HOLLYWOOD, CA (AFP) — Oscar-winning actor Michael Douglas got a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Tuesday in honor of his 50 years in show business.
The megastar was joined at the ceremony by his 101-year-old father and Hollywood legend Kirk Douglas as well as Jane Fonda, who starred with him in the 1979 drama “The China Syndrome,” about an accident in a nuclear power plant.
Also attending was Douglas’s wife, the actress Catherine Zeta-Jones, and other family members.
“This is a great honor and I’m not getting any younger, I want to enjoy it with (my family),” the 74-year-old actor said as the star was unveiled.
Douglas got emotional and teary-eyed as he addressed his father, telling him that his presence at the event meant a lot.
“I’ll say it simply and with all my heart, ‘I’m so proud to be your son,'” he said, choking up.
Speaking at the ceremony, Fonda wondered why it took so long for the younger Douglas to finally get his star.
“Michael Douglas and I share something far more specific and unique than acting together,” she said. “We both come from families referred to by the press as Hollywood royalty.
“Both of our fathers were movie legends, and thankfully, Kirk Douglas is still with us,” she added, referring to her late father Henry.
“Stepping into a family business, any family business, is always challenging. Look at the Trumps or the Corleones.”
The younger Douglas was just 29 when he earned his place among Hollywood’s elite as the producer behind “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” then the first movie in 40 years to sweep the “big five” Oscars for best picture, director, actor, actress and screenplay.
He went on to win another Oscar — this time for best actor in “Wall Street” (1987) — and became one of the most bankable stars in the world through a series of roles in cinematic hits including “Romancing the Stone,” “Fatal Attraction” and “Basic Instinct.”
His new comedy series, “The Kominsky Method,” about a disgruntled aging actor who gives acting lessons, begins streaming on Netflix on November 16.