Early Life and Career
Born in Los Angeles, California, Douglas was the youngest son of actor Kirk Douglas and German American mother Anne Buydens. His brother is Peter Douglas and his half-brothers are Michael Douglas and Joel Douglas. Douglas studied at Pitzer College, the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, and the London Academy of Dramatic Arts.
Douglas performed stand-up in New York City comedy clubs with much of his self-deprecating material coming from his status as the 'black sheep' of the Douglas dynasty. Douglas often made news headlines throughout his life, with several run-ins with the law bringing him notoriety.
Douglas performed off-Broadway at the Village Gate Theater with the critically acclaimed improvisational comedy troupe Noo Yawk Tawk in the late 1980s. He also appeared in a production of Dale Wasserman's Shakespeare and The Indians at the Music Theatre Conference for the Eugene O' Neill Theatre Center in 1981. Also in the production was folk performer Bobby Bridger, but the production never made it to Broadway.
In 1991, Douglas appeared with his father (in the senior Douglas' Emmy-nominated performance) in "Yellow", the Season 3 finale of the television series Tales from the Crypt. The father and son acting duo portrayed father and son characters with Eric a young officer in World War I brought up on charges of cowardice by his commanding general who is also his cold-hearted father.
Douglas entered British comedy folklore when during a stand-up performance at The Comedy Store, London he found that much to his annoyance he was losing his audience's attention. This led to him shouting out 'do you know who I am? I'm Kirk Douglas' son' to which a member of the audience stood up and shouted 'no, I'm Kirk Douglas' son.' This ended up with the majority of the audience standing up and repeating the line much like Kirk Douglas' iconic scene in the 1960 film Spartacus and Douglas storming off the stage. This incident has since gone down as one of the favourite stories among British Comedians when the subject of heckling comes up.
Read more about this topic: Eric Douglas
Famous quotes containing the words early, life and/or career:
“Early education can only promise to help make the third and fourth and fifth years of life good ones. It cannot insure without fail that any tomorrow will be successful. Nothing “fixes” a child for life, no matter what happens next. But exciting, pleasing early experiences are seldom sloughed off. They go with the child, on into first grade, on into the child’s long life ahead.”
—James L. Hymes, Jr. (20th century)
“All mothers need instruction, nurturing, and an understanding mentor after the birth of a baby, but in this age of fast foods, fast tracks, and fast lanes, it doesn’t always happen. While we live in a society that provides recognition for just about every life event—from baptisms to bar mitzvahs, from wedding vows to funeral rites—the entry into parenting seems to be a solo flight, with nothing and no one to mark formally the new mom’s entry into motherhood.”
—Sally Placksin (20th century)
“Whether lawyer, politician or executive, the American who knows what’s good for his career seeks an institutional rather than an individual identity. He becomes the man from NBC or IBM. The institutional imprint furnishes him with pension, meaning, proofs of existence. A man without a company name is a man without a country.”
—Lewis H. Lapham (b. 1935)