MICHAEL KEATON
Birth Name: Michael John Douglas
Date of Birth: September 9, 1951
Michael Keaton was born the youngest of seven children in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
A young child with a vivid imagination, Keaton seemed to enjoy playing make-believe
more then just living the average life of an east coast kid.
He dropped out of Kent State after his sophomore year in 1972 to pursue other venues;
first taking a job as a stagehand at a local PBS station and eventually starting his
career as a technical crew person on the set of Mister Rogers Neighborhood, and even
played the part of Black-and-White Panda.
From then on, Keaton had a limited career in television, from his fifteen seconds
of fame as a bank robber on Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman to being part of an ensemble
cast of great actors such as Mary Tyler Moore and Swoozie Kurtz on Mary's self titled
variety show. In the late seventies Keaton and Jim Belushi starred on Working Stiffs;
a show that was directed by Penny Marshall, received great reviews and had all the
makings of a hit, except for the fact that it had no viewers and was canceled after
six episodes.
In 1982, Keaton almost lost the first big movie role he ever had, due to the fact
that he was too manic, in the movie Night Shift, co-starring Henry Winkler and
Shelley Long. The following year, Keaton went on to make one of the movies he is
best known for, Mr. Mom.
After turning down the role Tom Hanks made famous in Splash, Keaton went on to
star as a funny gangster in Johnny Dangerously, a car maker in Gung Ho, a hockey
player in Touch and Go and a con artist in The Squeeze. None were box office
successes and could have ended a career that was just beginning, but in 1988,
Keaton made a little movie titled Beetlejuice which got his career back on
track. He then followed with a dramatic turn as an addict in Clean and Sober.
Keaton's acting ability in both films won him the Best Actor award from the
National Society of Film Critics.
Then it was back to the funny farm for The Dream Team in which Keaton played an escaped mental patient with a history of violence, who also claimed to have
built the World Trade Center and raced in the Indy.
When Keaton was cast as the caped crusader in Tim Burton¹s remake of Batman in 1989, no one thought he could play the part seriously, but critics were proved
wrong when the film became the number one film of the year.
Now a certified star, he tried a different turn playing a psychotic madman in Pacific Heights (1990) before going on to make One Good Cop (1991) Batman
Returns (1992), Much Ado About Nothing, My Life (both 1993) and The Paper (1994).
Keaton's next film was not until Christmas 1995, where he starred along with Geena Davis in Speechless, in which the two portrayed speech writers for competing
political parties. Another comedic turn came in Multiplicity (1996) where he
played an over worked man who clones himself, and who's clones clone themselves until there are four "Dougs" walking around, some not as bright as the others.
In 1997, Keaton appeared in the Quentin Tarantino film, Jackie Brown, co-starring Samuel L. Jackson, Robert Deniro and Bridget Fonda. The film was a critical and box
office success and made Keaton's character so memorable that he then made a cameo in the Steve Soderbergh film, Out Of Sight (1998), which, like Jackie Brown, was based on an Elmore Leonard novel.
Next came Desperate Measures, a very controversial movie, in which Keaton portrayed
a convicted serial killer who is needed to save a child's life. It was released to audiences after numerous re-writes, but did not fair well with critics or movie goers.
Keaton then turned to something more family friendly with Jack Frost (1998). Co-starring Kelly Preston, he played a man killed in a car accident who is then reincarnated
into his child's snowman. Next, he played opposite Robert Duvall in Road to Glory.
After a slight career lull, he returned to the big screen playing the father in a number of movies, including Mandy Moore's in First Daughter (2004), Lindsay Lohan's in Herbie: Fully Loaded (2005) and Alexis Bledel's in Post Grad (2009). He also starred in the thriller White Noise (2004) and in the comedy The Other Guys (2010) alongside Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg.
Filmography:
The Other Guys (2010)
Toy Story 3 (2010) (voice)
Noah's Ark: The New Beginning (2010) (voice)
Post Grad (2009)
The Merry Gentleman (2008)
The Last Time (2006)
Cars (2006) (voice)
Herbie: Fully Loaded (2005)
White Noise (2004)
First Daughter (2004)
Quicksand (2001)
A Shot at Glory (2000)
Jack Frost (1998)
Out of Sight (1998) (uncredited)
Desperate Measures (1998)
Jackie Brown (1997)
Inventing the Abbotts (1997) (uncredited)
Multiplicity (1996)
The Paper (1994)
Speechless (1994)
Much Ado About Nothing (1993)
My Life (1993)
Batman Returns (1992)
One Good Cop (1991)
Pacific Heights (1990)
Batman (1989)
The Dream Team (1989)
Beetlejuice (1988)
She's Having a Baby (1988) (uncredited)
The Squeeze (1987)
Gung Ho (1986)
Touch and Go (1986)
Johnny Dangerously (1984)
Mr. Mom (1983)
Night Shift (1982)
A Different Approach (1978)