Kirk Douglas worked his way through St. Lawrence University as a waiter, where he studied drama and wrestled on the school team. He merged these crafts by briefly becoming a professional wrestler, and palled around with big-time wrestling's immortal but now departed Lou Thesz for years. He joined the Navy in World War II, and his first big break after the war was playing a dead soldier on Broadway in The Wind is 90, with 17-year-old Dickie Van Patten. The reviews were good, and he started getting offers from Hollywood. In his first film, he was Barbara Stanwyck's wimpy husband in The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946). He quickly molded a screen persona as a tough, cocky, guy -- a dim gangster in Out of the Past (1947), a jazzman in Young Man with a Horn (1950). Douglas later starred in the super-cynical Paths of Glory (1957) and The Big Carnival (also known as Ace in the Hole, 1951). In the former he's a military man, hung out to die by his superiors. In the latter he's a washed-up reporter looking for a big story.
Douglas was one of the first big name actors to establish his own production company. The Bryna Company, named after his mother, produced Paths of Glory, Lonely Are the Brave (1962), and Seven Days in May (1964). Douglas starred as Spartacus in that slave-revolt epic (1960), and Bryna produced it, which leveraged his Hollywood power into an unwavering demand: Dalton Trumbo, who had decades of screenwriting experience but had been blacklisted for his political views and jailed for refusing to "name names" -- would write the screenplay, and not behind a front. It was a pivotal moment in crumbling the Hollywood blacklist.
[1] Golda Shira and Pauline Dubkin Yearwood, "Kirk Douglas returns to Judaism", Chicago Jewish News, reprinted in Jewish News of Greater Phoenix, 30 May 2003: "Kirk Douglas wanted to talk about the movie and he wanted to talk about Judaism. It's well known from the first volume of his autobiography, The Ragman's Son, that he experienced a resurgence of interest in his religion after a helicopter crash and, later, a stroke that left him partially disabled. He even had a second bar mitzvah at the age of 83, and he continues to recommit himself to the richness of the very heritage from which he had been so estranged for so very long."
Father: Herschel Danielovitch ("Harry")
Mother: Bryna Sanglel Danielovitch
Sister: Pesha
Sister: Kaleh
Sister: Tamara
Sister: Haska (twin)
Sister: Siffra (twin)
Sister: Rachel
Wife: Diana Douglas (actress, m. 2-Nov-1943, div. 23-Feb-1951, d. 3-Jul-2015, two sons)
Son: Michael Douglas (actor and producer, b. 25-Sep-1944)
Son: Joel Douglas (producer, b. 23-Jan-1947)
Wife: Anne Buydens Douglas (m. 29-May-1954, two sons)
Son: Peter Vincent Douglas (producer, b. 23-Nov-1955)
Son: Eric Anthony Douglas (actor, b. 21-Jun-1958, d. 6-Jul-2004, drug overdose)
High School: Wilbur H. Lynch High School, Amsterdam, NY (1934)
University: BA, St. Lawrence University (1939)
Conservatory: American Academy of Dramatic Arts
Afghanistan Relief Committee Honorary Board of Directors
Jefferson Awards Board of Selectors
Obama Victory Fund 2012
Oscar (honorary) 1996
Golden Globe 1957 for Lust for Life
National Cowboy Hall of Fame 1984
American Film Institute Life Achievement Award 1991
Kennedy Center Honor 1994
Hollywood Walk of Fame 6263 Hollywood Blvd.
National Medal of Arts 2001
Tonsillectomy
Rhinoplasty
Visited Disneyland on Opening Day
Plane Crash helicopter collided with a small plane, Santa Paula, CA (1991)
Stroke 1996
Paralyzed right side of face
Wedding: Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta Jones (2000)
Wedding: David Gest and Liza Minnelli (2002)
Asteroid Namesake 19578 Kirkdouglas
Russian Ancestry
Jewish Ancestry
Risk Factors: Pacemaker
FILMOGRAPHY AS DIRECTOR
Posse (22-Aug-1975)
Scalawag (14-Nov-1973)
FILMOGRAPHY AS ACTOR
Cameraman: The Life and Work of Jack Cardiff (5-May-2010) · Himself
Trumbo (10-Sep-2007) · Himself
Illusion (Oct-2004) · Donald Baines
It Runs in the Family (25-Apr-2003) · Mitchell Gromberg
Diamonds (6-Sep-1999) · Harry
Completely Cuckoo (16-Dec-1997) · Himself
Greedy (4-Mar-1994) · Uncle Joe
Oscar (26-Apr-1991)
Inherit the Wind (20-Mar-1988)
Queenie (10-May-1987)
Tough Guys (3-Oct-1986)
Amos (29-Sep-1985)
Draw! (15-Jul-1984)
Eddie Macon's Run (4-Nov-1983) · Marzack
The Man from Snowy River (25-Mar-1982) · Spur
The Final Countdown (9-Jul-1980) · Capt. Matthew Yelland
Home Movies (16-May-1980)
Saturn 3 (15-Feb-1980) · Adam
The Villain (20-Jul-1979)
The Fury (10-Mar-1978) · Peter
Holocaust 2000 (25-Nov-1977)
Victory at Entebbe (13-Dec-1976)
Posse (22-Aug-1975)
Once Is Not Enough (18-Jun-1975)
Cat and Mouse (9-Mar-1974)
Scalawag (14-Nov-1973)
The Master Touch (1972)
To Catch a Spy (6-Sep-1971)
A Gunfight (25-Aug-1971)
The Light at the Edge of the World (16-Jul-1971)
There Was a Crooked Man... (19-Sep-1970) · Paris Pitman, Jr.
The Arrangement (18-Nov-1969) · Eddie & Evangelos
The Brotherhood (16-Jan-1969)
A Lovely Way to Die (6-May-1968)
The War Wagon (27-May-1967) · Lomax
The Way West (24-May-1967) · Tadlock
Is Paris Burning? (26-Oct-1966)
Cast a Giant Shadow (30-Mar-1966)
The Heroes of Telemark (Nov-1965)
In Harm's Way (6-Apr-1965) · Eddington
Seven Days in May (12-Feb-1964) · Col. Jiggs Casey
For Love or Money (7-Aug-1963)
The List of Adrian Messenger (29-May-1963)
The Hook (15-Feb-1963)
Two Weeks in Another Town (17-Aug-1962) · Jack Andrus
Lonely Are the Brave (24-May-1962) · Jack Burns
The Last Sunset (7-Jun-1961) · Brendan O'Malley
Town Without Pity (24-Mar-1961)
Spartacus (6-Oct-1960) · Spartacus
Strangers When We Meet (29-Jun-1960)
The Devil's Disciple (21-Aug-1959) · Richard Dudgeon
Last Train from Gun Hill (29-Jul-1959) · Marshal Matt Morgan
The Vikings (11-Jun-1958)
Paths of Glory (25-Dec-1957) · Col. Dax
Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (30-May-1957)
Top Secret Affair (30-Jan-1957) · Maj. Gen. Melville Goodwin
Lust for Life (17-Sep-1956) · Vincent Van Gogh
The Indian Fighter (21-Dec-1955)
Man Without a Star (24-Mar-1955)
Ulysses (8-Feb-1955) · Ulysses
The Racers (4-Feb-1955)
20000 Leagues Under the Sea (23-Dec-1954) · Ned Land
Act of Love (17-Dec-1953)
The Juggler (5-May-1953) · Hans Muller
The Story of Three Loves (5-Mar-1953)
The Bad and the Beautiful (25-Dec-1952) · Jonathan
The Big Sky (6-Aug-1952) · Jim Deakins
The Big Trees (5-Feb-1952) · Jim Fallon
Detective Story (6-Nov-1951) · Det. James McLeod
Ace in the Hole (15-Jun-1951) · Charles Tatum
Along the Great Divide (16-May-1951) · Len Merrick
The Glass Menagerie (28-Sep-1950) · Jim O'Connor
Young Man with a Horn (9-Feb-1950) · Rick Martin
Champion (9-Apr-1949) · Midge
A Letter to Three Wives (20-Jan-1949) · George Phipps
My Dear Secretary (12-Jan-1949) · Owen Waterbury
The Walls of Jericho (4-Aug-1948)
I Walk Alone (16-Jan-1948) · Noll Turner
Mourning Becomes Electra (19-Nov-1947) · Peter Niles
Out of the Past (13-Nov-1947) · Whit
The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (24-Jul-1946) · Walter O'Neil
Author of books:
The Ragman's Son: An Autobiography (1988, memoir)
Dance with the Devil (1990, novel)
The Gift (1992, novel)
Last Tango in Brooklyn (1994, novel)
Climbing the Mountain: My Search for Meaning (1997, memoir)
My Stroke of Luck (2002, memoir)
Let's Face It: 90 Years of Living, Loving, and Learning (2007, memoir)
AKA Issur Danielovitch Demsky