The actor who taught Michael Douglas the importance of discipline: “He was a workaholic”
Although Michael Douglas is the son of legendary actor Kirk Douglas, in terms of his own career, he still had to prove himself to his audience. In fact, it was Douglas’ work as a producer that first brought him acclaim, particularly when he helped to deliver the wonderful 1975 film version of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest starring Jack Nicholson.
Douglas’ acting career really took off in 1984 with the romantic adventure comedy Romancing the Stone and from there, he never looked back, delivering acclaimed performances in the likes of Wall Street, Fatal Attraction, Basic Instinct, Falling Down, The Game and Traffic, proving his widespread versatility.
However, long before these movies arrived on screen, Douglas had already had a taste of what it meant to be an actor, only it was on the small screen rather than in the cinema. His first prominence in the public eye arrived as a result of his performance in the ABC police procedural television series The Streets of San Francisco.
Filmed on location in San Francisco and produced by Quinn Martin, the show saw Karl Malden and Douglas star as a pair of San Fran homicide detectives. For five seasons between 1972 and 1977, Malden, Douglas and Richard Hatch (who replaced Douglas in the final season) delivered 119 60-minute episodes, setting Douglas on his way to global fame.
In an interview with David Sheff, Douglas once admitted that he will always have a special place in his heart for Malden, noting, “Well, I will always be indebted to Karl because he really taught me a lot about discipline. He was a workaholic.” Malden had achieved widespread acclaim for his performances in the Broadway productions of All My Sons and A Streetcar Named Desire.
In 1951, he reprised his Streetcar role of Mitch for the film version and subsequently won the Academy Award for ‘Best Supporting Actor’. Elsewhere, the Chicago-born actor had appeared in movies such as The Hanging Tree, One-Eyed Jacks, How the West was Won and Patton, shortly before he took on his role of Lt. Mike Stone in The Streets of San Francisco opposite Douglas.
Douglas went on to explain how he learned the ins and outs of the industry by working with Malden, noting, “We got into the habit of working on the next week’s script between rehearsals. And meanwhile, I kept my eyes and ears open. I used to stick close to the production manager of the show. When a script came in, I would watch how it broke down. I watched the producers and directors. That’s basically where I got all my production experience”.
Working with an older actor meant that Douglas could lean into his experience, understand a few tricks of the trade and develop a reputation of his own in the entertainment industry. “After the first year, Karl got the producers to let the kid do what he wanted,” he said. “In other words, he made me much more of an equal.”
Of course, Douglas might have already tapped into the experience of his father to learn how the movie and television world works, but when it came to on-hand experience, there were few actors that he looked up to as much as Karl Malden, a man who had seen all that Hollywood and beyond had to offer.
