Like Son, Like Father:
Michael Douglas on his famous father ... and fatherhood

By LOUIS B. HOBSON
Calgary Sun
2-20-2000

HOLLYWOOD -- Like beauty, age is in the eye of the beholder. When Michael Douglas beheld Catherine Zeta-Jones in The Mask of Zorro, he knew he'd eyed true beauty. "She was one of the most beautiful and talented women I'd ever seen. I vowed to meet her," recalls Douglas.  Not only did he meet Zeta-Jones, but quickly wooed the raven-haired beauty and proposed to her on the eve of the millennium.  The couple is expecting their first child and promise to announce their wedding date in the near future. Speculation has them marrying on their mutual birth date -- Sept. 25.  Last year when they celebrated their birthdays, Douglas turned 55, while Zeta-Jones hit 30.   "The age difference disappeared very fast in our relationship," says Douglas.

"Catherine and I don't even think about it anymore."

 Douglas points out he is hardly setting a precedent.

 "There was a 30-year age difference when Frank Sinatra married Mia Farrow (in 1966) and Liz Taylor was 25 years younger than Mike Todd when they married (in 1957)."

 Douglas is delighted he will be a father for the second time. His son Cameron by his first marriage to Diandra Douglas is 20.

 "I wasn't really there for Cameron. I was trying to forge a career and family at the same time and my parenting suffered," admits Douglas. "This time around, I can focus so much more on my child because my career just couldn't be any better."

 Douglas has his own production company and can command up to $20-million US when he acts.

 In his new film Wonder Boys, which opens Friday, Douglas plays Grady Tripp, an English professor whose whole life begins falling apart on one day.

 His wife leaves him. His mistress (Frances McDormand) announces she's pregnant. A young female student (Katie Holmes) is trying to seduce him and a male student (Tobey Maguire) is threatening suicide.

 "There are certain parallels to my own life," jokes Douglas, referring to the financial hoops through which Diandra made him jump to get his divorce. Estimates have gone as high as a $100-million US for the upcoming divorce settlement.

 For most of the past decade, Douglas has been the caregiver to his extended family.

 In 1991, his father Kirk Douglas was in a helicopter accident that left him crippled and in constant pain. Five years later, the elder Douglas had a back operation and shortly afterwards suffered a stroke.

 Michael's younger brother Eric Douglas has had a number of brushes with the law, including arrests for driving under the influence of drugs and alcohol and twice for disrupting behaviour on airplanes.

 Michael's son Cameron was arrested last October for possession of cocaine.

 Douglas says Cameron "is doing really well. It was a trying time for all of us. My father's accident and stroke brought us closer than we've ever been."

 Curtis Hanson, who directed Douglas in Wonder Boys, says the actor is "one of the least vain people in the industry.

 "To play Grady Tripp, I asked Michael to gain 25 pounds, wear the most outrageous clothes and generally look totally dissipated. Most actors of his generation would have walked away."

 Douglas says his is fortunate because "audiences have always let me play roles that turn me into an anti-hero, like those in War of the Roses, Wall Street and Falling Down."

 Douglas insists there is no need for actors to be concerned with image at the expense of their films.

 "It was much harder for actors of my father's generation to age. They had these screen images they had to live up to. The whole star system restricted what they could do and how they could look. Aging was a huge blow to my father's ego.

 "I don't care what I look like in a film, but that doesn't mean I don't care how I look in real life."

 Once he had completed Wonder Boys, Zeta-Jones put him on a strict diet and exercise regime, even refusing to let him eat cake at their birthday celebrations.

 There were rumours that Douglas had sworn off marriage after his stormy relationship with Diandra.

 During their 22 years together, Michael and Diandra separated and reconciled twice before finally agreeing to divorce.

 "I was happily surprised to fall in love again, but I think I was hoping it would happen. I was very happy in my first marriage for many years," says Douglas.

 Even a bigger surprise was that Zeta-Jones is an actress.

 "I had vowed not to get involved with an actress, but all that went by the boards the moment I met Catherine."

  He says he and Zeta-Jones have already talked about starring in a film together.

  "I want her to be my leading lady in all aspects of my life."