At the ripe old age of 80, Michael Douglas has said he won’t be acting anymore, and I think that’s fair enough.
For Douglas, his first role was uncredited, when he appeared in the 1966 film Cast A Giant Shadow. Since then, the Hollywood icon has been acting his whole life. His career, spanning six decades, has made him a household name and seen him fill many iconic roles.
Son of Kirk Douglas, Michael Douglas has acting in his blood. But, at the recent Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, he admitted he was tapping out. While speaking to the crowd in the Czech Republic, Michael Douglas said he would step away from the world of acting.
“I’ve had a very busy career. Now, I have not worked since 2022, purposely, because I realized I had to stop,” the 80-year-old said. “I’d been working pretty hard for almost 60 years, and I did not want to be one of those people who dropped dead on the set.”
His final role as Benjamin Franklin was in 2022, and he called it a day after that.
Michael Douglas Might Have Another Movie in The Making
Despite no longer planning to act, it won’t be the end of Michael Douglas’ relationship with the silver screen. “I’m very happy with taking the time off. I have no real intentions. But I say I’m not retired, because if something special came up, I’d go back. But otherwise, I’m quite happy. I just like to watch my wife [actor Catherine Zeta-Jones] work.”
He added that he was still producing movies. With a career as long as his, it would be impossible to live a life that wasn’t, in some way, still linked to the screen. For most of his life, he has been around film sets. To simply cut that out would be like losing a limb.
But, on the whole, I imagine that Michael Douglas will enjoy his retirement, spending time with his daughter and wife. He has an illustrious career that has rarely been matched. There is also a small script in the works, but it sounds more like a retirement hobby than a Hollywood blockbuster.