Batman

Personal life

Keaton, the youngest of seven children, was born in Coraopolis, Pennsylvania, and lived in Robinson Township, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. His father worked as a civil engineer and surveyor[1][2] and his mother, Leona, a homemaker, came from a Scots-Irish community in Pennsylvania.[3] Keaton was raised in a large Catholic family[4] and attended Montour High School in Pennsylvania. He studied speech for two years at Kent State, before dropping out and moving to Pittsburgh. Keaton was married to actress Caroline McWilliams from 1982 until 1990. They have one son, Sean Douglas (b. 1983). He also had a six-year relationship with actress Courteney Cox.

[edit] 1970s and 1980s

An unsuccessful attempt at stand-up comedy led Keaton to working as a TV cameraman at public television station WQED (TV) in Pittsburgh. Keaton first appeared on TV in the Pittsburgh-based public television program Mister Rogers' Neighborhood (1975), as one of the "Flying Zucchini Brothers."[5] He also served as a full-time production assistant on the show.[6] (In 2003, following Rogers' death, Keaton hosted the PBS memorial tribute program, Fred Rogers: Everybody's Favorite Neighbor.)

Keaton left Pittsburgh and moved to Los Angeles to begin auditioning for various TV parts. He cropped up in various 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, as well as satisfying SAG rules, 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 (1982). His role as the hilariously fast-talking schemer Bill "Blaze" Blazejowski alongside nerdish morgue attendant Henry Winkler earned Keaton some critical acclaim, and he scored leads in the subsequent comedy hits Mr. Mom (1983), Johnny Dangerously (1984), and Gung Ho (1986).

His role as the title character in the 1988 Tim Burton horror-comedy Beetlejuice, which starred Alec Baldwin, Geena Davis, Catherine O'Hara, and Winona Ryder, earned Keaton widespread acclaim and boosted him to the A-list. That same year, Keaton also gave an acclaimed dramatic performance as a drug addicted businessman in Clean and Sober. Newsweek featured him in a story during this time.

Batman
Batman (1989 film) and Batman Returns

Michael Keaton as Batman.

Keaton's career was given another major boost when he was again cast by Tim Burton, this time as the superhero Batman in the 1989 film Batman. Burton cast him because he thought that Keaton was the only actor who could believably portray someone who has the kind of darkly obsessive personality that the character demands.[citation needed] 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, given his prior work in comedies and the fact that he lacked the suave, handsome features and tall, muscular physicality often attributed to the character in the comic books.[citation needed] However, Keaton earned critical acclaim for his sophisticated and landmark performance, making Batman the highest-grossing film of the year.

According to Keaton, he was astounded when he was first considered as Batman since he was only familiar with the 1960s Batman television series starring Adam West, but it wasn't until Burton introduced Keaton to Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns that Keaton really understood the dark and brooding side of Batman that he portrayed to much fan approval. Keaton returned to wear the black cape and cowl again in 1992's Batman Returns which was another critical and financial success, though also received controversy for being darker than the original.

He was prepared to return for 1995's Batman Forever, even going so far as to show up for costume fitting. However, when Burton was dropped by Warner Bros. (slated to co-producer), Keaton left the series after being dissatisfied with the screenplay the new director, Joel Schumacher, approved, which Keaton considered to be lighter in tone in comparison to the past two Batman movies. According to the A&E Biography episode on Michael Keaton, after he had refused the first time (due to analysis of the script and meetings with Schumacher), Warner Brothers then offered him $35,000,000 (one of the highest salaries offered to an actor at the time), but Keaton steadfastly refused. Keaton was subsequently succeeded by Val Kilmer. In marked contrast to their initial reaction, many fans complaining about the following two Batman films (including 1997's Batman & Robin, starring George Clooney as Batman) often demanded not only that Tim Burton be rehired as director but that Keaton be hired as well.[citation needed]

1990s

Keaton remained in demand during the 1990s, appearing in a wide range of films including Pacific Heights (1990), One Good Cop (1991), the star-studded Shakespearian Much Ado About Nothing (1993), another Ron Howard comedy The Paper (1994), with Andie MacDowell in Multiplicity (1996), as Elmore Leonard character Agent Ray Nicolette in Jackie Brown (1997) and Out of Sight (1998), Jack Frost (1998) and in the thriller Desperate Measures (1998).

2000s

Since 2000, Keaton has appeared in several productions with mixed success including Live From Baghdad (2002), White Noise (2005), First Daughter (2004), and Herbie: Fully Loaded with Lindsay Lohan (2005). While he continues to receive good notices from the critics (particularly for Jackie Brown), with the exception of Cars, in which he played the part of Chick Hicks, he has not been able to approach the box-office success of the Batman film series. On New Years Day of 2004, he hosted the PBS TV special Mr. Rogers: America's Favorite Neighbor. It was released by Triumph Marketing LLC on DVD September 28 that year.

In 2006, Keaton starred in an independent film called Game 6, a semi-thriller based around the infamous 1986 World Series bid by the Boston Red Sox. Also in 2006, Keaton made a cameo in the Tenacious D short film, Time Fixers, an iTunes exclusive. The 9-minute film was released to coincide with Tenacious D in: The Pick of Destiny (2006). Keaton has also just been announced to be the lead in Media 8 Entertainment's upcoming film Reaper, a supernatural thriller, expected for a 2008 release. He has also recently agreed to star as John Target in the Matt Evans scripted No Rule To Make Target. He is directing the drama movie The Merry Gentleman. Keaton was also cast as Dr. Jack Shephard in the series Lost, understanding that the role of Jack would have been small. On finding that it would be a long-running role, Keaton withdrew the offer and it was later given to actor Matthew Fox.[8][9] Keaton also starred in the 2007 TV mini-series The Company, set during the Cold War, in which he portrayed the real-life CIA counterintelligence chief James Jesus Angleton. The role garnered Keaton a 2008 SAG nomination for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries. He is slated to join the Toy Story cast for the upcoming Toy Story 3, where he will provide the voice of Ken, Barbie's friend.