lit a candle 1d agoBorn as Issur Danielovitch in Depression-era poverty, died Kirk Douglas at 103 with a legacy of principle in Hollywood. From Amsterdam High to the world stage. Not many manage to change an industry and themselves at the same time.
Their story
Kirk Douglas was born Issur Danielovitch on 9 December 1916 in Amsterdam, New York, the only son among seven children of Bryna "Bertha" (nee Sanglel) and Herschel "Harry" Danielovitch, Russian-Jewish immigrants from what is now Belarus. The family spoke Yiddish at home and later used the surname Demsky; he grew…
Kirk Douglas was born Issur Danielovitch on 9 December 1916 in Amsterdam, New York, the only son among seven children of Bryna "Bertha" (nee Sanglel) and Herschel "Harry" Danielovitch, Russian-Jewish immigrants from what is now Belarus. The family spoke Yiddish at home and later used the surname Demsky; he grew up as Izzy Demsky amid what he later called crippling poverty and an alcoholic, abusive father. He sold snacks to mill workers, delivered newspapers, and worked dozens of jobs before acting became his escape. After Amsterdam High School (class of 1934) he talked his way into St. Lawrence University, graduated with a bachelor's degree in 1939, and won a scholarship to the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York, where classmates included Lauren Bacall and Diana Dill.
He served in the U.S. Navy as a communications officer in anti-submarine warfare (1941-1944), rising to lieutenant junior grade before a medical discharge after injuries from a premature depth-charge explosion. He adopted the name Kirk Douglas around the time he entered the service. Bacall recommended him to producer Hal B. Wallis; his screen debut was The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946) with Barbara Stanwyck. Champion (1949) made him a star and brought the first of three Academy Award nominations for Best Actor, followed by nominations for The Bad and the Beautiful (1952) and Lust for Life (1956), the Vincent van Gogh biopic that also won him the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Drama. Through the 1950s and 1960s he was a major box-office presence in dramas, westerns, and war films, including Ace in the Hole, Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, Paths of Glory (1957) for Stanley Kubrick, The Vikings, and Disney's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.
As executive producer through Bryna Productions he starred in and produced Spartacus (1960), replacing director Anthony Mann with Kubrick and insisting that blacklisted screenwriter Dalton Trumbo receive on-screen credit, a decision Douglas later called the achievement he was most proud of. He bought stage rights to One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, starred on Broadway, and later passed the film rights to his son Michael, who produced the Oscar-winning 1975 film. Later credits included Lonely Are the Brave (his stated favorite), directing Scalawag and Posse, and continuing into the 1980s and beyond. The American Film Institute ranked him the 17th-greatest male star of classic Hollywood cinema.
He married Diana Dill in 1943; they had sons Michael and Joel before divorcing in 1951. In 1954 he married producer Anne Buydens; they had sons Peter and Eric (Eric died in 2004) and remained married until Kirk's death. After a near-fatal helicopter collision in 1991 he deepened his return to Judaism, later celebrating bar mitzvahs in later life and writing Climbing the Mountain. A severe stroke on 28 January 1996 impaired his speech; intensive therapy allowed him to accept an Academy Honorary Award that March "for fifty years as a creative and moral force in the motion picture community." He chronicled recovery in My Stroke of Luck (2002). Honours included the Presidential Medal of Freedom (1981), AFI Life Achievement Award (1991), Kennedy Center Honors (1994), Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award (1998), National Medal of Arts (2002), and France's Legion of Honour. With Anne he built the Douglas Foundation (founded 1964), funding education, healthcare, the arts, playgrounds in Jerusalem, and major support for Alzheimer's care at Harry's Haven.
Kirk Douglas died at his Beverly Hills home on 5 February 2020, aged 103, surrounded by family. Michael Douglas announced the death. Funeral services were held 7 February 2020 at Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery, where he was buried beside Eric; Anne was buried with them after her death in 2021 at age 102. A specific medical cause of death was not made public in major obituaries.
Biography adapted from Wikipedia; NYT 2020-02-05; LA Times; Reuters; People; CBS; kirkdouglas.com; Douglas Foundation; Wikiquote; Oscars 1996..
In their own words
“I've made over 85 pictures, but the thing I'm most proud of is breaking the blacklist.”
2012 interview remarks cited on Wikipedia regarding Spartacus and the Dalton Trumbo credit. Source: Wikipedia.
“I see my four sons. They are proud of the old man. And I am proud, too. Proud to be a part of Hollywood for fifty years. But this is for my wife Anne. I love you.”
Academy Honorary Award acceptance, 25 March 1996, presented by Steven Spielberg. Source: Oscars acceptance speech database / Oscars YouTube.
“There are times when one has to stand up for principle.”
2015 statement on the film Trumbo and blacklist memory, at age 98. Source: Wikiquote / Deadline.
“Dad - I love you so much and I am so proud to be your son.”
Michael Douglas's public farewell, 5 February 2020, quoting words he said he had told his father on his last birthday. This is Michael speaking, not Kirk. Source: People / family announcement.
“I wanted to be an actor ever since I was a kid in the second grade... After the performance, [my father] gave me my first Oscar: an ice cream cone.”
Childhood anecdote quoted by the Academy in its 2020 tribute. Source: Hollywood Reporter profile / Academy X tribute.
“I find characters with a little evil in them much more interesting to play than the good guy.”
1984 interview collected in Conversations with Classic Film Stars. Source: Wikiquote.
Photos
6Kirk Douglas, classic studio publicity portrait (Wikipedia lead image).
by People Forever
Kirk Douglas, 1950, credited to Photofest on Wikimedia Commons.
by People Forever
Kirk Douglas, 1969, Cinema Center Films publicity portrait.
by People Forever
Kirk Douglas, 1987 (White House / Reagan-era derivative on Wikimedia Commons).
by People Forever
Kubrick and Douglas, that partnership was something special.