Kirk Douglas

Kirk Douglas (born Issur Danielovitch; December 9, 1916 – February 5, 2020) was an American actor and filmmaker. After an impoverished childhood, he made his film debut in The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946) with Barbara Stanwyck. Douglas soon developed into a leading box-office star throughout the 1950s, known for serious dramas, including westerns and war films. During his career, he appeared in more than 90 films and was known for his explosive acting style. He was named by the American Film Institute the 17th-greatest male star of Classic Hollywood cinema and was the highest-ranked living person on the list.

Kirk Douglas
Douglas in 1963
Born
Issur Danielovitch

(1916-12-09)December 9, 1916
Amsterdam, New York, U.S.
DiedFebruary 5, 2020(2020-02-05) (aged 103)
Beverly Hills, California, U.S.
Resting placeWestwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery, Westvillage, California, U.S.[1]
Other names
  • Isador Demsky
  • Izzy Demsky
Alma materSt. Lawrence University
Occupation
  • Actor
  • director
  • producer
  • screenwriter
  • philanthropist
Years active1944–2008
Political partyDemocratic
Spouses
  • Diana Dill
    ​
    ​
    (m. 1943; div. 1951)​
  • Anne Buydens
    ​
    (m. 1954)​
Children
Military career
Service/branchUnited States Navy
Years of service1941–1944
Signature

Douglas became an international star for his role as an unscrupulous boxing hero in Champion (1949), which brought him his first nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor. His other early films include Out of the Past (1947), Young Man with a Horn (1950), playing opposite Lauren Bacall and Doris Day, Ace in the Hole (1951), and Detective Story (1951), for which he received a Golden Globe nomination. He received his second Oscar nomination for his dramatic role in The Bad and the Beautiful (1952), opposite Lana Turner, and earned his third for portraying Vincent van Gogh in Lust for Life (1956), a role for which he won the Golden Globe for the Best Actor in a Drama. He also starred with James Mason in the adventure 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954), a large box-office hit.

In September 1949, he established Bryna Productions, which began producing films as varied as Paths of Glory (1957) and Spartacus (1960). In those two films, he collaborated with the then-relatively unknown director Stanley Kubrick, taking lead roles in both films. Douglas has been praised for helping to break the Hollywood blacklist by having Dalton Trumbo write Spartacus with an official on-screen credit.[2] He produced and starred in Lonely Are the Brave (1962) and Seven Days in May (1964), the latter opposite Burt Lancaster, with whom he made seven films. In 1963, he starred in the Broadway play One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, a story that he purchased and later gave to his son Michael Douglas, who turned it into an Oscar-winning film. Douglas continued acting into the 1980s, appearing in such films as Saturn 3 (1980), The Man from Snowy River (1980), Tough Guys (1986), a reunion with Lancaster, and in the television version of Inherit the Wind (1988) plus in an episode of Touched by an Angel in 2002, for which he received his third nomination for an Emmy Award.

As an actor and philanthropist, Douglas received an Academy Honorary Award for Lifetime Achievement and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. As an author, he wrote ten novels and memoirs. After barely surviving a helicopter crash in 1991 and then suffering a stroke in 1996, he focused on renewing his spiritual and religious life. He lived with his second wife (of 65 years), producer Anne Buydens, until his death in 2020. A centenarian, Douglas was one of the last surviving stars of the film industry's Golden Age.[3]

Early life and education

Douglas was born Issur Danielovitch (Belarusian: Іссур Даніелавіч, Russian: Иссур Даниелович) in Amsterdam, New York, on December 9, 1916, the son of Bryna "Bertha" (née Sanglel) and Herschel "Harry" Danielovitch.[4][5] His parents were immigrants from Chavusy, Mogilev Governorate, in the Russian Empire (present-day Belarus),[6][7][8][9][10][11] and the family spoke Yiddish at home.[12][13][14] Douglas was the fourth child of seven children and the only son born to his parents.[15] He had six sisters,[16] three older and three younger: Pesha “Bessie”, Kaleh “Katherine”, Tamara “Mary”, Siffra “Frieda”,[17] Haska “Ida”, and Rachel “Ruth”.[18][19] Douglas embraced his Jewish heritage in his later years, after a near-fatal helicopter crash at the age of 74.[20]

His father's brother, who had immigrated earlier, used the surname Demsky, which Douglas's family adopted in the United States.[21]: 2  Douglas grew up as Izzy Demsky and legally changed his name to Kirk Douglas before entering the United States Navy during World War II.[22][lower-alpha 1]

In his 1988 autobiography, The Ragman's Son, Douglas notes the hardships that he, along with his parents and six sisters, endured during their early years in Amsterdam:

My father, who had been a horse trader in Russia, got himself a horse and a small wagon, and became a ragman, buying old rags, pieces of metal, and junk for pennies, nickels, and dimes … Even on Eagle Street, in the poorest section of town, where all the families were struggling, the ragman was on the lowest rung on the ladder. And I was the ragman's son.[23]

College graduation photo of Douglas, 1939

Douglas had an unhappy childhood, living with an alcoholic, physically abusive father.[24] While his father drank up what little money they had, Douglas and his mother and sisters endured "crippling poverty".[25]

Douglas first wanted to be an actor after he recited the poem "The Red Robin of Spring" while in kindergarten and received applause.[26] Growing up, he sold snacks to mill workers to earn enough to buy milk and bread to help his family. He later delivered newspapers, and he had more than forty jobs during his youth before becoming an actor.[27] He found living in a family with six sisters to be stifling: "I was dying to get out. In a sense, it lit a fire under me." After appearing in plays at Amsterdam High School, from which he graduated in 1934,[28] he knew he wanted to become a professional actor.[29] Unable to afford the tuition, Douglas talked his way into the dean's office at St. Lawrence University and showed him a list of his high school honors. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in 1939. He received a loan which he paid back by working part-time as a gardener and a janitor. He was a standout on the wrestling team and wrestled one summer in a carnival to make money.[30] He later became good friends with world-champion wrestler Lou Thesz.

Douglas's acting talents were noticed at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City, which gave him a special scholarship. One of his classmates was Betty Joan Perske (later known as Lauren Bacall), who would play an important role in launching his film career.[31] Bacall wrote that she "had a wild crush on Kirk",[32] and they dated casually. Another classmate, and a friend of Bacall's, was aspiring actress Diana Dill, who would later become Douglas's first wife.[33]

During their time together, Bacall learned Douglas had no money and that he once spent the night in jail since he had no place to sleep. She once gave him her uncle's old coat to keep warm: "I thought he must be frozen in the winter … He was thrilled and grateful." Sometimes, just to see him, she would drag a friend or her mother to the restaurant where he worked as a busboy and waiter. He told her his dream was to someday bring his family to New York to see him on stage. During that period she fantasized about someday sharing her personal and stage lives with Douglas, but would later be disappointed: "Kirk did not really pursue me. He was friendly and sweet—enjoyed my company—but I was clearly too young for him," the eight-years-younger Bacall later wrote.[32]

Career

1940s

Douglas joined the United States Navy in 1941, shortly after the United States entered World War II, where he served as a communications officer in anti-submarine warfare aboard USS PC-1139.[34] He was medically discharged in 1944 for injuries sustained from the premature explosion of a depth charge.[35]

After the war, Douglas returned to New York City and found work in radio, theater, and commercials. In his radio work, he acted in network soap operas and saw those experiences as being especially valuable, as skill in using one's voice is important for aspiring actors; he regretted that the same avenues were no longer available. His stage break occurred when he took over the role played by Richard Widmark in Kiss and Tell (1943), which then led to other offers.[31]

Douglas had planned to remain a stage actor until his friend Lauren Bacall helped him get his first film role by recommending him to producer Hal B. Wallis, who was looking for a new male talent.[36] Wallis's film The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946) with Barbara Stanwyck became Douglas' debut screen appearance. He played a young, insecure man stung by jealousy, whose life was dominated by his ruthless wife, and he hid his feelings with alcohol. It would be the last time that Douglas portrayed a weakling in a film role.[37][38] Reviewers of the film noted that Douglas already projected qualities of a "natural film actor", with the similarity of this role with later ones explained by biographer Tony Thomas:

His style and his personality came across on the screen, something that does not always happen, even with the finest actors. Douglas had, and has, a distinctly individual manner. He radiates a certain inexplicable quality, and it is this, as much as talent, that accounts for his success in films.[39]

In 1947, Douglas appeared in Out of the Past (UK: Build My Gallows High), playing a large supporting role in this classic noir thriller starring Robert Mitchum and Jane Greer. Douglas made his Broadway debut in 1949 in Three Sisters, produced by Katharine Cornell.[40] The month after Out of the Past was released, I Walk Alone, the first film teaming Douglas with Burt Lancaster, presented Douglas playing a supporting part quite similar to his role in Out of the Past in another classic fast-paced noir thriller.

Douglas' image as a tough guy was established in his eighth film, Champion (1949), after producer Stanley Kramer chose him to play a selfish boxer. In accepting the role, he took a gamble, however, since he had to turn down an offer to star in a big-budget MGM film, The Great Sinner, which would have earned him three times the income.[41][42] Melvyn Douglas played the third-billed (above the title) part Kirk Douglas passed on. The Great Sinner flopped.

Film historian Ray Didinger says Douglas "saw Champion as a greater risk, but also a greater opportunity ... Douglas took the part and absolutely nailed it." Frederick Romano, another sports film historian, described Douglas's acting as "alarmingly authentic":

Douglas shows great concentration in the ring. His intense focus on his opponent draws the viewer into the ring. Perhaps his best characteristic is his patented snarl and grimace ... he leaves no doubt that he is a man on a mission.[43]

Douglas and Lauren Bacall in Young Man with a Horn (1950)

Douglas received his first Academy Award nomination, and the film earned six nominations in all. Variety called it "a stark, realistic study of the boxing rackets."[42]

After Champion he decided that, to succeed as a star, he needed to ramp up his intensity, overcome his natural shyness, and choose stronger roles. He later stated, "I don't think I'd be much of an actor without vanity. And I'm not interested in being a 'modest actor'".[44] Early in his Hollywood career, Douglas demonstrated his independent streak and broke his studio contracts to gain total control over his projects, forming his own movie company, Bryna Productions (named after his mother) in September 1949.[29][45]

1950s
Douglas and Silvana Mangano in a pause during the shootings of Ulysses (1954)

Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, Douglas was a major box-office star, playing opposite some of the leading actresses of that era. He portrayed a frontier peace officer in his first western, Along the Great Divide (1951). He quickly became very comfortable with riding horses and playing gunslingers, and he appeared in many Westerns. He considered Lonely Are the Brave (1962), in which he plays a cowboy trying to live by his own code, his personal favorite.[46] The film, written by Dalton Trumbo, was respected by critics but did not do well at the box office due to poor marketing and distribution.[44][47]

In 1950, Douglas played Rick Martin in Young Man with a Horn, based on a novel of the same name by Dorothy Baker inspired by the life of jazz cornetist Bix Beiderbecke. Composer and pianist Hoagy Carmichael, playing the sidekick, added realism to the film and gave Douglas insight into the role, being a friend of the real Beiderbecke.[48] Doris Day starred as Jo, a young woman who was infatuated with the struggling jazz musician. This was strikingly opposite of the real-life account in Doris Day's autobiography, which described Douglas as "civil but self-centered" and the film as "utterly joyless".[49] During filming, bit actress Jean Spangler disappeared, and her case remains unsolved. On October 9, 1949, Spangler's purse was found near the Fern Dell entrance to Griffith Park in Los Angeles. There was an unfinished note in the purse addressed to a "Kirk," which read: "Can't wait any longer, Going to see Dr. Scott. It will work best this way while mother is away". Douglas, married at the time, called the police and told them he was not the Kirk mentioned in the note. When interviewed via telephone by the head of the investigating team, Douglas stated that he had "talked and kidded with her a bit" on set,[50][51] but that he had never been out with her.[52] Spangler's girlfriends told police that she was three months pregnant when she disappeared,[53] and scholars such as Jon Lewis of Oregon State University have speculated that she may have been considering an illegal abortion.[54]

In 1951, Douglas starred as a newspaper reporter anxiously looking for a big story in Ace in the Hole, director Billy Wilder's first effort as both writer and producer. The subject and story was controversial at the time, and U.S. audiences stayed away. Some reviews saw it as "ruthless and cynical ... a distorted study of corruption, mob psychology and the free press."[55] Possibly it "hit too close to home", said Douglas.[56] It won a Best Foreign Film award at the Venice Film Festival. The film's stature has increased in recent years, with some surveys placing it in their Top 500 Films list.[57] Woody Allen considers it one of his favorite films.[58] As the film's star and protagonist, Douglas is credited for the intensity of his acting. Film critic Roger Ebert wrote, "his focus and energy ... is almost scary. There is nothing dated about Douglas' performance. It's as right-now as a sharpened knife."[59] Biographer Gene Philips noted that Wilder's story was "galvanized" by Douglas's "astounding performance" and no doubt was a factor when George Stevens, who presented Douglas with the AFI Life Achievement Award in 1991, said of him: "No other leading actor was ever more ready to tap the dark, desperate side of the soul and thus to reveal the complexity of human nature."[60]

Also in 1951, Douglas starred in Detective Story, nominated for four Academy Awards, including one for Lee Grant in her debut film. Grant said Douglas was "dazzling, both personally and in the part. ... He was a big, big star. Gorgeous. Intense. Amazing."[61] To prepare for the role, Douglas spent days with the New York Police Department and sat in on interrogations.[62] Reviewers recognized Douglas's acting qualities, with Bosley Crowther describing Douglas as "forceful and aggressive as the detective".[63]

With Eve Miller in The Big Trees (1952)

In The Bad and the Beautiful (1952), another of his three Oscar-nominated roles, Douglas played a hard-nosed film producer who manipulates and uses his actors, writers, and directors. In 1954 Douglas starred as the titular character in Ulysses, a film based on Homer's epic poem Odyssey, with Silvana Mangano as Penelope and Circe, and Anthony Quinn as Antinous.[64]

In 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954), Douglas showed that in addition to serious, driven characters, he was adept at roles requiring a lighter, comic touch. In this adaptation of the Jules Verne novel, he played a happy-go-lucky sailor who was the opposite in every way to the brooding Captain Nemo (James Mason). The film was one of Walt Disney's most successful live-action movies and a major box-office hit.[65] Douglas managed a similar comic turn in the western Man Without a Star (1955) and in For Love or Money (1963). He showed further diversity in one of his earliest television appearances. He was a musical guest (as himself) on The Jack Benny Program (1954).[66]

In 1955, Douglas was finally able to get his film production company, Bryna Productions, off the ground.[29] To do so, he had to break contracts with Hal B. Wallis and Warner Bros., but he began to produce and star in his own films, starting with The Indian Fighter in 1955.[67] Through Bryna, he produced and starred in the films Paths of Glory (1957), The Vikings (1958), Spartacus (1960), Lonely are the Brave (1962), and Seven Days in May (1964).[68] In 1958, Douglas formed the music publishing company Peter Vincent Music Corporation, a Bryna Productions subsidiary.[69] Peter Vincent Music was responsible for publishing the soundtracks of The Vikings and Spartacus.[69][70]

While Paths of Glory did not do well at the box office, it has since become one of the great anti-war films, and it is one of director Stanley Kubrick's early films. Douglas, a fluent French speaker,[71] portrayed a sympathetic French officer during World War I who tries to save three soldiers from facing a firing squad.[72] Biographer Vincent LoBrutto describes Douglas's "seething but controlled portrayal exploding with the passion of his convictions at the injustice leveled at his men."[73] The film was banned in France until 1976. Before production of the film began, however, Douglas and Kubrick had to work out some major issues, one of which was Kubrick's rewriting the screenplay without informing Douglas first. It led to their first major argument: "I called Stanley to my room ... I hit the ceiling. I called him every four-letter word I could think of ... 'I got the money, based on that [original] script. Not this shit!' I threw the script across the room. 'We're going back to the original script, or we're not making the picture.' Stanley never blinked an eye. We shot the original script. I think the movie is a classic, one of the most important pictures—possibly the most important picture—Stanley Kubrick has ever made."[73]

Douglas played military men in numerous films, with varying nuance, including Top Secret Affair (1957), Town Without Pity (1961), The Hook (1963), Seven Days in May (1964), Heroes of Telemark (1965), In Harm's Way (1965), Cast a Giant Shadow (1966), Is Paris Burning (1966), The Final Countdown (1980), and Saturn 3 (1980). His acting style and delivery made him a favorite with television impersonators such as Frank Gorshin, Rich Little, and David Frye.[74][75][76]

In Lust for Life as Vincent van Gogh

His role as Vincent van Gogh in Lust for Life (1956), directed by Vincente Minnelli and based on Irving Stone's bestseller, was filmed mostly on location in France. Douglas was noted not only for the veracity of van Gogh's appearance but for how he conveyed the painter's internal turmoil. Some reviewers consider it the most famous example of the "tortured artist" who seeks solace from life's pain through his work.[77] Others see it as a portrayal not only of the "painter-as-hero", but a unique presentation of the "action painter", with Douglas expressing the physicality and emotion of painting, as he uses the canvas to capture a moment in time.[78][79]

Douglas was nominated for an Academy Award for the role, with his co-star Anthony Quinn winning the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor as Paul Gauguin, van Gogh's friend. Douglas won a Golden Globe award, although Minnelli said Douglas should have won an Oscar: "He achieved a moving and memorable portrait of the artist—a man of massive creative power, triggered by severe emotional stress, the fear and horror of madness."[65] Douglas himself called his acting role as Van Gogh a painful experience: "Not only did I look like Van Gogh, I was the same age he was when he committed suicide."[80] His wife said he often remained in character in his personal life: "When he was doing Lust for Life, he came home in that red beard of Van Gogh's, wearing those big boots, stomping around the house—it was frightening."[81]

In general, however, Douglas's acting style fit well with Minnelli's preference for "melodrama and neurotic-artist roles", writes film historian James Naremore. He adds that Minnelli had his "richest, most impressive collaborations" with Douglas, and for Minnelli, no other actor portrayed his level of "cool": "A robust, athletic, sometimes explosive player, Douglas loved stagy rhetoric, and he did everything passionately."[82] Douglas had also starred in Minnelli's film The Bad and the Beautiful four years earlier, for which he received a Best Actor Oscar nomination.[83]

1960s
Spartacus (1960)

In 1960, Douglas played the title role in what many consider his career-defining appearance[84] as the Thracian gladiator slave rebel Spartacus with an all-star cast in Spartacus (1960). He was the executive producer as well, which increased the $12 million production cost and made Spartacus one of the most expensive films up to that time.[85] Douglas initially selected Anthony Mann to direct, but replaced him early on with Stanley Kubrick, with whom he had previously collaborated in Paths of Glory.[86]

When the film was released, Douglas gave full credit to its screenwriter, Dalton Trumbo, who was on the Hollywood blacklist, and thereby effectively ended it.[21]: 81  About that event, Douglas said, "I've made over 85 pictures, but the thing I'm most proud of is breaking the blacklist."[7] However, the film's producer, Edward Lewis, and the family of Dalton Trumbo publicly disputed Douglas's claim.[87] In the film Trumbo (2015), Douglas is portrayed by Dean O'Gorman.[88]

With Joan Tetzel in the 1963 Broadway play One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

Douglas bought the rights to stage a play of the novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest from its author, Ken Kesey. He mounted a play from the material in 1963 in which he starred and that ran on Broadway for five months. Reviews were mixed. Douglas retained the movie rights due to an innovative loophole of basing the rights on the play rather than the novel, despite Kesey's objections, but after a decade of being unable to find a producer he gave the rights to his son, Michael. In 1975, the film version was produced by Michael Douglas and Saul Zaentz, and starred Jack Nicholson, as Douglas was then considered too old to play the character as written.[3] The film won all five major Academy Awards, only the second film to do so (after It Happened One Night in 1934).[89]

Douglas made seven films over four decades with actor Burt Lancaster: I Walk Alone (1947), Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957), The Devil's Disciple (1959), The List of Adrian Messenger (1963), Seven Days in May (1964), Victory at Entebbe (1976), and Tough Guys (1986), which fixed the notion of the pair as something of a team in the public imagination. Douglas was always billed under Lancaster in these movies, but, with the exception of I Walk Alone, their roles were usually of a similar size. Both actors arrived in Hollywood at about the same time and first appeared together in the fourth film for each, albeit with Douglas in a supporting role. They both became actor-producers who sought out independent Hollywood careers.[81]

John Frankenheimer, who directed the political thriller Seven Days in May in 1964, had not worked well with Lancaster in the past and originally did not want him in this film. However, Douglas thought Lancaster would fit the part and "begged me to reconsider," said Frankenheimer, and he then gave Lancaster the most colorful role. "It turns out that Burt Lancaster and I got along magnificently well on the picture," he later said.[90]

In 1967 Douglas starred with John Wayne in the western film directed by Burt Kennedy titled The War Wagon.[91]

In The Arrangement (1969), a drama directed by Elia Kazan and based upon his novel of the same title, Douglas starred as a tormented advertising executive, with Faye Dunaway as costar. The film did poorly at the box office, receiving mostly negative reviews. Dunaway believed many of the reviews were unfair, writing in her biography, "I can't understand it when people knock Kirk's performance, because I think he's terrific in the picture," adding that "he's as bright a person as I've met in the acting profession."[92] She says that his "pragmatic approach to acting" would later be a "philosophy that ended up rubbing off on me."[93]

1970–2020
Douglas in 1975

In the 1970s, he starred in films such as There Was a Crooked Man... (1970),[94] A Gunfight (1971),[95] The Light at the Edge of the World (1971).[96] and The Fury (1978).[97] He made his directorial debut in Scalawag. (1973),[98] and subsequently also directed Posse (1975), in which he starred alongside Bruce Dern.[99]

In 1980, he starred in The Final Countdown,[100] playing the commanding officer of the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz, which travels through time to the day before the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor. It was produced by his son Peter Douglas. He also played in a dual role in The Man from Snowy River (1982), an Australian film which received critical acclaim and numerous awards.

In 1986, he reunited with his longtime co-star, Burt Lancaster, in a crime comedy, Tough Guys, with a cast including Charles Durning and Eli Wallach. It marked the final collaboration between Douglas and Lancaster, completing a partnership of more than 40 years.[101] That same year, he co-hosted (with Angela Lansbury) the New York Philharmonic's tribute to the 100th anniversary of the Statue of Liberty. The symphony was conducted by Zubin Mehta.[102]

In 1988, Douglas starred in a television adaptation of Inherit the Wind, opposite Jason Robards and Jean Simmons. The film won two Emmy Awards. In the 1990s, Douglas continued starring in various features. Among them was The Secret in 1992, a television movie about a grandfather and his grandson who both struggle with dyslexia. That same year, he played the uncle of Michael J. Fox in a comedy, Greedy. He appeared as the Devil in the video for the Don Henley song "The Garden of Allah". In 1996, after suffering a severe stroke at age 79 which impaired his ability to speak, Douglas still wanted to make movies. He underwent years of voice therapy and made Diamonds in 1999, in which he played an old prizefighter who was recovering from a stroke. It co-starred his longtime friend from his early acting years, Lauren Bacall.[103]

In 2003, Michael and Joel Douglas produced It Runs in the Family, which along with Kirk starred various family members, including Michael, Michael's son Cameron, and his wife from 50 years earlier, Diana Dill, playing his wife. His final feature-film appearance was in the 2004 Michael Goorjian film Illusion, in which he depicts a dying film director forced to watch episodes from the life of a son he had refused to acknowledge.[104][105][106] His last screen role was the TV movie Empire State Building Murders, which was released in 2008.[104] In March 2009, at the age of 92, Douglas did an autobiographical one-man show, Before I Forget, at the Center Theatre Group's Kirk Douglas Theatre in Culver City, California. The four performances were filmed and turned into a documentary that was first screened in January 2010.[107]

On December 9, 2016, he celebrated his 100th birthday at the Beverly Hills Hotel, joined by several of his friends, including Don Rickles, Jeffrey Katzenberg, and Steven Spielberg, along with Douglas's wife Anne, his son Michael and his daughter-in-law Catherine Zeta-Jones. Douglas was described by his guests as being still in good shape, able to walk with confidence into the Sunset Room for the celebration.[108]

Douglas appeared at the 2018 Golden Globes with his daughter-in-law Catherine Zeta-Jones, a rare public appearance in the final decade of his life.[109] He received a standing ovation and helped Zeta-Jones present the award for "Best Screenplay – Motion Picture".[110]

Style and philosophy of acting
Douglas with Lana Turner in The Bad and the Beautiful (1952)

Kirk is one of a kind. He has an overpowering physical presence, which is why on a large movie screen he looms over the audience like a tidal wave in full flood. Globally revered, he is now the last living screen legend of those who vaulted to stardom at the war's end, that special breed of movie idol instantly recognizable anywhere, whose luminous on-screen characters are forever memorable.

—Jack Valenti, president of the Motion Picture Association of America.[3]

Douglas stated that the keys to acting success are determination and application: "You must know how to function and how to maintain yourself, and you must have a love of what you do. But an actor also needs great good luck. I have had that luck."[111] Douglas had great vitality and explained that "it takes a lot out of you to work in this business. Many people fall by the wayside because they don't have the energy to sustain their talent."[112]

That attitude toward acting became evident with Champion (1949). From that one role, writes biographer John Parker, he went from stardom and entered the "superleague", where his style was in "marked contrast to Hollywood's other leading men at the time".[36] His sudden rise to prominence is explained and compared to that of Jack Nicholson's:

He virtually ignored interventionist directors. He prepared himself privately for each role he played, so that when the cameras were ready to roll he was suitably, and some would say egotistically and even selfishly, inspired to steal every scene in a manner comparable in modern times to Jack Nicholson's modus operandi.[36]

As a producer, Douglas had a reputation of being a compulsively hard worker who expected others to exude the same level of energy. As such, he was typically demanding and direct in his dealing with people who worked on his projects, with his intensity spilling over into all elements of his film-making.[39] This was partly due to his high opinion of actors, movies, and moviemaking: "To me it is the most important art form—it is an art, and it includes all the elements of the modern age." He also stressed prioritizing the entertainment goal of films over any messages, "You can make a statement, you can say something, but it must be entertaining."[44]

As an actor, he dived into every role, dissecting not only his own lines but all the parts in the script to measure the rightness of the role, and he was willing to fight with a director if he felt justified.[112] Melville Shavelson, who produced and directed Cast a Giant Shadow (1966), said that it didn't take him long to discover what his main problem was going to be in directing Douglas:

Kirk Douglas was intelligent. When discussing a script with actors, I have always found it necessary to remember that they never read the other actors' lines, so their concept of the story is somewhat hazy. Kirk had not only read the lines of everyone in the picture, he had also read the stage directions ... Kirk, I was to discover, always read every word, discussed every word, always argued every scene, until he was convinced of its correctness. ... He listened, so it was necessary to fight every minute.[112]

Douglas with Zubin Mehta, March 2011

For most of his career, Douglas enjoyed good health and what seemed like an inexhaustible supply of energy. He attributed much of that vitality to his childhood and pre-acting years: "The drive that got me out of my hometown and through college is part of the makeup that I utilize in my work. It's a constant fight, and it's tough."[112] His demands on others, however, were an expression of the demands he placed on himself, rooted in his youth. "It took me years to concentrate on being a human being—I was too busy scrounging for money and food, and struggling to better myself."[113]

Actress Lee Grant, who acted with him and later filmed a documentary about him and his family, notes that even after he achieved worldwide stardom, his father would not acknowledge his success. He said "nothing. Ever."[61] Douglas's wife, Anne, similarly attributes the energy he devotes to acting to his tough childhood:

He was reared by his mother and his sisters and as a schoolboy he had to work to help support the family. I think part of Kirk's life has been a monstrous effort to prove himself and gain recognition in the eyes of his father ... Not even four years of psychoanalysis could alter the drives that began as a desire to prove himself.[74]

Douglas has credited his mother, Bryna, for instilling in him the importance of "gambling on yourself", and he kept her advice in mind when making films.[39] Bryna Productions was named in her honor. Douglas realized that his intense style of acting was something of a shield: "Acting is the most direct way of escaping reality, and in my case it was a means of escaping a drab and dismal background."[114]

Personal life

Personality

In The Ragman's Son, Douglas described himself as a "son of a bitch", adding, "I’m probably the most disliked actor in Hollywood. And I feel pretty good about it. Because that’s me…. I was born aggressive, and I guess I’ll die aggressive."[9] Co-workers and associates alike noted similar traits, with Burt Lancaster once remarking, "Kirk would be the first to tell you that he is a very difficult man. And I would be the second."[115] Douglas's brash personality is attributed to his difficult upbringing living in poverty and his aggressive alcoholic father who was neglectful of Kirk as a young child.[9][116] According to Douglas, "there was an awful lot of rage churning around inside me, rage that I was afraid to reveal because there was so much more of it, and so much stronger, in my father."[116] Douglas's discipline, wit, and sense of humor were also often recognized.[9]

Marriages and children
Anne Buydens and Douglas at the 2003 Jefferson Awards for Public Service ceremony

Douglas and his first wife, Diana Dill, married on November 2, 1943. They had two sons, actor Michael Douglas and producer Joel Douglas, before divorcing in 1951. According to his autobiography The Ragman's Son, he and Italian actress Pier Angeli were engaged in the early 1950s after meeting on the set of the film The Story of Three Loves (1953), but they never made it down the aisle.[117] Afterwards, in Paris, he met producer Anne Buydens (born Hannelore Marx; April 23, 1919, Hanover, Germany) while acting on location in Act of Love.[118] She originally fled from Germany to escape Nazism and survived by putting her multilingual skills to work at a film studio, creating translations for subtitles.[119] They married on May 29, 1954. In 2014, they celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary at the Greystone Mansion in Beverly Hills.[120] They had two sons, Peter, a producer, and Eric, an actor who died on July 6, 2004 from an overdose of alcohol and drugs at the age of 46.[121] In 2017, the couple released a book, Kirk and Anne: Letters of Love, Laughter and a Lifetime in Hollywood, that revealed intimate letters they shared through the years.[122] Throughout their marriage, Douglas had affairs with other women, including several Hollywood starlets. He never hid his infidelities from his wife, who was accepting of them and explained, "as a European, I understood it was unrealistic to expect total fidelity in a marriage."[123]

Religion

In February 1991, aged 74, Douglas was in a helicopter and was injured when the aircraft collided with a small plane above Santa Paula Airport. Two other people were also injured including Noel Blanc, the son of voice actor Mel Blanc who was piloting the helicopter, and two people in the plane were killed.[124][125] This near-death experience sparked a search for meaning by Douglas, which led him, after much study, to embrace the Judaism in which he had been raised. He documented this spiritual journey in his book, Climbing the Mountain: My Search for Meaning (1997).[126]

He decided to visit Jerusalem again and wanted to see the Western Wall Tunnel during a trip where he would dedicate two playgrounds he donated to the state. His tour guide arranged to end the tour of the tunnel at the bedrock where, according to Jewish tradition, Abraham's binding of Isaac took place.[127]

In his earlier autobiography, The Ragman's Son, he recalled, "years back, I tried to forget that I was a Jew," but later in his career he began "coming to grips with what it means to be a Jew," which became a theme in his life.[128] In an interview in 2000, he explained this transition:[129]

Judaism and I parted ways a long time ago, when I was a poor kid growing up in Amsterdam, N.Y. Back then, I was pretty good in cheder, so the Jews of our community thought they would do a wonderful thing and collect enough money to send me to a yeshiva to become a rabbi. Holy Moses! That scared the hell out of me. I didn't want to be a rabbi. I wanted to be an actor. Believe me, the members of the Sons of Israel were persistent. I had nightmares – wearing long payos and a black hat. I had to work very hard to get out of it. But it took me a long time to learn that you don't have to be a rabbi to be a Jew.

Douglas, his wife Anne, and President Ronald Reagan, December 1987

Douglas noted that an underlying theme of some of his films, including The Juggler (1953), Cast a Giant Shadow (1966), and Remembrance of Love (1982), was about "a Jew who doesn't think of himself as one, and eventually finds his Jewishness."[128] The Juggler was the first Hollywood feature to be filmed in the newly established state of Israel. Douglas recalled that, while there, he saw "extreme poverty and food being rationed." But he found it "wonderful, finally, to be in the majority." The film's producer, Stanley Kramer, tried to portray "Israel as the Jews' heroic response to Hitler's destruction."[130]

Although his children had non-Jewish mothers, Douglas stated that they were "aware culturally" of his "deep convictions" and he never tried to influence their own religious decisions.[128] Douglas's wife, Anne, converted to Judaism before they renewed their wedding vows in 2004.[7] Douglas celebrated a second Bar-Mitzvah ceremony in 1999, aged 83.[21]: 125 

Philanthropy

Douglas and his wife donated to various non-profit causes during his career and planned on donating most of their $80 million net worth.[131] Among the donations have been those to his former high school and college. In September 2001, he helped fund his high school's musical, Amsterdam Oratorio, composed by Maria Riccio Bryce, who won the school Thespian Society's Kirk Douglas Award in 1968.[132] In 2012 he donated $5 million to St. Lawrence University, his alma mater. The college used the donation for the scholarship fund he began in 1999.[133][134]

He donated to various schools, medical facilities, and other non-profit organizations in southern California. This included the rebuilding of over 400 Los Angeles Unified School District playgrounds that were aged and in need of restoration. The Douglases established the Anne Douglas Center for Homeless Women at the Los Angeles Mission, which has helped hundreds of women turn their lives around. In Culver City, they opened the Kirk Douglas Theatre in 2004.[120] They supported the Anne Douglas Childhood Center at the Sinai Temple of Westwood.[134] In March 2015, Douglas and his wife donated $2.3 million to the Children's Hospital Los Angeles.[135]

Since the early 1990s, Kirk and Anne Douglas donated up to $40 million to Harry's Haven, an Alzheimer's treatment facility in Woodland Hills, to care for patients at the Motion Picture Home.[7] To celebrate his 99th birthday on December 9, 2015, they donated another $15 million to help expand the facility with a new two-story Kirk Douglas Care Pavilion.[136]

Douglas donated a number of playgrounds in Jerusalem and donated the Kirk Douglas Theater at the Aish Center across from the Western Wall.[137]

Politics
Douglas in 2002 with his book My Stroke of Luck

Douglas and his wife traveled to more than 40 countries, at their own expense, to act as goodwill ambassadors for the U.S. Information Agency, speaking to audiences about why democracy works and what freedom means.[119] In 1980, Douglas flew to Cairo to talk with Egyptian President Anwar Sadat. For all his goodwill efforts, he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Jimmy Carter in 1981.[120] At the ceremony, Carter said that Douglas had "done this in a sacrificial way, almost invariably without fanfare and without claiming any personal credit or acclaim for himself".[138] In subsequent years, Douglas testified before Congress about elder abuse.[139]

Douglas was a lifelong member of the Democratic Party. He wrote letters to politicians who were friends. He noted in his memoir, Let's Face It (2007), that he felt compelled to write to former president Jimmy Carter in 2006 to stress that "Israel is the only successful democracy in the Middle East ... [and] has had to endure many wars against overwhelming odds. If Israel loses one war, they lose Israel."[21]: 226  During the 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries he endorsed Michael Bloomberg's campaign.[140]

Hobbies

Douglas blogged from time to time. Originally hosted on Myspace,[141] his posts were hosted by the Huffington Post beginning in 2012.[142] As of 2008, he was believed to be the oldest celebrity blogger in the world.[143]

Rape allegation

Douglas is alleged to have raped actress Natalie Wood in the summer of 1955, when she was aged 15 and he was 38 years old.[144] Wood's alleged rape was first publicised in Suzanne Finstad's 2001 biography of the actress, though Finstad never named the offender.[145] The allegation received renewed attention in January 2018, after the 75th Golden Globe Awards ceremony paid tribute to Douglas, with several news outlets citing a 2012 anonymous blog post which accused Douglas.[146] In July 2018, Wood's sister Lana said during a 12-part podcast about her sister's life that her sister was sexually assaulted as a teen and that the attack had occurred inside the Chateau Marmont during an audition and went on "for hours".[147] According to professor Cynthia Lucia, who studied the attack claim, Wood's rape was brutal and violent.[147] In the 2021 memoir Little Sister: My Investigation Into the Mysterious Death of Natalie Wood, Lana Wood alleged Douglas was her sister's assailant.[144] Douglas's son Michael issued a statement saying, "May they both rest in peace."[144]

Health problems and death

On January 28, 1996, at age 79, Douglas suffered a severe stroke, which impaired his ability to speak.[148] Doctors told his wife that unless there was rapid improvement, the loss of the ability to speak was likely permanent. After a regimen of daily speech-language therapy that lasted several months, his ability to speak returned, although it was still limited. He was able to accept an honorary Academy Award two months later in March and thanked the audience.[149][150] He wrote about this experience in his 2002 book My Stroke of Luck, which he hoped would be an "operating manual" for others on how to handle a stroke victim in their own family.[150][151]

Douglas died at his home in Beverly Hills, California, surrounded by his family on February 5, 2020, at the age of 103. His cause of death was kept private.[152][153] Douglas's funeral was held at the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery on February 7, 2020, two days after his death. He was buried in the same plot as his son Eric.[154] On April 29, 2021, his wife Anne died at the age of 102 and was buried next to him and their son.[155]

Filmography

In a 2014 article, Douglas cited The Strange Love of Martha Ivers, Champion, Ace in the Hole, The Bad and the Beautiful, Act of Love, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, The Indian Fighter, Lust for Life, Paths of Glory, Spartacus, Lonely Are the Brave, and Seven Days in May as the films he was most proud of throughout his acting career.[156]

Radio appearances
YearProgramEpisode/source
1947Suspense"Community Property"[157]
1950Screen Directors PlayhouseChampion[158]
1950SuspenseThe Butcher's Wife[158]
1952Lux Radio TheatreYoung Man with a Horn[159]
1954Lux Radio TheatreDetective Story[158]

Honors and awards
President Jimmy Carter greets Anne and Kirk Douglas, March 1978
  • Douglas has been honored by governments and organizations of various countries, including France, Italy, Portugal, Israel, and Germany.[119]
  • In 1957, he won the Best Actor award at the San Sebastian International Film Festival for The Vikings.[160]
  • In 1958 He was awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Fine Arts from St. Lawrence University.[161]
  • In 1981, Douglas received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from Jimmy Carter.[162]
  • In 1984, he was inducted into the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.[163]
  • In 1990, he received the French Legion of Honor for distinguished services to France in arts and letters.[119]
  • In 1991, he received the AFI Life Achievement Award.[164]
  • In 1994, Douglas's accomplishments in the performing arts were celebrated in Washington, D.C., where he was among the recipients of the annual Kennedy Center Honors.[165]
  • In 1998, he received the Screen Actors Guild Lifetime Achievement Award.[166]
  • In 2002, he received the National Medal of Arts award from President Bush.[119]
Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
Douglas's star is located at the famous Hollywood and Vine intersection.
Signing his name at Grauman's Chinese Theatre on November 1, 1962
His handprints and footprints at Grauman's Chinese Theatre

AFI Life Achievement Award

Dean O'Gorman portrayed Kirk Douglas in Trumbo (2015)
  • 1991 Accepted AFI Life Achievement Award[169]

Kennedy Center Honors

Academy Awards

  • Douglas received three nominations for the Academy Award for Best Actor, for Champion (1949), The Bad and the Beautiful (1952), and Lust for Life (1956), but never won.[161]
  • In 1996, he received an Honorary Award for "50 years as a creative and moral force in the motion picture community"[171]

Golden Globes

  • 1986 Amos nominated for Best Actor in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for TV[172]
  • 1968 Cecil B. DeMille Award for Lifetime Achievement[173]
  • 1957 Lust for Life won for Best Actor-Drama[172]
  • 1952 Detective Story nominated for Best Actor-Drama[172]

Emmy Awards

  • 2002 Touched by an Angel nominated for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series[174]
  • 1992 Tales from the Crypt nominated for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series[174]
  • 1986 Amos nominated for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or Special[174]

Screen Actors Guild Awards

  • 1999 Lifetime Achievement Award[175]

BAFTA Awards

  • 1963 Lonely Are the Brave nominated for Best Foreign Actor[176]

Britannia Awards

  • 2009 BAFTA/LA award for Worldwide Contribution To Filmed Entertainment[177]

Berlin International Film Festival

  • 2001 Honorary Golden Bear[178]
  • 1975 Posse nominated for Competing Film[179]

Cesar Awards

Hollywood Film Festival

  • 1997 Lifetime Achievement Award[180]

National Board of Review

  • 1988 Career Achievement Award[172]

New York Film Critics Circle Award

  • 1956 Lust for Life won for Best Actor[181]
  • 1951 Detective Story nominated for Best Actor[172]

In 1983, Douglas received the S. Roger Horchow Award for Greatest Public Service by a Private Citizen, an award given out annually by Jefferson Awards.[182]

In 1996, Douglas received an Honorary Academy Award for "50 years as a moral and creative force in the motion picture community." The award was presented by producer/director Steven Spielberg.[149] As a result of Douglas's stroke the previous summer, however, in which he lost most of his speaking ability, his close friends and family were concerned about whether he should try to speak, or what he should say. Both his son Michael, and his long-time friend Jack Valenti, urged him to only say "Thank you", and leave the stage. Douglas agreed, but had second thoughts when standing in front of the audience. He later reflected that: "I intended to just say 'thank you,' but I saw 1,000 people, and felt I had to say something more, and I did."[183] Valenti remembers that after Douglas held up the Oscar, addressed his sons, and told his wife how much he loved her, everyone was astonished at his voice's improvement:

The audience went wild with applause [and] erupted in affection ... rising to their feet to salute this last of the great movie legends, who had survived the threat of death and stared down the demons that had threatened to silence him. I felt an emotional tidal wave roaring through the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in the L.A. Music Center.[3]

Since 2006, the Santa Barbara International Film Festival has awarded the Kirk Douglas Award for Excellence in film to acknowledge lifetime contributions to the film industry. Martpients of the award include Robert De Niro, Ed Harris, Harrison Ford, Michael Douglas, Hugh Jackman and Judi Dench.[184] The award is typically presented to actors, although directors Quentin Tarantino and Martin Scorsese have been presented with it.[185] In 2015, a star was nicknamed after Douglas in the International Star Registry to commemorate his 99th birthday.[186]

Books
  • The Ragman's Son. Simon & Schuster, 1988. ISBN 0671637177.
  • Dance with the Devil. Random House, 1990. ISBN 0394582373.
  • The Gift. Grand Central Publishing, 1992. ISBN 0446516945.
  • Last Tango in Brooklyn. Century, 1994. ISBN 0712648526.
  • The Broken Mirror: A Novella. Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 1997. ISBN 0689814933.
  • Young Heroes of the Bible. Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 1999. ISBN 0689814917.
  • Climbing the Mountain: My Search for Meaning. Simon and Schuster, 2001. ISBN 0743214382.
  • My Stroke of Luck. HarperCollins, 2003. ISBN 0060014040.
  • Let's Face It: 90 Years of Living, Loving, and Learning. John Wiley & Sons, 2007. ISBN 0470084693.
  • I Am Spartacus!: Making a Film, Breaking the Blacklist. Open Road Media, 2012. ISBN 1453239375.
  • Life Could Be Verse: Reflections on Love, Loss, and What Really Matters. Health Communications, Inc., 2014. ISBN 978-0757318474

See also
  • List of centenarians (actors, filmmakers and entertainers)

Notes
  1. In his autobiography, Douglas explains that for many actors at the time who had unusual or foreign-sounding birth names, a simpler Americanized name was often preferred. His friend Karl Malden, who also changed his name for that reason, made suggestions. Douglas knew that many leading stars at the time had adopted stage names, including Robert Taylor, John Wayne, Cary Grant, and Fred Astaire.[21]: 1–2 

References
  1. "Kirk Douglas Laid to Rest at Private Funeral 2 Days After Death". E! Online. February 7, 2020.
  2. Muir, David (June 29, 2012). "Person of the Week Kirk Douglas on Helping to Break Blacklist". ABC News. Retrieved February 5, 2020.
  3. Valenti, Jack. This Time, This Place: My Life in War, the White House, and Hollywood, Crown Publishing (2007) Ch. 12
  4. Kirk Douglas profile, Filmreference.com; accessed July 25, 2016.
  5. Kirk Douglas (1988). The Ragman's Son: An Autobiography. p. 16. ISBN 978-0671637170. Retrieved February 15, 2020.
  6. "Kirk and Michael Douglas". Land Of Ancestors – Belarus. November 17, 2012. Archived from the original on November 3, 2014. Retrieved December 6, 2014.
  7. Paskin, Barbra (September 20, 2012). "Hollywood gladiator Kirk Douglas has his eyes set on a third barmitzvah". The Jewish Chronicle. Retrieved May 25, 2018.
  8. Plessel, John (December 8, 2016). "5 reasons to celebrate actor Kirk Douglas on his 100th birthday". Los Angeles Daily News. Retrieved May 10, 2018.
  9. Darrach, Brad (October 3, 1988). "Kirk Douglas". People. Retrieved May 10, 2018.
  10. "Kirk Douglas honoured by World Jewish Congress". BBC. November 10, 2016. Retrieved May 10, 2018.
  11. Freeman, Hadley (February 12, 2017). "Kirk Douglas: 'I never thought I'd live to 100. That's shocked me'". The Guardian. Retrieved May 10, 2018.
  12. Spence, Rebecca (July 18, 2007). "A Legend Looks Back: A Visit With Kirk Douglas". The Jewish Daily Forward. Retrieved December 6, 2014.
  13. Farndale, Nigel (July 23, 2011). "Kirk Douglas: in 'pretty good shape' at 94". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on January 10, 2022.
  14. "Other Celebrity Houses of Worship". seeing-stars.com. Retrieved December 4, 2012.
  15. Berkvist, Robert (February 5, 2020). "Kirk Douglas, a Star of Hollywood's Golden Age, Dies at 103". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on February 6, 2020. Retrieved February 11, 2022.
  16. Walsh, S. M. (February 6, 2020). "Kirk Douglas Kids & Family: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know". Heavy.com. Retrieved February 11, 2022.
  17. Grondahl, Paul (September 23, 2015). "Funeral for Kirk Douglas' sister in Albany". Times Union. Retrieved February 11, 2022.
  18. "Kirk Douglas". www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org. Retrieved February 11, 2022.
  19. "Guideposts Remembers: Kirk Douglas". Guideposts. December 8, 2016. Retrieved February 11, 2022.
  20. Tugend, Tom. "Kirk Douglas, an iconic star who reconnected to Judaism after near-fatal crash". The Times of Israel.
  21. Douglas, Kirk. Let's Face It, John Wiley & Sons (2007); ISBN 0470084693.
  22. Douglas, Kirk (2007). Let's face it: 90 years of living, loving, and learning. John Wiley and Sons. p. 3. ISBN 978-0470084694.
  23. Douglas 1988, p. 19.
  24. Seemayer, Zach (February 5, 2020). "Inside Kirk Douglas' Relationship With Son Michael Douglas". Entertainment Tonight. Retrieved February 14, 2020.
  25. Kindon, Frances (February 6, 2020). "Inside Michael and Kirk Douglas feuds and 'addiction gene' that destroyed family". Daily Mirror. Retrieved February 14, 2020.
  26. Douglas, Kirk (November 5, 2015). "Why I Felt Like a Failure When I Didn't Make It on Broadway". Huffington Post. Retrieved January 9, 2016.
  27. Thomas, Tony. The Films of Kirk Douglas. Citadel Press, New York (1991), p. 12; ISBN 0806512172.
  28. Grondahl, Paul (September 23, 2015). "Funeral for Kirk Douglas' sister in Albany". Times Union. Retrieved February 6, 2020.
  29. Thomas, p. 13
  30. Thomas, p. 15
  31. Thomas, p. 18
  32. Bacall, Lauren (1978). By Myself and Then Some, London: Coronet, pp. 26–27 ISBN 978-0755313501. OCLC 664201994
  33. Sim, David (December 9, 2016). "A look back at the life of Kirk Douglas as he celebrates his 100th birthday". International Business Times.
  34. "Douglas, Kirk, LTJG". www.navy.togetherweserved.com. Retrieved January 10, 2018.
  35. Van Osdol, William R.; John W. Lambert (1995). Famous Americans in World War II: a pictorial history. Phalanx. p. 31. ISBN 978-1883809065. Serving in the Pacific as an ensign, he was seriously injured because of a premature depth charge explosion and returned to San Diego. After five months hospitalization, he was granted a medical discharge in 1944.
  36. Parker, John (2011). Michael Douglas: Acting on Instinct, London: Headline. e-book, Ch. 2 OCLC 1194433483
  37. Smith, Imogen Sara (2011). In Lonely Places: Film Noir Beyond the City, Jefferson, NC: McFarland. p. 103, ISBN 978-0786463053. OCLC 756335120
  38. Thomas, p. 33
  39. Thomas, p. 19
  40. Mosel, Leading Lady: The World and Theatre of Katharine Cornell ISBN 0316585378
  41. Douglas 1988, p. 146.
  42. Didinger, Ray, and Glen Macnow. The Ultimate Book of Sports Movies: Featuring the 100 Greatest Sports Films, Running Press (2009), p. 260 ISBN 0091521300
  43. Romano, Frederick V. The Boxing Filmography: American Features, 1920–2003, McFarland (2004), p. 31 ISBN 978-0786417933
  44. Thomas, p. 28
  45. "Bryna Productions, Inc". California Secretary of State. September 28, 1949. Retrieved May 18, 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  46. Thomas, p. 181
  47. "TCM – Lonely are the Brave". YouTube. April 7, 2013. Archived from the original on February 15, 2017. Retrieved July 19, 2016.
  48. Thomas, p. 64
  49. Hotchner, A. E. (1975). Doris Day: Her Own Story. William Morrow and Company, Inc. ISBN 978-0688029685,
  50. "Disappearance". mariamusikka.com. Archived from the original on March 12, 2018. Retrieved March 11, 2018.
  51. "Actor Quizzed on Missing Girl". The San Bernardino Daily Sun. October 13, 1949. Retrieved March 11, 2018.
  52. Lyons, Arthur. "The Mysterious Disappearance of Jean Spangler". Palm Springs Life. Archived from the original on February 12, 2015. Retrieved February 12, 2015.
  53. Mike Mayo (2008). American Murder: Criminals, Crimes, and the Media. Visible Ink Press. p. 332. ISBN 978-1578592562.
  54. Lewis, Jon (2017). Hard-Boiled Hollywood: Crime and Punishment in Postwar Los Angeles. Univ of California Press. p. 59. ISBN 978-0520284326.
  55. Sikov, Ed. On Sunset Boulevard: The Life and Times of Billy Wilder, New York: Hyperion, (1998) pp. 325–26; ISBN 0786861940
  56. McGovern, Joe. "A Life in Film: Kirk Douglas on four of his greatest roles", Entertainment Weekly, February 23, 2015.
  57. Empire Magazine's The 500 Greatest Movies of All Time. Archived October 9, 2015, at the Wayback Machine Empire; retrieved March 21, 2013.
  58. Chandler, Charlotte (2002). Nobody's Perfect: Billy Wilder, a Personal Biography, New York: Applause Books, p. 166 ISBN 978-1557836328, OCLC 932564547
  59. Ebert, Roger (August 12, 2007). "'Ace in the Hole' movie review & film summary (1951)". RogerEbert.com. Retrieved January 4, 2011.
  60. Phillips, Gene (2010). Some Like it Wilder: the Life and Controversial films of Billy Wilder, Univ. Press of Kentucky, p. 141 ISBN 978-0813125701. OCLC 716971755
  61. Grant, Lee. I Said Yes to Everything: a Memoir, Blue Rider Press (2014) pp. 75, 428–29; ISBN 978-0399169304
  62. "TCM – Detective Story Intro [Robert Osborne]". YouTube. May 27, 2013. Archived from the original on March 5, 2020. Retrieved December 17, 2016.
  63. Crowther, Bosley. Detective Story review, The New York Times, November 7, 1951; accessed December 26, 2007.
  64. Crowther, Bosley (August 18, 1955). "Screen: 'Ulysses' Wanders Into Globe; Kirk Douglas Portrays Bewhiskered Hero Silvana Mangano Both Circe and Penelope". The New York Times. Retrieved February 6, 2020.
  65. Thomas, p. 7
  66. "Jam Session at Jacks'", originally telecast on CBS on October 17, 1954.
  67. Hilmes, Michele. "Kirk Douglas and Bryna Productions". Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research. Archived from the original on February 23, 2015.
  68. James Bawden; Ron Miller (2016). Conversations with Classic Film Stars: Interviews from Hollywood's Golden Era. University Press of Kentucky. p. 70. ISBN 978-0813167121.
  69. "Dot Acquires 'Viking' Track" (PDF). Billboard. April 21, 1958. p. 5.
  70. Library of Congress. Copyright Office. (1958). Catalog of Copyright Entries 1958 Music July-Dec 3D Ser Vol 12 Pt 5. United States Copyright Office. U.S. Govt. Print. Off.
  71. Hughes, David (2013). The Complete Kubrick. Random House. p. 36. ISBN 978-1448133215.
  72. Monush, Barry (2003). The Encyclopedia of Hollywood Film Actors, Applause Books, p. 200 ISBN 978-1557835512, OCLC 472842790
  73. LoBrutto, Vincent (1997). Stanley Kubrick: A Biography, New York: Carroll & Graf Publishers, pp. 105, 135 ISBN 978-0786704859, OCLC 1037232538
  74. Thomas, p. 24
  75. "Rich Little roasts Kirk Douglasipad". YouTube. December 19, 2013. Archived from the original on October 28, 2021. Retrieved December 17, 2016.
  76. "David Frye Doing Kirk Douglas, LBJ, Rod Steiger & Brando Impersonations". YouTube. January 13, 2015. Archived from the original on January 17, 2016. Retrieved December 17, 2016.
  77. Fairbanks, Brian. Brian W. Fairbanks – Writings, Lulu (2005) e-book
  78. McElhaney, Joe (2009). Vincente Minnelli: The Art of Entertainment, Detroit: Wayne State Univ. Press. p. 300 ISBN 978-0814333075. OCLC 232002215
  79. Niemi, Robert (2006). History in the Media: Film and Television, Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO. p. 296 ISBN 978-1576079522. OCLC 255629433
  80. Douglas 1988, p. 266.
  81. Thomas, p. 44
  82. Naremore, James (1993). The Films of Vincente Minnelli, Cambridge Univ. Press, p. 41, ISBN 978-0521387705, OCLC 231580819
  83. Pfeiffer, Lee (n.d.). "The Bad and the Beautiful". Encyclopaedia Britannica.
  84. Samuelson, Kate (December 9, 2016). "3 Things to Know About Kirk Douglas on His 100th Birthday". Time. Retrieved April 11, 2017.
  85. Thomas, p. 168
  86. Thomas, p. 149
  87. Meroney, John; Coons, Sean (July 5, 2012). "How Kirk Douglas Overstated His Role in Breaking the Hollywood Blacklist". The Atlantic. Retrieved December 27, 2016.
  88. "'Trumbo's' Dean O'Gorman plays Kirk Douglas and earns praise from the legend", Los Angeles Times, October 30, 2015.
  89. Douglas, Edward (2009). Jack: A Biography of Jack Nicholson, HarperCollins, p. 136 ISBN 978-0061745492. OCLC 1237159010
  90. Armstrong, Stephen B. ed. (2013), John Frankenheimer: Interviews, Essays, and Profiles, Lanham: The Scarecrow Press, p. 166, ISBN 978-0810890572. OCLC 820530958
  91. "New Double Bill". The New York Times. August 3, 1967. p. 0. Retrieved February 6, 2020.
  92. Hunter, Allan. Faye Dunaway, St. Martin's Press, NY (1986) p. 81
  93. Dunaway, Faye; Sharkey, Betsy (1995). Looking for Gatsby: My Life , Simon & Schuster, p. 193 ISBN 978-0684808413, OCLC 474923659
  94. "AFI|Catalog". catalog.afi.com. Retrieved August 6, 2021.
  95. "AFI|Catalog". catalog.afi.com. Retrieved August 6, 2021.
  96. "AFI|Catalog". catalog.afi.com. Retrieved August 6, 2021.
  97. "AFI|Catalog". catalog.afi.com. Retrieved August 6, 2021.
  98. "AFI|Catalog". catalog.afi.com. Retrieved August 6, 2021.
  99. "AFI|Catalog". catalog.afi.com. Retrieved August 6, 2021.
  100. "AFI|Catalog". catalog.afi.com. Retrieved August 6, 2021.
  101. Farber, Stephen (November 2, 1986). "Lancaster and Douglas: A Chemistry Lesson". New York Times.
  102. "Liberty Receives Classical Salute". July 5, 1986. Archived from the original on February 23, 2015.
  103. Thomas, Kevin (December 10, 1999). "'Diamonds' Gives Douglas a Chance to Sparkle". Los Angeles Times.
  104. "Silver screen veteran Kirk Douglas celebrates 100th birthday". The Irish Independent. Press Association. December 9, 2016.
  105. Timothy Shary; Nancy McVittie (2016). Fade to Gray: Aging in American Cinema. University of Texas Press. p. 192. ISBN 978-1477310632.
  106. "Illusion (2004)". BFI.
  107. Olivier, Ellen (January 17, 2010). "Kirk Douglas' 'Before I Forget' movie premieres; South Coast Repertory's 'Ordinary Days' has West Coast opening". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved February 4, 2010.
  108. "Inside Kirk Douglas's intimate 100th birthday celebration". The Telegraph. Associated Press. December 10, 2016. Archived from the original on January 10, 2022.
  109. Johns, Gibson (January 8, 2018). "Kirk Douglas, 101, Makes a Rare Public Appearance at the 2018 Golden Globes". Aol.
  110. Birkinbine, Julia (January 7, 2018). "Kirk Douglas, 101, made a very rare public appearance at the 2018 Golden Globes". Closer Weekly.
  111. Thomas, p. 11.
  112. Thomas, p. 21
  113. Thomas, p. 25
  114. Thomas, p. 22
  115. Darrach, Brad (October 3, 1988). "Kirk Douglas". People. Retrieved May 20, 2019.
  116. Turan, Kenneth (August 14, 1988). "The Wrath of Issur: The Ragman's Son by Kirk Douglas". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved May 20, 2019.
  117. Douglas, Kirk (1989). The Ragman's Son: An Autobiography. G.K. Hall. pp. 194–200, 206, 208–12, 224–228, 231–233, 238–43, 248, 335. ISBN 0-8161-4795-7.
  118. Tugend, Tom (May 25, 2017). "New book reveals a lifetime of love letters between Kirk Douglas and wife". Jewish Journal. Retrieved May 10, 2018.
  119. "Kirk & Anne Douglas". The Heart Foundation. Retrieved November 16, 2016.
  120. Douglas, Kirk. "Kirk Douglas looks back at 60 years of marriage", Los Angeles Times, June 20, 2014.
  121. "Douglas son 'died accidentally'". BBC News. August 10, 2004. Retrieved December 8, 2016.
  122. Vargas, Chanel (August 9, 2017). "Kirk Douglas' Six-Decade Love Story With His Wife, Anne Buydens". Town & Country Magazine. Retrieved May 10, 2018.
  123. Carter, Maria (May 3, 2017). "Kirk and Anne Douglas Open Up About Their Tumultuous Marriage in New Tell-All Book". Country Living. Retrieved May 10, 2018.
  124. Gorman, Gary; O'Donnell, Santiago (February 14, 1991). "2 Die as Plane, Copter Crash; Kirk Douglas, 2 Others Hurt". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved August 16, 2015.
  125. "Kirk Douglas, Noel Blanc Recovering After Air Collision That Killed Two". AP NEWS. Retrieved March 13, 2022.
  126. Lacher, Irene (September 24, 1997). "A Role Made to Order". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved February 6, 2020.
  127. Tugend, Tom (February 6, 2020). "Kirk Douglas, Legendary Movie Star Who Had His Second Bar Mitzvah at 83, Has Died". The Jewish Week.
  128. Douglas 1988, p. 383.
  129. Douglas, Kirk (March 4, 2000). "Climbing the Mountain: Essay and Interview with Kirk Douglas". aish.com. Retrieved August 16, 2015.
  130. Moore, Deborah. To the Golden Cities: Pursuing the American Jewish Dream in Miami and L.A., Harvard Univ. Press (1994) p. 245
  131. Feinberg, Scott (August 20, 2015). "Why Kirk and Anne Douglas Are Giving Away Their Fortune". Hollywood Reporter.
  132. Cudmore, Bob. "Oratorio describes life in the city", The Daily Gazette, September 30, 2001
  133. "Kirk Douglas donating $5 million to St. Lawrence University", Associated Press, July 30, 2012.
  134. Kilday, Gregg (July 27, 2012). "Kirk and Anne Douglas Donate $50 Million to Five Non-Profits". The Hollywood Reporter.
  135. Coleman, Laura. "Kirk, Anne Douglas Donate $2.3M To Children's Hospital Los Angeles", The Beverly Hills Courier, March 26, 2015.
  136. Shah, Yagana (December 16, 2015). "Kirk Douglas Just Did Something Beautiful For His 99th Birthday". The Huffington Post.
  137. Rabinowitz, Boruch (December 14, 2017). "Kirk Douglas and His Theatre in Jerusalem". Times of Israel.
  138. "Jimmy Carter: Presidential Medal of Freedom Remarks at the Presentation Ceremony". Presidency.ucsb.edu. January 16, 1981. Retrieved December 17, 2016.
  139. Paskin, Barbra. "Hollywood gladiator Kirk Douglas has his eyes set on a third barmitzvah", The Jewish Chronicle, September 20, 2012.
  140. D'Zurilla, Christine (February 11, 2020). "Kirk Douglas' last words? Michael Douglas says they were a political endorsement". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved June 11, 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  141. Kendall, Nigel. "World's oldest blogger María Amelia López Soliño dies", Times Online, May 22, 2009; accessed May 25, 2009.
  142. Kirk Douglas blog, Huffingtonpost.com; retrieved January 11, 2014.
  143. Irvine, Chris (December 17, 2008). "Kirk Douglas becomes MySpace's oldest celebrity blogger". Archived from the original on January 10, 2022. Retrieved February 5, 2020 – via www.telegraph.co.uk.
  144. Italie, Hillel (November 4, 2021). "Natalie Wood was assaulted by Kirk Douglas, sister alleges". Associated Press. Retrieved November 4, 2021.
  145. Thomson, David (January 14, 2020). Sleeping with Strangers: How the Movies Shaped Desire. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. p. 223. ISBN 978-1-10197-102-4.
  146. Wulfsohn, Joseph A. (January 7, 2018). "Twitter Calls Out Globes For Honoring Kirk Douglas, Accused of Raping Natalie Wood". Mediaite. Retrieved November 18, 2021.
  147. Chan, Anna (July 26, 2018). "Lana Wood: Natalie Wood was sexually assaulted as a teen". AOL. Archived from the original on September 13, 2018. Retrieved November 4, 2021.
  148. Douglas, Kirk; Gold, Todd (October 6, 1997). "Lust for Life". People.
  149. "Kirk Douglas receiving an Honorary Oscar®". YouTube. April 24, 2008. Archived from the original on October 28, 2021. Retrieved November 16, 2016.
  150. Cooper, Chet (2001). "Interview: Kirk Douglas". Ability. Retrieved December 6, 2014.
  151. Alikhan, Anvar (October 24, 2016). "Thespian, gambler and time traveller: the remarkable 100-year run of Kirk Douglas". scroll.in.
  152. McLellan, Dennis (February 5, 2020). "Kirk Douglas dead at 103; 'Spartacus' star helped end Hollywood blacklist". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved February 5, 2020.
  153. Berkvist, Robert (February 5, 2020). "Kirk Douglas, a Star of Hollywood's Golden Age, Dies at 103". The New York Times. Archived from the original on February 6, 2020. Retrieved February 5, 2020.
  154. Fernández, Alexia (February 7, 2020). "Michael Douglas, Catherine Zeta-Jones and More Attend Kirk Douglas' Funeral 2 Days After His Death". People.
  155. Barnes, Mike (April 29, 2021). "Anne Douglas, Philanthropist and Widow of Kirk Douglas, Dies at 102". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on May 2, 2021. Retrieved April 29, 2021.
  156. Douglas, Kirk (December 9, 2014). "I've Made About 90 Feature Films, but These Are the Ones I'm Proudest Of". The Huffington Post. Retrieved July 12, 2015.
  157. "Suspense – Community Property". Escape and Suspense!. Retrieved February 5, 2020.
  158. "Those Were the Days". Nostalgia Digest. Vol. 42, no. 4. Autumn 2016. p. 35.
  159. Kirby, Walter (March 2, 1952). "Better Radio Programs for the Week". The Decatur Daily Review. The Decatur Daily Review. p. 42. Retrieved May 28, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
  160. "San Sebastian Film Festival". sansebastianfestival. Retrieved October 2, 2019.
  161. Barnes, Mike (February 5, 2020). "Kirk Douglas, Indomitable Icon of Hollywood's Golden Age, Dies at 103". The Hollywood Reporter.
  162. "Jimmy Carter: Presidential Medal of Freedom Remarks at the Presentation Ceremony". Presidency.ucsb.edu. January 16, 1981. Retrieved February 6, 2020.
  163. "Great Western Performers – National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum". April 19, 2019. Archived from the original on April 19, 2019. Retrieved October 2, 2019.
  164. "19th AFI Life Achievement Award: A Tribute To Kirk Douglas". video.afi.com. Retrieved October 2, 2019.
  165. "List of Kennedy Center Honorees". Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Archived from the original on November 15, 2013. Retrieved December 1, 2013.
  166. "35th Screen Actors Guild Awards". Retrieved October 2, 2019.
  167. A portrait of Douglas, titled The Great and the Beautiful, which encapsulated his film career, art collection, philanthropy and rehabilitation from the helicopter crash and the stroke, appeared in Palm Springs Life magazine in 1999.
  168. "Hollywood Walk of Fame". Guide to and locations of the stars on Hollywood Boulevard. Archived from the original on June 7, 2012. Retrieved June 13, 2008.
  169. "The AFI Life Achievement Awards". American Film Institute. Retrieved December 9, 2016.
  170. Kilian, Michael. "5 Selected as Winners of Kennedy Center Honors". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved October 2, 2019.
  171. "Spotlight on Kirk Douglas". Deseret News. December 22, 2006. Retrieved February 6, 2020.
  172. "Kirk Douglas". Encyclopedia.com. Retrieved February 6, 2020.
  173. Berk, Philip (January 14, 2020). "Ready for My deMille: Profiles in Excellence – Kirk Douglas,1968". Globen Globes. Retrieved February 6, 2020.
  174. "Kirk Douglas". Television Academy. Retrieved February 6, 2020.
  175. "Screen Actors Guild Winners". The Washington Post. Associated Press. March 8, 1999. Retrieved February 6, 2020.
  176. "Film in 1963". British Academy of Film and Television Arts. Retrieved February 6, 2020.
  177. Rollo, Sarah (November 9, 2009). "Douglas honoured by award presentation". Digital Spy. Archived from the original on June 2, 2015. Retrieved February 6, 2020.
  178. "Prizes & Honors 2001". berlinale.de. Archived from the original on October 15, 2013. Retrieved June 9, 2014.
  179. "25th Berlin International Film Festival". berlinale.de. Retrieved July 4, 2010.
  180. "Kirk Douglas Champions Hollywood Fest". Hollywood Film Festival. October 20, 1997. Retrieved February 6, 2020.
  181. Day, Crosby (December 6, 1992). "Kirk Douglas As Van Gogh". Orlando Sentinel. Retrieved February 6, 2020.
  182. "Jefferson Awards". Archived from the original on November 24, 2010. Retrieved December 6, 2014.
  183. "Hollywood Legend Kirk Douglas, His Wife Delve Into Their 60-Year Love Affair". www.cbsnews.com. Retrieved July 20, 2022.
  184. "Kirk Douglas Award | SBIFF". Retrieved July 20, 2022.
  185. Pond, Steve (August 26, 2019). "Martin Scorsese to Receive Kirk Douglas Award From Santa Barbara Film Festival". Retrieved July 20, 2022.
  186. "The Rising Stars of Politics". The New Yorker. January 11, 2016. Retrieved July 20, 2022.

Further reading
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.