Michael Douglas

Michael Douglas is one of Hollywood’s most celebrated actors and producers, with over 30 years of achievement in theatre, film and television.  Yet when he was named UN Messenger of Peace in 1998, he told UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan that the honor “means as much to me as either of my two Oscars.”  He said that he would use his celebrity status to call for the elimination of nuclear weapons and nonproliferation of small arms.

Douglas won his first Academy Award in 1975 for producing One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and a best actor Oscar in 1987 for Wall Street.  But it was another film, produced right after Cuckoo’s Nest, that launched Douglas’ activist career.  Doing research for his character in The China Syndrome, he began to learn about the dangers posed by nuclear reactors.  Ten days after the film opened, the accident at Three Mile Island occurred, repeating the chain of events in The China Syndrome down to almost every detail.   Stunned, he began to become involved in learning about the dangers posed by nuclear power as well as nuclear weapons.

Douglas joined the Board of Directors of Ploughshares Fund in 2005. ”Having been a contributor for the past five years, I admire the leading role Ploughshares Fund plays in catalyzing initiatives to prevent nuclear terrorism, stop the development of new nuclear weapons and prevent armed conflict.” Last May, he and Joe Cirincione made the rounds on Capitol Hill and met with Senators to talk about new opportunities for progress on nuclear weapons. “For someone who’s been involved in disarmament as long as I have, it is encouraging to finally see the kind of bipartisan support we need to move ahead.”