Connect with us

CELEBRITY

Michael Keaton’s Real Name Is Michael Douglas. Now, After Decades in Showbiz, He’s Going to Start Using It.

Published

on

 

Keaton tells PEOPLE he “can’t remember” if he picked his stage name out of a phone book decades ago

Michael Keaton's Real Name Is Michael Douglas. Now, After Decades in Showbiz, He’s Going to Start Using It.

He couldn’t use his birth name, Michael Douglas, since the Screen Actors Guild prohibits members from using another member’s professional name.

 

 

The union already had a Michael Douglas (the future Wall Street Oscar winner) and a Mike Douglas (the talk show host). So he became Michael Keaton.

Asked about the phone book story, Keaton tells PEOPLE he’s not quite sure how he opted for the moniker that’s appeared on dozens of movie posters.

 

 

“I was looking through — I can’t remember if it was a phone book,” says Keaton, 72, raising those famously expressive eyebrows at times as he talks. “I must’ve gone, ‘I don’t know, let me think of something here.’ And I went, ‘Oh, that sounds reasonable.’”

And while the name “Keaton” has served him well, he’d like to go back to using a hybrid of his birth name and stage name — Michael Keaton Douglas — on professional projects.

He intended to do it on his most recent directorial effort, Knox Goes Away, a dramatic thriller released earlier this year, but he “forgot” amid the stress of making the movie.

“I said, ‘Hey, just as a warning, my credit is going to be Michael Keaton Douglas.’ And it totally got away from me. And I forgot to give them enough time to put it in and create that. But that will happen,” continues Keaton, whose name appears as Michael Keaton in his latest movie, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, the follow up to the hit 1988 comedy Beetlejuice.

 

 

In the cover story, Keaton — who also appears in the drama Goodrich, out in October — reflects on his rise from humble beginnings to movie star.

The youngest of seven children born to George Douglas, a civil engineer, and Leona, a homemaker, Keaton says his childhood spent in the Pittsburgh suburbs was “fantastic,” even though his parents had modest means.

Keaton, who roughhoused with his brothers and watched Westerns on TV, knew as a kid he could captivate a crowd.

“I was always entertaining. Because when you’re the youngest, you have a built-in audience. And they were receptive,” he says. “I realized I could make people laugh and get out of trouble or get into trouble.”

 

 

It wasn’t until he dropped out of Ohio’s Kent State University as a young man that he began acting in earnest.

He landed a part in a local production of David Rabe’s dark comedy Sticks and Bones, and a newspaper critic took notice. “Someone said, ‘Hey, nice review.’ I had no idea what he was talking about,” recalls Keaton.

 

 

It would take several years of odd jobs— including breaking down sets and lighting shows at a PBS station for $2 per hour — before Keaton got his break in the 1979 sitcom Working Stiffs opposite Jim Belushi. It was canceled after one season.

Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

CELEBRITY3 hours ago

Kate Middleton broke down in tears as the doctor revealed her condition: “I’m about to undergo an extended course of chemotherapy because the tumor…”

CELEBRITY5 hours ago

SHOCKING EXIT: Jimmy Kimmel Announces END of His Show & Bids Farewell to America – “I’m Moving to Canada and NEVER Coming Back!” Detail

CELEBRITY11 hours ago

Ludicrous!” – Prince Harry’s latest stunt reportedly infuriates William, while Meghan’s real feelings slip through the cracks! WATCH MORE BELOW

CELEBRITY12 hours ago

Meghan Markle was FURI0US and RETALlATED when King Charles best0wed the Garter honor on Kate and William: “Harry and I are the ones who truly deserve it.”…see more details

CELEBRITY19 hours ago

5 MINS AGO! Princess Kate Makes HUGE Announcement! She FINALLY Revealed Her Kind Of Cancer. The entire nation of England erupted in joyous applause… See more below

CELEBRITY23 hours ago

Kate Middleton broke down in tears as the doctor revealed her condition: “I’m about to undergo an extended course of chemotherapy because the tumor…” Full story below

CELEBRITY24 hours ago

Unable to hide it any longer, King Charles revealed the type of cancer he has been battling for the past five years: ‘It has been terribly hard for me — it is…'” See more below

CELEBRITY1 day ago

She Lights Up Around Ari…” – OPRAH DROPS THE BOMB! Meghan’s Secret Meetings EXPOSED, Harry Left In The Dark, And Now The World Is Asking: Is This The End Of The Sussex Love Story? Hollywood Just Collided With The Crown and ….. details below

CELEBRITY1 day ago

“The Queen had to step in!” – Shocking new claim adds fuel to long list of complaints against Harry and Meghan! MORE BELOW

CELEBRITY2 days ago

Just In: Wildfire That Burned Nearly 4,000 Acres of Land in Ocean County Fully Contained”

Copyright © 2024 USAenquire