Six years ago, during one of many gallantly waged campaigns to thwart idleness amid the Corona-vacation, I set upon the task of compiling a list of my favorite 50 actors.

Topping that list (which you can read HERE) was Michael Douglas. A few spots down at #5 was the mumble overlord himself Sylvester Stallone.

This month, these two Hollywood behemoths have both dropped their (cliche alert!) ‘long-awaited’ (by me) memoirs.

A magazine headline for such a rare, historic and… oh alright, hokey occasion as this might read something like – THE ITALLION STALLION VS GORDON GEKKO: WHO WRITES THE BETTER TELL–ALL? Or maybe something like this –

All this bookish excitement got me to wondering if Stallone and Michael Douglas had ever appeared in a movie together.

I was pretty sure they hadn’t and an internet check confirmed that. They did come close however, back in 1984.

Sylvester Stallone was originally offered the lead role in the film ROMANCING THE STONE. At the time, Michael Douglas was attached only as the film’s producer. After Stallone turned down the role, Douglas decided to cast himself as the lead.

Stallone did share the screen with Kirk Douglas (Michael’s father) in the 1991 movie OSCAR in which Kirk played the father of Sly’s character.

Did someone say DESERT ISLAND READS?

Given a choice of surviving weeks and months of coconut-water induced hallucinations on a godforsaken sandbar in the middle of the Pacific Ocean with only books for company, these two memoirs would absolutely make it into my packed luggage.

There’d be a 3rd book inside that waterproof suitcase, the 1992 seminal psychology classic WHAT TO SAY WHEN YOU TALK TO YOURSELF by Shad Helmstetter. On a desert island, practically speaking, Shad’s book might just be the difference between only slightly losing your grip on reality and all-out dodging the rescue ships.

Anyway, all of that is a round-about way of saying if you’d like to check out the latest episode write-up on GILLIGAN’S ISLAND : THE COLOUR YEARS then go ahead and click HERE.