'He used his blue eyes, jutting chin and gritted teeth to develop a style that radiated do-not-f**k-with-me intensity.' Peter Travers pays tribute to Kirk Douglas
In truth, Douglas has a long list of things to be proud of, from four sons, his widow Anne, his legendary career that included writing his memoirs and 10 novels, and philanthropic work that helped win him the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Not bad for a Ragman’s son, born Issur Danielovitch Demsky to Russian Jewish immigrants in Amsterdam, New York — dad was a serious alcoholic — who raised their seven kids in abject poverty.
Douglas used his laser-blue eyes, jutting clef chin and gritted teeth to develop an acting style that radiated a do-not-fuck-with-me intensity. Those characteristics are all visible in his breakthrough role in 1949’sas the arrogant boxer Midge Kelly. “It’s like any other business,” Kelly says of boxing, “only here the blood shows.” Kelly pushed hard to get to the top — and so did Douglas. “I was a son of a bitch,” the actor admitted in his memoir.
You can see the pattern in Douglas’s career as an actor, always working behind the scenes as well to make sure filmmakers didn’t loose their guts. It isn’t that he couldn’t act in films for the big-budget hell of it . But the Douglas that sticks in your memories is the one who comes at you hard as nails. There’s his cowboy overwhelmed by modern technology in, his aging lawman on the tail of an escaped prisoner in.
Much has been made of the alleged jealousy Kirk felt for Michael. It did cause a bit of a rift when the elder Douglas turned over the film rights toa play that Kirk had starred in on Broadway in 1963. Why? Michael proceeded to give his dad’s role to the younger Jack Nicholson who proceeded to win a Best Actor Oscar for it — and as producer of the film, went onstage to collect the Best Picture prize. Ouch. The sting didn’t last long.
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