A first-generation American, Kirk Douglas was born Issur Danielovitch Demsky on 9 December 1916, in Amsterdam, New York. His parents, Russian born Jews who immigrated to the United States in 1910, were Harry and Bryna Demsky. The family, which consisted of six daughters and one son, found it financially difficult to survive during the Depression years. Young Issur (or Isadore Demsky, as he was later called) worked his way through school selling newspapers and a variety of other items.
Kirk Douglas first became interested in drama when he attended Wilbur Lynch High School in Amsterdam. Encouraged by his teacher, Louise Livingston, he participated in various kinds of dramatic and oratorical activities. In 1935 he graduated from high school, eager to attend college, for which he first had to earn the tuition money. From 1935 to 1939 he attended St. Lawrence University, Canton, New York, where he won recognition as president of the student body, the Mummers dramatic society, and the National Student Federation of America; he was, in addition, an intercollegiate wrestling champion.
Like other aspiring actors, Douglas chose to pursue his profession in New York City. In 1941 he won a scholarship to the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, and supported himself by living in the Greenwich Village Settlement House, waiting on tables at Schrafft's, teaching dramatics to children, and doing odd jobs. It was during his year at the American Academy that he chose his stage name. Douglas made his Broadway debut in 1941 as a singing telegraph boy in Spring Again. The advent of World War II provided him with a new career in the U.S. Navy. Douglas attended Midshipman School at Notre Dame University and was subsequently commissioned as an ensign. He served with an anti-submarine patrol in the Pacific until he received a medical discharge following injuries in 1944. He was discharged with the rank of lieutenant (j.g.).
Kirk Douglas got his first “break” soon after his return to civilian life, when he was chosen to replace Richard Widmark as the juvenile lead in Kiss and Tell. He also worked as an actor in radio soap-operas, and in four other plays: Trio (1944), Star in the Window,Alice in Arms (1945), and The Wind Is Ninety (1945). The latter play won Douglas both critical acclaim and the attention of Hollywood. Lauren Bacall, one of Douglas's fellow students at the Academy, recommended Douglas to producer Hal Wallis, and his screen test was so successful that he won the lead opposite Barbara Stanwyck in The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946). Douglas quickly established himself in motion pictures, earning roles in Out of the Past (1947), Mourning Becomes Electra (1947), The Walls of Jericho (1948), My Dear Secretary (1948), and A Letter to Three Wives (1948). In 1948 Douglas was nominated for an Academy Award for his performance in Champion, a film about an ambitious and ruthless prize fighter. With this picture, Douglas's image as a “tough rogue” was established.
Douglas was nominated for an Oscar again in 1952 for The Bad and the Beautiful and in 1956 for Lust for Life, for which he also won the New York Critics Award. Other outstanding films during these years included The Glass Menagerie (1950), Detective Story (1951), The Big Sky (1952), 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954), and Man Without a Star (1955).
Having made his mark as a successful actor, Douglas turned his attention toward the production of films, and in 1955 he formed an independent film company, Bryna Productions. Douglas has appeared in a number of Bryna's motion pictures: The Indian Fighter (1955), Paths of Glory (1957), The Vikings (1958), Spartacus (1960), The List of Adrian Messenger (1963), Seven Days in May (1964), A Gun Fight (1971), The Light at the Edge of the World (1971), Scalawag (1973), and Posse (1975). Leading roles in numerous other films also kept the filmmaker busy; among them were Ulysses (1955), Top Secret Affair (1957), Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957), The Last Train from Gun Hill (1959), The Last Sunset (1961), Town Without Pity (1961), Lonely Are the Brave (1962), Two Weeks in Another Town (1962), For Love or Money (1963), In Harm's Way (1965), The Heroes of Telemark (1965), Cast a Giant Shadow (1966), The Way West (1967), A Lovely Way to Die (1968), and The Arrangement (1969). The Bryna television series, Tales of the Vikings, was an outgrowth of its film, The Vikings.
Kirk Douglas traveled widely, because of both his work and his personal interests. On behalf of the State Department and the USIA he toured South America in 1963, the Far East in 1964, Europe and the Middle East in 1965, and Eastern Europe in 1966. For his efforts he was lauded by Presidents Kennedy and Johnson and by the United States Congress. In 1967 he served as Public Affairs Director of the U.S. Olympic Committee.
These varied facets of Douglas's life earned recognition both in his own industry and beyond. In 1958 his alma mater, St. Lawrence University, awarded him a Doctor of Fine Arts degree. In 1968 the Hollywood Foreign Press Association presented him the DeMille Award for his contributions to the international motion picture industry, and the Thomas A. Dooley Foundation also gave him its Splendid American Award.
Kirk Douglas was married to Anne Buydens; they had two sons, Peter (who worked for Bryna Productions) and Eric. By his first marriage to Diana Dill, he had two sons, Michael, an actor-producer, and Joel, also a producer. Kirk Douglas died on February 5, 2020.
