Background:

An American actor who began his professional career as a stand-up comic, Michael Keaton first came to the attention of film critics with his acclaimed portrayal of the hilariously fast-talking schemer “Blaze” in the Ron Howard-helmed Night Shift (1982), where his acting earned him good response. He achieved even more recognition with his National Society of Film Critics award-winning performance of the roach-eating ghoul in Tim Burton’s blockbuster Beetle Juice (1988) and as the former drug addict Daryl Poynter in Clean and Sober (1988). Additionally, Keaton received huge popularity for his starring role in such hits as Mr. Mom (1983), Batman (1989) and Batman Returns (1992), among others. More recently, he received rave reviews after playing the real-life CNN producer Robert Wiener in the made-for-TV film Live from Baghdad (2002).

Moviegoers can also see Keaton playing roles in the recent and upcoming vehicles First Daughter (2004), White Noise (2005), Game 6 (2005), Herbie Fully Loaded (2005), the animated Cars (2006), The Last Time (2006) and Reaper (2007).

As for his private life, Keaton married actress Caroline McWilliams in 1982, but they later divorced in 1990. The couple shares a son named Sean Keaton (born in 1983), who serves as the keyboard player for a band named The Hatch. Keaton’s love life has also been linked to actress Courteney Cox (born on June 15, 1964), with whom he dated from 1989-1995.


Fly-Fishing

Childhood and Family:

Michael Keaton was born Michael John Douglas on September 9, 1951, in Coraoplis, Pennsylvania, to Scottish-Irish parents. He was raised in Robinson Township, Pennsylvania, along with his brother Robert. He graduated from Montour High School in McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania, in 1969 and went to Kent State University to study speech. However, he left college after two years and moved to Pittsburgh, where he did several odds jobs. He then headed for Los Angeles to start a career in acting.

In 1982, Michael married the celebrity beauty of “Guiding Light,” “Another World,” “Benson” and “St. Elsewhere,” Caroline McWilliams (born on April 4, 1945). They welcomed their son, Sean Keaton, in 1983. Michael and Caroline later divorced in 1990. The 5’ 10” actor enjoys riding horses and fly-fishing on his California ranch.


Clean and Sober

Career:

After studying speech for two years at a university, Michael Keaton moved to Pittsburgh and began his blue-collar life by taking odds jobs like that of an ice cream truck driver and also tried out for behind-the camera-work as a PBS cameraman. Meanwhile, the former member of the improvisation troupe Jerry Vale, the Flying Zucchini Brothers and the Second City comedy troupe was seen performing stand-up comedy, but soon stopped due to unsatisfactory results. Keaton then launched a career as an actor in Los Angeles.

After moving to LA, Keaton changed his last name (Douglas) to avoid being confused with the already big name Michael Douglas. He made early TV appearances in such series as “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood (1975) and the cult hits “Maude” (1977) and “The Mary Tyler Moore Hour” (1979). He eventually scored a lead when he was paired with Jim Belushi for the 1979 short-lived sitcom “Working Stiffs.” But, it was his first big screen role as the amusingly fast-talking schemer Bill “Blaze” Blazejowski in Ron Howard’s Night Shift (1982) that first won Keaton praise.

Keaton’s film career began to take flight after the acclaimed performance and he nabbed major roles in several hit comedies like Mr. Mom (1983), where he was memorable as Jack Butler, a father who takes over the household, Johnny Dangerously (1984) and Gung Ho (1986), a vehicle which marked Keaton’s second collaboration with director Howard.

His star shone even brighter in 1988 when Tim Burton had him play the title character of a roach-eating ghost in the horror/comedy Beetle Juice. Also starring Alec Baldwin, Geena Davis, Winona Ryder, Catherine O’Hara and the late Sylvia Sidney, Keaton impressively portrayed the part and helped power the film into a box office accomplishment. He combined the victory with a genius dramatic turn as a recovering drug addict named Daryl Poynter in the Glenn Gordon Caron-helmed Clean and Sober (1988). The roles lucratively handed Keaton a National Society of Film Critics for Best Actor.

In addition to critical raves, Keaton’s performance in the first also won him recognition from the impressed director Tim Burton, who then cast him in the box office smash hits Batman (1989) and its 1992 sequel Batman Returns, which brought Keaton a MTV nomination for Best Kiss, shared with costar Michelle Pfeiffer. Though widely regarded as the best actor to play the Batman superhero on the wide screen, Keaton left the franchise because of the production’s fondness for focusing on the over-the-top villains. He was later seen as a fearsome villain in the bumpy Pacific Heights (1990) and Artie Lewis in One Good Cop (1991).

The intense actor then showcase his flamboyant style with Shakespearean verse in the Kenneth Branagh directed Much Ado About Nothing (1993) before displaying a fine performance in My Life (1993, gave touching turn as a dying man who made a videotape of his life for his unborn child) and the comedy The Paper (1994, rejoined Howard as dodgy editor Henry). He then made a wrong choice by joining Geena Davis in the timidly-scripted Speechless (1994).

After taking some time off, Keaton resurfaced on the silver screen with a hilarious turn in Multiplicity (1996), and in the next years, he was seen in the Quentin Tarantino adaptation of the Elmore Leonard novel Jackie Brown (1997) as well as Steven Soderberg’s Out of Sight (1998). He was given a starring role in the thriller Desperate Measures (1998) by director Barbet Schroeder, who cast him as the psychotic serial killer Peter McCabe. He rounded out the year with a lead in the bizarre and over-sentimental Jack Frost.

Following another break, Keaton made a well-received comeback with a fine supporting role as Peter Cameron, the American owner of a second tier Scottish football team, in the British film A Shot at Glory (2000, opposite Robert Duvall). He then made an appearance in the little-seen French-made thriller Quicksand (2001). Keaton’s career received a much-needed boost in 2002 when he teamed with Helena Bonham Carter, Joshua Leonard and Lili Taylor for director Mick Jackson’s television film Live from Baghdad. Remarkably starring as the real-life CNN producer Robert Wiener, the actor took home his first Golden Globe nomination.

Keaton returned to filmmaking by undertaking the role of the U.S. President and father of Katie Holmes in Forest Whitaker’s First Daughter (2004). Next up for Keaton, he dotted his resume with roles in the lackluster, but profitable, supernatural thriller White Noise (2005), Michael Hoffman’s Game 6 (2005) and Disney’s Herbie Fully Loaded (2005), where he portrayed Lindsay Lohan’s race car-driving father Ray Peyton Sr.

Recently providing the voice of Chick Hicks in the animated movie Cars (2006), the 55-year-old performer will work with director Michael Caleo in the supporting role of Ted in the comedy-romance The Last Time (2006). He is also set to star as Virgil in Scott Kalvert’s Reaper, a thriller set for a 2007 release.


Awards:

• National Society of Film Critics: Best Actor, Clean and Sober, and Beetle Juice, 1988