Michael Keaton

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Michael Keaton
Keaton as Bruce Wayne/Batman in Batman Returns <tr><td style="text-align:left;">Birth name</td><td>Michael John Douglas</td></tr>
Born	September 5 1951 (age 56) Coraopolis, Pennsylvania, USA
Height	5'10" (1.78 m)
Notable roles	Bruce Wayne/Batman in Batman and Batman Returns Beetlejuice in Beetlejuice.
Spouse(s)	Caroline McWilliams (1982-1990)

Michael Keaton (born Michael John Douglas on September 5, 1951) is an American actor.

1 Early life
2 Early career
3 Batman
4 1990s
5 2000s
6 Trivia
7 Filmography
8 External links

[edit] Early life

Keaton was born in Coraopolis, Pennsylvania (near Pittsburgh), 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.

[edit] Early career

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 (1982). His role as the hilariously fast-talking schemer Bill "Blaze" Blazejowski alongside nerdish morgue attendant Henry Winkler earned Keaton some critical acclaim, and he scored leads in the subsequent comedy hits Mr. Mom (1982) , Johnny Dangerously, and Gung Ho (1986). His role as the title character in the 1988 Tim Burton horror-comedy Beetlejuice, which starred Alec Baldwin, Geena Davis, and Winona Ryder, earned Keaton widespread acclaim and boosted him to the A-list.

[edit] Batman

Keaton's career was given another major boost when in 1989 he was again cast by Burton, this time as billionaire playboy and crime-fighter Bruce Wayne in the big budget film Batman. Tim Burton cast him in the title role of Batman (1989) because he thought that Keaton was the only actor who could believably portray someone who has the kind of darkly obsessive personality that the character has. After the Keaton casting, Warner Bros. received thousands of letters of complaint by fans commenting that the comedic Keaton was the wrong choice for Gotham City's creature of the night. However, their fears were proven wrong when Keaton turned in a widely-acclaimed performance. According to Keaton, he wasn't surprised when he was first cast as Batman since he was only familiar with the 1960's Batman tv show, but it wasn't until Burton introduced Keaton to Frank Miller's "The Dark Knight Returns" that Keaton really understood the dark and brooding side of Batman which he portrayed to much fan approval.

Keen to diversify his work and take on different types of characters, Keaton next appeared as a psychotic tenant in Pacific Heights, and as a hard working cop in One Good Cop, both relative flops, but he returned to wear the black cape and cowl again in Batman Returns (1992).

He was prepared to return for Batman Forever (1995), even going so far as to show up for costume fitting. However, Burton (slated to executive produce) and Keaton both left the series after being dissatisfied with the campy screenplay the new director, Joel Schumacher, approved. According to the A&E Biography episode on Michael Keaton, after he'd refused the first time (due to analysis of the script and meetings with Schumacher, Warner Brothers then offered him 35 million dollars (one of the highest salaries offered to an actor at the time) but Keaton steadfastly refused. In a marked contrast to their initial reaction, many fans complaining about the following two Batman films often demanded not only that Tim Burton be rehired as director but that Keaton play Batman again.

[edit] 1990s

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 Elmore Leonard character Agent Ray Nicolette in Jackie Brown (1997) and Out of Sight (1998), and in the thriller Desperate Measures (1998).

[edit] 2000s

Since 2000, Keaton has appeared in several productions with mixed success including Live From Baghdad (2002), White Noise (2005), First Daughter (2004), and Herbie: Fully Loaded with Lindsay Lohan (2005). While he continues to receive good notices from the critics (particularly for Jackie Brown), with the exception of Cars, he has not been able to approach the box-office success of the Batman series.

As of 2006, he is starring in a new independent film called Game 6, a semi-thriller based around the infamous 1986 Red Sox World Series bid, and has just been announced to be the lead in Media 8 Entertainment's upcoming film Reaper, a supernatural thriller, expected for a 2007 release. He has also recently agreed to star as John Target in the Matt Evans scripted No Rule To Make Target.

[edit] Trivia

First acting job was on Mister Rogers' Neighborhood as one of the "Flying Zucchini Brothers." He also served as a full-time production assistant on the show, and directed several "Neighborhood of Make-Believe" segments. In 2003, following Rogers' death, Keaton hosted the PBS memorial tribute program, "Fred Rogers: Everybody's Favorite Neighbor."
Keaton was also in movies with future Batman film actresses Nicole Kidman (My Life and Batman Forever) and Katie Holmes (First Daughter and Batman Begins). He also made a cameo appearance with another Batman, George Clooney, in Out of Sight. He is also slated to appear alongside former Robin Chris O'Donnell in an upcoming 2007 TNT miniseries The Company.
Had previously starred alongside Danny Devito in the film Johnny Dangerously, prior to their performance together in Batman Returns.
Has been married once to actress Caroline McWilliams. They have one son, Sean Douglas, who graduated from Washington University in St. Louis.
Studied speech at Kent State University in Ohio.
His hobbies are fly-fishing and riding horses at his ranches in California and Montana.
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 character's darkly obsessive personality.
Attended Montour High School, a public school.
Is the fourth of seven actors to play Batman in a live-action film (the first was Lewis Wilson in 1943's Batman, followed by Robert Lowery in 1949's Batman and Robin and Adam West in the 1960s film and television series. Keaton was followed by Val Kilmer in 1995's Batman Forever, George Clooney in 1997's Batman and Robin and Christian Bale in 2005's Batman Begins).
Plays Agent Ray Nicolette in Jackie Brown (1997). He plays the same character (though uncredited) in Out of Sight (1998).
Is a Pittsburgh Steelers football, Pittsburgh Pirates baseball and Pittsburgh Penguins hockey fan.
His favorite channel is The Weather Channel.
Appeared with Christopher Reeve in Speechless (1994). Keaton and Reeve played DC Comics' two most iconic characters, Batman and Superman, respectively.
His son, Sean, is in a band called "The Hatch."
He left the big screen in 1998 and didn't appear in a theatrically-released film until First Daughter (2004).
In one installment of the Saturday Night Live skit, Celebrity Jeopardy, Matthew Perry parodies Michael Keaton, prominently borrowing elements from Keaton's performance in his first film Night Shift.
Keaton was the first choice for the role of Jack Shephard in Lost. The original idea was to kill Jack off in the first episode, but the writers decided to keep the character. The role was later given to Matthew Fox.

[edit] Filmography

Night Shift (1982)
Mr. Mom (1983)
Johnny Dangerously (1984)
Gung Ho (1986)
Touch and Go (1986)
The Squeeze (1987)
She's Having a Baby (1988) (Cameo)
Beetlejuice (1988)
Clean and Sober (1988)
The Dream Team (1989)
Batman (1989)
Pacific Heights (1990)
One Good Cop (1991)
Batman Returns (1992)
Porco Rosso (1992) (voice in 2003 English dubbed version)
Much Ado About Nothing (1993)
My Life (1993)
The Paper (1994)
Speechless (1994)
Multiplicity (1996)
Inventing the Abbotts (1997) (narrator)
Jackie Brown (1997)
Desperate Measures (1998)
Out of Sight (1998) (Cameo)
Jack Frost (1998)
A Shot at Glory (2000)
Quicksand (2001)
Live from Baghdad (2002)
First Daughter (2004)
White Noise (2005)
Herbie: Fully Loaded (2005)
Cars (2006) (Voice)
Game 6 (2006)
The Last Time (2006) (post-production)
Reaper (2007) (pre-production)

[edit] External links

Preceded by: Adam West	Actors to portray Batman 1989-1995	Succeeded by: Val Kilmer

Batman in popular media
Actors:	Lewis Wilson • Robert Lowery • Adam West • Olan Soule • Michael Keaton • Kevin Conroy • Val Kilmer • George Clooney • Rino Romano • Christian Bale • Casts
Live-action television:	Batman • Legends of the Superheroes • Birds of Prey • Return to the Batcave
Film:	1940s serials • Batman (1966) • Batman (1989) • Batman Returns • Batman Forever • Batman & Robin • Batman Begins • The Dark Knight
Animation:	Batman/Superman Hour • New Adventures of Batman • Batman: The Animated Series/New Batman Adventures • Mask of the Phantasm • SubZero • Batman Beyond • Return of the Joker • Mystery of the Batwoman • The Batman • The Batman vs. Dracula