Overview (4)

Born September 5, 1951 in Coraopolis, Pennsylvania, USA Birth Name Michael John Douglas Nicknames Michael Douglas

Keats

Dougie Height 5' 9" (1.75 m)

Mini Bio (1)

Spouse (1)

Trade Mark (1)

Wild hyper-kinetic energy in comedies



Trivia (88)



When he realized he needed to change his name to join the union, he was in the K's for surnames and thought it inoffensive so chose Keaton. It is a misconception that it was after Diane Keaton



Was in a relationship with Courteney Cox from 1989-95.

Has a home in Pacific Palisades (CA) plus ranches in Santa Barbara (CA) and Montana. The 1000-acre Montana ranch, where he grows hay and raises cattle, features a four-bedroom cedar-and-stone ranch house.





Tim Burton cast him in the title role of Batman (1989) because he thought that Keaton was the only actor who could believably portray someone who has the kind of darkly obsessive personality that the character has. There was a great deal of fan anger over his selection, forcing the studio to release an advance trailer both to show that Keaton could do the role well and that the movie would not be a campy parody like the television series Batman (1966).

Attended and graduated from Montour High School in Robinson Township, PA.



Is the youngest of seven siblings. Has three brothers and three sisters.





Decided to change his name when he began acting because there was already a Michael Douglas in movies and a Mike Douglas in broadcasting. While he uses a stage name, he has never legally changed his name to Michael Keaton.

Is a Second City alumnus - a member of the Los Angeles branch.





According to Mike Myers on Revealed with Jules Asner (2001), Keaton saw him perform at Second City Toronto. After the show ended, Keaton went to personally congratulate Myers and said, "Keep up the great work." Myers would soon work with Keaton on an episode of Saturday Night Live (1975) when Keaton was guest host.



His son, Sean Douglas , plays keyboard for a band called "The Hatch".



Has appeared with the late Christopher Reeve in Sprachlos (1994). Keaton and Reeve played DC Comics' two most iconic characters, Batman and Superman.



He was originally to play the role of Dr. Jack Shephard on the television series Lost (2004), with the understanding that the character would be killed off early on in the series. Keaton later had to walk away from the role when the creators decided not to kill off the doctor. Matthew Fox ended up playing the character.



An avid fan of the Pittsburgh Steelers, he grew up about five miles from former Steelers coach Bill Cowher 's hometown of Crafton, PA.

Enjoys snowboarding, golf, mountain biking, fly-fishing and riding horses on his California and Montana ranches.



Is the fourth--and shortest--actor to play Bruce Wayne/Batman.



His father had English, Scottish, Scots-Irish/Northern Irish, and German ancestry, while his mother was from an Irish family.





When asked in an interview which historical figure he wished he could play, his choice was Hall of Fame baseball player Ted Williams



Is an avid news junkie and at one point had considered a career in journalism. Has played a journalist in three films: Schlagzeilen (1994), Live aus Bagdad (2002) and Spotlight (2015).



Has appeared with Geena Davis in Beetlejuice (1988) and Sprachlos (1994), and had he accepted the lead role in Die Fliege (1986), this would be their third film (and the first they would be making together).

He was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6931 Hollywood Blvd. on July 28, 2016.





He was awarded Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters by French culture minister Fleur Pellerin on January 18, 2016.



A Democrat, he endorsed President Barack Obama for re-election in 2012 and Sen. Bernie Sanders for the Democratic nomination in 2016.



He was considered for the role of Harry Belafonte in Harry und Sally (1989), which went to Billy Crystal



He was considered for the role of Andrew Beckett in Philadelphia (1993), which went to Tom Hanks



He was considered for the role of Jack Traven in Speed (1994), which went to Keanu Reeves



He was offered the male lead in Die Piratenbraut (1995), which went to Matthew Modine

He worked on a Navajo reservation in New Mexico when he was age 21.





Is a huge fan of Katy Perry



He was considered for the role of Nick Conklin in Black Rain (1989) which went to Michael Douglas



He was considered for Josh Baskin in Big (1988).



He was considered for King Koopa in Super Mario Bros. (1993).

In the 1980s, Keaton bought a ranch near Big Timber, Montana, where he spends much of his time.





Was considered for the role of Lt. Col. Kazinski in Jarhead - Willkommen im Dreck (2005).



During his appearance on the WTF Podcast with Marc Maron, he stated that he has never watched the completed version of Batmans Rückkehr (1992). He went on to explain that he only took the role because he needed money for a real-estate deal.



Was considered for the role of Jack Crawford in Das Schweigen der Lämmer (1991).



He was considered for Alan Parrish in Jumanji (1995).



He was considered for Phil Connors in ... und täglich grüßt das Murmeltier (1993), but was deemed "too nice" for the role.



He was originally cast in the role of Sean Devine in Mystic River (2003) and filmed some scenes but he and director Clint Eastwood had creative differences on the project and Keaton opted to leave the film.



Keaton is a Democrat. He endorsed President Barack Obama for re-election in 2012 and Senator Bernie Sanders for the Democratic nomination in 2016.



Contrary to popular belief, he is not related to Buster Keaton or Diane Keaton . Nor did he name himself after them. He needed an alternate last name, so he went through a list of possible surnames and when he got to the "K's," he decided "Keaton" sounded inoffensive enough.

He was named Officer of Order of Arts and Letters in France on January 18, 2016.





He was considered for the role of Truman Gates in Ruf nach Vergeltung (1989) that went to Patrick Swayze



He had a relationship with Courteney Cox from 1989-95.

A longtime Pittsburgh resident and fan of its sports teams, negotiated a break in his Batman movie contract in case the Pirates made the playoffs that year, although they ultimately did not. He also wrote an ESPN blog on the Pirates during the final months of their 2013 season.





He was considered for the lead role in Halbblut Thunderheart (1992) that went to Val Kilmer , who replaced him as Batman.



He was considered for the role of Lt. Gabriel Cash in Tango und Cash (1989) that went to Kurt Russell



He was considered for the role of James Halliday in Ready Player One (2018) that went to Mark Rylance



He was originally cast in the lead role in Der Schein-Heilige (1992), but dropped out. Steve Martin replaced him.



He was considered for the role of Cyrus "The Virus" Grissom in Con Air (1997) that went to John Malkovich

Of Clan Douglas.



Personal Quotes (21)



[after interviewer Michael Parkinson commented on his birth name being Michael Douglas] Yeah, I had to change my name because there were two other actors registered at Equity with that name. One of them is doing quite well from what I understand, the other is making cheap porn movies--like Basic Instinct (1992).



[comparing making Batmans Rückkehr (1992) to the first Batman (1989) film] In some ways this one was harder, because I felt like I was doing an impersonation of myself. Which, aside from being nearly impossible, is really weird.



[on his decision not to reprise his role as Batman in Batman Forever (1995)] I was waiting in line for another movie and just kind of poked my head in . . . watched about 10 minutes. I saw enough to know that I made the right decision.



[When asked what he thought of Batman Begins (2005) before its release] My prediction, I don't know anything about it, but I feel this way about it. It's gonna be good, because he's a really good actor [ Christian Bale ] and that's a really good director [ Christopher Nolan ]. And they've had years and years and years, and hundreds of millions of dollars, or at least tens of millions of dollars to figure it out. I say it's gonna be good. I picture it's gonna be good. And also, I swear to God it's not an "I told you so", it's maybe an interesting thing, that when I didn't like the third script . . . I just said "I really don't like this, and I don't want to do it", 'cause what I wanted to do, is what I'm told and I don't know if this is true yet so don't hold me to this until I see it, but I'm told it's more a prequel. And that was what I thought would've been a hip way to go the third time. This guy is so endlessly fascinating potentially, why not go and see how he got there.



[when asked if he was ever offered a villain role in a superhero film] No, but it would be fun. I don't think I'd take Jack's [ Jack Nicholson ] stance on it. I think it'd be fun because those are the roles where you get to chew it up. I'll always stand by the first "Batman". Even for its imperfections, people will never know how hard that movie was to do. A lot of that still holds up.



[on filming Batman (1989) in London] It was a lonely time for me, which was great for the character, I suppose. I would run at night in London just trying to get tired enough so I could sleep. I didn't talk to people much. My little boy was a toddler, and the woman I was married to at the time, we were not together but we were trying to figure it out and get back together. It was me in London, alone, and my sleep during that whole movie was never right. As often as I could, I was getting on the Concorde and trying to get back to spend some time with my kid . . . It was an extremely difficult undertaking and [ Tim Burton ] os a shy guy, especially back then, and there was so much pressure. We were in England for a long time shooting at Pinewood and it was long, difficult nights in that dank, dark, cold place, and we never knew if it was really working. There was no guarantee that any of this was going to play correctly when it was all said and done. There had never been a movie like it before. There was a lot of risk, too, with Jack [ Jack Nicholson ] looking the way he did and me stepping out in this new way. The pressure was on everybody. You could feel it.

[2011, on his work ethic] I played a lot of sports when I was a kid so I get in that ballgame mindset of being really, really respectful, but at same time saying to yourself, "Don't back down a single inch, hang with these guys if you can." If they throw it high and tight you have to stand in there, you can't take yourself out of that moment.





[2011, on Nightshift - Das Leichenhaus flippt völlig aus (1982)] The character I invented was a combination of some people I knew and some things I made up, and afterward there [were other projects and offers] that would have meant trying to repeat that over and over, to be the "glib young man", whatever that is, but that held no interest for me. I literally thought the idea of all this, when you do it for a living, is to play a lot of different things. If you do the same thing over and over, that will eventually start to close in on you.



[2011, on Beetlejuice (1988)] From an art perspective, I don't know how you get better than "Beetlejuice". In terms of originality and a look, it's 100% unique. If you consider the process of taking something from someone's mind--meaning Tim Burton ]--and putting it on the screen, I think that movie is incomparable.



[2011, on playing Beetlejuice] I wanted him to be pure electricity, that's why the hair just sticks out. At my house, I started creating a walk and a voice. I got some teeth. I wanted to be scary in the look and then use the voice to add a dash of goofiness that, in a way, would make it even scarier. I wanted something kind of moldy to it, too. [ Tim Burton ] had the striped-suit idea and we added the big eyes. I think that movie will go forever because it's 100% original.



[2011, on filming Batmans Rückkehr (1992)] We got to be back home [filming in Burbank] so that made me happy. It was quite the cast with Michelle Pfeiffer and Danny DeVito and everyone. It wasn't as satisfying to me when I saw it, but maybe that's because the bar was set so high on the first one. I think I only watched it one time. I knew we were in trouble in talks for the third one when certain people started the conversation with "Why does it have to be so dark?" "Why does he have to be so depressed?" "Shouldn't there be more color in this thing?" I knew I was headed for trouble and that it wasn't a road I was going to go down.



[2011, on Süchtig (1988)] The subject matter was so difficult, but oddly everyone really had fun on the shoot. One great thing about being an actor, too, is that if you have a pulse you learn something. That's one of the great joys and bonuses of it. You're forced to ask certain questions.



[2011, on William Shakespeare's Viel Lärm um nichts (1993)] That's a movie where I said, "I can't do this" and it ended up being probably one of my top five experiences ever. I had to find a way in; I didn't really know what to do, quite frankly . . . In the end, [ Kenneth Branagh ] didn't get scared off by my unorthodox approach, he embraced it and was really hands-on, thankfully. It was literally like acting in another language. I had taken maybe one two-day Shakespearean class in my life, so I had no knowledge.



[2011, on filming Schlagzeilen (1994)] It's an awful lot of fun to be in an ensemble, especially when you're talking about Glenn Close Robert Duvall and that level of actor. It was also the first time I met Duvall. People were nervous on the set when he was coming in; he's a presence, somebody to [reckon] with. I just loved it. I had a ball being there with him. It felt like the first time I acted with Jack Nicholson . These guys are in their very nature larger-than-life personalities, and then they're great actors on top of that and then they're iconic on top of that.



[2011, on his life as an actor] I never saw what I did for a living as who I am. But if there's a job in the world where that can get blurry, this is the one. The line gets really blurry for a lot of people, and for understandable reasons just as you go through life and this business. You don't have to be especially weak to become extremely self-involved in this business, and I just never wanted to go down that road . . . Alan Arkin said to me once that he wanted to have a really big life and a really good career. And I think that's really sane.



[on the backlash over his casting in Batman (1989)] When they hung me in effigy, that was, for me, harsh.



[on Michelle Pfeiffer ] What impressed me about Michelle is that she's a California beach chick, no elevated education, but when you're smart you just get smarter.

[on being asked if he got jealous when other actors played Batman] No. Do you know why? Because I'm Batman. I'm very secure in that.





[Paying tribute to Michael Gough ] To Mick--my butler, my confidant, my friend, my Alfred. I love you. God bless.

I never really thought about being famous. I always wanted to be good. That's all I really ever wanted to be, was good at what I did. When I go to work, I want to see how good I can get. And that's the great thing about my job - it's a never-ending quest.



I've taken movies for the money in order not to have to take movies for the money.



Salary (2)