With his memoir entitled One Helluva Ride, it was expected there'd be some bumpy moments in Michael Douglas' life.
asserted
it → entitle → life
Yet now the actor has revealed the full extent of the hardships and scandals he's faced, revealing his work on movies was blighted by tragic deaths and horrific accidents, while there were two credible threats against his life.
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work → reveal → life
Michael, 82, has always considered his family name to be a curse, having spent years struggling to live up to his legendary father Kirk, who died in 2020 at the age of 103.
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who → consider → 103
Yet despite his 'ongoing internal conflict' about living in Kirk's shadow, Michael decided to pursue acting, landing his first significant TV role in the Seventies series, The Streets of San Francisco.
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Michael → ongoe → Francisco
However disaster struck on his very first day when he 'almost killed' the show's lead, Karl Malden.
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he → strike → lead
Michael had been tasked with a driving scene, and with light getting low and a police escort ensuring the roads around them were clear, he hit the gas without bothering to map out the route.
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he → task → route
Sisaster struck on his very first day of his Seventies show The Streets of San Francisco when he 'almost killed' the lead actor Karl Malden (right) in a car accident
He recalled: 'I tore down to the Fairmont and up the hill... and then we went airborne.
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we → strike → hill
I hadn't anticipated the hill dropping out from under us.
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hill → anticipate → us
While in the air, I had time to look over at Karl and he back at me.
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I → have → me
We touched down
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We → touch → ?
I slammed on the brakes, wheels squealing.
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wheels → slam → brakes
I thought, "Oh, my God! I'm gonna get fired the very first day".
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I → think → ?
Karl took a beat to catch his breath, then got out of the car.
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Karl → take → car
"Well, this is going to be an interesting series", he said.
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he → go → ?
"I'm going back to my trailer to change my underwear".'
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I → go → underwear
As Michael's profile began to rise, he found he had been targeted by the Death Angels, a violent local gang that have been found guilty of murdering 15 people but some believe the figure could be as high as 88.
uncertain
figure → begin → 88
Michael recalled: 'One day production asked me to go speak with our police adviser, who told me that my name had been mentioned as someone the Death Angels wanted to kill.
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Angels → recall → someone
We began having undercover officers on our crew, and I would sometimes wear a bulletproof vest under my ward-robe, especially if we were filming out in the city, surrounded by dozens of tall buildings.'
He revealed the threat left him and girlfriend Brenda Vaccaro 'terrified', but thankfully they remained unharmed.
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they → begin → Vaccaro
While working on The Streets of San Francisco, Michael was also juggling another project, having acquired the rights to the novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest through his father's company, Bryna Productions.
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Michael → work → company
He went on to serve as producer on the project but was forced to tell his father that he could no longer have the lead role because the project had taken 13 years to start filming.
uncertain
project → go → years
The crew believed that at 57, Kirk was now too old for the role, and outvoted on keeping him, it fell on Michael to break the news.
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it → believe → news
'One of the hardest moments of my life was firing my own dad,' Michael shared.
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Michael → fire → dad
'I called my father and said I needed to see him.
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I → call → him
This wasn't something I was going to do over the phone, but honestly, I was scared as hell of doing it in person...
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I → go → person
'I saw a flash of my father's rage, then he was silent.
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he → see → rage
Just as I'd feared, Dad blamed me.
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Dad → fear → me
He said I had betrayed him.
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I → say → him
I was crushed.
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I → crush → ?
I had embarked on this project for two reasons: because it was a great book and because I wanted my father to have his dream.
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father → embark → dream
Now I had the movie, but I had broken my father's heart.
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I → have → heart
Michael was also juggling another project, having acquired the rights to the novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest through his father Kirk's company, Bryna Productions.
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Michael → juggle → father
However, disaster struck when he was forced to fire Kirk (pictured in 2012)
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he → strike → 2012
The lead role went to Jack Nicholson.
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role → go → Nicholson
The set became plagued by incidents after they used real life mental health patients as extras
The lead role went to Jack Nicholson, and Kirk had no part in the project.
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Kirk → plague → project
Yet he may have been grateful to stay away from the set, which became plagued by incidents after they used real life mental health patients as extras.
uncertain
they → stay → extras
While filming in a medium-security ward, a crewmember ran electric cables through an open window on the second floor, when he joked to the nearby patients: 'If I were nuts, I'd go straight out that window.'
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I → film → window
However, that put the idea in one of the patient's heads, who promptly did as so, jumping out and breaking his collarbone.
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who → put → collarbone
The intensive filming schedule also took its toll on actor Danny DeVito, who felt anxious being away from his future wife, Rhea Perlman
To deal with the separation anxiety he was experiencing, Danny created an imaginary friend and began to fear he was losing his mind.
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he → take → mind
Meanwhile, during the emotional confrontation scene with Chief, Sydney Lassick, who played Cheswick, had his own mental health attack had to be forcibly removed from set by the crew.
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attack → play → crew
Michael went on to film Romancing The Stone when disaster again struck on set.
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disaster → go → set
…and 136 more, not listed.
The Aporia
