Michael J. Fox will turn 60 on June 9, 2021. The “Back to the Future” star has already suffered from Parkinson’s for half of his life.
True size has nothing to do with height. This message was conveyed by actor Michael J. Fox (60) with his 1.63 meters, of all things, at an era in which testosterone sweating muscle mountains were booming – the 1980s and 1990s. His characters, above all the charming and rebellious Marty McFly from “Back to the Future”, were mostly granted happy endings despite some hopeless situations. Not the star herself, who will celebrate his 60th birthday on June 9th. At least not in the dream factory.
Canadian soldier of fortune
Michael J. Fox was already at the age of 15. so convinced that he had found his future in acting that he dropped out of high school. At the age of 18 (1979), the native Canadian moved to the USA to look for happiness there – and found it relatively early. He landed his first major roles in the comedy “Midnight Madness: A Freaky Bunch” (1980) and the thriller “The Class of 1984” (1982).
In 1985 Fox finally got the part that made him part of film history forever. As Marty McFly, he traveled to 1955 with his iconic DeLorean time machine in the clever and entertaining sci-fi film “Back to the Future”. The first part represented the actor’s breakthrough and was followed by two worthy successors in 1989 and 1990. Marty’s journey into the past, future and even more distant past alongside Christopher Lloyd (82) as Emmett “Doc” Brown is still considered the perfect trilogy and should not be missing from any time travel movie night. With the sentence: “Nobody calls me a cowardly pig!”
Much more than just Marty McFly
In the same year as “Back to the Future” Fox was seen in another film. In the youth comedy “Teenwolf”, 17-year-old Scott Howard (Fox) learns that he is the son of a werewolf and that he has supernatural powers. And of course the skinny teenager uses it promptly to get started on the basketball team at his school. Here, too, the predicate: Charming coming-of-age story with a nice message at the end.
But Fox can also be serious. In 1989 he proved this with the haunting anti-war film “The Damned of War”. He plays the soldier Eriksson at the side of Sean Penn (60), who witnessed a brutal crime committed by his entire unit against a young local woman during the Vietnam War. Should he report the incident and risk becoming a victim himself – or save his life and lose his conscience in return?
Probably the most unusual film in Michael J. Fox’s biography is the sci-fi horror comedy “Mars Attacks!” As a weird answer to Roland Emmerich’s (65) “Independence Day” from last year, Tim Burton (62) lets the sadistic Martians loose on an absolute star ensemble. In addition to Fox, Jack Nicholson (84), Pierce Brosnan (68), Glenn Close (74) and Danny DeVito (76), to name just a few.
Also in 1996 came the horror comedy “The Frighteners” out, which was directed by the later “Lord of the Rings” director Peter Jackson (59). In it, Fox plays a man who has had the gift of communicating with spirits and seeing them since the death of his wife. It was supposed to be the last flick that Fox starred in. That was 25 years ago.
What happened if…?
At the age of 60, the star has been suffering from Parkinson’s disease for half of his life. The first symptoms occurred to him in 1991 while filming “The Hard Way”, which he dubbed for years. It was not until 1998 that he made his illness public, after the signs could no longer be concealed.
“What if?” – Questions are usually idle. Every now and then, however, even the most rational person cannot avoid confronting them. At Fox, for example. Would he wrestle with actors like Tom Hanks (64), Tom Cruise (58) or Sean Penn nowadays for roles, would he never have been plagued by the insidious neurodegenerative disease?
The end of the career
Instead, there is now the sad realization that Fox will never again appear in a movie or a series. 2020 he betrayed the US site “People”that because of Parkinson’s, in addition to all the physical limitations, his short-term memory is now “over”. He could no longer remember texts and was therefore forced to give up his acting career for good.
If you ignore a few exceptions to “Back to the Future” and some guest appearances, dubbing work or TV engagements in the past 25 years, Fox’s great career is limited to a little over ten years – from 1985 to 1996.
His low point and the new hope
The latest turning point was also his darkest hour and happened in 2018, Fox also revealed to “People” magazine. At that time, a tumor was discovered on his spine. “I was threatened with paraplegia if I hadn’t had an operation,” said Fox. An extremely risky operation, as the operation had to be performed directly on the spinal cord of the star. Although the operation was successful, Fox had to go into rehab for four months to learn to walk again.
But just as he was fighting his way back to normal, Fox fell badly in his kitchen and broke his arm. “That was definitely my darkest moment,” recalls the now 60-year-old in an interview. “I freaked out. I leaned against the wall in my kitchen, waited for the ambulance and had the feeling, ‘This is it, it doesn’t get any deeper for me.’ I questioned everything […] There was no sunny side to it, no positive perspective. Just regret and pain. “The star’s boundless optimism seemed broken.
As a result of the fall, Fox was again tied to the bed. But instead of further despair, he used the time to go deep inside. He realized: “Optimism is rooted in gratitude.” And he has so much to be thankful for. For example his wife Tracy Pollan (60), with whom he has been happily going through life since 1988 and has four children together. Or his new career as a book author, which has already produced four works, the last of which won’t be until 2020.
Michael J. Fox’s Hollywood career may have lacked a well-deserved happy ending. That doesn’t apply to his life. “I have the optimism of a 60-year-old man,” was Fox ‘summary in the “People” interview. And some people who have been better dealt with by fate cannot say that about themselves.