Michael Douglas is headed to Chicago this fall for a live conversation reflecting on more than five decades in film, along with the personal experiences behind his new memoir, One Helluva Ride.
The two-time Academy Award winner will appear at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance on Saturday, October 17 at 7 p.m. The Chicago appearance comes just 11 days after the October 6 publication of One Helluva Ride, Douglas’ first full memoir.
Presented by How To Academy, the evening is billed as an opportunity to hear Douglas discuss his life and career, from growing up as the son of legendary actor Kirk Douglas to establishing an identity of his own as an actor and producer.
Douglas first became widely known through the television series The Streets of San Francisco, but his career soon moved in a different direction. As a producer, he helped bring One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest to the screen, earning his first Academy Award when the film won Best Picture. More than a decade later, his performance as Gordon Gekko in Wall Street earned him the Academy Award for Best Actor.
His memoir uses 12 films as touchstones for telling that larger story, including One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, The China Syndrome, Romancing the Stone, Fatal Attraction, Wall Street, Basic Instinct, Falling Down, The American President, Traffic and Behind the Candelabra.
Douglas also addresses considerably more personal chapters of his life. According to publisher Grand Central Publishing, he writes about his complicated relationship with his father, his marriages and family, struggles with alcohol and drugs, his son Cameron’s addiction and imprisonment, and his own battle with stage IV cancer.
The Chicago event is one of several appearances Douglas is making around the memoir’s publication, with dates also scheduled in Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, San Francisco and the United Kingdom.
Douglas turns 82 on September 25, less than two weeks before the book’s release.
Tickets for the Harris Theater appearance range from $40 to $125, with several ticket levels including a pre-signed copy of One Helluva Ride.
For an actor and producer whose career has moved from television to producing an Oscar-winning Best Picture to creating some of film’s most memorable characters, the title seems fitting.
Michael Douglas has had one helluva ride. And on October 17, he’ll bring some of those stories to Chicago.
