Kirk Douglas (1916–2020,) born Issur Danielovitch Demsky, also called Izzy Demsky, was an American actor, producer, director, philanthropist, and writer. He was best known for his depictions of resolute, emotionally charged heroes and antiheroes in such movies as Lust for Life (1956,) Spartacus (1960; also producer,) and Seven Days in May (1964.) He was the father of actor Michael Douglas.
Born the son of Russian Jewish immigrants in Amsterdam, New York, Douglas acted on Broadway and served in the U.S. Navy before going to Hollywood and making his film début in The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946.)
Noted for his intensity, Douglas received Best Actor Academy Award nominations for Champion (1949,) The Bad and the Beautiful (1952,) and Lust for Life (1956, in which he played Van Gogh.) His various other films include Paths of Glory (1957,) Spartacus (1960,) and Lonely Are the Brave (1962.) He directed the film Scalawag (1973) and Posse (1975.) He received a special Academy Award in 1996.
Douglas wrote several novels, including Dance with the Devil (1990) and The Gift (1992.) His autobiographies are The Ragman’s Son (1988,) My Stroke of Luck (2003,) and Let’s Face It: 90 Years of Living, Loving, and Learning (2008.)
More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by Kirk Douglas
The older you get, the more awards you get. So, if you live long enough, then you get all the awards eventually.
—Kirk Douglas
If you want to know about a man you can find out an awful lot by looking at who he married.
—Kirk Douglas
Topics: Marriage, Wives
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