Douglas, Kirk 1916–

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Douglas, Kirk 1916–

(Issur Danielovitch, Isidore Demsky)

PERSONAL:

Born Issur Danielovitch (later changed to Isidore Demsky) December 9, 1916, in Amsterdam, NY; son of Harry (in business) and Bryna Danielovitch; married Diana Dill (an actress), 1943 (divorced, February, 1950); married Anne Buydens, May 29, 1954; children: (first marriage) Michael, Joel; (second marriage) Peter Vincent, Eric. Education: St. Lawrence University, A.B., 1938; graduated from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, 1941. Religion: Jewish. Hobbies and other interests: Art collecting, golf, tennis, and swimming.

ADDRESSES:

Office—The Bryna Company, 141 El Camino Dr., Beverly Hills, CA 90212. Agent—Fred Specktor, William Morris Agency, 151 El Camino Dr., Beverly Hills, CA 90212.

CAREER:

Actor, producer, director, and writer. Greenwich House Settlement, New York, NY, drama coach, 1939-41; stage actor, debuting in Spring Again, Henry Miller's Theatre, New York, NY, 1941, and including appearances in Kiss and Tell, 1943, The Wind Is Ninety, 1945, and One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest, 1963; film actor, debuting in The Strange Love of Martha Ivers, Paramount, 1946, and including appearances in Walls of Jericho, Twentieth Century-Fox, 1948, Champion, United Artists, 1949, The Bad and the Beautiful, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), 1952, Lust for Life, MGM, 1956, Spartacus, Universal, 1960, Seven Days in May, Paramount, 1964, The Fury, Twentieth Century-Fox, 1978, The Man from Snowy River, Twentieth Century-Fox, 1983, Greedy, Universal Studios, 1994; and Diamonds, Miramax, 1999; producer of films, including Paths of Glory, United Artists, 1957, and The Light at the Edge of the World, National General, 1971; director of films, including Scalawag, Paramount, 1973, and Posse, Paramount, 1975; numerous television appearances in series, mini-series, specials and movies, including This Is Your Life, NBC, 1958, Victory at Entebbe, ABC, 1976, Inherit the Wind, NBC, 1988, and Yellow, from the Tales from the Crypt series, HBO; executive producer of films, including Spartacus, Universal, 1960, Eddie Macon's Run, Universal, 1983, and The Man from Snowy River, Twentieth Century-Fox, 1983; also performed in radio soap operas. Bryna Production Company, founder and president, 1955—; Joel Productions, founder and president, 1962—. Director of the Los Angeles chapter of the United Nations Association. Military service: U.S. Navy, 1942-44; became lieutenant.

MEMBER:

Actors' Equity Association, Screen Actors Guild, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, Heart Committee of the Motion Picture Industry, National Student Federation of America, Friars Club, Honorary Society of Kizioc, Delta Kappa Alpha.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Golden Apple Star of the Year Award, Hollywood Women's Press Club, 1949; Heart and Torch Award, American Heart Association, 1956; New York Film Critics Circle Award, 1956, for Lust for Life; George Washington Carver Memorial Fund Splendid American Award of Merit, 1957; Golden Globe Award, best actor, 1957, for Lust for Life; Golden Scissors Award, 1958; D.F.A., St. Lawrence University, 1958; Cecil B. De Mille Award for contributions in the entertainment field, 1968; Cesar Lifetime Achievement Award (France), 1980; Presidential Medal of Freedom, 1981; Jefferson Award for public service by a private citizen, 1983; elected to the Cowboy Hall of Fame, 1984; Knight, Legion of Honor, Paris, France, 1985; Emmy Award for Best Actor, 1985, for Amos; career achievement award, National Board of Review, 1989; Emmy Award, 1989, for Yellow, a segment of Tales from the Crypt, HBO; Life Achievement Award, American Film Institute, 1991; Einstein Award from the National Dyslexia Research Foundation, 1992; American Labor Council Distinguished Contribution Award; Honorary Oscar for fifty years of achievement in the film industry, 1995; Lifetime Achievement Award, Hollywood Film Festival, 1997; Lifetime Achievement Award, Screen Actors Guild, 1999; Golden Bear Lifetime Achievement Award (Germany), 2001; National Medal of Arts, 2002; winner of numerous awards and award nominations for acting, including three Academy Award nominations for Best Actor, the Laurel Award, New York Film Critics Award, and the Golden Globe Award.

WRITINGS:

The Ragman's Son (autobiography), Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1988.

Dance with the Devil, Random House (New York, NY), 1990.

The Gift, Warner Books (New York, NY), 1992.

Last Tango in Brooklyn, Warner Books (New York, NY), 1994.

Climbing the Mountain: My Search for Meaning, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1997.

The Broken Mirror: A Novella (children's book), illustrated by Jenny Vasilyev, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers (New York, NY), 1997.

Young Heroes of the Bible: A Book for Family Sharing, illustrated by Dom Lee, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers (New York, NY), 1999.

My Stroke of Luck (memoir), William Morrow (New York, NY), 2002.

Let's Face It: 90 Years of Living, Loving and Learning (memoir), Wiley (Hoboken, NJ), 2007.

Douglas recorded The Ragman's Son as a book on tape for Simon & Schuster and wrote an introduction to a 1993 limited edition of The Brave Cowboy: An Old Tale in a New Time, by Edward Abbey. Douglas's books have been translated into more than twelve languages.

SIDELIGHTS:

Kirk Douglas is a respected actor who is well known for his performances in such classic movies as Spartacus, Seven Days in May, and Gunfight at the O.K. Corral. With the 1988 publication of his autobiography, The Ragman's Son, he also gained considerable status as an author. The Ragman's Son surprised many people, not with its lurid details of Hollywood sex and intrigue, but with the quality of its writing and honest insights into Douglas's driven personality. In addition to continuing his work in the realm of acting, Douglas followed the success of his autobiography with the publication of three novels, Dance with the Devil, The Gift, and Last Tango in Brooklyn, two children's books, and a second volume of memoirs titled Climbing the Mountain: My Search for Meaning. In 2002 he wrote My Stroke of Luck, describing his 1996 stroke and its aftermath.

Douglas was born Issur Danielovitch, the son of illiterate Russian immigrants. He learned quickly that he was going to have to work twice as hard as others to get ahead—in part because he came from a poor immigrant family and in part, he has said, because he is Jewish. Hiding his identity under the name Kirk Douglas, he worked his way through college and, after leaving the U.S. Navy in 1944, began his acting career. He made his film debut as a bit player in The Strange Love of Martha Ivers, but his chiseled good looks and powerful screen presence soon won him the roles that led him to be considered one of Hollywood's greatest leading men. Douglas exercised his talent and clout behind the camera as well, producing and directing numerous films. Among the more notable of these films was Spartacus, in which Douglas served as both the lead actor and the executive producer.

The magnitude of Douglas's success meant that much of his private life was subject to public scrutiny and, quite often, misrepresentation. The victim of over seven unauthorized biographies, Douglas set the record straight on his past by publishing The Ragman's Son in 1988. The actor had contemplated and worked on the book for nearly thirty years, and Douglas admitted that writing it had been painful at times. Douglas doesn't flinch when he describes his brutal childhood or the anti-Semitism that drove him to become an ambitious and competitive man. "Mr. Douglas is often excruciatingly honest about himself, his flaws and his strengths," noted Susan Stamberg in the New York Times Book Review. "It is clear that he is a willful man, difficult to work with at times, driven (he made seventy-five films, usually three a year in his heyday), opinionated."

Critics were impressed with Douglas's writing ability in The Ragman's Son, but few expected the actor to turn his attention to writing fiction, which he did with Dance with the Devil. The novel's main character, Danny Dennison, has hidden his Jewish identity to succeed in Hollywood, but a murder and his relationship with a young Polish refugee-turned-prostitute force him to reexamine his past. In writing his first novel, Douglas was challenged by his editors to provide descriptive passages that would convey the action of the story. New York Times Book Review contributor Robert Stuart Nathan commented that while Dance with the Devil "stakes no claim as literature, it ranks up there with the best of Sidney Sheldon, Judith Krantz and Harold Robbins." Chicago Tribune contributor Michael Kilian called the novel "a surprisingly successful effort that makes for highly compelling reading."

In 1991, Douglas was a passenger in a helicopter that collided with a small plane in California, killing the pilot and a young trainee instantly. Feeling guilty at his own survival and haunted by the tragedy, Douglas began to question the meaning of his life. Although he had explored his past as the son of a Russian Jewish ragman in his autobiography, Douglas had never been a practicing Jew and had never celebrated his religion's traditions. The accident changed him spiritually as well as physically. He began to ask himself why he had survived the accident while the two young people had died.

During his recovery from his injuries, he began to feel a strong pull back to the Judaism of his birth. Since then Douglas has been studying the Talmud and the Torah and continues to rediscover the Jewish religion. Douglas told Graham Fuller in Interview, "In my case I was born a Jew, but I neglected it for sixty years, and then it was suddenly awakened and I became a strong Jew, yet in a secular way."

In 1995, his faith was put to the test when he suffered a stroke. What started as a slight pain down his cheek left him without the power of speech. After a year of exhausting physical therapy and debilitating bouts of depression, he started working and writing again.

Climbing the Mountain, a continuation of The Ragman's Son, came out of this period of personal crisis. Douglas tells how Bible stories and texts helped him cope with the many setbacks of recovery and taught him that spiritual growth comes out of adversity. The book culminates in his triumphant appearance at the 1996 Academy Awards to receive a lifetime achievement Oscar from his oldest son, Michael.

Two children's books have resulted from Douglas's rediscovery of Judaism. The first, The Broken Mirror: A Novella tells the story of a Jewish boy who denies his identity and loses his faith when everyone he loves is killed in the Holocaust. Finding himself alone, Moishe tells his American liberators that he is not a Jew but a Gypsy. The Americans place him in a Catholic orphanage in the States but he is desperately unhappy. He finally runs away and wanders the streets until he finds himself in front of a synagogue and hears the familiar sounds of the Sabbath services. When the congregation sees the numbers tattooed on his arm, he is warmly welcomed "home." "The style is quiet and usually true to the child's viewpoint, the history authentic, the horror confronted but kept at bay by the broad sweep of the personal account," wrote Hazel Rochman in Booklist.

Douglas wrote Young Heroes of the Bible: A Book for Family Sharing because, as he told Graham Fuller, he felt that his generation had "messed up," and he wanted to find a way to talk about morality to young people. "I'm proud of this book because it came out of my own reading of the Bible that followed everything that had happened to me … I wanted to show that the Bible is an adventure story involving the young, hoping it will incite young people to have more interest in reading it in a different way."

In 2002, Douglas returned to the subject of his 1996 stroke and the difficult period of recovery. In My Stroke of Luck, he recounts how he battled depression, almost committed suicide, and finally found the strength to transform the illness into a life-affirming experience. Douglas has focused the book on helping other patients and their families cope with the consequences of a stroke. The last chapter is titled "Operator's Manual," with advice, exercises and some handy tricks he picked up along to way to recovery.

In 2007, another memoir by Douglas was published. Titled Let's Face It: 90 Years of Living, Loving and Learning, the memoir presents a series of seemingly disconnected views of episodes in life, from the time of his youth onwards. In addition, the author writes about what he thinks of the modern world and the current state of affairs. For the most part, Douglas writes sparingly about his career accomplishments in film. Rather, he recalls fond youthful memories and his recent activities and family life, including his work with local schools in Los Angeles. Douglas, who has rediscovered his Jewish roots, also writes about Judaism and the state of Israel. In the book's "deeper" segments, Douglas ponders the meaning of life, remembers deceased friends, and laments the death of his son, Eric, to drugs and alcohol. "Let's Face It offers a pleasant, entertaining read," wrote Richard A. Blake in America. "It doesn't take itself too seriously, despite the seriousness of many of the reflections on mortality, and that constitutes a recommendation for anyone who relishes the movies of a bygone age." Rosellen Brewer, writing in the Library Journal, noted: "There is less pomposity here and perhaps even more truth as the actor rethinks things he wrote earlier."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

Bawden, Liz-Anne, The Oxford Companion to Film, Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 1976.

Bestsellers 90: Books and Authors in the News, Issue 4, Gale (Detroit, MI), 1991.

Contemporary Theatre, Film, and Television: A Biographical Guide Featuring Performers, Directors, Writers, Producers, Designers, Managers, Choreographers, Technicians, Composers, Executives, Dancers, and Critics in the United States, Canada, Great Britain and the World, Volume 38, Gale (Detroit, MI) 2001.

Dictionary of Twentieth Century Culture, Volume 1, American Culture after World War II, Gale (Detroit, MI), 1994.

Douglas, Kirk, Let's Face It: 90 Years of Living, Loving and Learning, Wiley (Hoboken, NJ), 2007.

Douglas, Kirk, The Ragman's Son, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1988.

Halliwell, Leslie, Halliwell's Filmgoer's Companion, 9th edition, Charles Scribner's Sons (New York, NY), 1988.

International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers, 4th edition: Volume 3, Actors and Actresses, St. James Press (Detroit, MI), 2000.

Kirk Douglas: An American Film Institute Seminar on His Work, Microfilming Corporation of America (New York, NY), 1977.

Legends in Their Own Time, Prentice Hall General Reference (New York, NY), 1994.

McDonogh, Gary W., Robert Gregg, and Cindy H. Wong, editors, Encyclopedia of Contemporary American Culture, Routledge (New York, NY), 2001.

Munn, Michael, Kirk Douglas, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1985.

Pickard, Roy, A Companion to the Movies: From 1903 to the Present Day, Hippocrene Books (New York, NY), 1972.

Singer, Michael, Michael Singer's Film Directors, Lone Eagle Publishing Co. (Los Angeles, CA), 1992.

Smith, John M., and Tim Cawkwell, editors, The World Encyclopedia of the Film, A. & W. Visual Library (New York, NY), 1972.

Stephens, Michael J., Gangster Films: A Comprehensive, Illustrated Reference to People, Films, and Terms, McFarland & Co. (Jefferson, NC), 1996.

Welch, Julie, Leading Men, Villard Books (New York, NY), 1985.

PERIODICALS

America, May 28, 2007, Richard A. Blake, "A Time to Remember," p. 24.

Back Stage East, November 1, 2007, "The Illusion Fields: Author Ron Marasco Interviews Acting Veteran Kirk Douglas," p. 30.

Booklist, July, 1997, Ray Olson, review of Climbing the Mountain: My Search for Meaning, p. 1771; October 1, 1997, Hazel Rochman, review of The Broken Mirror: A Novella, p. 322; October 1, 1999, Hazel Rochman, review of Young Heroes of the Bible: A Book for Family Sharing, p. 371; March 15, 2007, George Cohen, review of Let's Face It, p. 12.

Books, November, 1993, review of The Gift, p. 24.

Books Magazine, summer, 1995, review of audio version of Dance with the Devil, p. 13.

Boston Herald, February 13, 2000, Stephen Schaefer, review of the film Diamonds, p. 16; February 18, 2000, James Verniere, review of the film Diamonds, p. 16; January 22, 2002, Chuck Leddy, review of My Stroke of Luck, p. 41.

Business Wire, February 19, 2004, "Reminder/Legendary Icon Kirk Douglas Will Lead Tribute to Local Police, Firefighters, Soldiers & Volunteers; 10th Annual BRAVO Awards Salute Valor & Bravery," p. 5018.

Center for Children's Books, October, 1997, review of The Broken Mirror, p. 384.

Chicago Tribune, August 7, 1988, Michael Kilian, review of The Ragman's Son, sec. 14, p. 3; July 1, 1990, review of Dance with the Devil, sec. 14, p. 8.

Children's Book Review Service, September, 1997, review of The Broken Mirror, p. 10.

Daily Variety, February 20, 2002, "Just for Variety," p. 4; March 15, 2002, "Bush Gives Arts Honors," p. 6; May 25, 2004, "Just for Variety," p. 2; October 18, 2004, "Fest to Honor Kirk Douglas," p. 4; January 6, 2005, "Lifetime Achievement Award: Kirk Douglas," p. 2; July 19, 2005, "H'w'd Docu, Family Style," p. 15; October 13, 2005, "Kirk and Anne Douglas Were Honored Tuesday at the Heart Foundation Gala in Beverly Hills," p. 11; December 22, 2006, "From the Army Archerd Archive," p. 10.

Entertainment Weekly, August 5, 1994, D.A. Ball, review of Last Tango in Brooklyn, p. 49; November 5, 1999, "Gimme Shelter," p. 14.

Esquire, April, 2001, "What I've Learned: Kirk Douglas," p. 126.

Forbes, December 15, 1997, "Lone Star," p. 289.

Grocer, July 10, 2004, "A Slave to His Good Looks," p. 110.

Hollywood Reporter, January 31, 2002, "Kirk's Muse," p. 3; July 23, 2002, "Spreaders of the Wealth: The Names of Douglas and Newman Are Not Unknown to the Charitable Scene. During the Past 20 Years, They've Handed out Millions," p. 10; September 9, 2003, "Savannah Fest to Honor Douglas, Penn," p. 8; May 25, 2004, "New Vows," p. 3; October 5, 2004, "Silver Screen Legend," p. 16; November 10, 2004, "2 Lauded for Blacklist Fight: Douglas, Lewis Backed Scribe Trumbo," p. 4; August 8, 2005, "Humanitarians," p. 6.

Horn Book Guide, spring, 1998, review of The Broken Mirror, p. 384.

Houston Chronicle, October 11, 1997, "Star Turn; Kirk Douglas Rediscovers His Jewish Roots," p. 1; July 8, 1998, "Douglas and Wife a Hit at Anthony's," p. 1; February 18, 2000, Jeff Millar, review of the film Diamonds, p. 5; July 7, 2004, "Kirk Douglas' Youngest Son Found Dead at 46," p. 2.

Interior Design, March, 2002, "Spartacus Returns," p. 52.

Interview, January, 2000, Graham Fuller, "The Not so Rough Cut," interview with Kirk Douglas, p. 44; August, 2005, "Kirk Douglas and Michael Douglas: Exploring the Relationship between a Father and Son Who Have More in Common than a Cleft Chin," p. 68.

Kirkus Reviews, July 15, 1997, review of Climbing the Mountain, p. 1080; November 1, 2001, review of My Stroke of Luck, p. 1529.

Library Journal, December, 2001, Rosalind Dayen, review of My Stroke of Luck, p. 126; April 1, 2007, Rosellen Brewer, review of Let's Face It, p. 93.

Life, February, 1999, "Kirk & Anne Douglas," p. 46.

Los Angeles Business Journal, December 6, 1999, "Stroke Doesn't Halt Douglas' Comeback," p. 32.

Multichannel News, July 25, 2005, "A Critics Tour Trio: Howie, Kirk, Kathy," p. 8.

National Forum, fall, 1996, "The Student's Right to Dissent," author speech, p. 28.

New York Post, January 24, 2007, Richard Johnson, "Kirk's Slappy-Nazi Sex Romp," review of Let's Face It.

New York Times Book Review, August 14, 1988, Susan Stamberg, review of The Ragman's Son, pp. 11-12; June 10, 1990, Robert Stuart Nathan, review of Dance with the Devil, p. 16; September 28, 1997, Barry Gewen, review of Climbing the Mountain, p. 23.

Orange County Register, August 21, 2007, "A Chat with the ‘New’ Kirk Douglas."

People, January 26, 1987, "Sophia Loren and Kirk Douglas Waltz through Their Latest Roles as Hollywood Honorees," p. 72; October 3, 1988, Brad Darrach, "Kirk Douglas," pp. 64-70; March 25, 1991, "Kirk Douglas, Still Bruised from a Copter Crash, Reaffirms His Lust for Life at a Starry Tribute to His Career," p. 90; May 5, 2003, "Father's Day: Three Generations of Douglases—Kirk, Michael and Cameron—Join Forces in It Runs in the Family," p. 75.

PR Newswire, October 24, 2006, "Kirk Douglas to Make Special Address at First United Nations Youth Summit on October 30th"; December 9, 2006, "Kirk Douglas Issues Editorial on His 90th Birthday, Saturday, December 9th"; March 23, 2007, "Kirk Douglas Blitzes the Internet from ‘MySpace’ to ‘YouTube’ to Interest Younger Generation in ‘Let's Face It’"; October 18, 2007, "Statement from Mr. Kirk Douglas Regarding the Passing of Ms. Deborah Kerr."

Publishers Weekly, June 22, 1992, review of The Gift, p. 45; June 6, 1994, review of Last Tango in Brooklyn, p. 56; September 5, 1995, review of audio version of Last Tango in Brooklyn, p. 32; July 7, 1997, review of The Broken Mirror, p. 68; July 21, 1997, review of Climbing the Mountain, p. 189; September 27, 1999, review of Young Heroes of the Bible, p. 98; November 19, 2001, review of My Stroke of Luck, p. 57.

San Francisco Chronicle, February 18, 2000, Peter Stack, review of the film Diamonds, p. C4.

Saturday Evening Post, November-December, 2007, "Hollywood Memories: At 90 Veteran Actor Kirk Douglas Reflects on His Friends, His Life, His Work, and the Present State of the World," p. 89.

School Library Journal, September, 1997, Renee Steinberg, review of The Broken Mirror, p. 216; January, 2000, Elizabeth Maggio, review of Young Heroes of the Bible, p. 119.

Sight and Sound, February, 1998, review of Climbing the Mountain, p. 33.

Social Education, April, 1998, review of The Broken Mirror, p. 15.

Tikkun, September, 2000, Peter Gabel, "A Conversation with Kirk Douglas," p. 55.

Time, August 22, 1988, Stefan Kanfer, review of The Ragman's Son, p. 67; February 18, 2002, "A Lust for Life: How Kirk Douglas Won His Struggle to Overcome a Stroke," p. 4.

Tribune Books (Chicago), August 7, 1988, review of The Ragman's Son, p. 3; July 1, 1990, review of Dance with the Devil, p. 8.

UPI NewsTrack, August 10, 2004, "Son of Kirk Douglas Died of Drugs, Alcohol"; November 29, 2004, "Kirk Douglas Sued for Car Accident."

USA Today, July 18, 2005, "Kirk, Michael Douglas Explore the Personal," p. 3.

Variety, February 5, 2001, "Douglas Taps into Ethnic Roots for Acting Passion," p. 58; February 5, 2001, "Memories of the Blacklist," p. 68; February 4, 2002, "Douglas Funds New Venue for Center Theater Group," p. 53.

Video Business, June 19, 2000, "Look Who's Talking," p. 19.

Voice of Youth Advocates, review of The Broken Mirror, p. 384.

World Entertainment News Network, April 17, 2007, "Kirk Douglas Urges Michael to Write Biography"; September 9, 2007, "Kirk Douglas Confuses Himself with Son Michael."