Michael Douglas Shares Rare Update About Jack Nicholson

More than a decade after Jack Nicholson retired from acting, Michael Douglas offers a rare update about his friend and fellow actor.

In his newly released memoir, One Helluva Ride, Douglas mentioned Nicholson.

“I would have liked to have acted with Jack,” Douglas wrote. “He’s not working anymore. He’s well. He has disappeared. I know that.”

Nicholson’s acting career started in the mid-50s. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest in 1975. He later won his second Best Actor Academy Award for As Good as It Gets. The retired actor also won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for Terms of Endearment. He also received numerous Academy Award nominations for his roles in Chinatown, Ironweed, A Few Good Men, About Schmidt, and others.

Nicholson final acting role was in the 2010 film How Do You Know? Since then, he has stepped away from the public eye. In a 2013 interview with The Sun, the former actor said he took fewer film roles because he was less driven to “be out there any more.”

“[The] movie business is the greatest business,” he pointed out. “But I only want to do films that move people, films about emotions and people.”

The retired actor also said he was careful about dating, noting it “doesn’t feel right” to “hit on” women at his age.

Nicholson last appeared in public at Saturday Night Live’s 50th anniversary in February 2025.

Meanwhile, Douglas confirmed that he has seen Nicholson since his retirement from Hollywood.

“I still see him, but he is fine,” the fellow actor pointed out in his book. “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.”