Kirk Douglas, a Lucky Man with a Hard Life, Who Never Gives Up

Kirk Douglas is one of the most renowned American actors. However his path to success wasn't quick and easy. He was born in the 9th of December 1916 to a poor Jewish family living in the middle of nowhere, a small upstate New York town. His family moved to the United States from imperial Russia to seek a better life. Kirk was one of 7 kids in the family. His childhood wasn't sweet. He did many odd jobs trying to make a living. He even worked as a miner! He said, “I wanted to be an actor ever since I was a kid in the second grade. I did a play, and my mother made a black apron, and I played a shoemaker. And my father, who never interested himself in what I was doing, was in the back, and I didn’t know it. After the performance, he gave me my first Oscar: an ice cream cone. I’ve never forgotten that.”

A friend of him suggested to get a better education first. Kirk got good grades in high school, but he only saved $163 in cash. That wasn't a small fortune even in 1930's, but Kirk decided to go with him to St. Lawrence University. They hitchhiked the entire way, including the last stretch of it on a fertilizer truck, so that when they arrived they “didn’t smell very good, and the Dean was sniffing.” Nevertheless, he was admitted with a loan that he repaid by working odd jobs when he wasn’t in classes. He also changed his name from Izzy Demsky to Kirk Douglas there.

Kirk graduated in 1939 and went to New York where he won a scholarship to the prestigious American Academy of Dramatic Arts. He was still a very poor young man. He befriended a younger classmate named Betty Joan Perske, who would change his life, both before and after she changed her name to Lauren Bacall. Their lifelong friendship was cemented, he says, by one specific act of kindness on her part: “I had a thin coat that someone had given me, and it was winter, and she looked at that coat and thought I must be freezing, so she went to her uncle, talked him out of an overcoat, and gave it to me. I wore it for two years.”

Kirk completed his two-year studies in 1941 just before WWII broke out. He enlisted in the Navy and served there until the war was over. He returned to New York and starred in some theatrical plays, but didn't catch much fame. Meanwhile, Lauren Bacall had moved to Hollywood. She became a star opposite Humphrey Bogart in To Have and Have Not, but had not forgotten about her old friend. “Again, she played a part in my life,” Douglas marvels. “There was a producer, Hal Wallis, who was going to New York, and she said, ‘Listen, when you go to New York, you must see an actor: Kirk Douglas.’” Wallis did see him, was impressed, and offered to test him for a role opposite Barbara Stanwyck in The Strange Loves of Martha Ivers (1946), so Douglas caught the next train to Hollywood. He was 30 years old, so it was a kind of late for him to start a career in the cinema, but he did it!

(Kirk on the left in The Strange Loves of Martha Ivers together with Van Haflin and Barbara Stanwyck)

After Martha Ivers, Wallis wanted to put Douglas under a seven-year contract, like most stars of that era. Douglas recalls, “He said, ‘I want you to sign a seven-year deal, or I’ll drop you.’ Somehow, that made me mad. So I said, ‘Drop me!’ And he did. Now I was without a contract, which was rare in those days. But I survived.” He spent the next three years playing supporting parts, though some of them were in very good films like Out of the Past (1947) and A Letter to Three Wives (1949). There was a turning point in his career. He was offered a lot of money to act opposite Ava Gardner and Gregory Peck in a big-budget movie called The Great Sinner. Kirk turned it down! He wanted to star instead in a low-budget film with no other stars and for virtually no money. “[My agents] thought I was crazy… they were flabbergasted. I turned it down because I wanted to play a tough guy,” and the other film would provide him with a chance to do just that. As it turned out, The Great Sinner was a flop, whereas Champion, in which Douglas portrays a boxer who craves respect, became a huge hit, brought him a best actor Oscar nomination, and made him a star!

 

His career soared after Champion. However his family wasn't impressed much. When Kirk made a trip back to Amsterdam to visit his friends and relatives, he found his father, who was now estranged from the family, at a local saloon, and had a conversation that he recounts as follows: “I came in. ‘Hi, Dad.’ [imitates his father’s grunt of acknowledgment] ‘I did a picture, Dad. Champion.’ ‘Yeah.’ ‘Did you see it?’ ‘Yeah.’ ‘Did you like it?’ ‘Yeah.’ [long silence] Well, that was my meeting with my father. He was not impressed.”

Kirk played an opportunistic journalist in Ace in the Hole (1951), a corrupt cop in Detective Story (1951), a ruthless Hollywood producer in The Bad and the Beautiful (1952), for which he received his second best actor Oscar nomination, and the tortured artist Vincent van Gogh Lust for Life (1956), for which he received his third. The next move was to become a boss of his own, so he started a production company named Bryna Productions after his mother. He starred and produced some real cinema hits like Paths of Glory (1957), The Vikings (1958), Spartacus (1960), Lonely Are the Brave (1962), and Seven Days in May (1964). Spartacus directed by Stanley Kubrick was a huge international success grossing 90 million dollars worldwide with a budget of 12 million dollars.

He also challenged the Hollywood practice of blacklisting people over their possible communist leanings. He hired blacklisted screenwriter Dalton Trumbo to write Spartacus and didn't miss.

Kirk said, “When I think of my mother, who couldn’t read or write, a legal peasant from Russia, I took her in a limousine to Times Square, and I stopped the car, and I said [gesturing toward a massive billboard above], ‘See Ma? BRYNA PRESENTS THE VIKINGS!’ And my mother said, ‘America -- such a wonderful land!’”

His career was somewhat stalled in the 1970's and 1980's. His attempts at directing didn't meet much success. However when one opportunity closes, there must be another opening. He could live a quiet life enjoying his past achievements, but that wasn't for him. He wrote The Ragman's Son (1988), his autobiography bestseller. He also showed talent in fiction writing, producing such works as Dance with the Devil (1990) and The Gift (1992).

There was a crash in 1991 when Kirk's helicopter collided with a plane above Santa Paula Airport. Kirk, 72 years old then, survived it with many serious injuries, though two men out of four didn't make it. He spend a few years under therapy. This accident changed his life quite literally. He almost recovered when was hit by a stroke in 1996 and was mostly paralyzed. He couldn't speak, could barely see and hear anything. When he picked up his old revolver and tried to send a bullet though his head, he realized it isn't a game over. If there is a chance of recovery, he must use it. He started to excercise. Slowly. Painfully. He said, "My stroke, 11 years ago, was a blessing in disguise. I learned that we take too many things for granted in this world — even speech. We think our thoughts and then we have no difficulty saying it in words. When you have a stroke your mind thinks quickly but your speech reacts very slowly. You have to learn how to use your tongue, your lips, your teeth. I am lucky, although my speech is still impaired, I suffer no paralysis and I didn't die. I have begun to appreciate the gift of life. Of course, I do my speech exercises every day. When I asked my speech therapist how long would I have to do my exercises? Her answer was, "until you die.""

(Kirk with his dog Danny swimming in a pool after the stroke)

He also worked with a speed therapist, so he could speak again and the others could understand him. It was no easy, but he made it. He said, "I am lucky to be married to a fantastic woman — Anne. She didn't coddle me; she helped me. When I was lying in bed bemoaning my fate, Anne would say, "Get your ass out of bed and start with working with your speech therapist." That helped me.""

Kirk recovered again. He even returned to acting! In Diamonds (1999), he played Harry Agensky, a former boxing champion who survived a stroke like him. Kirk also starred in It Runs in the Family (2003) together with his son Michael Douglas, and Illusion (2004). His acting list includes 90 films to this date.

Kirk proves nothing is over if you have a will to survive and get over it. He is going to hit 100 years old in just 4 months as of this writing and I wish him the best of luck! His life is a very inspiring experience.