The Oscar-winning Hollywood star Michael Douglas has announced that he’s retiring from acting after a decades-long career. Sadly, he has a heartbreaking reason why he’s walking away from the entertainment industry for good.
Douglas Retires
Douglas, 80, announced his retirement at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in the Czech Republic. There, he revealed that he has “no real intentions” of ever acting again. Tragically, it appears that Douglas is retiring because he feels like he just “had to stop” acting forever.
“I have not worked since 2022 purposefully because I realized I had to stop,” Douglas admitted. “I had been working pretty hard for almost 60 years, and I did not want to be one of those people who dropped dead on the set.”
“I have no real intentions of going back,” he continued. Douglas added that “if something special came up, I’d go back, but otherwise, no.”
Douglas later admitted that he is “one little independent movie” he is currently attempting to “get a good script out of.” Other than that, however, he joked that he is “happy to play the wife” to his Oscar-winning wife Catherine Zeta-Jones, who he’s been married to for nearly 25 years. He’s up for doing this “in the spirit of maintaining a good marriage.”
Related: Felicity Huffman Reports To Prison And Michael Douglas Weighs In On College Admissions Scandal
Douglas Isn’t Completely Leaving Hollywood
Though he’s leaving acting behind, Douglas plans to still work in Hollywood behind the scenes. Indeed, he is head of Further Films, an independent production company launched in 1997. Douglas made it clear that he has no intention of walking away from that role anytime soon.
“It was overwhelming running the production company and acting at the same time,” he confessed. “I’m still producing. I still love bringing people together.”
In this same interview, Douglas talked about how his battle with oropharyngeal cancer, which he had diagnosed with in 2010, caused him to reevaluate both his acting career and his life in general.
“Stage 4 cancer is not a holiday, but there’s not many choices, are there?” Douglas said. “I went with the program, involving chemo and radiation, and was fortunate…. I was fortunate with my medical attention and was lucky to continue working.”
“We were able to handle it with radiation and chemotherapy, because otherwise, the surgery would have caused me not being able to speak, to talk, as well as removing part of your jaw, so it would have been limiting as an actor,” he stated.
Douglas’ History
Douglas was born in 1944 to the Hollywood stars Kirk and Diana Douglas in 1944. This appeared to make him destined for Hollywood greatness from birth.
Douglas made his film debut in 1966 with an uncredited role in his father’s movie Cast a Giant Shadow. His first significant film role came in 1969’s Hail, Hero! For that, Douglas earned a Golden Globe nomination for Most Promising Male Newcomer.
Douglas would go on to win the Best Actor Oscar for his work in the 1987 financial drama Wall Street. By then, Douglas had already won an Oscar for producing the 1975 Best Picture winner One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest.
Douglas last appeared on the big screen in the 2023 Marvel movie Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. His most recent acting role saw him portray the American Founding Father Benjamin Franklin in the Apple TV+ miniseries, Franklin.
Backstory: Michael Douglas Starring In Patriotic Benjamin Franklin Series – ‘He Basically Saved Our Country’
Douglas is a true legend, and there will never be another one like him. While it’s sad that Douglas feels like he needs to stop acting, nothing will ever take away the incredible film career that he’s had.
God bless you, Michael Douglas!
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