Dan Gallagher (1987 Film)

**Dan Gallagher** is a main character in the Paramount Pictures 1987 film *Fatal Attraction* portrayed by Michael Douglas.

## History

Dan Gallagher is a successful and happily married lawyer from Manhattan. His work leads him to meet Alexandra "Alex" Forrest, an editor for a publishing company. While his wife, Beth, and daughter, Ellen, are out of town for the weekend, Dan has an affair with Alex. Initially, it appears that both of them understood it to be just a fling, but Alex begins to cling to him. Dan reluctantly spends the following day with Alex at her request. When he tries to leave again, she cuts her wrists to force him to stay. Dan helps her bandage the cuts, stays with her overnight to ensure she is all right, and leaves in the morning. Although Dan thinks the affair is forgotten, Alex shows up at his office to apologize for her behavior and invites him to a performance of *Madame Butterfly*. He declines politely. Alex continues to call him at his office until he informs his secretary that he will no longer take her calls.

Alex starts calling Dan's home at all hours, claiming that she is pregnant and intends to keep the baby. Despite Dan's desire to have nothing to do with her, she argues that he must take responsibility. After he changes his home phone number, Alex shows up at his apartment, which is for sale, and meets Beth while feigning interest as a buyer. Later that night, Dan goes to Alex's apartment to confront her, and they get into a scuffle. In response, she says, "I will not be ignored." Dan relocates his family to Bedford, but this does not dissuade Alex. She has a tape recording of herself delivered to him, which is full of verbal abuse. She stalks him in a parking garage, pours acid on his car, damaging the engine, and follows him home one night, spying on him, Beth, and Ellen from the bushes in their yard. Eventually, Dan approaches the police to apply for a restraining order against Alex, claiming it is "for a client." The lieutenant informs Dan that he cannot violate Alex's rights without probable cause, and that the "client" must own up to his adultery. After Alex killsEllen's pet rabbit and puts it on their stove to boil, and Beth discovers the pot, Dan confesses the affair and Alex's alleged pregnancy to Beth. Enraged, she orders Dan to leave. Before he departs, Dan calls Alex to inform her that Beth knows about the affair. Beth takes the phone and threatens Alex, saying she will kill her if she persists.

Dan forcibly enters Alex's apartment and attempts to strangle her, but stops short of killing her. As he releases her, she grabs a kitchen knife and lunges at him, but he disarms her and departs as she watches with a smile. The police search for Alex after Dan reports the kidnapping. Beth forgives Dan after her release from the hospital, and they return home.

One day, while Beth is taking a bath, Alex suddenly appears with the knife and explains her belief that Beth is obstructing her from having Dan. She attacks Beth, and Dan rushes in to wrestle her into the bathtub, where he appears to drown her. But Alex suddenly emerges from the water, brandishing the knife. Beth then shoots and kills Alex with Dan's revolver. As police cars gather outside the Gallaghers' house. Dan completes his statement to the police and joins Beth in the living room, with a picture of their family in the foreground.