BREAKING: Kirk Douglas, legendary Spartacus star, dies at 103
As an actor, Douglas excelled in playing men fighting for their honor and cocky protagonists who were sometimes likable and sometimes hateful . Oscar-nommed three times, he was awarded an honorary Oscar in 1996.
Born Issur Danielovitch in Amsterdam, N.Y., Douglas was the only son of Russian Jewish immigrants. In his autobiography “The Ragman’s Son,” he described the abject poverty in which he was raised. “Even on Eagle Street, the poorest section of town … the ragman was on the lowest rung on the ladder. And I was the ragman’s son.”
He returned to Broadway — he’d had a walk-on role before the war — replacing Richard Widmark in the comedy “Kiss and Tell” and the drama “Trio.” He had to drop out of the original production of the musical “On the Town,” citing “psychosomatic laryngitis.” The film that catapulted him to stardom, and forever cast him as a brooding, explosive personality, was 1949’s “Champion.” For his performance as an unscrupulous boxer he gained his first Academy Award nomination.
He and Diana had divorced in 1951, but while working in Europe on such films as “The Juggler” and “Ulysses,” Douglas met publicist Anne Buydens, whom he married in 1954. They had two sons, Peter and Eric. That same year, he scored another triumph in Disney’s “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.” In 1955 he founded his own production company, Bryna .
“I think one of the most important things in my career was the breaking of the blacklist,” Douglas said of his insistence that Trumbo’s name be listed as scenarist for “Spartacus.” Otto Preminger in January 1960 had listed Trumbo’s name for screenplay adaptation on “Exodus” that same year, credited inas being the first producer to do so. Also in 1960, the European film “Blind Date” was distributed by Paramount, with the director and writer getting onscreen credit.
In 1975, “Cuckoo’s Nest” became the second film to win the top five Oscars: best picture, director, actor, actress and screenplay. Kirk Douglas, who owned the rights to the novel, recalled, “I made more money from that film than any I acted in. And I would gladly give back every cent, if I could have played that role.”
After penning “Ragman’s Son,” Douglas wrote several more books, including “Dance with the Devil,” “Let’s Face It — 90 Years of Living, Loving, and Learning” in 2007 and “I Am Spartacus!: Making a Film, Breaking the Blacklist,” about the making of “Spartacus,” in 2012.
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