Michael Douglas was considered a likable, if light-
weight, leading man at the beginning of the 1980’s.
He had been famous for a celebrity father (Kirk
Douglas), a hit television show (ABC’sThe Streets of
San Francisco, in which he co-starred with Karl
Malden from 1972 to 1976), and an award-winning
motion picture (1975’sOne Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest,
which he produced). However, the cultural capital
amassed through those distinctions seemed largely
to have dissipated, and few people in the early 1980’s
took Douglas seriously as an actor. By the end of the
decade, all that had changed: He won Hollywood’s
top acting award for a role that many said epito-
mized the 1980’s.
Between 1980 and 1983, Douglas was mostly ab-
sent from the public scene, as he recovered from a
serious skiing accident. In 1984, however, he re-
turned to the limelight, co-producing and starring
in an old-fashioned but tongue-in-cheek action-
adventure,Romancing the Stone. A turning point for
his career, the film was critically praised and a box-
office hit. It revived his career both as an actor and
as a producer. He was an executive producer of
Starmanthe same year.
In 1987, Douglas broadened his acting range
from journeyman actor to respected star with two
hit motion pictures. Co-starring with Glenn Close,
Douglas portrayed weak adulterer Dan Gallagher
inFatal Attraction, which became a worldwide suc-
cess. He followed that performance by starring in
Oliver Stone’sWall Street, as devious stock manipu-
lator Gordon Gekko. For the latter role, in which he
personified some of the worst of the decade’s eco-
nomic disparities, Douglas won an Academy Award
for Best Actor. His other cinematic efforts of the de-
cade includedIt’s My Turn(1980),The Star Chamber
(1983),A Chorus Line(1985),Black Rain(1989),
andThe War of the Roses(1989). “Movies are magic,”
Douglas told Barbara Paskin ofLadies’ Home Jour-
nal. “They have brought me much more than real-
life emotions have. We all know how life is going to
end. Not movies.”Impact Although personally and professionally im-
proving in the 1980’s, Michael Douglas probably
had the biggest impact on the decade with his por-
trayal of stock trader Gordon Gekko in 1987’sWall
Street, with the memorable line that seemed to sum
up society’s fascination with the stock market: “Greed
is good.”Further Reading
Dougan, Andy.Michael Douglas: Out of the Shadows.
London: Robson Books, 2003.
Lawson, Alan.Michael Douglas. London: Robert Hale,
1993.
McGuigan, Cathleen, and Michael Reese. “A Bull
Market in Sin.”Newsweek110, no. 24 (December
14, 1987): 78-79.
Parker, John.Michael Douglas. London: Headline,
1994.
Bill KnightSee also Academy Awards; Action films; Close,
Glenn;Fatal Attraction; Film in the United States;
Television; Turner, Kathleen;Wall Street.298 Douglas, Michael The Eighties in America
Michael Douglas celebrates winning the Academy Award for Best
Actor for his performance inWall Streetat the April, 1988, cere-
mony in Los Angeles, California.(AP/Wide World Photos)