Michael Keaton

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Michael Keaton in Batman Returns (1992)
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Michael Keaton in Batman Returns (1992)

Michael Keaton (Michael John Douglas) (1951-) is an American actor.

His first major role was as the fast talking, ideas man "Bill Blazejowski" alongside nerdish morgue attendant Henry Winkler in Night Shift in 1982. Keaton was born on September 5th, 1951 in Corapolis, Pennsylvania and studied speech for two years at Kent State, before dropping out and moving to Pittsburgh. An unsuccessful attempt at stand up comedy led Keaton to working as a TV cameraman in a cable station, and he came to realize he wanted to work in front of the cameras.

Keaton left Pittsburgh and moved to Los Angeles to begin auditioning for various TV parts. He first appeared on TV in several episodes of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood (1975)_ , and cropped up in other popular TV shows including Maude (1977)_ and The Mary Tyler Moore Hour (1979). Around this time Keaton decided to use an alternative surname to remove confusion with well known actor Michael Douglas, and after reading an article on actress Diane Keaton, he decided on "Michael Keaton". His next key break was scoring a co-lead alongside James Belushi in the short lived comedy series Working Stiffs (1979), which showcased his comedic talent and got him into the casting for the co-lead in Night Shift. Received some acclaim from that role, Keaton scored the lead in the subsequent comedy hits Mr. Mom (1982) , Johnny Dangerously, Gung Ho (1986) and the Tim Burton horror-comedy Beetlejuice.

Keaton's career was given another major boost when in 1989 he was cast by Tim Burton as millionaire playboy / crime-fighter Bruce Wayne in the big budget 1989 remake of Batman. To say their were howls of protest by fans of the caped crusader comic strip is an understatement.....Warner Bros. were literally deluged with thousands of letters of complaint by fans commenting that the comedic Keaton was the wrong choice for the Gotham City crime fighter. However, their fears were proved wrong when Keaton turned in an acclaimed performance that many fans felt was particularly faithful to the comic books Keen to diversify his work, Keaton next appeared as a psychotic tenant in Pacific Heights, as a hard working cop in One Good Cop and then he returned to wear the black cape and cowl once more for Batman Returns in 1992. As the film series continued to declining acclaim under Joel Schumacher, Keaton left the title role after being dissatisfied with the screenplays the new director approved. In a marked contrast to their initial reaction, many fans complaining about those films often demanded that not only that Tim Burton be rehired as director, but also rehiring Keaton to play Batman again.

He remained in demand during the 1990s, appearing in a wide range of films including the star studded Shakespearian Much Ado About Nothing (1993), another Ron Howard comedy The Paper (1994), with Andie MacDowell in Multiplicity (1996), as a dogged cop in Jackie Brown (1997) and the thriller Desperate Measures (1998). Since the turn of the century, Keaton has appeared in several productions with mixed success including Live From Baghdad (2002) , First Daughter (2004) and Herbie: Fully Loaded (2005).


Trivia

  • Height: 5'10"
  • Keaton was also in movies with future Batman film actresses Nicole Kidman (My Life) and Katie Holmes (First Daughter). He also made a cameo appearance with another Batman George Clooney in (Out of Sight).
  • Is said by many to be the best actor to portray Batman!
  • Studied speech at Kent University, Ohio.
  • His hobbies are fly-fishing and riding horses at his ranches in California and Montanna.
  • Tim Burton cast him as the title role in Batman (1989) because he was the only actor Burton thought could believably portray someone who has the kind of darkly obsessive personality that the character has.
  • Attended Montour High School.
  • Turned down the role of mad scientist Dr. Seth Brundle in David Cronenberg's remake The Fly (1986). The part eventually went to Jeff Goldblum.
  • He was originally going to play the role of Dr. Jack Shephard in the TV show "Lost", under the understanding that the character would be killed early on in the show. Keaton had to turn down the part the creators decided not to kill off the doctor, and Matthew Fox ended up playing the character.
  • His son, Sean, is in a band called "The Hatch".
  • He went away from the big-screen in 1998 and wasn't in a big-feature film until 2004 in First Daughter.

Filmography

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