Kirk Douglas
Kirk Douglas
Kirk Douglasis an American actor, producer, director, and author. After an impoverished childhood with immigrant parents and six sisters, he had his film debut in The Strange Love of Martha Iverswith Barbara Stanwyck. Douglas soon developed into a leading box-office star throughout the 1950s and 1960s, known for serious dramas, including westerns and war movies. During a sixty-year acting career, he has appeared in over 90 movies, and in 1960 was responsible for helping to end the Hollywood Blacklist...
ProfessionMovie Actor
Date of Birth9 December 1916
CityAmsterdam, NY
I think the election of [Barack] Obama was a great step to prove to the world that we believe that all men were created equal. I think it will show that we have humility.
I have been trying to create a campaign to have our country make an apology for slavery, for the way that blacks were treated before the Civil War and after the Civil War.
I think that [Barack] Obama was elected because young people are starting to get interested in their country and I think that's a very healthy thing.
If I can get enough signatures, to present an apology to slavery, I will present it to the President. The House of Representatives has already passed the resolution for the apology, but it has to pass the Senate. I think, in spite of all our problems, I think we're in the right direction.
I went to Hollywood to test for Martha Ivers and I thought I was going to play the part that Van Heflin played.But they wanted me to play the part of Barbara Stanwyck's husband, so I played that. Then when I finished the movie, I went back to Broadway and did another flop.
The first time I had got an offer to come to Hollywood, I turned it down. I said, 'No, I'm an actor of the stage.'
I never wanted to be in movies. In a sense, I'm still a failure because I wanted to be a star on the stage.
When you get to my age, you find that most of your dear friends are gone.
I have always been grateful that my Russian mother and father came to this country to give me a better chance, and I have had a better chance.
With John Wayne, we argued all the time and we made four pictures.
You know, you have to have some inner philosophy to deal with adversity.
Life is like a B-picture script.
Streets crowded with people strolling, or sitting at outdoor cafes. And always, talking, gesturing, singing, laughing. I liked Rome immediately.Everybody was a performer.
All children are natural actors, and I'm still a kid. If you grow up completely, you can never be an actor.