TO THE best of my knowledge, my parents have only ever been to the cinema together four times in their 36 years of married life, and three of the films they chose to view - Romancing the Stone, Jewel of the Nile and War of the Roses - starred Michael Douglas.

One of the most popular stars of the 1980s and 1990s, who began his career on television in 1972's The Streets of San Francisco, opposite Karl Malden, he's slowed down of late to concentrate on family life and his two young children with his wife, Wales' own Catherine Zeta Jones.

Headlines these days may concentrate more on whether or not he's had plastic surgery, rather than his four-decade career, but I have a good look as he enters the room in London's Dorchester and he seems fairly au naturel to me, give or take a "rinse" or two.

His face is as lined as you'd expect a 61-year-old's to be - laughter lines and all - and he still cuts a fine figure, clad in a smart cream suit and blue shirt.

And he's also one of the most well-mannered celebrities I can remember meeting, thanking everyone present for taking the time to come along. Believe me, a lot of famous folk behave as if you should prostrate yourself on the carpet at their feet, thanking them for bothering to turn up!

Michael's new film, The Sentinel, sees him in action mode as a member of the Secret Service, who's entrusted with the responsibility of looking after the president. But when someone blackmails him using personal photographs of him with the president's wife (played by Kim Basinger) and he's suspected of attempting to murder the most powerful man in America, he is forced to go on the run. Literally.

"I did have some problems with my hamstring," he admits. "It did not help that Kiefer is the 400m high school record holder and he takes no prisoners when it comes to running scenes. He'd take off like a bat so I found myself stopping to look for evidence along the way. Laughs

Star factfile Name: Michael Kirk Douglas
Bet you didn't know that: He is exactly 25 years older than his wife, Catherine Zeta Jones. They share a birthday - September 25
Where you have seen him before: Wall Street, Fatal Attraction, Basic Instinct
Where you will see him next: King of California

"I've since found out that ladies can run quite fast in high heels too if they stay on their toes.

"We were fortunate enough to have a couple of retired agents with us to do the training, but the big difference in this film was the use of live ammunition. It changes your whole attitude about how you behave.

"Of course Kiefer, from 24, he's going to be fantastic, but the live ammunition means you can really see where the bullets are going. I look okay, I've been doing this for a long time, but Eva...

"The agents with us said she shoots better than 90 per cent of police officers. It was scary. I'm patronising her, desperate housewife, but she's a great shot.

"I look fairly carefully at roles; guns have been an integral part of movie-making for a long time. It's the easiest way to create tension. You try not to do it gratuitously and I've hurt people in movies in lots of other ways other than shooting them. And people can separate movies from reality."

Michael, who acted as producer on the movie too, had a personal hand in the casting of Ms Basinger, of whom he's always been a big fan.

He explains: "I just know everybody wished the First Lady looked like Kim Basinger. That was in the original book, that whole storyline where he has an affair with her, it wasn't anything that I invented, but I always wanted to work with her.

"We offered her Basic Instinct, Paul Verhoeven and I, way back when we were trying to get a star in the role of Catherine Tramell, which catapulted unknown Sharon Stone to stardom. But she had done Nine and a Half Weeks just before that..."

Speaking of Basic Instinct, Michael declined to make an appearance in the recent sequel, claiming he was just too old. Is this the reason for his absence from the big screen in recent memory, or was there just nothing that engaged his interest sufficiently to encourage him to return?

"There was something that engaged my interest sufficiently, which was a new bride and two new kids. This is not a nine-to-five kind of profession and there's very few people I know who've been able to juggle a career and a family. Something's gotta give and it's hard starting careers and families at the same time.

"For the early part of my life, I was working hard and my priorities were career first, family second. And things worked out well, work-wise, not so well family-wise. It's the price you pay.

"Starting a family again at my age and all that taught me to really enjoy it. It's the first few years with children that you can't get back. At the same time, Catherine's in the prime of her career, so she was working, then I was working with the United Nations a lot, as I've been fortunate to have been a messenger of peace for a while out in Sierra Leone, and doing some voiceover things, which I enjoyed. Next thing you know, a couple of years go by.

"But the reality is, I like my work. I like making movies, producing and acting. After The In Laws, which was a disaster, released badly, I said, well, it's not time to go away. I gotta go away on a high'."

And so, he's back with a run of movies in the next few years. Any plans to make a movie for his kids, or rumoured film project Racing the Monsoon with Catherine as his co-star?

"Unfortunately my career is made up of movies that my children cannot see. And I'm reaching the point now where it's I know mommy acts but what does daddy do?' So, yes, I would be interested. But the animation industry has always bothered me - I'm going to get in trouble for this - because generally it's a licence to steal as far as the studios are concerned. They don't treat it like an actual performance when it comes to sound or profit sharing.

"They make a likeness of you, use your voice, and they usually go after you when you've had a baby, saying, wouldn't it be nice to make a picture your kids could see?' and it's a racket, in my mind. I've been down on them for a long time. For the sake of my child, I'd love to do it, but not for the sake of a studio.

"Racing the Monsoon is a project which is in the spirit of Romancing the Stone and, yes, we've been developing it. I will not be playing the love interest. If Catherine chooses to do the role, we will choose a nice young hunk for her and I'll be the villain and I'll try to kill one of them.

"The history of married couples playing love interests on screen isn't great, so I don't think that will be on the cards."

What about any dreams he feels he has left to achieve? Is there anyone he considered a hero in the industry who he still hasn't had the chance to work with?

"I'm a big fan of Albert Finney as an actor.

I have always admired him tremendously since seeing him on stage in A Day in the Life of Joe Egg. Acting wise, Albert and Jack Nicholson come to mind. I admire how Danny DeVito's conducted himself throughout a long career the two are close friends and were roommates in the early days.

"Doing a picture with Katie Hudson You, Me and Dupree and this picture with Kiefer, and us all sharing the second-generation things, different ages, the connotations of silver spoons in the mouth, it's a little more difficult to get the credit due. I think it takes a little longer to establish you in your own identity.

"People always construe me as an inside Hollywood guy because I am second generation, but my father never had a studio contract, was an independent producer, broke the black list, and my career's been relatively independent too.

"I think, probably, it's the curse of being second generation where success is just expected, it's not a surprise. So I can't say I ever had any heroes - once I decided to get into this, I was trying to be myself."

There's just time for one more question, and it has to be a golf one, given that we, here in the UK, are constantly seeing paparazzi shots of Michael getting rained on in Scotland while out perfecting his stroke.

Would he trade one of his Oscars one as producer on One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and one as best supporting actor for Wall Street for a Masters green jacket?

"If it was a green jacket, it would mean I was playing great golf. That's a nasty question. You can see I'm debating it. I'm a latecomer to golf. Jack Nicholson and I both started at the same time, as we were looking for something to do in our twilight years, but I'm getting frustrated that I can't get better at the game. I'm mostly a 16 and I can't get over it. You don't get the reciprocal benefits from the time you put into it. It's merciless.

"But I'll be back at the Dunhill this year in Scotland. I suppose, for a green jacket, I might have to give up one of them. But not the acting one!"

And with a chuckle and one final sincere "thanks", this genuine Hollywood legend leaves the building.