The Hollywood actor, originally named Michael Keaton John Douglas, was born on September the 5th, 1951. He was born to George A. Douglas (1905-77), who was a civil engineer, and a homemaker mother named Leona Elizabeth (1909–2002). His family was of the catholic faith with his mother being from Irish descent while his father from Scottish, German and English background.
Michael Keaton The man born in Coraopolis, Pennsylvania, studied high school at Montour High School in Robinson township in Pennsylvania. She is later joined Kent State University studying speech there for two years. His gave a shot at standup comedy at Pittsburgh but was not very successful.
Michael Keaton He then moved to Los Angeles to try out a career in acting.
He first featured on TV for a public television program ‘Where the Heart Is’ and ‘Mister Roger’s Neighborhood’. His first success on screen came on TV with Maude in 1972 and later The Mary Tyler Moore Hour in 1979. This is the time where he changed his name to Michael Keaton from Michael Keaton John Douglas.
Many people in the media suggested him being interested in Danie Keaton at the time for this change in name. But he has always denied any such claims saying “it had nothing to do with that”. He explains that he changed his name to fulfill the SAG (Screen Actors Guild) requirements due to other people having similar names like his already at the time.
His true breakthrough came with a short-lived comedy show, Working Stiffs, in 1979. This really was a turning point for him as the comedic part of his acting came into light. The success of this show cleared his path for a big role with director Ron Howard in the Night Shift in 1982.
His role in this show earned him widespread acclaim where he played a fast-talking planner called Bill ‘Blaze’ Blazejowski who would come up with various schemes to get rich.
He continued to feature in comedy hits like Mr Michael Keaton.
Mom, Johnny Dangerously, The Squeeze, and The Dream Team. But he had wanted to transition to drama for a long time which did occur only in 1988 when he was cast by Tim Burton for the lead role in a horror-comedy, Beetlejuice. This role gave him much appraise and pushed his ranks into the Hollywood’s A category of actors. That same year, he also got success for playing a drug-addicted estate agent in Glen Gordon’s Clean and Sober.
Tim Burton again cast him in 1989, this time for a lead role of the comic book superhero Batman. Tim Burton was criticized for his choice because Keaton was renowned more as a comedy guy than a drama actor. Warner Bros received numerous complaints from fans who considered Keaton the wrong choice for this role.
But Keaton would go on to prove these fans wrong as he put a stunning display in the film which would ultimately become one of the most successful movies of that year. He featured again in the same sequel in Batman Returns (1992).
He starred in many movies throughout the 90s including Much Ado About Nothing (1993), Multiplicity (1996), The Paper (1994), Jackie Brown (1997), Out of Sight (1998), Desperate Measure (1998). His performance in Live From Baghdad (2002) earned him a nomination for Golden Globe Awards.
The first decade of the new millennium brought him a mold of moderate success. He also provided voice over for different animated movies like Cars (2006), Toy Story (2010), and Minions (2015).
His career was resurrected in 2014
When he starred in RoboCop, Need For Speed, and The Birdman. The latter movie cemented. His status among Hollywood’s elite in which he acted as an iconic performer. Who was struggling to regain his past status. It not only earned him his first Academy Award nomination but also put his name in the list of the Golden Globe Awards winners.
The movie also went on to win the Oscar award for best picture. The following year, he worked in yet another Oscar winning movie, Spotlight. In 2016, he played, Roy Krock, the salesman who made McDonalds grow from a local restaurant to an international enterprise, in the true story movie, The Founder.
He made a return to comic book characters in 2017, playing the villain in Spider-man: Homecoming. He featured again under Tim Burton in 2019 while playing the villain in the live action remake of Disney’s 1941 classic, Dumbo. The 71-year-old is set to star again as the Batman in the DC Extended Universe’s film, The Flash, set to release in 2023.
Keaton was in marriage with
Caroline McWilliams from 1982-90 from which they had a son named Sean in 1983. After his divorce, he remained in a relationship with Cortney Cox for five years till 1995. Michael Keaton is a fan of his sports teams from his hometown Pittsburgh.
He regularly attends games and even wrote a blog on the Pirates in ESPN in 2013. Michael Keaton is a democrat as he endorsed Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden in 2016 and 2020 presidential elections respectively.
