Source : PERTHNOW NEWS
Michael Douglas has revealed crippling stage fright once left him vomiting into a wastebasket before performances – despite going on to become one of Hollywood’s most celebrated leading men.
The 82-year-old Wall Street and Fatal Attraction star has recalled his unlikely route into acting while promoting his newly released memoir, One Helluva Ride.
Michael, the son of Hollywood legend Kirk Douglas and actor Diana Douglas, initially resisted following his parents into the profession and has admitted resenting the amount of time his father spent away from the family pursuing his career. But he eventually turned to theatre while studying at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Michael told People: “It was only when I was in (the University of California, Santa Barbara) – I was kind of a hippie, having a good time – and they said, ‘Look, you’ve got to declare a major’.
“I thought, ‘What I know best is theatre’. Never acted or anything, had no desire, and so slowly started from there.”
His decision hardly resulted in instant confidence.
Michael said: “I had terrible stage fright. Really. I used to have a wastebasket off stage which I’d puke in before I go on.
“I was wondering how or why did I stay with this because it was painful. It was really painful.”
Michael recalled his father attending a college production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, in which the young actor played a messenger.
He said: “My entrance in the show was coming down the aisle into the audience and stopping right by my father’s chair and delivering this messenger speech.
“(I) just whipped through it as fast as I could.”
Michael said Kirk later visited him backstage and delivered a characteristically direct assessment.
He admitted: “Dad came backstage afterwards and said, ‘Michael, you were terrible’. I think he was relieved.”
The actor’s stage fright continued after college.
At the suggestion of his mother and stepfather, Michael began studying under acting teacher Wynn Handman, whose students also included James Caan, Christopher Walken and Dustin Hoffman.
Michael writes in One Helluva Ride: “At the theatre we used, the front-row seats came right up to the edge of the stage. At first, this was terrifying for me, but eventually it helped me overcome my self-doubt and connect with the audience.”
He said Wynn recognised the effect of growing up in the shadow of Kirk, who became one of Hollywood’s defining stars through films including Spartacus.
Michael writes Wynn told him: “Would you like me to tell your mom how good you are? I’d really love to. Because you’re good, Michael.”
Michael added: “For the first time in my life, I started to enjoy going to ‘school’. I was excited to go to class, not terrified. Sometimes all you need is that pat on the back at the right time.”
His breakthrough television role came as Inspector Steve Keller in The Streets of San Francisco, before he established himself as a producer by helping bring One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest to the screen.
The film won five Academy Awards, including best picture, earning Michael his first Oscar as a producer.
His acting career later produced defining roles including adventurer Jack Colton in Romancing the Stone, ruthless financier Gordon Gekko in Wall Street and married lawyer Dan Gallagher in Fatal Attraction.
He won the best actor Oscar for Wall Street, with Gordon’s “greed is good” speech becoming one of the most recognisable moments of his career.
Michael told People working on Fatal Attraction ultimately transformed his understanding of acting after someone told him “the camera can tell when you’re lying”.
He said: “I realised all of a sudden, ‘Wait a minute. You can say anything. Acting is about life. It’s how good of a liar are you because you can’t live every moment. It’s a craft’.
“Once I got that understanding, then it made it so much more joyful.”
Michael’s memoir, released on Tuesday (06.10.26), has also generated headlines over the A-lister’s account of his relationship with Romancing the Stone co-star Kathleen Turner, 72.
Michael writes the pair had an affair while making the 1984 adventure film, after both had previously denied that their relationship became romantic.
