Comprehensive information and links about Michael Keaton

Michael Keaton on September 5, 1951, to an Irish-American Catholic family in Corapolis, Pennsylvania (near Pittsburgh), and studied speech for two years at Kent State, before dropping out and moving to Pittsburgh. An unsuccessful attempt at stand-up comedy led Keaton to working as a TV cameraman in a cable station, and he came to realize he wanted to work in front of the cameras. His first major role was as the hilariously fast-talking schemer in 1982.

Keaton left Pittsburgh and moved to Los Angeles to begin auditioning for various TV parts. He first appeared on TV in several episodes of (1979). Around this time Keaton decided to use an alternative surname to remove confusion with well known actor Michael Douglas, 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 , which starred Alec Baldwin, Geena Davis, Winona Ryder, Catherine O'Hara and the late Sylvia Sidney, an icon of Burton.

Keaton's career was given another major boost when in 1989 he was again cast by Burton, this time as millionaire playboy. 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. However, their fears were proved wrong when Keaton turned in an acclaimed performance that many fans felt was particularly faithful to the comic books.

Keen to diversify his work and take on different types of characters, Keaton next appeared as a psychotic tenant in (1992). The film series declined precipitiously under the otherwise well-regarded director Joel Schumacher, after Burton left and Keaton left as well after being dissatisfied with the screenplays the new director approved. In a marked contrast to their initial reaction, many fans complaining about those films often demanded that not only that Tim Burton be rehired as director but also rehiring Keaton to play Batman again.

He remained in demand during the 1990s, appearing in a wide range of films including the star-studded Shakespearian (1989) because he was the only actor Burton thought could believably portray someone who has the kind of darkly obsessive personality that the character has. (1994). Keaton and Reeve played DC Comics two most iconic characters, Batman and Superman, respectively., with the understanding being that the character would be killed early on in the show. Keaton had to turn down the part the creators decided not to kill off the doctor, and Matthew Fox ended up playing the character.