Michael Keaton selected his stage name from a phone book while pursuing a career in the entertainment industry in the 1970s. He was unable to utilize his birth name, Michael Douglas, due to the Screen Actors Guild's prohibition on the use of professional names by its members.
The union had a Michael Douglas, who was the future winner of the Wall Street Oscar, and a Mike Douglas, who was a talk show presenter. Consequently, he assumed the name Michael Keaton.
When asked about the phone book anecdote, Keaton admits that he is uncertain as to how he selected the moniker that has been present on numerous movie posters.
“I was looking through - I can’t remember if it was a phone book. I must’ve gone, ‘I don’t know, let me think of something here. And I went, ‘Oh, that sounds reasonable,” Michael, 73, stated, raising those famously expressive eyebrows at times as he talked, as per PEOPLE Magazine.
Michael has been able to establish a diverse and formidable career over the past five decades, which includes comedy (such as 1983's Mr. Mom), action (1989's Batman), and drama (the 2015 Best Picture Oscar winner Spotlight). This natural instinct has been instrumental in his success. He brings that unique Keaton quality to each of his roles despite the fact that the assignments may differ.
“He’s got an interesting creative nervous energy. There’s something slightly crazy in his eyes,” Tim Burton, who has directed him in five films, stated.
That is undoubtedly the case for Michael in the highly anticipated sequel, "Beetlejuice Beetlejuice," and the bonkers 1988 horror-comedy "Beetlejuice," which stars Michael as the titular bawdy, belching demon, as per Deadline. Tim and Michael were taking a significant risk by revisiting the adored classic after 36 years, as Michael is no longer an up-and-comer but an Oscar-nominated lead actor (for Birdman).
“We thought, ‘You got to get this right.’ I was hesitant and cautious, and he was probably equally as hesitant and cautious. Once we got there, I said, ‘Okay, let’s just go for it,’” Michael stated.
There have been numerous instances in which he has been content to retreat. Michael has declined high-profile projects, which he declines to disclose, in order to be present as a father and, more recently, grandfather, in an industry where there is perpetual pressure to surpass one's previous accomplishments.
“I could have made a lot more money,” Michael joked. Sean Douglas, 41, is a Grammy-winning songwriter who is married to Rachel Bartov and has two children: River, 7, and Maggie, 5. Caroline McWilliams, Sean's mother, and Keaton's former wife, passed away in 2010 due to illness.
The actor's decision to prioritize his family over his career was an obvious one. “You look back, and you go, ‘Zero regret. Zero, Zero. That’s not to say if I’ll see a movie that I didn’t do, and I go, ‘Oh boy. That turned out to be a good movie.’ But the choice was always the correct choice. I always wanted to be a dad,” Michael stated.
He developed a strong sense of family at a young age. Michael, the youngest of seven children born to Leona, a homemaker, and George Douglas, a civil engineer, recalls his boyhood in the Pittsburgh suburbs as "fantastic," despite his parents' modest financial resources.
Michael, who engaged in roughhousing with his siblings and viewed Westerns on television, was aware of his ability to captivate an audience as a child.
“I was always entertaining. Because when you’re the youngest, you have a built-in audience. And they were receptive. I realized I could make people laugh and get out of trouble or get into trouble,” he stated.
He did not begin performing seriously until he withdrew from Kent State University in Ohio as a young man. He secured a role in a local production of David Rabe's dark comedy Sticks and Bones, which caught the attention of a newspaper critic. “Someone said, ‘Hey, nice review.’ I had no idea what he was talking about,” Michael recalled.
It would require several years of odd tasks, such as breaking down sets and lighting shows at a PBS station for $2 per hour, before Keaton secured his breakthrough role in the 1979 sitcom Working Stiffs, where he starred alongside Jim Belushi. After a single season, it was terminated.
Although numerous actors would have experienced anxiety, Michael maintained his composure. “I thought, ‘Well, of it doesn’t work, I know I’m capable of doing a lot of other things.’ I always knew I could have a job, I could find a small apartment, I could get an inexpensive car that was owned by seven other people, and I’d do okay. So that takes a lot of pressure off,” he shared.
It is an understatement to assert that Michael's circumstances were favorable. He established himself as a reliable comedic actor in the 1980s by appearing in films such as “Night Shift,” in which he starred alongside Henry Winkler, and Mr. Mom, in which he starred alongside Teri Garr.
