Inside Michael J. Fox's Life and Career | ET Evolution | career, evolution | Inside Michael J. Fox's life and career. | By Entertainment Tonight | Facebook | Tonight, ET presents Michael J Fox from Teen Idol to Advocate. It's all been one kind of great ride. We celebrate the man living life with no regrets. I'm just having a good time. Why acting wasn't his first career choice but superstardom was his destiny. I think I'm a one-in-one shot where it paid off. What you never knew about Michael's private life. Are you guys dating tonight? We're married. You said you weren't going to tell. No. And public battles. Progressive, degenerative, incurable, very rare. We open the ET Vault revealing four decades worth of never before seen interviews. Who is or was your favorite close starter kiss? My wife. That's easy. Our time with the husband, the father, and the fighter. I've had to kind of make adjustments in my life to be able to do my work still. Was now focused on changing the world. It's a bright future ahead. ET starts now. I From Alex P Keaton to Marty McFly, tonight we celebrate the one and only Michael J Fox. Welcome to Entertainment Tonight. Of course, April's Parkinson's Awareness Month and Michael's new Apple TV plus documentary still drops May 12th but until then, we're looking back at ET's 40 plus years of interviews with the beloved actor, writer, and producer turned Parkinson's advocate. Oh yeah, but let's not forget his first ever title, Boy Prince of Hollywood. I'm 22 and my energy is right now focused on on my career and trying to figure out who I am I'm probably the most anxious to see what is going to happen I added it up on the way home Leo I've been in seven jams in two weeks Michael was just 15 years old when he landed his first major role in the Canadian sitcom Leo and me but acting wasn't his first choice for a career I wanted to play professional hockey and my size seem to be the biggest barrier and then I got into drama and and I found if you made girls laugh you know, you collected more phone numbers. I was real lucky and that I latched on to acting and really devoted myself to it. His devotion led to a crossroads in nineteen seventy-nine. Should he finish high school or chase his dream. With the support of his family, Michael dropped out and swapped the suburbs of Vancouver for the bright lights of Hollywood. I came down to the States when I was 18, living on my own and and and trying to make it as an actor and playing, you know, dodge the landlord and you know, borrowing people's phones and selling furniture and eating plain wrapped tuna and all that stuff. I think I'm a one in a million shot where it paid off. It took Michael a few years to see the payoff. In 1982, he got his big break as Alex P Keaton on family ties. Well, how do I look? Middle aged. By 8five, the sitcom was one of the most watched shows on TV. Teen Wolf and Back to the Future were released the same year and Michael went from TV star to Teen Idol almost overnight. When is the first time you got sort of mobbed by fans? I was in New York when I was walking down the street and this little girl, she wanted to marry me and all she was weeping. So, I'm trying to calm her down and finally, I looked to her mother for support and her mother was weeping and so I thought, I'm in trouble. The new found attention led to a roster of high-profile girlfriends including Jennifer Gray, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Facts of Life star Nancy McKeon then at the 1986 Oscars. You're dating Michael Fox tonight? Tonight. Are you guys dating tonight? Rumors even swirled about his Family Ties love interest Courtney Cox. He's a really nice person to work with anyway and so I I feel the chemistry's there. In terms of you know Michael Fox and and Courtney Cox having an affair. That's so predictable and untrue that it's boring and just laughable. Oh no my dear you're going to sit down right now and tell me exactly where you've been for the past 2 hours. ET was on set with the Family Ties cast during season 1 in 1982 where we first saw Michael up close and personal as everyone's favorite young Republican Alex P Keaton. But get this, he had to fight an audition. They had made an offer to Matthew Driver who turned it down. NBC's executives were a tough sell too. They thought at five foot four, Michael was too short to be believable as the son of his TV dad, Michael Gross, who stood a foot taller but Fox's Fresh Face made it possible for him to play a high schooler even though he was twenty-one. I think there there are limitations with my size and with the way I look but there there aren't any limitations with the things I want to do, you know. Michael's boy's charm made family ties must-see TV. The show's momentum even helped launch the careers of guest stars like Tom Hanks, Christina Applegate, Julia Louie Dryfus, and Gina Davis. Was that cool to kiss her? Once I get off the ladder. Another on-screen love interest, his future wife, Tracy Pollen. She played Allen who was Alex's first real serious girlfriend. Oh, what was your first impression of each other? You have said you thought he was cocky? No, he was. That was a fact. He was. That was a fact. He was very young and he was very very successful. Yeah. He had like three cars. Yeah. You know. Uh five. I've ever seen you in the waiting room and I want to just walk in and said cast her. Sure. Alright, she looks great. Family Ties collected a total 5 Emmy Awards, three of which went to Michael. He also earned his first Golden Globe for the show's final season in nineteen eighty-nine. More than 36 million fans tuned in for the series finale. What an what an incredible gift this has been. Thank you to all the people who've watched the show. You know, you've you've made my life right? And I appreciate it. But one little known fact, during the height of his family ties fame, Michael started working on his movie career, shooting back to the future. It happened so quick. Certainly, it was a big step to do feature-length multi-million-dollar film. Michael actually wasn't the first one cast as teenage time traveler Marty McFly. Nope, that was his look alike, Eric Stoltz, who got fired several weeks into filming. As dramatic method actor, he just wasn't a good fit. There was so little time to really think a lot about replacing another actor, maybe what he did and what I shouldn't do. Boomer was there and and and doing it and then it was just staying awake. Yep, staying away was the tough part. Michael was pulling double duty working on family ties from 10 to six then driving to the movie set where he'd work until two AM. That went on for 3 months. In between takes I was sleeping. I was working day sixteen, 18, 20-hour days. With two hundred twenty-two million at the box office Back to the Future became the highest grossing movie of nineteen eighty-five worldwide. Turning Michael into one of the most in-demand stars of the decade. Every year we talk to you, you become a bigger and bigger star. Nope, still five four. No. Between nineteen eighty-four and the time family ties ended in nineteen eighty-nine, Michael's career hit a break neck pace. Eight major movies in five years including the Back to the Future sequels which shot simultaneously over nearly a year. ET was on set. Action. Originally, it was all one script and it was just too much stuff and so they man it into two. You got to come back with me. We're back to the future. It basically continues where it left off last time. We're going to the future because something has to be done about my kids. In a part three, it gets even weirder. There's a lot of character work and a lot of makeup. I play my son. I play my father. Mom. Mom, is that you? Playing a teenage girl, you know, and I don't know. I thought it was kind of cute. Yeah, Michael dressed in drag to play his own daughter in Back to the Future too. He went outside his comfort zone again in a handful of dramatic roles. There was an upside to a drug addicted writer in the 1988 drama Bright Lights Big City reuniting with his future wife Tracy Pollen. Are you sure you're alright? Well, my brain is trying to find a way out of his skull. The fact that Tracy is my girlfriend was nice. The fact that she's an incredibly gifted actress who I've been lucky enough to work with before was better. Who is or was your favorite co-star to kiss? My wife. That's easy. I just remember that terrifying first week on family ties and being more scared than anything else I'd ever done. I am a very nice person except when I'm around people like you. Oh, people like me, people like me. I happened to like people like me. I didn't start seeing her when she was on the show. Yes, it wasn't love at first sight. Miss Nancy McKeon and Mr. Michael Fox. In fact, at the time, Michael was dating the facts of Life Star and Tracy was in a long-term relationship with Footloose's Kevin Bacon. So, a couple years later when I ran into her again and we started seeing each other of all the great things that have come from the show. Tracy obviously is by far and away the best. Michael Rankins ET was there for the couple's first red carpet together at the Emmy's. The following July, their Vermont wedding created a media frenzy. Photographers staked out the ceremony on the ground and in the sky. So our wedding was another whole surreal thing but it was great and it stuck. It took which is all that matters. And it's hard to believe but this summer they'll celebrate their 35th anniversary. She's great. She's she's she's my best friend and and she's so sexy as hell and she But as much as those two are couples goals, wait til we tell you about their family. Fox Party of six. I mean, I see people with their little toddlers and I want to grab them and say, you don't know how fast this will go. Yeah. This goes so fast. Our favorite thing is just spending time together as a family and they would say the same thing. Yeah, it's definitely true. It's really nice to be with both my parents. Home-cooked meals are really big thing in our family so just like sitting down at the dinner table and like talking about our day. Twins, Skylar, and a make up half the squad. They both work for media companies. Esme, the youngest is at Duke. Elvis Sam who could totally pass as his dad's doppelganger is in show business too. Sam works in film production and got a taste of the business early on. It's been fun doing definitely more behind the scenes stuff and and being a part of the industry but in a way that's that's different from what I grew up with. I didn't bust my **** so he could bust his **** bust my **** so he could take a break. I think that generational can racial vacation. Last month, Michael introduced fans to the newest edition, this adorable pup, Blue. Yep, his family ties are strong and his kids say it all comes down to two words, dad jokes. He definitely has a problem where he can't resist making a pun if it's available to him. He looks like he's in pain trying not to say it. You think he's corny and he embarrasses you? Yes. Absolutely. Uh fatherhood, the greatest gig in the world. We go from Michael the dad to Michael the Spin Doctor. This is like stepping back in time. Men like us have to keep looking to the future. All roads lead back to the future. Yes, Christopher Lloyd guest starred on Michael's hit sitcom Spin City back in nineteen ninety-nine. Now, the show was Fox's big TV comeback since leaving family ties and you know that ET was always invited on set. And two, take one. And action. Every week is an accomplishment. Every week is a new little 22minute movie. Am I better at it? I don't know. Do I have more fun? Yeah, this is great. Michael's inspiration to return to the small screen came from an unlikely place. I was watching, I said, man, TV has changed. You can really, you can really bust the form and I and all of a sudden, I realized that that Jerry Seinfeld was the smartest guy in the world. All of a sudden, it just all started, you know, click in my head that that was a thing to do. I feel good. Thank you. Oh. I'm having a blast. I'm having so much fun. The show was a hit from the start and Michael was nominated for four straight Emmys winning one. Oh and since he was also the show's executive producer, you can bet Michael had a say in casting. I can't believe you're standing here. He did this kissing scene last night. It was like especially sexy, yeah. It was pretty cool. At the height of the show's popularity in nineteen ninety-eight, Michael publicly announced he had been secretly battling Parkinson's disease for 7 years. Two years later, he announced he'd be leaving the show. It's bittersweet but but I feel good about the choice and and yeah, people couldn't have been more loving and supportive. He also kept his final season with a Golden Globe. Michael J Fox. To go up on that stage and to I mean you know who's out there and to see those people stand up. Promised myself that I wouldn't do this. Um it's great. Oh, so deserving. Now, while Hollywood continues to celebrate Michael, his mission moving forward was clear. Find a cure for Parkinson's. You make, you're making me shake. 7. Now, I definitely can't walk and carry this thing. So, I asked Tracy to once again carry the weight. She is his rock. Michael J Fox was awarded the Gene Hershold Humanitarian Oscar at the 2022 Governor's Awards for his efforts in fighting Parkinson's Disease. Yeah, it was presented to him by his long time friend and former co-star, Woody Harrison. Now, the duo worked together on Michael's 199-one movie, Doc Hollywood. I really like that movie. And that was the same year Michael was diagnosed with young onset Parkinson's at just 29 years old. Canadian life insurance. What? Woody just came on the it and said, I am Woody and I think you're great and I think you're really funny and I said, well, this is the beginning of a very nice friendship. We just been hanging out ever since. Michael was out partying with his friend and co-star the night before he noticed his first symptom. I was feeling a little disoriented. That's when I noticed my pinky. It was trembling, twitching, auto animated. How long this had been going on? I wasn't exactly sure but now that I noticed it, I was surprised to discover that I couldn't stop it. Initially, he blamed it on his hangover but a few months later, Michael's doctor gave him the diagnosis that would change his life for good. I don't think said anything. I don't think I felt anything. The doctor said some more words like young onset, progressive, degenerative, incurable, very rare, your age, new drugs, new hope, brain surgery. The air was sucked from my lungs. What was I going to tell my wife? I kept it to myself for 7 years. No, Michael didn't hit the breaks on his career, he hit the gas. Taking any job he could get against the wishes of his wife Tracy. In those 7 years of silence, he appeared in 12 movies and made a return to prime time TV in the physically Spin City. Every time he stepped on set, he did everything he could to keep his Parkinson's a secret. I'm always calculating. I'm always figuring out how am I going to do this thing that I need to do. You know, when do I take a pill? So, it's a whole bag of tricks. Before the public knew ET's cameras caught Michael using those tricks to mask the symptoms of the incurable brain disorder. Here, you can see him holding props to slow his tremors. His pockets became a tool to conceal his hands. It's hard for me to stay still until it's for the people to move. Stress is a symptom multiplier. Your brain just goes, no, you know, we're in deceit. The most dangerous crutch of all, alcohol. He drank to disassociate, hiding empty bottles from Tracy at home and the habit took a toll on their marriage. One time, I woke up with a hangover and I expected Tracy to be mad at me. She wasn't angry. She was just bored and and that to me was more frightening than anything. I was kind of feeling done and I just thought, you know what, this is now on you and you're either going to do what you need to do or you're not. Today, Michael is more than three decades sober. Once I looked at it, went just a direct reaction to this this diagnosis that I haven't dealt with. I haven't really looked at that. If I look at that, then everything else will fall into place. I don't think you helped someone get through that. That's that's a road that everybody has to sort of go on themselves but I was always there for him. Michael stepped back from acting full time in two thousand to focus on a bigger mission, finding a cure. His foundation's annual gala has helped raise more than one point five billion dollars for high-impact research programs. Well, the B word is nice. The C word is going to be better than cure. I've described Parkinson's is having Parkinson's as being a gift and people think I'm nuts and you know, yes, the gift that keeps on taking but but what it's what it's brought into my life, the giving and the thoughtfulness and the empathy and the and the desire to take action to help others to be a witness to that is a great privileges. You know, his fight has inspired so many others. Well, that was a moment. Twenty-five years after Back to the Future three, Marty and Doc made a surprise visit to Jimmy Kimmel Live back in twenty fifteen, DeLorean and all. And although Michael retired from acting back in 2020 due to his declining help, he never missed an opportunity to reunite with his Back to the Future family. I love that cast so much. I could watch that movie. Can we get a DeLorean? Over. Can we get. Here you go. Can we get a good night everybody? When I saw Chris at this I just threw my arms around this because I was so happy to see him. He's gone to being this anxious, being a guy who's kind of like my brother, being a guy who's really a father figured. What's fun about Chris is that you never know what Chris is going to do. Rose, where we're going, we don't need Rose it's a match made in heaven. We have a good chemistry. It's automatic. We all feel collectively that we're involved with something that's bigger than we are. None of us expected this.