Kirk Douglas Film Fan Site

Birth name : Issur Danielovitch


Birth : 9 December 1916
Died: 5 February 2020
Nationality : American
Hollywood Walk Star: Yes
Kirk Douglas

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Kirk Douglas came from a working class background to Jewish parents. After serving in World War 2 he appeared on the Broadway stage. His first film role was in The Strange Love Of Martha Ivers thanks to his friendship with Lauren Bacall. It was in the boxing film Champion that he developed his tough guy image and earned himself an Oscar nomination and this made him a major star. This was followed by a change of direction as a jazz musician in Young Man with a Horn. With another change of style he appeared in the western Along the Great Divide.With The Story Of Three Loves he had a more romantic role and an affair with his co-star after the break up of his first marriage. His seconf Oscar nomination was as a controversial Hollywood producer in The Bad And The Beautiful. The film 20000 Leauges Under The Sea was another change of direction, this time into family adventure with Disney. Another change of directin gave him a third Oscar nominatin for the biopic of Vincent Van Gough, Lust For Life. He then featured in a number of westerns with Burt Lancaster including Gunfight at the O.K. Corral. In Paths Of Glory he gives a strong performance in an anti-war film directed by a young Stanley Kubrick. He rturned to the action hero in The Vikings. Perhaps his best known film is Spartacus, which he worked again with with Stanley Kubrik and he part produced and financed the film and is a great historical epic. Inmany ways this was the peak of his career. He continued to make films through the 1970's and 1980's with mixed success, though Saturn 3 is an intriguing piece of Sci-Fi. In the 1990's he had a stroke and in 1996 was awarded an Honorary Oscar
He was the father of Michael Douglas from his first marriage.

Films
It Runs In The Family (2003)
Saturn 3 (1980)
Final Countdown (1980)
Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde (1973)
The Arrangement (1969)
Way West (1967)
War Wagon (1967)
The Heroes Of Telemark (1965)
Spartacus (1960)
The Vikings (1958)
Paths of Glory (1957)
Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957)
Lust For Life (1956)
20000 Leagues Under The Sea (1954)
The Story of Three Loves (1953)
The Bad And The Beautiful (1952)
The Big Sky (1952)
Along The Great Divide (1951)
Young Man with a Horn (1950)
Champion (1949)
My Dear Secretary (1948)
Build My Gallows High (1947)
The Strange Love Of Martha Ivers (1946)

Oscars
Won - Honorary Oscar 1996
Nomination - Best Actor - Lust For Life (1956)
Nomination - Best Actor - Bad And The Beautiful (1952)
Nomination - Best Actor - Champion (1949)

Kirk Douglas