This eldest son of legendary Hollywood actor Kirk Douglas eventually developed into a legitimate double threat. His track record for selling movies is unrivaled by any of his actor-producer peers, but his early years gave little indication of the power he would one day wield within the industry. Introduced to filmmaking on the sets of his father's films, Michael Douglas came to acting reluctantly when forced to pick a major his junior year at UC Santa Barbara and began working painfully at it, prompting Kirk to say, "Michael was terrible" (Us, August 1998) after seeing him in a college