• Kirk Douglas is an American actor, writer and director whose career spans over seven decades. He has starred in such films as Spartacus, Paths of Glory, In Harms Way, Ulysses and Lust for Life, and has guest starred in such television shows as Touched By An Angel, Tales From the Crypt and The Simpsons'. Douglas has also written two children's books, three novels and four memoirs.

• Fast Facts

  1. Birth name: Issur Danielovitch Demsky
  2. Born: December 9, 1916
  3. Birthplace: Amsterdam, New York
  4. Parents were Russian immigrantsPress-Telegram (Long Beach, CA): Kirk Douglas Talks the Talk... (October 6, 2008)
  5. Spouse: Anne Buydens
  6. First acting role was playing a shoemaker in his kindergarten playPress-Telegram (Long Beach, CA): Kirk Douglas Talks the Talk... (October 6, 2008)
  7. Debut movie: The Strange Love of Martha Ivers
  8. Secured the film rights for Ken Kesey's novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
  9. Suffered a stroke in 1996
  10. Uses his MySpace blog to encourage young people to get 'informed' The Hollywood Reporter: Q&A: Kirk Douglas (October 7, 2008)

• Notable Roles

  • 1960: Spartacus in Spartacus
  • 1957: Col. Dax in Paths of Glory
  • 1956: Vincent van Gogh in Lust for Life
  • 1949: Michael "Midge" Kelly in Champion

• Quotes

  "When you have a stroke, you must speak slowly to be understood. And I discovered that, when I speak slowly, people listen. They think I'm going to say something important."—October 6, 2008 Press-Telegram (Long Beach, CA): Kirk Douglas Talks the Talk... (October 6, 2008)

  "I was always very active through the McCarthy era, when, I tell you, we were losing our freedom. And I helped break the blacklist because...I hired Dalton Trumbo to write Spartacus. Everybody said don't do it, but I used his name on the screen. At that time, no one used a blacklisted writer."—August 15, 2008 NPR: Kirk Douglas Fighting Online For Slavery Apology (August 15, 2008)

  "Yes, Van Gogh. For the first time in my acting career, the part took me over. He took over. You know, I slept in the room where he committed suicide."—April 27, 2007, on his favorite film role.newcritics: Meeting Kirk Douglas (April 27, 2007)

• Related Pages on Mahalo

  Michael Douglas | Spartacus | John Wayne | Stanley Kubrick | Laurence Olivier | Anthony Quinn | Vincent van Gogh | Joseph McCarthy | One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest | One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest Book | Ken Kesey | Paths of Glory

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