Born September 25, 1944, Michael Kirk Douglas was the oldest of four sons of Hollywood star Kirk Douglas.

Kirk Douglas is pictured with his son, Michael Douglas, on the Rome set of "Cast a Giant Shadow." Michael had an uncredited bit part in the movie, but his early performances in college productions did not win over his dad, who wanted him to go to law school instead.

"My father had already come to the university, seen me in a number of productions, and was less than thrilled, and was really encouraging me about becoming an attorney," Douglas told CBS News' Tracy Smith." Because I was not a natural. First time he saw me, he said, 'Michael, you were terrible.' And I was."

A theatre major at the University of California in Santa Barbara, Douglas took a summer job at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center in Waterford, Conn. -- in fact, helping to build the facility's new amphitheater, in the hope of landing a small part in a play in return.

Left: Michael Douglas (with the sword) in a walk-on in the O'Neill Theater Center's production of Joel Oliansky's "Bedford Forrest."

Douglas spent three summers at the O'Neill. "It was like summer camp for people in theatre," he told CBS News' Tracy Smith. "I happened at that time to be dealing with plays by John Guare, Israel Horovitz, Sam Shepherd, Lanford Wilson, some of the great playwrights that we had at that time. Combining that with a wonderful group of actors, for me it was playing grown-up a little bit."

While visiting his old haunts, Michael Douglas told CBS News' Tracy Smith his experience at the O'Neill Theater Center changed his life, as far as learning to be an actor, "because actors are pretty self-involved. But this is a playwright's conference. This is about new plays, working on new plays, so as actors we were secondary to making the play work. And that's something that has stuck with me through my entire career, is the importance of the material, the importance of the script."

Michael Douglas' first film credit was as the lead in "Hail, Hero!" (1969).

Michael Douglas co-starred with Jodie Forster, Johnny Whittaker and Zamba the lion in the Disney film, "Napoleon and Samantha" (1972).

Michael Douglas starred with Karl Malden in the police drama "The Streets of San Francisco" (1972-76).

Douglas described his costar as "a great teacher. He was very generous to me. I learned so much from him. There's a reason why Marlon Brando wanted to work with him all the time."

Jack Nicholson (left) talks with production manager Joel Douglas (center) and producer Michael Douglas on the set of "One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest." Directed by Milos Forman and based on the Ken Kesey novel, the film about an insurrectional inmate at a mental institution was a critical and box office success. It won five Academy Awards, including (for Douglas) Best Picture of the Year.

While Douglas has produced several of the movies in which he has starred, he has also served as executive producer on a number of other films, including "Starman," "Flatliners" and "The Rainmaker."

Michael Douglas as a raffish TV news cameraman and Jane Fonda as an ambitious reporter who stumble on an explosive story in "The China Syndrome" (1979).

Michael Douglas played a marathon runner in the 1979 drama, "Running."

Michael Douglas played a judge who become entwined with a secret body of jurists that wields the kind of punishment our court system can't, in the 1983 thriller, "The Star Chamber."

Romance writer Joan Wilder (Kathleen Turner) lives a real-life romantic adventure in the wilds of South America, in the company of an adventurous and dashing smuggler (Michael Douglas) in the 1984 comedy, "Romancing the Stone."

The pair recreated their roles in the sequel, "The Jewel of the Nile."

Michael Douglas has an extra-marital affair with the wrong woman (Glenn Close) in the 1987 thriller, "Fatal Attraction."

In Oliver Stone's "Wall Street" (1987), Michael Douglas played Gordon Gekko, a financial titan whose rapacious greed (which, he told us, was "good") led to a dizzying climb and a perilous fall.

Douglas' brazen performance won him the Oscar for Best Actor.

Michael Douglas with his Best Actor Oscar for the film 'Wall Street," at the Academy Awards in Hollywood, April 11, 1988.

Michael Douglas starred as a New York policeman who enters the world of the Yakuza in Ridley Scott's "Black Rain" (1989).

Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner reteamed for Danny DeVito's black comedy about one couple's terrifyingly bitter divorce, "The War of the Roses."

In Paul Verhoeven's erotic thriller "Basic Instinct" (1992), Michael Douglas is a San Francisco homicide detective who falls under the spell of a murder suspect, a writer of murder mysteries (Sharon Stone).

Someone who has had enough: Michael Douglas starred as a recently-divorced man who loses his job, and his cool, thus embarking on a violent rampage across Los Angeles, in "Falling Down" (1993).

Based on the Michael Crichton novel, "Disclosure" (1994) starred Michael Douglas as an executive who is accused of sexual harassment after refusing the romantic overtures of his boss (Demi Moore).

Oh, Mr. President, you shouldn't have! Lobbyist Annette Bening is courted by Commander-in-Chief Michael Douglas in the romantic comedy-drama "The American President" (1995).

In "The Ghost and the Darkness" (1996), Michael Douglas (left) played a big game hunter out to bag lions that have been attacking workers on an African railway. Val Kilmer co-starred.

In David Fincher's 1997 psychological thriller, "The Game," Michael Douglas played a banker who becomes embroiled in a mysterious conspiracy - or is it?

Watch out, Gwyneth! In this loose remake of "Dial M for Murder," "A Perfect Murder" starred Michael Douglas as a banker in financial straits who plots to inherit his wife's fortune.

One of Michael Douglas' most treasured performances is in Curtis Hanson's "Wonder Boys" (2000). Douglas played a university professor struggling with writer's block, romance, and a young fledgling writer (Tobey Maguire) whose work may be key to his own success.

In Steven Soderbergh's multi-layered film of the drug world, "Traffic" (2000), Michael Douglas plays the nation's drug czar who has a bigger fight on his hands: locating his missing daughter, who has descended into a netherworld of drug addiction.

Catherine Zeta-Jones and Michael Douglas arrive for the 73rd annual Academy Awards, March 25, 2001.

Brittany Murphy and Michael Douglas in the 2001 psychological thriller, "Don't Say a Word."

Michael Douglas starred with his father, Kirk Douglas, and his son, Cameron Douglas, in the 2003 film, "It Runs in the Family."

Kirk Douglas congratulates his son Michael during the first annual Michael Douglas and Friends celebrity golf tournament, March 20, 1999 in Rancho Palos Verdes, California. The fund to benefit the Motion Picture and Television Fund helps those in the film industry who have fallen on hard times.

Michael Douglas is a Secret Service agent eyed in a conspiracy to kill the president, in the political thriller "The Sentinel" (2006), costarring Kim Basinger.

Michael Douglas is a recently-released mental home resident in the 2007 comedy-drama, "King of California."

Michael Douglas and Matthew McConaughey in the 2009 rom-com, "Ghosts of Girlfriends Past."

Michael Douglas (with Danny DeVito) in "Solitary Man," as a man whose fortunes have turned drastically for the worse.

Actor Michael Douglas poses at the AFI Lifetime Achievement Award: A Tribute to Michael Douglas award presentation, June 11, 2009 in Culver City, Calif.

Shia LaBeouf, director Oliver Stone and Michael Douglas on the set of "Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps" (2010), featuring the return of financier Gordon Gekko - fresh out of prison and back in the game.

Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones arrive for the Oscars at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Calif., February 24, 2013.

Kevin Kline, Morgan Freeman, Robert De Niro and Michael Douglas sow some still-ripe oats in the comedy "Last Vegas" (2013).

Michael Douglas gave a bravura performance as the pianist Liberace in Steven Soderbergh's biopic, "Behind the Candelabra," costarring Matt Damon as Liberace's secret lover.

Michael Douglas as Liberace in "Behind the Candelabra."

Among the honors won by Michael Douglas for his performance in "Behind the Candelabra" were the Golden Globe, the Emmy Award, the Critics Choice TV Award, and the Screen Actors Guild Award (left).

Actress Catherine Zeta-Jones and actor Michael Douglas attend the 14th annual Monte Cristo Award at the Edison Ballroom on April 21, 2014 in New York City.

Actor Michael Douglas poses for photographers while attending the opening day of the 2010 Global Zero summit to put a halt to all nuclear weapons.