Kirk Douglas was an American actor, producer, director, philanthropist, and writer. During his career, he appeared in more than 90 films. He received three Academy Award nominations, an Academy Honorary Award for Lifetime Achievement, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. He is No. 17 on the American Film Institute’s list of the greatest male screen legends.
About Kirk Douglas in brief
Kirk Douglas was an American actor, producer, director, philanthropist, and writer. During his career, he appeared in more than 90 films. He received three Academy Award nominations, an Academy Honorary Award for Lifetime Achievement, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. He is No. 17 on the American Film Institute’s list of the greatest male screen legends of classic Hollywood cinema, the highest-ranked living person on the list until his death. He lived with his second wife, Anne Buydens, a producer, until he died on February 5, 2020, aged 103. His son Michael Douglas turned his One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest story into an Oscar-winning film. He was one of the last surviving stars of the film industry’s Golden Age. His parents were Jewish immigrants from Chavusy, Mogilev Region, in the Russian Empire. Douglas grew up as Izzy Demsky and legally changed his name to Kirk Douglas before entering the United States Navy during World War II. He had an unhappy childhood, living with an alcoholic, physically abusive father. He and his mother and sisters endured poverty while he sold snacks to mill workers to earn enough to buy milk and bread to help his family. His 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. In his 1988 autobiography, The Ragman’s Son, Douglas notes the hardships that he, along with six sisters and his parents, endured during their early years in Amsterdam.
In 1934, he showed his way into the dean’s office at St Lawrence University, which showed him a sense of humor. After appearing in plays at Amsterdam High School, he went on to graduate from St. Lawrence University in 1934. He also appeared in The Strange Love of Martha Ivers, with Barbara Stanwyck, and Seven Days in May, with Burt Lancaster, with whom he made seven films. In 1955, he established Bryna Productions, which began producing films as varied as Paths of Glory and Spartacus. In 1963, he starred in the Broadway play One FleW Over theCuckoo’s Nest, a story that he purchased and later gave to his son MichaelDouglas, who turned it into an Academy Award winning film. Douglas has been praised for helping to break the Hollywood blacklist by having Dalton Trumbo write Spartacus with an official on-screen credit. He produced and starred in Lonely Are the Brave, considered a classic, and seven days in May, opposite Burt Lancaster. He died of a stroke in 1996, 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 is survived by his son, Michael Douglas, and his daughter-in-law, Susan Douglas.
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