Michael Douglas

The Oscar-winning actor returns to TV more than 40 years after his starring role in TV’s The Streets of San Francisco in the new Netflix comedy The Kominsky Method (streaming Nov. 16). Douglas, 74, stars as Sandy Kominsky, an acting teacher navigating life’s curveballs with his best friend, Norman (Alan Arkin). You aren’t known for comedy. I love comedy. Over the years, there were [the movies] Romancing the Stone, War of the Roses and Wonder Boys. I don’t say it’s my forte. What attracted you to Sandy Kominsky? I’ve always liked flawed characters, somebody who’s good at one thing but not necessarily what he wants to be good at. Sandy never got the career that he had hoped for. He never quite succeeded as the husband he hoped to be. But teaching acting is what gets him up in the morning.

Did your age give you any insight into

Sandy? I love the idea that you don’t really ever become an adult. You deal with the physicality of getting older, but emotionally some of us have stopped at different ages. I enjoy seeing how that plays out, particularly when people interrelate.

Is there something not related to acting

that you’re looking forward to? The elimination of nuclear weapons would be something I’d love to see in my lifetime. It’s a cause that’s meant a lot to me.

What bizarre role did he give old friend Danny DeVito in his new series? And are his kids with Catherine Zeta-Jones going into acting?

Go to Parade.com/douglas to find out.