When he realized he needed to change his name, he had seen an article with a nice picture of Diane Keaton. He chose Keaton with the intention of changing it later. However, the name stuck. Years later, he phoned Diane Keaton and thanked her. The two have never actually met.
Dated Courteney Cox.
Studied speech at Kent State University in Kent, Ohio.
His hobbies are fly-fishing and riding horses at his California ranch.
Tim Burton cast him as the title role in Batman (1989) because he was the only actor Burton thought could believably portray someone who has the kind of darkly obsessive personality that the character has. There was a great deal of comic fan anger over his selection, forcing the studio to release an advance trailer both to show that Keaton could do the role well and that the movie would not be a campy parody like the TV show "Batman" (1966/II).
Attended Montour High School.
Is the fourth actor to play Batman.
Has one son with Caroline McWilliams.
He couldn't keep his name when he began acting because there was already a Michael Douglas in movies and a Mike Douglas in Broadcasting. He has never legally changed his name to Michael Keaton.
Began his work on television on the popular children's TV show "MisteRogers' Neighborhood" (1968).
Only actor to reprise the role of Batman in major, live action films (Batman (1989)/Batman Returns (1992). Adam West did only one movie (Batman (1966/I)) as Batman (along with the live action TV series "Batman" (1966/II) and voice-work) and Kevin Conroy has only done voice-work as Batman.
Plays "Agent Ray Nicolette" in Jackie Brown (1997), the same character he plays in Out of Sight (1998).
Started his career as a stagehand in "MisteRogers' Neighborhood" (1968) (he operated "Picture, Picture"), and in 2004 he produced a documentary on Rogers, Fred Rogers: America's Favorite Neighbor (2004) (TV).
Turned down the role of the ill-fated mad scientist Dr. Seth Brundle in David Cronenberg's remake The Fly (1986). The part eventually went to Jeff Goldblum.
Is a Pittsburgh Steelers fan.
Is a Second City alumni - a member of the Los Angeles branch.
According to Mike Myers on "Revealed with Jules Asner" (2001), Keaton saw the comic actor perform at Second City Toronto. After the show ended, Keaton went to personally congratulate Myers and said, "Keep up the great work." Myers would soon work with Keaton on an episode of "Saturday Night Live" (1975) when Keaton was guest host.
His son Sean plays keyboard for a band called The Hatch.
Was originally slated to play Jeff Daniels character in Woody Allen's The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985) and actually did film some scenes, but Allen decided it wasn't working and replaced him with Daniels.
Appeared with the late Christopher Reeve in Speechless (1994). Keaton and Reeve played DC Comics two most iconic characters, Batman and Superman, respectively.
He was originally going to play the role of Dr. Jack Shephard in the TV show "Lost", under the understanding that the character would be killed early on in the show. Keaton had to turn down the part the creators decided not to kill off the doctor, and Matthew Fox ended up playing the character.
Was parodied by Matthew Perry on Saturday Night Live.
Was considered for the role of Dr. Curtis McCabe in Vanilla Sky.
Was considered for the role of Jack Crawford in The Silence of the Lambs.
Was considered for the role of Captain Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl.
Was considered for the role of Lt. Col. Kazinski in Jarhead.
An avid Pittsburgh Steelers football fan, he grew up about five miles from present Steelers Coach Bill Cowher's hometown, Crafton, Pennsylvania.
Michael Keaton Detailed Biography
Michael Keaton (b. September 5, 1951) is an American actor.
Keaton was born Michael John Douglas on September 5, 1951, to an Scots-Irish family in Coraopolis, Pennsylvania (near Pittsburgh), and studied speech for two years at Kent State, before dropping out and moving to Pittsburgh. An unsuccessful attempt at stand-up comedy led Keaton to working as a TV cameraman in a cable station, and he came to realize he wanted to work in front of the cameras. His first major role was as the hilariously fast-talking schemer Bill "Blaze" Blazejowski alongside nerdish morgue attendant Henry Winkler in Night Shift in 1982.
Keaton left Pittsburgh and moved to Los Angeles to begin auditioning for various TV parts. He first appeared on TV in several episodes of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood (1975), and cropped up in other popular TV shows including Maude (1977) and The Mary Tyler Moore Hour (1979). Around this time Keaton decided to use an alternative surname to remove confusion with well known actor Michael Douglas, and after reading an article on actress Diane Keaton, he decided on "Michael Keaton". His next key break was scoring a co-lead alongside James Belushi in the short lived comedy series Working Stiffs (1979), which showcased his comedic talent and got him into the casting for the co-lead in Night Shift. Receiving some acclaim for his Night Shift (movie) role, Keaton scored leads in the subsequent comedy hits Mr. Mom (1982) , Johnny Dangerously, Gung Ho (1986) and as the title character in the 1988 Tim Burton horror-comedy Beetlejuice, which starred Alec Baldwin, Geena Davis, Winona Ryder, Catherine O'Hara and the late Sylvia Sidney.
Keaton's career was given another major boost when in 1989 he was again cast by Burton, this time as millionaire playboy and crime-fighter Bruce Wayne in the big budget film Batman. After the Keaton casting, Warner Bros. received thousands of letters of complaint by fans commenting that the comedic Keaton was the wrong choice for Gotham City's creature of the night. However, their fears were proved wrong when Keaton turned in an acclaimed performance that many fans felt was particularly faithful to the comic books.
Keen to diversify his work and take on different types of characters, Keaton next appeared as a psychotic tenant in Pacific Heights, as a hard working cop in One Good Cop, and then he returned to wear the black cape and cowl again in Batman Returns (1992). The film series declined precipitiously under the otherwise well-regarded director Joel Schumacher, after Burton and Keaton left after being dissatisfied with the screenplays the new director approved. It has also been reported that Keaton left the series because Warner Brothers studios would not meet his salary demands, but other than that the official explanation is that he simply did not like the artistic direction the franchise was headed in. In a marked contrast to their initial reaction, many fans complaining about those films often demanded that not only that Tim Burton be rehired as director but that Keaton play Batman again.
He remained in demand during the 1990s, appearing in a wide range of films including the star-studded Shakespearian Much Ado About Nothing (1993), another Ron Howard comedy The Paper (1994), with Andie MacDowell in Multiplicity (1996), as a dogged cop in Jackie Brown (1997), and in the thriller Desperate Measures (1998). Since 2000, Keaton has appeared in several productions with mixed success including Live From Baghdad (2002), White Noise (2003), First Daughter (2004), and Herbie: Fully Loaded with Lindsay Lohan (2005).
