from childhood,” according to PEOPLE.
And while the book covers high highest moments in life, it also details the lower parts.
“Life is messy, and therefore so are some parts of this book,” he added.
However, it turns out that Douglas never intended to release a memoir, but chose to do so because of the legacy he hopes to leave behind.
“I guess it comes with hitting your 80s and looking at the legacy that my father and I have as two generations — and about 160 or 170 movies in over 80 years. So that was an important part. I have grandchildren now, 8 and 5 [Cameron’s children Lua and Ryder]. They have a little history of their grandfather. And I realized it was really helpful to help me remember a lot of things which I had forgotten,” Douglas explained.
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Michael Douglas Nearly Passed on Acting Before His Oscar-Winning Career