Michael Douglas

A groundbreaking portrait of one of Hollywood’s most successful stars, from critically acclaimed and bestselling biographer Marc Eliot Through determination, inventiveness, and charisma, Michael Douglas emerged from the long shadow cast by his movie-legend father, Kirk Douglas, to become his own man and one of the film industry’s most formi­dable players. Overcoming the curse of failure that haunts the sons and daughters of Hollywood celebrities, Michael became a sensation when he successfully brought One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, starring his friend Jack Nicholson, to the screen after numerous setbacks, including his father’s own failed attempts to make it happen. This 1975 box-office phenomenon won Michael his first Oscar (the film won five total, including Best Picture), an award Kirk hadn’t won at the time, and solidified the turbulent, competitive father-son relationship that would shape Michael’s career and personal life. In the decades that followed, Michael established a reputation for taking chances on new talent and proj­ects by producing and starring in the hugely successful Romancing the Stone and Jewel of the Nile movies, while cultivating a multifaceted acting persona—edgy, rebel­lious, and a little dark—in such films as Wall Street, Fatal Attraction, Basic Instinct, and Disclosure. Yet as his career thrived, Michael’s personal life floundered, with an unhappy and tumultuous first mar­riage, rumors of infidelity (especially with leading ladies such as Kathleen Turner), and a headline-grabbing stint in rehab. Rocked by a series of tragedies, including Kirk’s strokes, his son Cameron’s incarceration, and his own fight against throat cancer, Michael has emerged trium­phant, healthy, and happy in his marriage to Catherine Zeta-Jones, a Welsh actress twenty-five years his junior, and their new young family. In Michael Douglas, Marc Eliot brings into sharp fo­cus this incredible career, complicated personal life, and legendary Hollywood family. Eliot’s fascinating portrait of the lows and remarkable highs in Michael’s life—in­cluding the thorny yet influential relationship with his father—breaks boundaries in understanding the life and work of a true American film star.

A “gripping" memoir (Rolling Stone) of one man’s descent into the depths of addiction and self-destruction—and his successful renewal of family ties that had become almost irreparably frayed. On the surface, Cameron Douglas had everything: descended from Hollywood royalty (son of Michael Douglas, grandson of Kirk Douglas), he was born into a life of wealth, privilege, and comfort. But by the age of thirty, he had become a drug addict, a thief, and—after a DEA drug bust—a convicted drug dealer sentenced to five years in prison, with another five years added while he was incarcerated. Through supreme willpower, a belief in himself, and a steely desire to alter his life’s path, Douglas began to reverse his trajectory, to understand and deal with the psychological turmoil that tormented him for years, and to prepare for what would be a profoundly challenging but successful reentry into society at large.

In the shadow of his father Kirk's overpowering fame, Michael Douglas forged a career for himself and became recognised in his own right as an award-winning actor and producer. But fame has taken its toll on Michael's personal life. His struggles with sexual addiction, his treatment for alcoholism and drug dependency and the break-up of his first marriage show another side to Michael's success. In 2010, his troubled past came back to haunt him when Cameron, his eldest son, was sentenced to five years in prison for drug dealing. Yet, despite a rocky road, Michael has found happiness later in life. His marriage to Catherine Zeta Jones meant a second shot at fatherhood and gave him strength following a devastating diagnosis of advanced throat cancer at the age of 65. This is the compelling and remarkable story of a Hollywood son who waged a battle against the odds to achieve his fame and fortune, and has kept on fighting with every challenge he faces.

The late film icon and screen legend Kirk Douglas was married to Anne Buydens for more than six decades. Here they both look back on a lifetime filled with drama both on and off the screen. Sharing priceless correspondence with each other as well as the celebrities and world leaders they called friends, Kirk and Anne is a candid portrayal of the pleasures and pitfalls of a Hollywood life lived in the public eye. Compiled from Anne's private archive of letters and photographs, this is an intimate glimpse into the Douglases' courtship and marriage set against the backdrop of Kirk's screen triumphs, including The Vikings, Lust For Life, Paths of Glory, and Spartacus. The letters themselves, as well as Kirk and Anne's vivid descriptions of their experiences, reveal remarkable insight and anecdotes about the legendary figures they knew so well, including Lauren Bacall, Frank Sinatra, Burt Lancaster, Elizabeth Taylor, John Wayne, the Kennedys, and the Reagans. Filled with photos from film sets, private moments, and public events, Kirk and Anne details the adventurous, oftentimes comic, and poignant reality behind the glamour of a Hollywood marriage.

A wild, “entertaining—slick and cool and savvy” novel of the sixties drug culture from the #1 bestselling author of Jurassic Park and his brother (The New York Times). The suitcase looks like a standard weekend bag. But like the man who carries it, it isn’t what it seems. Lined with tinfoil to mask the smell, it is a smuggler’s bag and will soon be filled to the brim with marijuana bricks. The smuggler is a Harvard student who has come to California to make his fortune. He hopes to score not just with his connection but with his new girlfriend, a Golden State beauty with an appetite for fine weed. When the deal goes south, she takes the fall, and a crooked FBI agent swipes half the stash. To free his girl, this pothead will have to make the deal of a lifetime. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Michael Crichton including rare images from the author’s estate.

An introduction to the four elements of earth, water, fire, and air as living presences. A poetic and pragmatic tour through the twelve zodiac signs as active expressions of the elements.

The eldest son of the actor Kirk Douglas, Michael Douglas suffered the trauma of his parents' divorce, living in New York with his mother and spending holidays with Kirk in Hollywood. This biography looks at Michael's film career as well as his private life.

With the simple power and astonishing candor that made his 1988 autobiography, The Ragman's Son, a number one international bestseller, Kirk Douglas now shares his quest for spirituality and Jewish identity -- and his heroic fight to overcome crippling injuries and a devastating stroke. On February 13, 1991, at the age of seventy-four, Kirk Douglas, star of such major motion-picture classics as Champion, Spartacus, and Paths of Glory, was in a helicopter crash, in which two people died and he himself sustained severe back injuries. As he lay in the hospital recovering, he kept wondering: Why had two younger men died while he, who had already lived his life fully, survived? The question drove this son of a Russian-Jewish ragman to a search for his roots and on a long journey of self-discovery -- a quest not only for the meaning of life and his own relationship with God, but for his own identity as a Jew. Through the study of the Bible, Kirk Douglas found a new spirituality and purpose. His newfound faith deeply enriched his relationship with his own children and taught him -- a man who had always been famously demanding and impatient -- to listen to others and, above all, to hear his own inner voice. Told with warmth, wit, much humor, and deep passion, Climbing the Mountain is inspirational in the very best sense of the word.

The Unauthorised BiographyMichael Douglas is one of the last of the great movie stars. This man - with one of the most recognisable faces on the planet - has proved that he can 'play the game' and win, like many of the characters he has portrayed. Yet along the way he has had to content with the looming presence of his father, the celebrated actor Kirk Douglas, and much personal torment.Douglas stepped out of his father's shadow to become the star of box-office smashes such as Romancing the Stone, Fatal Attraction, Wall Street and Basic Instinct. He is also a powerful producer, responsible for One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, The China Syndrome, Face/Off and other hits. He has won Oscars in both of his roles.In this long-overdue biography, Andy Dougan explores the factors that have made Michael Douglas into such a complex, driven and fascinating man. The divorce of his parents, his feelings of inadequacy, the failure of his first marriage, his alcohol abuse and his tabloid reputation as a 'sex addict' are all considered, as are his new life with Catherine Zeta-Jones, their son and his recent critically acclaimed acting roles.In researching this unauthorised book Andy Dougan has interviewed a number of Douglas's circle - including his closest friend, Danny De Vito. The author also draws on his past extensive interviews with Douglas himself.

Soon to be a streaming series ● In this dazzling work of history, a Pulitzer Prize-winning author follows Benjamin Franklin to France for the crowning achievement of his career In December of 1776 a small boat delivered an old man to France." So begins an enthralling narrative account of how Benjamin Franklin--seventy years old, without any diplomatic training, and possessed of the most rudimentary French--convinced France, an absolute monarchy, to underwrite America's experiment in democracy. When Franklin stepped onto French soil, he well understood he was embarking on the greatest gamble of his career. By virtue of fame, charisma, and ingenuity, Franklin outmaneuvered British spies, French informers, and hostile colleagues; engineered the Franco-American alliance of 1778; and helped to negotiate the peace of 1783. The eight-year French mission stands not only as Franklin's most vital service to his country but as the most revealing of the man. In A Great Improvisation, Stacy Schiff draws from new and little-known sources to illuminate the least-explored part of Franklin's life. Here is an unfamiliar, unforgettable chapter of the Revolution, a rousing tale of American infighting, and the treacherous backroom dealings at Versailles that would propel George Washington from near decimation at Valley Forge to victory at Yorktown. From these pages emerge a particularly human and yet fiercely determined Founding Father, as well as a profound sense of how fragile, improvisational, and international was our country's bid for independence.