Hollywood star talks career, family, and his new memoir
November 2026 – Drew University’s Drew Forum 2026-27 series continued with Oscar, Emmy, and Golden Globe-winning actor, producer, and author Michael Douglas.
The event, moderated by Turner Classic Movies host Ben Mankiewicz, was generously underwritten by the Blanche and Irving Laurie Foundation.
Over the course of the evening, Douglas discussed his career, family, and success. Early in the conversation, Douglas reflected that at the start of his career, his work was more important to him than his family, a comment Mankiewicz noted was indicative of the honesty and candid nature in Douglas’ recently released memoir One Helluva Ride.
Read on for some of the best soundbites from the evening…
What makes him so good at playing unlikeable characters?
“I would call them morally ambivalent, guys who had an ambivalence about making the right choices or not…I enjoy flying without a net. I like to do parts that you don’t necessarily like the character when he starts, and hopefully you seduce an audience and win them over. I think it’s part of the joy and challenge of it.”
Why did he follow in his father’s footsteps?
“I always wondered why I kept at it. I think most of it at the beginning was to overcome my stage fright. But I had an upfront view of what it was like (as a career). Just going to college, from literally being horrendous and terrible, to dad telling me when I graduated from school, the last show—and I must tell you, for a guy I didn’t see a lot of, he was fantastic, he came to all my shows. By the end he said, ‘Son, you were good.’ It was much more basic than (following in his footsteps). I didn’t know how I could be the man that Kirk Douglas was. This guy led the Roman army. He was renowned in Hollywood. He was the fastest gun drawer. He could do more tricks with his guns than anyone had ever seen. He developed the baby trampoline for jumping onto horses to make it look like you just got right on the horse like it was effortless. I looked at him like how can I be close to the man he was?”
Was it harder to play Dan Gallagher (Fatal Attraction) or Gordon Gekko (Wall Street)?
“Wall Street had a tremendous amount of dialogue. There was great rhythm to it, but it was a mile-long speech. Dan Gallagher was a weaker man and character than Gekko was. They were different. Wall Street was tougher to do for a lot of reasons. Dan Gallagher was much closer to who I was as a person, which you find out is one of the hardest things to do, is to play yourself. That was one of the best pieces of advice my father gave me. He said, ‘You’re going to find out when you find those parts where you don’t have to do anything, doing nothing is very hard to do.’ Also, it was Oliver Stone.”
How cancer reoriented his life.
“I would say my priorities changed. There goes the career. You’re just so grateful for your family. My kids were amazing. That was a major change in my life. I was alive and I realized my family and my friends were really all that you have, and your memories. Which is why I wanted to write this book, because my memory wasn’t good. Writing brought back a lot of memories. It totally changed my balance in life for what I was interested in.”
The Drew Forum series will continue with two events in spring 2027.
On March 15, the season’s third event will feature sports talk media icons Mike Francesa and Christopher “Mad Dog” Russo.
The season will wrap up on April 27 in an event featuring New York Times op-ed columnist Bret Stephens and New York Times journalist and bestselling author Frank Bruni in a conversation moderated by Drew University President Hilary L. Link, PhD.
Tickets for all events are available at the Mayo Performing Arts Center website and box office.
