Famous Half-Jews: Michael Douglas

[Gary Freedman]

Michael Kirk Douglas (born September 25, 1944) is an American actor and producer, primarily in movies and television. Douglas's first television exposure was that of Karl Malden's young college-educated partner, Insp. Steve Keller, in the 1970s crime drama, The Streets of San Francisco, a role he played from 1972 to 1976. Douglas is an Emmy Award-, Golden Globe Award- and two-time Academy Award-winner, first as producer of 1975's Best Picture, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Best Actor in 1987 for his role in Wall Street. Douglas received the AFI Life Achievement Award in 2009.

Douglas was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey, the son of American actor Kirk Douglas and Bermudian actress Diana Dill. His paternal grandparents, Bryna Sanglel and Herschel Danielovitch, were Jewish immigrants from Gomel in Belarus (at that time a part of the Russian Empire), while his mother and maternal grandparents, Ruth Rapalje Neilson and Lt. Col. Thomas Melville Dill, were natives of Devonshire Parish, Bermuda. His maternal grandfather served as the Attorney General of Bermuda and was a commanding officer of the Bermuda Militia Artillery. Douglas attended the Allen-Stevenson School and then graduated ('60) from Eaglebrook School middle school in Deerfield, Massachusetts before going on to The Choate School, (now Choate Rosemary Hall) in Wallingford, Connecticut. Douglas graduated from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 1968 with a B.A. in dramatic arts where he is also the Honorary President of the UCSB Alumni Association.

He has one younger brother named Joel (b. 1947) and two younger paternal half-brothers, Peter (b. 1955) and Eric (1958-2004).

[Thomas Glenn]

Well, for whatever reason you are on this kick, Gary, we should not forget Carrie Fisher, aka Princess Leia, in Star Wars, nor Gwenyth Paltrow, a very good actress and lovely gal.