Michael Keaton

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Birthday:

5 September 1951, Coraopolis, Pennsylvania, USA

Birth Name:

Michael John Douglas

Height:

175 cm

Quirky, inventive and handsome American actor Michael Keaton first achieved major fame with his door-busting performance as fast-talking ideas man Bill Blazejowski, alongside a nerdish morgue attendant (Henry Winkler), in Night Shift (1982). He played further comedic roles in Mr. Mom (1983), Johnny Dangerously (1984), and Beetlejuice (1988), earned further acclaim for his dramatic portrayal of Bruce Wayne / Batman in Tim Burton's Batman (1989) and Batman Returns (1992), and since then, has moved easily between film genres, ranging from drama and romantic comedy to thriller and action.Keaton was born Michael John Douglas on September 5, 1951 in Coraopolis, Pennsylvannia, to Leona Elizabeth (Loftus), a homemaker, and George A. Douglas, a civil engineer and surveyor. He is of Irish, as well as English, Scottish, and German, descent. Michael studied speech for two years at Kent State, before dropping out and moving to Pittsburgh. An unsuccessful attempt at stand-up comedy led Keaton to working as a TV cameraman in a cable station, and he came to realize he wanted to work in front of the cameras. Keaton first appeared on TV in several episodes of MisteRogers' Neighborhood (1968).He left Pittsburgh and moved to Los Angeles to begin auditioning for TV. He began cropping up in popular TV shows including Maude (1972) and The Mary Tyler Moore Hour (1979). Around this time, Keaton decided to use an alternative surname to remove confusion with better-known actor Michael Douglas. After reading an article on actress Diane Keaton, he decided that Michael Keaton sounded good. His next break was scoring a co-starring role alongside Jim Belushi in the short-lived comedy series Working Stiffs (1979), which showcased his comedic talent and led to his co-starring role in Night Shift (1982). Keaton next scored the lead in the comedy hits Mr. Mom (1983), Johnny Dangerously (1984) , Gung Ho (1986), the Tim Burton horror-comedy Beetlejuice (1988), and The Dream Team (1989).Keaton's career was given another major boost when he was again cast by Tim Burton, this time as the title comic book superhero, millionaire playboy / crime-fighter Bruce Wayne, in Batman (1989). Burton cast him because he thought that Keaton was the only actor who could portray someone who has the kind of darkly obsessive personality that the character demands. To say there were howls of protest by fans of the caped crusader comic strip is an understatement! Warner Bros. was deluged with thousands of letters of complaint commenting that comedian Keaton was the wrong choice for the Caped Crusader, given his prior work and the fact that he lacked the suave, handsome features and tall, muscular physicality often attributed to the character in the comic books. However, their fears were proven wrong when Keaton turned in a sensational performance, and he held his own on screen with opponent Jack Nicholson, playing the lunatic villain, "The Joker". Keaton's dramatic work earned widespread acclaim from critics and audiences alike, and Batman (1989) became one of the most successful films of the year.Keaton remained active during the 1990s, appearing in a wide range of films. Keen to diversify his work, Keaton starred as a psychotic tenant in Pacific Heights (1990), as a hard-working cop in One Good Cop (1991), and then donned the black cape and cowl once more for Batman Returns (1992). He remained in demand during the 1990s, appearing in a wide range of films, including the star-studded Shakespearian Much Ado About Nothing (1993), the drama My Life (1993), another Ron Howard comedy The Paper (1994), with sexy Andie MacDowell in Multiplicity (1996), twice in the same role, dogged Elmore Leonard character Agent Ray Nicolette, in Jackie Brown (1997) and Out of Sight (1998). He also played a killer in the mediocre thriller Desperate Measures (1998).In the 2000s, Keaton appeared in several productions with mixed success, including Live from Baghdad (2002), First Daughter (2004), and Herbie Fully Loaded (2005). He also provided voices for characters in the animated films Cars (2006), Toy Story 3 (2010), and Minions (2015).He returned to major film roles in the 2010s, co-starring in The Other Guys (2010), RoboCop (2014) and Need for Speed (2014). Also that year, Keaton starred alongside Zach Galifianakis, Edward Norton, Emma Stone, and Naomi Watts in Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (2014), a film by 21 Grams (2003) and Biutiful (2010) director Alejandro González Iñárritu. In the film, Keaton plays Riggan Thomson, a screen actor, famous for playing the iconic titular superhero, who puts on a Broadway play based on a Raymond Carver short story, to regain his former glory. Keaton's critically praised lead performance earned him a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy, the Critics' Choice Award for Best Actor and Best Actor in a Comedy, and nominations for the Screen Actors Guild Award, British Academy Film Award, and Academy Award for Best Actor.In 2015, he played a journalist in Spotlight (2015), which, like Birdman, won the Academy Award for Best Picture. In 2016, he starred as Ray Kroc, the developer of McDonald's, in the drama The Founder (2016).He is a visiting scholar at Carnegie Mellon University. Show less «

[after interviewer Michael Parkinson commented on his birth name being Michael Douglas] Yeah, I had to change my name because there were two...Show more »

[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). Show less «

[comparing making Batman Returns (1992) to the first Batman (1989) film] In some ways this one was harder, because I felt like I was doing a...Show more »

[comparing making Batman Returns (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. Show less «

[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 ...Show more »

[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. Show less «

[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 a...Show more »

[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. Show less «

[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 Nicholso...Show more »

[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. Show less «

[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 Lond...Show more »

[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. Show less «

[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, bu...Show more »

[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. Show less «

[2011, on Night Shift (1982)] The character I invented was a combination of some people I knew and some things I made up, and afterward ther...Show more »

[2011, on Night Shift (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. Show less «

[2011, on Beetlejuice (1988)] From an art perspective, I don't know how you get better than "Beetlejuice". In terms of originality and a loo...Show more »

[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. Show less «

[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 w...Show more »

[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. Show less «

[2011, on filming Batman Returns (1992)] We got to be back home [filming in Burbank] so that made me happy. It was quite the cast with Miche...Show more »

[2011, on filming Batman Returns (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. Show less «

[2011, on Clean and Sober (1988)] The subject matter was so difficult, but oddly everyone really had fun on the shoot. One great thing about...Show more »

[2011, on Clean and Sober (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. Show less «

[2011, on Much Ado About Nothing (1993)] That's a movie where I said, "I can't do this" and it ended up being probably one of my top five ex...Show more »

[2011, on Much Ado About Nothing (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. Show less «

[2011, on filming The Paper (1994)] It's an awful lot of fun to be in an ensemble, especially when you're talking about Glenn Close, Robert ...Show more »

[2011, on filming The Paper (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. Show less «

[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...Show more »

[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. Show less «

[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...Show more »

[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. Show less «

[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.