Douglas, Kirk 1916–

(Issur Danielovitch; George Spelvin, Jr.)

PERSONAL

Original name, Issur Danielovitch Demsky (some sources cite name variously as Issur Danielovitch or Isadore Danielovitch Demsky); born December 9, 1916, in Amsterdam, NY; son of Harry (in business; some sources cite name as Jacob Danielovitch) and Bryna (maiden name, Sanglel) Demsky; married Diana Dill (an actress; also known as Diana Darrid and Diana Douglas Darrid), November 2, 1943 (divorced, February, 1950; some sources cite 1951); married Anne Buydens (a casting director, publicity agent, and producer), May 29, 1954; children: (first marriage) Michael (an actor and producer), Joel (a producer); (second marriage) Peter Vincent (a producer), Eric Anthony (an actor and comedian). Education: St. Lawrence University, A.B., English, 1938; American Academy of Dramatic Arts, graduated, 1941. Religion: Jewish. Avocational Interests: Collecting art, travel.

Addresses:

Agent—Creative Artists Agency, 2000 Avenue of the Stars, Los Angeles, CA 90067. Publicist—Warren Cowan and Associates, 8899 Beverly Blvd., Suite 919, Los Angeles, CA 90048.

Career:

Actor, producer, director, and writer. Greenwich House Settlement, New York City, drama coach, 1939-41; Bryna Productions (production company; also known as Bryna Company), founder, 1955, president, beginning 1955; Joel Productions, founder, 1962, president, beginning 1962; some sources state that Douglas has been affiliated with Brynapod Productions. Cannes International Film Festival, member of jury, 1970, and president of jury, 1980. Appeared in advertisements. Worked as a wrestler, janitor, waiter, usher, and bellhop. Heart Committee of the Motion Picture Industry, member; the Douglas Foundation, cofounder; Motion Picture Hospital and Country Home, endowed Harry's Haven (Alzheimer's wing) in honor of his father; affiliated with Access Theatre for the Handicapped, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, and Anne Douglas Center for Women at Los Angeles Mission; contributed money to various organizations, institutions, and causes, including to St. Lawrence University, the Kirk Douglas Theatre, Center Theatre Group, Culver City, CA, and for the creation of parks and playgrounds; active in the fight against the blacklisting of entertainment industry figures with suspected ties to communism, 1950s-60s. Military service: U.S. Navy, beginning c. 1942; became lieutenant.

Member:

Actors' Equity Association, Screen Actors Guild, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, Directors Guild of America, Friars Club, United Nations Association (member of board of directors of Los Angeles chapter), National Student Federation of America, Honorary Society of Kixioc, Delta Kappa Alpha.

Awards, Honors:

Golden Apple Award, most cooperative actor, Hollywood Women's Press Association, 1949; Academy Award nomination, best actor in a leading role, 1950, for Champion; Golden Laurel awards, Golden Laurel awards, Producers Guild of America, 1951, 1952, and 1956; Golden Globe Award nomination, best actor in a motion picture drama, 1952, for Detective Story; Academy Award nomination, best actor in a leading role, 1953, for The Bad and the Beautiful; Heart and Torch Award, American Heart Association, 1956; New York Film Critics Circle Award, best actor, 1956, Golden Globe Award, best actor in a motion picture drama, 1957, and Academy Award nomination, best actor in a leading role, 1957, all for Lust for Life; Special Award, Sant Jordi awards, 1957, for The Juggler; Splendid American Award of Merit, George Washington Carver Memorial Fund, 1957; Zulueta Prize, best actor, San Sebastian International Film Festival, 1958, for The Vikings; Golden Laurel Award nomination, top male action star, 1958, for Gunfight at the O. K. Corral; honorary D.F.A., St. Lawrence University, 1958; some sources cite a Golden Scissors Award, c. 1958; Golden Laurel Award nominations, top male star, 1960, 1961, 1962, and 1968; Golden Laurel Award, third place, top male dramatic performance, 1961, for Spartacus; Golden Laurel Award nomination, top action performance, 1962, for The Last Sunset; Golden Laurel Award, top action performance, and Film Award nomination, best foreign actor, British Academy of Film and Television Arts, both 1963, for Lonely Are the Brave; named U.S. goodwill ambassador to the United Nations, 1964 and 1983; Cecil B. DeMille Award, Golden Globe awards, Hollywood Foreign Press Association, 1968; nomination for Golden Berlin Bear, Berlin International Film Festival, 1975, for Posse; subject of Kirk Douglas: An American Film Institute Seminar on His Work, American Film Institute, 1970s; honorary Cesar Award, Academie des Arts et Techniques du Cinema, 1980; Saturn Award nomination, best actor, Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Films, 1981, for The Final Countdown; Presidential Medal of Freedom, 1981; S. Roger Horchow Award, Jefferson awards, greatest public service by a private citizen, American Institute for Public Service, 1983; inducted into the Hall of Great Western Performers, National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum, 1984; decorated knight of French Legion of Honor, 1985, designated an officier, 1990; Emmy Award nomination, outstanding lead actor in a miniseries or special, and Golden Globe Award nomination, best performance by an actor in a miniseries or motion picture made for television, both 1986, for Amos; German Goldene Kamera Award, 1987; Career Achievement Award, National Board of Review, 1988; Robert F. Meltzer Award, Writers Guild of America, 1991; Chaim Weizmann Award in Sciences and Humanities, for services to Israel, 1991; Lifetime Achievement awards, American Film Institute, 1991 and 1999; Douglas's performance in The Secret named the year's best performance by critics of the Los Angeles Times, c. 1992; Emmy Award nomination, outstanding lead actor in a drama series, and Annual CableACE Award nomination, National Cable Television Association, both 1992, for "Two-Fisted Tales," Tales from the Crypt; Einstein awards, National Dyslexia Research Foundation, 1992 and 1995; Lifetime Achievement Award, ShoWest Convention, National Association of Theatre Owners, 1994; Kennedy Center Honors, John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, 1995, for contributions to U.S. cultural life; honorary Academy Award, lifetime achievement, 1996; Carl Foreman Prize, American Cinema Foundation, 1996; Lifetime Achievement Award, Hollywood Film Festival, 1997; named one of the top 100 movie stars of all time, Empire magazine, 1997, and Entertainment Weekly; Golden Boot Award (affiliated with the Motion Picture and Television Fund), 1998; Life Achievement Award, Screen Actors Guild, 1999; Spencer Tracy Award for outstanding achievement in drama, University of California, Los Angeles, 1999; Emmy Award nomination, outstanding guest actor in a drama series, 2000, for "Bar Mitzvah," Touched by an Angel; Lifetime Achievement awards, Wine Country Film Festival and Jerusalem Film Festival, both 2000; honorary Golden Berlin Bear, 2001; Milestone Award, Golden Laurel awards, Producers Guild of America, 2001; American National Medal of the Arts, National Endowment for the Arts, 2001; Medal of Honor, University of California, Los Angeles, 2002; Lifetime Achievement Award, Palm Springs International Film Festival, 2005; Kirk Douglas Way in Palm Springs, CA named in his honor, 2005; Excellence in Film Award, Santa Barbara International Film Festival, 2006; American Cinema Award, distinguished achievement in film; received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame; named one of the fifty greatest screen legends, American Film Institute; named Friars Club man of the year; Distinguished Contribution Award, American Labor Council; Bill of Rights Award, American Civil Liberties Union; other honors include the naming of a school in California in his honor.

CREDITS

Film Appearances:

Walter P. O'Neil, The Strange Love of Martha Ivers, Paramount, 1946.

Peter Niles, Mourning Becomes Electra, RKO Radio Pictures, 1947.

Whit Sterling, Out of the Past (also known as Build My Gallows High), RKO Radio Pictures, 1947.

George Phipps, A Letter to Three Wives, Twentieth Century-Fox, 1948.

Noll "Dink" Turner, I Walk Alone, Paramount, 1948.

Owen Waterbury, My Dear Secretary, United Artists, 1948.

Tucker Wedge, The Walls of Jericho, Twentieth Century-Fox, 1948.

Michael "Midge" Kelly, Champion, United Artists, 1949.

Jim O'Connor, The Glass Menagerie, Warner Bros., 1950.

Charles "Chuck" Tatum, The Big Carnival (also known as Ace in the Hole and The Human Interest Story), Paramount, 1951.

Detective James "Jim" McLeod, Detective Story (also known as The Detective Story), Paramount, 1951.

Marshal Len Merrick, Along the Great Divide (also known as The Travelers), Warner Bros., 1951.

Rick Martin, Young Man with a Horn (also known as Young Man of Music and Young Man with a Trumpet), Warner Bros., 1951.

Jim Deakins, The Big Sky, RKO Radio Pictures, 1952.

Jim (some sources cite John) Fallon, The Big Trees (also known as Big Trees), Warner Bros., 1952.

Jonathan Shields, The Bad and the Beautiful (also known as Memorial to a Bad Man and Tribute to a Badman), Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1952.

Hans Muller, The Juggler, Columbia, 1953.

Pierre Narval, "Equilibrium," The Story of Three Loves (also known as Equilibrium and Three Stories of Love), Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1953.

Robert Teller, Un acte d'amour (also known as Act of Love and Quelque part dans le monde), United Artists, 1953.

Ned Land, 20,000 Leagues under the Sea (also known as Jules Verne's "20,000 Leagues under the Sea" and Walt Disney's "20,000 Leagues under the Sea"), Buena Vista, 1954.

Dempsey Rae, Man without a Star, Universal, 1955.

Gino Borgesa, The Racers (also known as Such Men Are Dangerous), Twentieth Century-Fox, 1955.

Johnny Hawks, The Indian Fighter, United Artists, 1955.

Ulysses, Ulisse (also known as Ulysses), Paramount, 1955.

(Uncredited) Himself, Van Gogh: Darkness into Light (short documentary), Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1956.

Vincent van Gogh, Lust for Life, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1956.

Colonel Dax, Paths of Glory, United Artists, 1957.

John H. "Doc" Holliday, Gunfight at the O. K. Corral, Paramount, 1957.

Major general Melville A. Goodwin, Top Secret Affair (also known as Their Secret Affair), Warner Bros., 1957.

Einar, The Vikings, United Artists, 1958.

Marshal Matt Morgan, Last Train from Gun Hill (also known as One Angry Day), Paramount, 1959.

Richard "Dick" Dudgeon, The Devil's Disciple, United Artists, 1959.

Himself, Premier Khrushchev in the USA (documentary), 1959, Gala Film Distributors, 1960.

Larry Coe, Strangers When We Meet, Columbia, 1960.

Title role, Spartacus (also known as Spartacus: Rebel against Rome), Universal, 1960.

Brendan "Bren" O'Malley, The Last Sunset, Universal, 1961.

Major Steve Garrett, Town without Pity (also known as Shocker, Stadt ohne Mitleid, and Ville sans pitie), United Artists, 1961.

Jack Andrus, Two Weeks in Another Town, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1962.

John W. "Jack" Burns, Lonely Are the Brave (also known as Last Hero), Universal, 1962.

Sergeant P. J. Briscoe, The Hook, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1962.

Donald Kenneth "Deke" Gentry, For Love or Money (also known as Three on a Match and A Three-Way Match), Universal, 1963.

George Brougham, Vicar Atlee, Mr. Pythian, and Arthur Henderson, The List of Adrian Messenger, Universal, 1963.

(In archive footage) Himself, Hollywood without Make-Up (documentary), 1963.

Colonel Martin "Jiggs" Casey, Seven Days in May, Paramount, 1964.

Commander Paul Eddington, In Harm's Way, Paramount, 1965.

Dr. Rolf Pedersen, The Heroes of Telemark (also known as Anthony Mann's "The Heroes of Telemark"), Columbia, 1965.

Colonel David "Mickey" Marcus, Cast a Giant Shadow, United Artists, 1966.

General George S. Patton, Jr., Paris brule-t-il? (also known as Is Paris Burning?), Paramount, 1966.

Lomax, The War Wagon, Universal, 1967.

Senator William J. Tadlock, The Way West, United Artists, 1967.

Frank Ginetta, The Brotherhood, Paramount, 1968.

Jim Schuyler, A Lovely Way to Die (also known as A Lovely Way to Go), Universal, 1968.

Himself, Once upon a Wheel (documentary), 1968.

Himself, Rowan & Martin at the Movies (short), Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1968.

Eddie Anderson (also known as Evangelos Arness and Evans Arness), The Arrangement, Warner Bros., 1969.

French Lunch (short film), 1969.

Paris Pitman, Jr., There Was a Crooked Man, Warner Bros., 1970.

Andrej, To Catch a Spy (also known as Catch Me a Spy, Keep Your Fingers Crossed, and Les doigts croises), Rank, 1971.

Will Denton, The Light at the Edge of the World (also known as La luz del fin del mundo), National General, 1971.

Will Tenneray, A Gunfight (also known as Gunfight), Paramount, 1971.

Peg, Scalawag (also known as Jamie's Treasure Hunt, Protuva, and Un magnifico ceffo di galera), Paramount, 1973.

Steve Wallace, Un uomo da rispettare (also known as Hearts and Minds, A Man to Respect, The Master Touch, and Ein Achtbarer Mann), Warner Bros., 1974.

Marshal Howard Nightingale, Posse, Paramount, 1975.

Mike Wayne, Once Is Not Enough (also known as Jacqueline Susann's "Once Is Not Enough"), Paramount, 1975.

Peter Sandza, The Fury, Twentieth Century-Fox, 1978.

Robert Caine, Holocaust 2000 (also known as The Chosen, The Hex Massacre, and Rain of Fire), American International Pictures, 1978.

"Cactus Jack" Slade (title role), The Villain (also known as Cactus Jack), Columbia, 1979.

Dr. Tuttle (the Maestro), Home Movies (also known as The Maestro), United Artists, 1979.

Adam, Saturn 3 (also known as Saturn City and Saturn Three), Associated Film Distributors, 1980.

Captain Matthew Yelland, The Final Countdown (also known as U.S.S. Nimitz: Lost in the Pacific), United Artists, 1980.

(In archive footage) Boss of three thugs, Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid (also known as Bogart Jr. and Dead Men Wear No Plaid), Universal, 1982.

Harrison and Spur, The Man from Snowy River (also known as Snowy River, Czlowiek znad snieznej rzeki, El hombre del rio nevado, L'homme de la riviere d'argent, L'uomo del fiume nevoso, Lumisen joen mies, and Mannen fraan Snowy River), Twentieth Century-Fox, 1982.

Carl "Buster" Marzack, Eddie Macon's Run, Universal, 1983.

Archie Long, Tough Guys, Buena Vista, 1986.

Host, A Day in the Country: Impressionism and the French Landscape (short documentary), c. 1989.

Eduardo Provolone, Sr., Oscar (also known as A mala das trapalhadas, L'embrouille est dans le sac, Oscar czyli 60 klopotow na minute, Oscar—Minha filha quer casar, Oscar, quita las manos, Oscar—un fidanzato per due figlie, and Oscar—Vom Regen in die Traufe), Buena Vista, 1991.

Quentin, Veraz (also known as Welcome to Veraz and Bienvenido a Veraz), 1991.

(In archive footage) Rock Hudson's Home Movies (documentary), Couch Potato Productions, c. 1993.

Himself, A Century of Cinema (documentary), Miramax, 1994.

Uncle Joe McTeague, Greedy, Universal, 1994.

Ed Reece, Lies Boys Tell, 1995, originally broadcast as the television movie Take Me Home Again, NBC, 1994.

Harry Agensky, Diamonds (also known as Der Gauner mit dem Diamantenherz), Miramax, 1999.

Mitchell Gromberg, It Runs in the Family (also known as Family Business), Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 2003.

Donal Baines, Illusion (also known as The Illusion), 2004, Awakened Media, 2006.

(Uncredited; in archive footage) Einar, Cineastes contra magnats (documentary), Canonigo Films, 2005.

Himself, Trumbo (documentary), Samuel Goldwyn Films, c. 2008.

Film Director:

Scalawag (also known as Jamie's Treasure Hunt, Protuva, and Un magnifico ceffo di galera), Paramount, 1973.

Posse, Paramount, 1975.

Film Executive Producer:

The Vikings, United Artists, 1958.

The Devil's Disciple, United Artists, 1959.

Spartacus (also known as Spartacus: Rebel against Rome), Universal, 1960.

The Last Sunset, Universal, 1961.

Grand Prix, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1966.

The Man from Snowy River (also known as Snowy River, Czlowiek znad snieznej rzeki, El hombre del rio nevado, L'homme de la riviere d'argent, L'uomo del fiume nevoso, Lumisen joen mies, and Mannen fraan Snowy River), Twentieth Century-Fox, 1982.

Eddie Macon's Run, Universal, 1983.

Film Producer:

The Indian Fighter, United Artists, 1955.

Paths of Glory, United Artists, 1957.

Lonely Are the Brave (also known as Last Hero), Universal, 1962.

The List of Adrian Messenger, Universal, 1963.

Seven Days in May, Paramount, 1964.

The Brotherhood, Paramount, 1968.

A Gunfight (also known as Gunfight), Paramount, 1971.

The Light at the Edge of the World (also known as La luz del fin del mundo), National General, 1971.

Summertree, Columbia, 1971.

Scalawag (also known as Jamie's Treasure Hunt, Protuva, and Un magnifico ceffo di galera), Paramount, 1973.

Posse, Paramount, 1975.

Home Movies (also known as The Maestro), United Artists, 1979.

The Villain (also known as Cactus Jack), Columbia, 1979.

(With Peter Vincent Douglas) The Final Countdown (also known as U.S.S. Nimitz: Lost in the Pacific), United Artists, 1980.

Film Work; as Issur Danielovitch:

Production consultant, Tough Guys, Buena Vista, 1986.

Television Appearances; Miniseries:

Alex Vandervoort, The Moneychangers (also known as Arthur Hailey's "The Moneychangers," Arthur Hailey's "The Money Changers," and The Money Changers), NBC, 1976.

David Konig, Queenie, ABC, 1987.

Television Appearances; Movies:

George Anderson, Mousey (also known as Cat and Mouse), ABC, 1974.

Hershel Vilnofsky, Victory at Entebbe, ABC, 1976.

Joe Rabin, Remembrance of Love (also known as Holocaust Survivors … Remembrance of Love), NBC, 1982.

Harry H. "Handsome Harry" Holland, Draw!, HBO, 1984.

Amos Lasher (title role), Amos, CBS, 1985.

Matthew Harrison Brady, Inherit the Wind, NBC, 1988.

Mike Dunmore, The Secret (also known as Family Secrets and What's the Matter with Danny Dunmore?), CBS, 1992.

Ed Reece, Take Me Home Again, NBC, 1994, released theatrically in Europe as Lies Boys Tell, 1995.

Television Appearances; Specials:

Host and narrator, The General Motors Fiftieth Anniversary Show, NBC, 1957.

Narrator, The Legend of Silent Night, ABC, 1968.

Performer, The Special London Bridge Special, NBC, 1972.

Title roles, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, NBC, 1973.

The Stars Salute Israel at Thirty, ABC, 1978.

Host and narrator, I'd Rather Be Dead, syndicated, 1979.

Himself, Homage for the Duke, ABC, 1979.

Johnny Cash: The First 25 Years, CBS, 1980.

(In archive footage) Himself, Margret Duenser, auf der Suche nach den Besonderen, 1981.

Himself, Celebrity Daredevils, ABC, 1983.

Himself, James Bond: The First 21 Years, 1983.

Himself, Salute to Lady Liberty, CBS, 1984.

Himself, Bugs Bunny/Looney Tunes All-Star 50th Anniversary (also known as Looney Tunes 50th Anniversary), CBS, 1986.

Liberty Weekend, ABC, 1986.

Host, Circus of the Stars (also known as The 12th Annual Circus of the Stars), CBS, 1987.

Narrator, Korea: War at the 38th Parallel (also known as The War in Korea), TBS and BBC, 1988.

The Music Center 25th Anniversary, PBS, 1990.

Himself, Larry King TNT Extra, TNT, 1992.

(In archive footage) Himself, Rowan and Martin's "Laugh-In" 25th Anniversary (also known as Laugh-In's 25th Anniversary and Rowan and Martin's "Laugh-In" 25th Anniversary Reunion), NBC, 1993.

(In archive footage) Himself, The Best of the Don Lane Show, 1994.

Great American Music: A Salute to Fast Cars, Family Channel, 1994.

Himself, To Life! America Celebrates Israel's 50th, CBS, 1998.

(In archive footage) Himself, AFI's 100 Years, 100 Thrills: America's Most Heart-Pounding Movies, 2001.

Himself, FBI contre Hollywood, 2001.

Himself, Lana Turner … a Daughter's Memoir, 2001.

Himself, Darkness at High Noon: The Carl Foreman Documents, PBS, 2002.

(In archive footage) Himself, Kirk Douglas and Vincente Minnelli, 2002.

Himself, AFI's 100 Years … 100 Heroes & Villains (also known as AFI's 100 Years, 100 Heroes & Villains: America's Greatest Screen Characters), CBS, 2003.

(In archive footage) Himself, Anthony Quinn and Kirk Douglas, 2003.

(Uncredited; in archive footage) Jonathan Shields, Watch the Skies! Science Fiction, the 1950s, and Us (also known as Watch the Skies!), TCM, 2005.

Himself, … A Father … a Son … Once upon a Time in Hollywood, HBO, 2005.

(In archive footage) Himself, La marato 2005, 2005.

Himself, AFI's 100 Years … 100 Cheers: America's Most Inspiring Movies, CBS, 2006.

(In archive footage) Himself, Camara negra. Teatro Victoria Eugenia, Television Espanola (TVE, Spain), 2007.

(In archive footage) Himself, Ein Leben wie im Flug, 2007.

(In archive footage) Himself, 100 Years of John Wayne, Encore Westerns, 2007.

Television Appearances; Awards Presentations:

Presenter, The 26th Annual Academy Awards, NBC, 1954.

Presenter, The 29th Annual Academy Awards, NBC, 1957.

The 30th Annual Academy Awards, NBC, 1958.

The 31st Annual Academy Awards, NBC, 1959.

Presenter, The 21st Annual Tony Awards, ABC, 1967.

Show Business Salute to Milton Berle, NBC, 1973.

The American Film Institute Salute to James Cagney (also known as The AFI Salute to James Cagney and American Film Institute Salutes James Cagney), CBS, 1974.

Salute to Lew Grade, 1975.

Presenter, The 50th Annual Academy Awards, ABC, 1978.

The American Film Institute Salute to Henry Fonda (also known as The AFI Salute to Henry Fonda and American Film Institute Salutes Henry Fonda), CBS, 1978.

A Tribute to "Mr. Television," Milton Berle, NBC, 1978.

Presenter, The 52nd Annual Academy Awards, ABC, 1980.

Presenter, The 57th Annual Academy Awards, ABC, 1985.

The Kennedy Center Honors: A Celebration of the Performing Arts (also known as The Seventh Annual Kennedy Center Honors: A Celebration of the Performing Arts), CBS, 1985.

The 43rd Annual Golden Globe Awards, 1986.

America's Tribute to Bob Hope, NBC, 1988.

The 14th Annual People's Choice Awards, CBS, 1988.

Guest of honor, The 19th Annual American Film Institute Lifetime Achievement Award: A Salute to Kirk Douglas (also known as The AFI Salute to Kirk Douglas and American Film Institute Salutes Kirk Douglas), CBS, 1991.

Presenter, The 46th Annual Tony Awards, CBS, 1992.

Presenter, The 66th Annual Academy Awards Presentation, ABC, 1994.

Kennedy Center Honors: A Celebration of the Performing Arts (also known as The 16th Annual Kennedy Center Honors: A Celebration of the Performing Arts), CBS, 1994.

Presenter, The 68th Annual Academy Awards, ABC, 1996.

Fifth Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards (also known as Screen Actors Guild Fifth Annual Awards), TNT, 1999.

Presenter, The 75th Annual Academy Awards, ABC, 2003.

Presenter, World Music Awards 2004, ABC, 2004.

Presenter, AFI Life Achievement Award: A Tribute to Al Pacino, USA Network, 2007.

Television Appearances; Episodic:

Himself, Floor Show (also known as Eddie Condon's "Floor Show"), NBC, 1949.

Himself, The Colgate Comedy Hour (also known as Colgate Summer Comedy Hour, The Colgate Variety Hour, Michael Todd Revue, and The NBC Comedy Hour), NBC, 1952.

Himself, The Ken Murray Show, CBS, 1952.

Himself, The Name's the Same, ABC, 1953.

Himself, What's My Line?, CBS, 1953.

Himself, "The Disneyland Story," Disneyland (also known as Disneylandia, The Disney Sunday Movie, Disney's Wonderful World, The Magical World of Disney, Walt Disney, Walt Disney Presents, Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color, and The Wonderful World of Disney), ABC, 1954.

Himself, "Jam Session at Jack's" (also known as "The Jam Session Show"), The Jack Benny Program (also known as The Jack Benny Show), CBS, 1954.

Himself, Toast of the Town (also known as The Ed Sullivan Show), CBS, 1954.

Himself, "Monsters of the Deep," Disneyland (also known as Disneylandia, The Disney Sunday Movie, Disney's Wonderful World, The Magical World of Disney, Walt Disney, Walt Disney Presents, Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color, and The Wonderful World of Disney), ABC, 1955.

Awards presenter, The Colgate Comedy Hour (also known as Colgate Summer Comedy Hour, The Colgate Variety Hour, Michael Todd Revue, and The NBC Comedy Hour), NBC, 1955.

(In archive footage) Ulysses, The Colgate Comedy Hour (also known as Colgate Summer Comedy Hour, The Colgate Variety Hour, Michael Todd Revue, and The NBC Comedy Hour), NBC, 1955.

Himself, "Where Do the Stories Come From?," Disneyland (also known as Disneylandia, The Disney Sunday Movie, Disney's Wonderful World, The Magical World of Disney, Walt Disney, Walt Disney Presents, Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color, and The Wonderful World of Disney), ABC, 1956.

Guest host, The Ed Sullivan Show (also known as Toast of the Town), CBS, 1956.

Himself, The Ed Sullivan Show (also known as Toast of the Town), CBS, 1956, 1957 (in archive footage), 1966.

Himself, "Hollywood around the World," The Seven Lively Arts, CBS, 1957.

Himself, Person to Person, CBS, 1957.

Himself, The Steve Allen Show (also known as The Steve Allen Plymouth Show), NBC, 1957, 1958.

Himself, "Kirk Douglas," This Is Your Life, NBC, 1958.

Mystery guest, What's My Line?, CBS, 1960.

The Best of Paar, NBC, 1960.

The Jack Paar Show, NBC, 1960.

Here's Hollywood, NBC, 1962.

Himself, Cinepanorama, 1962, 1964.

Himself, "Lucy Goes to a Hollywood Premiere," The Lucy Show (also known as The Lucille Ball Show), CBS, 1966.

Himself, Reflets de Cannes, 1966.

Narrator, "Cortez and the Legend," Saga of Western Man, syndicated, 1967.

Himself, Rowan & Martin's "Laugh-In" (also known as Laugh-In), NBC, 1968 (multiple episodes).

Himself, The Johnny Cash Show, ABC, 1970.

Himself, "Film Night Special: Kirk Douglas," Film Night, BBC-2, 1971.

Himself, The Dick Cavett Show, ABC, 1971.

Himself, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (also known as The Best of Carson), NBC, 1971.

Himself, "Don Rickles," This Is Your Life, 1972.

Himself, V.I.P.-Schaukel, 1972.

Himself, "Celebrity Roast: Kirk Douglas," The Dean Martin Show (also known as The Dean Martin Comedy Hour), NBC, 1973.

Himself, Dinah's Place, NBC, 1973.

Himself, "Celebrity Roast: Don Rickles," The Dean Martin Show (also known as The Dean Martin Comedy Hour), NBC, 1974.

Himself, Dinah! (also known as Dinah and Dinah and Friends), syndicated, 1975.

(In archive footage) Ned Land, "20,000 Leagues under the Sea," The Wonderful World of Disney (also known as Disneyland, Disneylandia, The Disney Sunday Movie, Disney's Wonderful World, The Magical World of Disney, Walt Disney, Walt Disney Presents, and Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color), NBC, 1976.

Guest host, Saturday Night Live (also known as NBC's "Saturday Night," Saturday Night, Saturday Night Live '80, SNL, and SNL 25), NBC, 1980.

Himself, Aspel & Company, London Weekend Television, 1985.

Himself, Good Morning Britain (also known as TV-am), 1988.

Himself, Mas estrellas que en el cielo, 1989.

Champlin on Film, Bravo, 1989.

"Anthony Quinn," Crazy about the Movies, Cinemax, 1990.

General Calthrob, "Yellow," a segment of "Two-Fisted Tales," Tales from the Crypt (also known as HBO's "Tales from the Crypt"), HBO, 1991.

Himself, Late Night with David Letterman, NBC, 1992.

(Uncredited) Himself, "The Popcorn Bowl," Coach, ABC, 1994.

Himself, Verstehen Sie Spass?, 1995.

(In archive footage) Spartacus, "Athens City Academy for the Performing Bards," Xena: Warrior Princess (also known as Xena), syndicated, 1996.

Voice of Chester J. Lampwick, "The Day the Violence Died," The Simpsons (animated), Fox, 1996.

Himself, Late Night with Conan O'Brien, NBC, 1997.

Himself, The Rosie O'Donnell Show, syndicated, 1997.

Himself, "The Films of John Frankenheimer," The Directors, Encore, c. 1997.

Himself, Intimate Portrait: Lauren Bacall, Lifetime, 1998.

Himself, "Kirk Douglas: A Lust for Life," Biography (also known as A&E Biography: Kirk Douglas), Arts and Entertainment, 1999.

Himself, Clive Anderson All Talk, BBC, 1999.

Ross Burger, "Bar Mitzvah," Touched by an Angel, CBS, 2000.

Himself, "Jean Simmons: Picture Perfect," Biography (also known as A&E Biography: Jean Simmons), Arts and Entertainment, 2001.

Himself, Parkinson, 2001.

Himself, "Legends," 48 Hours (also known as 48 Hours Investigates and 48 Hours Mystery), CBS, 2002.

Himself, Larry King Live, Cable News Network, 2002, 2005.

Himself, "Kirk Douglas," The Hollywood Greats (also known as Hollywood Greats), BBC, 2003.

Himself, The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn (also known as The Late Late Show), CBS, 2003.

Himself, The Oprah Winfrey Show (also known as Oprah), syndicated, 2003 (multiple episodes).

(In archive footage) Himself, Les 40 ans de la 2, 2004.

Himself, Entertainment Tonight (also known as Entertainment This Week, E.T., ET Weekend, and This Week in Entertainment), syndicated, 2006, multiple episodes in 2007.

Himself, Jimmy Kimmel Live! (also known as The Jimmy Kimmel Project), ABC, 2007.

(In archive footage) Himself, La tele de tu vida, 2007.

Himself, 20 heures le journal, 2007.

Appeared in other television programs, including Storytime, PBS.

Television Work:

Producer, Tales of the Vikings (series; also known as The Vikings), syndicated, c. 1959.

Director, Mousey (movie; also known as Cat and Mouse), ABC, 1974.

Stage Appearances:

(As George Spelvin, Jr.) Western Union boy, Spring Again, Henry Miller's Theatre, New York City, 1941.

Orderly, The Three Sisters, Ethel Barrymore Theatre, New York City, 1942-43.

Lieutenant Lenny Archer, Kiss and Tell, Biltmore Theatre, New York City, beginning c. 1943, also produced at the Bijou Theatre, New York City.

Star in the Window, c. 1944.

Ray Mackenzie, Trio, Belasco Theatre, New York City, 1944-45.

Soldier, The Wind Is Ninety, Booth Theatre, New York City, 1945.

Steve, Alice in Arms, National Theatre, New York City, 1945.

Hopkins, Woman Bites Dog, Belasco Theatre, 1946.

Detective James "Jim" McLeod, Detective Story, Sombrero Playhouse, Phoenix, AZ, 1951.

Randle Patrick "R. P." McMurphy, One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest, Cort Theatre, New York City, 1963-64.

The Boys in Autumn, San Francisco, CA, 1981.

Appeared in other productions, including summer theatre productions, 1939-41.

Stage Producer; with Others:

One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest, Cort Theatre, New York City, 1963-64.

Radio Appearances:

Appeared in radio programs, including appearances in radio soap operas.

RECORDINGS

Videos:

Himself, The Racing Experience, 1988.

Tee Vee Treasures, Volume Two, Rhino Home Video, 1991.

(In archive footage) Himself, Kirk Douglas: Video Scrapbook, 1994.

Himself, Completely Cuckoo, re-edited version known as The Making of "One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest," 1997.

Himself, Frank Sinatra Memorial, Passport Video, c. 2000.

Himself, The Life and Times of Kirk Douglas (short), Buena Vista Home Entertainment, 2000.

(In archive footage) Himself, Pulp Cinema, 2001.

(In archive footage) Himself, The Definitive Elvis: The Hollywood Years—Part 1: 1956-1961, Passport International Entertainment, 2002.

Himself, The Making of "20,000 Leagues under the Sea," Buena Vista Home Entertainment, 2003.

Audiobooks:

Kirk Douglas, The Ragman's Son, Audioworks, 1988.

WRITINGS

Nonfiction; Autobiographies:

The Ragman's Son, Simon & Schuster, 1988.

Climbing the Mountain: My Search for Meaning, Simon & Schuster, 1997.

My Stroke of Luck, William Morrow, 2002.

Let's Face It: 90 Years of Living, Loving, and Learning, John Wiley and Sons, 2007.

Novels:

Dance with the Devil, Random House, 1990.

The Gift, Warner Books, 1992.

Last Tango in Brooklyn, Warner Books, 1994.

Writings for Children:

The Broken Mirror (novella), illustrated by Jenny Vasilyev, Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing, 1997.

Young Heroes of the Bible: A Book for Family Sharing (nonfiction; also known as Kid Heroes of the Bible), illustrated by Dom Lee, Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing, 1999.

OTHER SOURCES

Books:

Dictionary of Twentieth Century Culture, Volume 1: American Culture after World War II, Gale, 1994.

International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers, Volume 3: Actors and Actresses, fourth edition, St. James Press, 2000.

Kaye, Annene and Jim Sclavunos, Michael Douglas and the Douglas Clan, 1989.

Lacourbe, Roland, Kirk Douglas, PAC, 1980.

McBride, Joseph, Kirk Douglas, Pyramid Publications, 1976.

Munn, Michael, Kirk Douglas: The Man—The Actor, St. Martin's Press, 1985.

Press, Skip, Michael and Kirk Douglas, Crestwood House, 1995.

Thomas, Tony, The Films of Kirk Douglas, Citadel, 1972.

Periodicals:

American Film, March, 1991.

Architectural Digest, April, 1990.

Cine Revue, July 12, 1984; September 27, 1984.

Daily News, October 28, 1991.

Empire, issue 61, 1994, pp. 86-93; October, 1997, p. 197.

Films and Filming, September, 1972.

Harper's Bazaar, June, 1990.

Interview, January, 2000, p. 44.

Ladies Home Journal, April, 1988.

New York Post, March 3, 1994.

New York Times, March 22, 1996.

Parade, January 23, 2000, p. 12.

People Weekly, October 3, 1988.

Premiere, July, 1991; December, 2002, p. 132.

Tikkun, September, 2000, p. 55.

Times (London), April 14, 2007.

TV Guide, March 6, 1999, pp. 32-35; August 7, 2005, pp. 34-35.

USA Today, December 14, 1994.

Washington Post, August 13, 2005.

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."

ONLINE

International Movie Database,http://www.imdb.com/ (December 10, 2007), information on author's film work.

Meredy's Place,http://www.meredy.com/, (April 29, 2002), articles on Kirk Douglas.

Pop Matters,http://www.popmatters.com/, (April 29, 2002), review of the film Diamonds.

Zap2It.com,http://www.zap2it.com/ (May 24, 2004), "Kirk Douglas and Wife Say ‘I Do’ Again."

DOUGLAS, Kirk

Nationality: American. Born: Issur Danielovitch in Amsterdam, New York, 9 December 1916. Education: Attended St. Lawrence University, 1935–39, B.A.; American Academy of Dramatic Art, 1939–41. Military Service: 1943–44—served as lieutenant in U.S. Navy. Family: Married 1) Diana Dill, 1943 (divorced 1951), sons:


Joel and the actor-producer Michael Douglas; 2) Anne Budyens, 1954, sons: Peter and Eric. Career: 1939–41—acted in summer stock in New York and Pennsylvania; also served as drama coach for Greenwich House Settlement in New York City; 1941—Broadway acting debut in Spring Again; 1942—in Broadway play Three Sisters under pseudonym George Spelvin Jr.; 1946—screen acting debut in The Strange Love of Martha Ivers; five-year contract with Wallis; 1947—contract with Wallis terminated, began to freelance as actor; 1949—contract with Warner Brothers; 1952—left Warners to form own film production company, Bryna Productions; 1957—TV acting debut; 1960—producer for first time on Spartacus; 1962—formed Joel Productions, an offshoot of Bryna; 1973—directed first film Scalawag; 1976—in TV mini-series The Moneychangers; 1987—in TV mini-series Queenie; 1988—published autobiography, The Ragman's Son. Awards: Best Actor, New York Film Critics, for Lust for Life, 1956; Cecil B. DeMille Prize, U.S. Golden Globe Awards, 1967; U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom, 1981; elected to the Cowboy Hall of Fame, 1984; Knight, Legion of Honor, France, 1985; Life Achievement Award, American Film Institute, 1991; Honorary Academy Award, 1996. Address: c/o Bryna Company, 141 El Camino, Beverly Hills, CA 90212, U.S.A.

Films as Actor:

1946

The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (Milestone) (as Walter O'Neil)

1947

Mourning Becomes Electra (Nichols) (as Peter Niles); Out of the Past (Build My Gallows High) (J. Tourneur) (as Whit); I Walk Alone (Haskin) (as Noll Turner)

1948

The Walls of Jericho (Stahl) (as Tucker Wedge); My Dear Secretary (Martin) (as Owen Waterbury); A Letter to Three Wives (Mankiewicz) (as George Phipps)

1949

Champion (Robson) (as Midge Kelly)

1950

Young Man with a Horn (Young Man of Music) (Curtiz) (as Rick Martin); The Glass Menagerie (Rapper) (as Jim O'Connor)

1951

Along the Great Divide (Walsh) (as U.S. Marshal Clint Merrick); The Big Carnival (Ace in the Hole) (Wilder) (as Charles Tatum); Detective Story (Wyler) (as Jim McLeod)

1952

The Big Trees (Feist) (as Jim Fallon); The Big Sky (Hawks) (as Deakins); The Bad and the Beautiful (Minnelli) (as Jonathan Shields)

1953

"Equilibrium" ep. of The Story of Three Loves (G. Reinhardt) (as Pierre Narval); The Juggler (Dmytryk) (as Hans Muller); Act of Love (Un Acte d'amour) (Litvak) (as Robert Teller)

1954

Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea (Fleischer) (as Ned Land); Ulisse (Ulysses) (Camerini) (title role)

1955

The Racers (Such Men Are Dangerous) (Hathaway) (as Gino); Man without a Star (King Vidor) (as Dempsey Rae); The Indian Fighter (de Toth) (as Johnny Hawks)

1956

Lust for Life (Minnelli) (as Vincent Van Gogh)

1957

Top Secret Affair (Their Secret Affair) (Potter) (as Major General Melville Goodwin); Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (John Sturges) (as Doc Holliday); Paths of Glory (Kubrick) (as Colonel Dax)

1958

The Vikings (Fleischer) (as Einer)

1959

Last Train from Gun Hill (John Sturges) (as Matt Morgan); The Devil's Disciple (Hamilton) (as Richard Dudgeon)

1960

Strangers When We Meet (Quine) (as Larry Coe); Spartacus (Kubrick) (title role, + exec pr)

1961

The Last Sunset (Aldrich) (as Brendan O'Malley); Town without Pity (G. Reinhardt) (as Major Steve Garrett)

1962

Lonely Are the Brave (D. Miller) (as Jack Burns); Two Weeks in Another Town (Minnelli) (as Jack Andrus)

1963

The Hook (Seaton) (as First Sergeant P. J. Briscoe); For Love or Money (Gordon) (as Deke Gentry); The List of Adrian Messenger (Huston) (as George Brougham)

1964

Seven Days in May (Frankenheimer) (as Colonel Martin "Jiggs" Casey)

1965

In Harm's Way (Preminger) (as Commander Paul Eddington); The Heroes of Telemark (Anthony Mann) (as Dr. Rolf Pedersen)

1966

Cast a Giant Shadow (Shavelson) (as David "Mickey" Marcus); Paris brûle-t-il? (Is Paris Burning?) (Clément) (as General George Patton)

1967

The Way West (McLagen) (as Senator William J. Tadlock); The War Wagon (Kennedy) (as Lomax)

1968

A Lovely Way to Die (A Lovely Way to Go) (Rich) (as Jim Schuyler)

1969

The Brotherhood (Ritt) (as Frank Ginetta, + pr); The Arrangement (Kazan) (as Eddie Anderson); French Lunch (Cox—short)

1970

There Was a Crooked Man (Mankiewicz) (as Paris Pitman Jr.)

1971

A Gunfight (Johnson) (as Will Tenneray); La luz del fin del mondo (The Light at the Edge of the World) (Billington) (as Denton, + pr); Catch Me a Spy (D. Clement) (as Andre)

1974

Un uomo da rispettare (The Master Touch; Hearts and Minds; A Man to Respect) (Lupo) (as Wallace); Mousey (Cat and Mouse) (Petrie) (as George Anderson)

1975

Once Is Not Enough (Green) (as Mike Wayne)

1976

Victory at Entebbe (Chomsky—for TV) (as Hershel Vilnovsky)

1978

The Fury (De Palma) (as Peter); The Chosen (De Martino) (as Caine)

1979

The Villain (Needham) (as Cactus Jack)

1980

The Final Countdown (Don Taylor) (as Capt. Matthew Yelland); Saturn Three (Donen) (as Adam); Home Movies (De Palma) (as Dr. Tuttle)

1981

La Luz del Fin del Mundo (Billington) (+ pr)

1982

Remembrance of Love (Smight—for TV); The Man from Snowy River (George Miller) (as Spur)

1983

Eddie Macon's Run (Haley and Rauch) (as Marzack)

1984

Draw! (Stern—for TV) (as Harry H. Holland)

1985

Amos (Tuchner—for TV) (as Amos Lacher)

1986

Tough Guys (Kanew) (as Archie Long)

1988

Inherit the Wind (Greene—for TV) (as William Jennings Bryan)

1990

Money (Stern)

1991

Oscar (Landis) (as Snaps's father); Bienvenido a Veraz (Welcome to Veraz) (Xavier Castano) (as Quentin)

1992

The Secret (Arthur—for TV) (as Mike Dunmore)

1994

Greedy (Lynn) (as Uncle Joe McTeague); Take Me Home Again (for TV) (as Ed Reece)

1999

Diamonds (Asher) (as Harry)

Films as Director:

1973

Scalawag (+ ro)

1975

Posse (+ ro, pr)

Other Film:

1971

Summertree (Newley and Record) (pr)

Publications

By DOUGLAS: books—

The Ragman's Son: An Autobiography, New York, 1988.

Dance with the Devil (novel), New York, 1990.

The Gift (novel), New York, 1992.

Last Tango in Brooklyn (novel), New York, 1994.

Climbing the Mountain: My Search for Meaning (biography), New York, 1997.

By DOUGLAS: articles—

Interview in Films and Filming (London), September 1972.

"Kirk Douglas: All American Boy," interview with K. Kelly, in Inter/View (New York), January 1974.

Interviews in Ciné Revue (Paris), 12 July and 27 September 1984.

On DOUGLAS: books—

McBride, Joseph, Kirk Douglas, New York, 1976.

Parish, James, The Tough Guys, New Rochelle, New York, 1976.

Lacourbe, Roland, Kirk Douglas, Paris, 1980.

Farber, Stephen, and Marc Green, Hollywood Dynasties, New York, 1984.

Munn, Michael, Kirk Douglas, New York, 1985.

Kaye, Annene, and Jim Sclavunos, Michael Douglas and the Douglas Clan, London, 1989.

Thomas, Tony, The Films of Kirk Douglas, New York, 1991.

Press, Skip, Michael and Kirk Douglas, New York, 1995.

On DOUGLAS: articles—

Current Biography 1952, New York, 1952.

Meisel, Myron, "Kirk Douglas: Last Angry Man" in Close-Ups: The Movie Star Book, edited by Danny Peary, New York, 1978.

Ebert, Robert, "Kirk Douglas," in The Movie Star, edited by Elisabeth Weis, New York, 1981.

Lantos, J., "The Last Waltz," in American Film (New York), October 1986.

Hibbin, S., "Tough Guy," in Films and Filming (London), April 1987.

Buckley, Michael, "Kirk Douglas" (in 2 parts), in Films in Review (New York), vol. 40, nos. 8/9 and 10, 1989.

Thompson, F., "A Man Cut for the Screen," in American Film (Washington, D.C.), March 1991.

Radio Times (London), 15 January 1994.

Now approaching his sixth decade of movie stardom, Kirk Douglas has played lead roles in the vast majority of the 70-odd films he has made. His screen persona has been characterized by resoluteness and ferocity, the typical ingredients of his steadfast, driven heroes, and occasionally the psychological foundation for his formidable and relentless villains. These variations on a theme of perseverance have pleased audiences who have come to know the Douglas face as a movie icon—eyes blazing with anger or resistance, teeth clenched in determination, a distinctive cleft in his firmly planted chin.

Following a brief Broadway career and Navy service during World War II, Douglas made his movie debut in a supporting role as the ineffectual district attorney husband of Barbara Stanwyck in Lewis Milestone's melodrama The Strange Love of Martha Ivers. After appearing in another half-dozen features, Douglas earned major stardom as an unscrupulous boxer who punches and claws his way to the top in Mark Robson's Champion, a performance which earned him an Oscar nomination for Best Actor.

The next few years saw him star in a series of exceptional films by front-rank directors, including Michael Curtiz's Young Man with a Horn, Raoul Walsh's Along the Great Divide, Billy Wilder's The Big Carnival, William Wyler's Detective Story, Howard Hawks's The Big Sky, Vincente Minnelli's The Bad and the Beautiful, and King Vidor's Man without a Star. This series of memorable, strong-willed protagonists fixed the Douglas image firmly in the public's consciousness.

The actor's intense portrayal of the tormented Vincent van Gogh in Minnelli's Lust for Life was followed by that of an idealistic French officer fighting a corrupt military bureaucracy during World War I in Stanley Kubrick's powerful antiwar film Paths of Glory. Three years later, he again starred for Kubrick in the historical epic Spartacus as a slave who leads an insurrection against the powerful and oppressive leaders of Imperial Rome. In both Kubrick films, Douglas plays a strong-willed, noble leader who suffers an unjust defeat.

Although the 1950s was his most accomplished decade, Douglas continued to star as a rugged individual in respectable, entertaining movies in the 1960s, including David Miller's Lonely Are the Brave, Minnelli's Two Weeks in Another Town, and John Frankenheimer's Seven Days in May. Nevertheless, many of his film projects of that era—including some through the auspices of Bryna Productions, his own production company—were of mediocre quality.

At the end of the 1960s, Douglas starred in what he has referred to as a trilogy: Martin Ritt's The Brotherhood (as a Mafia leader), Elia Kazan's The Arrangement (as an advertising executive), and JosephL. Mankiewicz's There Was a Crooked Man (as a prison inmate obsessed with escaping). The films were of wildly uneven quality, to be sure, but they served as evidence that Douglas, fast approaching 60, remained a sturdy, effective leading man.

None of his theatrical films since then has made such a strong impact, although as a canny veteran actor Douglas remains a convincing and watchable presence, effortlessly communicating resolve and urgency. Among his better late-career credits are Tough Guys, in which he was cast one final time with longtime friend and frequent co-star Burt Lancaster; the television movie Remembrance of Love, portraying a concentration camp survivor who has an emotional reunion with a woman he had loved decades earlier, in the Warsaw Ghetto; and another television movie, Amos, in which he played an elderly man living against his will in a nursing home.

Finally, in his seventies, Douglas has launched a new career as a writer. In 1988, he published his autobiography, The Ragman's Son, and since has written several novels.

—Bill Wine, updated by Audrey E. Kupferberg

DOUGLAS, KIRK

DOUGLAS, KIRK (originally Issur Danielovich Demsky ; 1916– ), U.S. actor. Douglas was born in Amsterdam, n.y. A good student and a keen athlete, he wrestled competitively during his time at St. Lawrence University. In 1939 he enrolled at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City. A small part in Broadway's Wind Is Ninety in 1945, as well as the help of former classmate Lauren *Bacall, brought him to the attention of Hollywood producer Hal B. Wallis, who chose him to play opposite Barbara Stanwyck in The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946). His performance received rave reviews, and more work quickly followed, including a role in the dramatic film I Walk Alone (1948). In it, he worked alongside Burt Lancaster. The chemistry between the two future screen legends was so strong that they ultimately appeared in seven films together, including Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957), Seven Days in May (1964), and Tough Guys (1986).

Douglas' portrayal in 1949 of a prizefighter in the film Champion confirmed his reputation as a leading dramatic artist. He had memorable roles in Young Man with a Horn (1950), The Bad and the Beautiful (1953), Lust for Life (1956), and Lonely are the Brave (1962).

Turning to production, he formed a film company that made the anti-war Paths of Glory (1957) and Spartacus (1960), in both of which Douglas starred. He identified himself with Israeli causes in the U.S. He starred in The Juggler (1953), which was filmed in Israel, and in 1966 played the lead in Cast a Giant Shadow, a film about Col. David (Mickey) *Marcus. Douglas celebrated his bar mitzvah twice: once when he was 13 years old, and the second time when he was 83.

Other films in the prolific actor's filmography include My Dear Secretary (1949), A Letter to Three Wives (1949), The Glass Menagerie (1950), 20,000 Leagues under the Sea (1954), Ulysses (1955), Man without a Star (1955), The Vikings (1958), Strangers When We Meet (1960), Town without Pity (1961), Two Weeks in Another Town (1962), The List of Adrian Messenger (1963), Is Paris Burning? (1966), The Arrangement (1969), There Was a Crooked Man (1970), The Fury (1978), The Man from Snowy River (1982), Greedy (1994), Diamonds (1999), It Runs in the Family (2003), and Illusions (2004).

Douglas became a goodwill ambassador of the United Nations in 1983, and he also held the position of director of the Los Angeles chapter of the United Nations Association. He was a goodwill ambassador for the U.S. State Department from 1963. His efforts were rewarded in 1981 with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and in 1983 with the Jefferson Award. France honored him by making him a Chevalier of the Legion of Honor. In 2002 he was awarded the ucla Medal of Honor.

Douglas was inducted into the Hall of Great Western Performers of the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in 1984. For his film work, he received the American Cinema Award (1987), the German Golden Kamera Award (1987), the National Board of Review's Career Achievement Award (1989), a Life Achievement Award from the American Film Institute (1991), a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences "for 50 years as a creative and moral force in the motion picture community" (1995), and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Film Institute (1999).

Kirk Douglas was voted the 36^th Greatest Movie Star of all time by Entertainment Weekly.

He published his autobiography, The Ragman's Son, in 1988. He also wrote the novel Dance with the Devil (1990), the novel The Gift (1992), Kirk Douglas Writes to Gary Cooper (1992), the novel Last Tango in Brooklyn (1994), the novel The Broken Mirror (1997), Climbing the Mountain: My Search for Meaning (1997), Young Heroes of the Bible: A Book for Family Sharing (1999), and My Stroke of Luck (2002).

The actor Michael *Douglas is one of his four sons.

bibliography:

Current Biography Yearbook 1952 (1953), 155–6. add. bibliography: T. Thomas, The Films of Kirk Douglas (1972); J. McBride, Kirk Douglas: A Pyramid Illustrated History of the Movies (1976); R. Lacourbe, Kirk Douglas (1980); M. Munn, Kirk Douglas (1985); S. Press, Michael and Kirk Douglas (1995); D.D. Darrid, In the Wings: A Memoir (1999).

[Stewart Kampel /

Rohan Saxena and

Ruth Beloff (2^nd ed.)]

DOUGLAS, Kirk

DOUGLAS, Kirk. American, b. 1918. Genres: Novels, Autobiography/Memoirs. Career: Actor, motion picture producer. Publications: MEMOIRS: The Ragman's Son, 1998; Climbing the Mountain, 1997; My Stroke of Luck, 2002. NOVELS: Dance with the Devil, 1990; The Gift, 1992; Last Tango in Brooklyn, 1994. OTHER: The Broken Mirror (children), 1997; Young Heroes of the Bible, 1998. Address: The Bryna Co, 141 S El Camino Dr Ste 209, Beverly Hills, CA 90212-2731, U.S.A.