Michael Douglas provides rare update on close friend Jack Nicholson: ‘I still see him’
The actor never worked with Nicholson on-screen, but did produce his Oscar-winning 1975 film ‘One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest’
Michael Douglas has provided a rare update on Jack Nicholson, who has retreated from the public eye in recent years.
While appearing at an event in Swansea where he discussed his explosive new memoir, Douglas was asked about his relationship with Nicholson, who starred in the Douglas-produced classic One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest in 1975.
“I would have liked to have acted with Jack,” Douglas said. “He’s not working any more. He’s well. He has disappeared. I know that.”
Douglas continued: “I still see him, but he is fine. He is up there by his house and walking around in his slippers. It happens. He deserves it. I understand. He is a few years older than me, but I understand.”
Nicholson, 89, has never officially announced his retirement, but he has not acted since 2010’s How Do You Know, and has rarely been photographed since then either.
In April, Nicholson’s daughter Lorraine shared a rare photo of the Hollywood titan. Nicholson could be seen smiling away as he spent the day with family and friends, including singer Joni Mitchell.
One person commented on Lorraine’s Instagram post with an effusive remark about Nicholson’s brief return to the spotlight.
“I appreciate the family sharing their Jack with all of us,” the commenter wrote. “There’s a world of fans who’ve been entertained and touched by his art and it’s just effing cool to see him hanging with a fellow genius LA artist, Joni Mitchell. We cherish our great artists and wish them joyful days!”
Lorraine previously spoke about her relationship with her father in a 2011 interview with Us Weekly, where she talked about his role in her own acting career. “He’s my mentor,” she explained. “I’m going into the family business because we’re so close and he’s such an inspiration. I admire him so much.”
For The Independent last year, film critic Geoffrey Macnab wrote about Jack’s “deserved (if unofficial) retirement”.
“There was a time when the actor was spotted everywhere: in nightclubs, on chat shows, at basketball matches, at movie premieres. No more,” he wrote. “The actor has performed a vanishing act … One of his friends, music producer Lou Adler, told the WTF podcast that Nicholson now prefers to spend his time ‘sitting under a tree and reading a book’.”
In 2024, the actor Carol Kane – who starred alongside Nicholson in 1971’s Carnal Knowledge and 1973’s The Last Detail – told The Independent that they remain in touch.
“Not a lot, but we keep at it,” she explained. “I make sure to check in on him, and thank goodness he’s still answering my calls.” Asked if he is doing OK, Kane said with a laugh: “Oh, he’s still Jack.”
A three-time Oscar winner, Nicholson is one of Hollywood history’s most celebrated and recognisable movie stars, with credits including Five Easy Pieces (1970), Chinatown (1974), Batman (1989), A Few Good Men (1992) and As Good as It Gets (1997).
Douglas, 82, earned an Oscar for producing One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest – which also won Nicholson his first Best Actor Academy Award – after he acquired the rights to Ken Kesey’s original novel from his father Kirk, who had previously owned the rights.
In his memoir One Helluva Ride, Douglas wrote about his marriage to Welsh actor Catherine Zeta-Jones, as well as his flings with his Romancing the Stone co-star Kathleen Turner and his Basic Instinct co-star Jeanne Tripplehorn.
