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 formi�dable 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 proj�ects by producing and starring in the hugely successful Romancing the Stone and Jewel of the Nile movies, while cultivating a multifaceted acting persona�edgy, rebel�lious, 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 mar�riage, 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 trium�phant, 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 fo�cus this incredible career, complicated personal life, and legendary Hollywood family. Eliot�s fascinating portrait of the lows and remarkable highs in Michael�s life�in�cluding the thorny yet influential relationship with his father�breaks boundaries in understanding the life and work of a true American film star.