Page 32 - ARUBA TODAY

A32 FEATURE
Thursday 6 February 2020
Kirk Douglas, longtime influential movie star, dies at 103

By HILLEL ITALIE work on “Spartacus,” the screen: “I’m a loner clear
Kirk Douglas, the intense, epic about a slave rebel- down deep to my very
muscular actor with the lion during ancient Rome guts.”
dimpled chin who starred in that was released in 1960. The most famous words
“Spartacus,” “Lust for Life” (A few months earlier, Otto in a Douglas movie were
and dozens of other films, Preminger had announced spoken about him, but not
helped fatally weaken the Trumbo’s name would ap- by him. In “Spartacus,” Ro-
blacklist against suspected pear on the credits for man officials tell a gather-
Communists and reigned “Exodus,” but “Spartacus” ing of slaves their lives will
for decades as a Holly- came out first.) be spared if they identify
wood maverick and patri- “Everybody advised me their leader, Spartacus. As
arch, died Wednesday, his not to do it because you Douglas rises to give him-
family said. He was 103. won’t be able to work in this self up, a growing chorus of
“To the world, he was a town again and all of that. slaves jump up and shout,
legend, an actor from the But I was young enough to “I’m Spartacus!”
golden age of movies who This May 4, 2017 file photo shows actor Kirk Douglas in Los Ange- say to hell with it,” Douglas Douglas stands silently, a
lived well into his golden les. Douglas died Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2020 at age 103. said about “Spartacus” in tear rolling down his face.
years, a humanitarian Associated Press a 2011 interview with The As Michael Douglas once
whose commitment to jus- observed, few acts were so
tice and the causes he be- “Golden Age,” a man hard to follow. Kirk Doug-
lieved in set a standard for nearly as old as the industry las was an acrobat, a jug-
all of us to aspire to,” his son itself. gler, a self-taught man who
Michael said in a statement In his youth, he represented learned French in his 30s
on his Instagram account. a new kind of performer, and German in his 40s.
Kirk Douglas’ death was first more independent and Life was just so many walls
reported by People maga- adventurous than Clark to crash through, like the
zine. Gable, Spencer Tracy and stroke in his 70s that threat-
His granite-like strength other giants of the studio ened — but only threat-
and underlying vulnerabil- era of the 1930s and 1940s, ened — to end his career.
ity made the son of illiter- and more willing to speak He continued to act and
ate Russian immigrants one his mind. write for years and was past
of the top stars of the 20th Reaching stardom after 100 when he and his wife
century. He appeared in World War II, he was as like- published “Kirk and Anne:
more than 80 films, in roles ly to play cads (the movie Letters of Love, Laughter,
ranging from Doc Holliday producer in “Bad and the and a Lifetime in Holly-
in “Gunfight at the O.K. Cor- Beautiful,” the journalist in wood.”
ral” to Vincent van Gogh in “Ace in the Hole”) as he This Aug. 9, 1962 file photo shows actor Kirk Douglas in New York. He was born Issur Danielo-
“Lust for Life.” was suited to play heroes, Associated Press vitch to an impoverished
He worked with some of Jewish family in Amster-
Hollywood’s greatest direc- dam, New York. His name
tors, from Vincente Minnelli Associated Press. “I think if evolved over time. He
and Billy Wilder to Stanley I was much older, I would called himself Isidore Dem-
Kubrick and Elia Kazan. His have been too conserva- sky until he graduated from
career began at the peak tive: ‘Why should I stick my St. Lawrence University.
of the studios’ power, more neck out?’” He took the name Kirk
than 70 years ago, and Douglas rarely played Douglas as he worked his
ended in a more diverse, lightly. He was compulsive way through the American
decentralized era that he about preparing for roles Academy of Dramatic Arts,
helped bring about. and a supreme sufferer on choosing “Douglas” be-
Always competitive, in- camera, whether stabbed cause he wanted his last
cluding with his own fam- with scissors in “Ace in name still to begin with “D”
ily, Douglas never received the Hole” or crucified in and “Kirk” because he liked
an Academy Award for an “Spartacus.” the hard, jagged sound of
individual film, despite be- This 1976 file photo shows father-son actors Kirk Douglas, left, Critic David Thomson the “K.” Douglas was a per-
ing nominated three times and Michael Douglas in New York. dubbed Douglas “the former as early as kinder-
— for “Champion,” “The Associated Press manic-depressive among garten, when he recited a
Bad and the Beautiful” and Hollywood stars, one min- poem about the red robin
“Lust for Life.” pro-Communist activity or ute bearing down on plot, of spring. He was a star in
But in 1996, the Academy as alert to the business as sympathies. By the end of dialogue and actresses high school and in college
of Motion Picture Arts and he was at home before the ’50s, the use of banned with the gleeful appetite of he wrestled and built the
Sciences awarded him an the camera. He started his writers was widely known a man just freed from Sibe- physique that was show-
honorary Oscar. His other own production company within the industry, but not ria, at other times writhing cased in many of his mov-
awards included a Presi- in 1955, when many actors to the general public. not just in agony but muti- ies. He was determined,
dential Medal of Freedom still depended on the stu- Douglas, who years ear- lation and a convincingly hitchhiking to St. Lawrence
and a lifetime achieve- dios, and directed some of lier had reluctantly signed horrible death.” as a teen and convinc-
ment award from the his later films. a loyalty oath to get the Douglas’ personal favor- ing the dean to approve a
American Film Institute. A born fighter, Douglas was starring role in “Lust for ite was the 1962 Western student loan. And he was
He was a category unto especially proud of his role Life,” provided a crucial “Lonely are the Brave,” tough. One of his strongest
himself, a force for change in the the downfall of Hol- blow when he openly which included a line of childhood memories was
and symbol of endurance. lywood’s blacklist, which credited the former Com- dialogue from a Trumbo of flinging a spoonful of hot
In his latter years, he was halted and ruined the ca- munist and Oscar winner script he called the most tea into the face of his in-
a final link to a so-called reers of writers suspected of Dalton Trumbo for script personal he ever spoke on timidating father.q