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Kirk Douglas (born Issur Danielovitch December 9, 1916) is an Academy Award-nominated American actor and film producer known for his cleft chin, his gravelly voice and his recurring roles as the kinds of characters Douglas himself once described as "sons of b*tches". He is the father of Hollywood actor and producer Michael Douglas. He was #17 on the American Film Institute's list of the greatest male American screen legends of all time.
Douglas was born in Amsterdam, New York, to Bryna (née Sanglel) and Herschel "Harry" Danielovitch, a businessman.Coming from a poor family, as a boy, Douglas sold snacks to mill workers to earn enough to buy milk and bread. Later, he delivered newspapers and claims to have worked at more than forty jobs before becoming an actor.He found living in a family of six sisters to be stifling, "I was dying to get out. In a sense, it lit a fire under me."During high school, he acted in school plays, and discovered "The one thing in my life that I always knew, that was always constant, was that I wanted to be an actor."

Though he couldn’t afford tuition, Douglas talked his way into St. Lawrence University and received a loan, which he paid back working part-time as a gardener and a janitor. He was a standout on the wrestling team, and one summer he wrestled in a carnival to make some extra money.
His talents were noticed at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City, where he received a special scholarship. One of his classmates was Betty Joan Perske (soon to be better known as Lauren Bacall), who later would play an important role in launching his film career.Another classmate was aspiring Bermudian actress, Diana Dill, who later became his wife. While doing summer stock theater during a college term break, he began using the name Kirk Douglas, which he would legally adopt.He also earned his first money as an actor.After graduating from drama school, Douglas made his Broadway debut as a singing telegraph boy in Spring Again.Douglas served in the United States Navy from the U.S. entry into World War II in 1941 and received a medical discharge for war injuries in 1944. On May 3, 1943, Diana Dill, his former classmate, appeared on the cover of Life magazine. Seeing her photograph, Douglas told his fellow sailors that he would marry her, which he did on November 2, 1943. Their son, Michael Douglas, was born in 1944. They divorced nine years later.
Douglas was a major box office star in the 1950s and 60s, playing opposite some of the leading female actors of that era including Lauren Bacall, Barbara Stanwyck, Doris Day, Jeanne Crain, Rhonda Fleming, Virginia Mayo, Lizabeth Scott, Laraine Day, Jane Wyman, Eleanor Parker, Lana Turner, Kim Novak, Susan Hayward, Janet Leigh, and Jean Simmons.
Douglas married twice, first to Diana Dill, on November 2, 1943. The couple had two sons, actor Michael Douglas and producer Joel Douglas. They divorced in 1951. He then married Anne Buydens on May 29, 1954. They have two sons, producer Peter Douglas and actor Eric Douglas. Eric Douglas died July 6, 2004 of an accidental drug overdose.

In 1996, he suffered a stroke, partially impairing his ability to speak. On December 8, 2006, Douglas appeared on Entertainment Tonight, where the entire staff wished him a happy 90th birthday the night before. His son Michael, along with his wife, Catherine Zeta-Jones, were among the many celebrities who attended his birthday celebration. On the show, he discussed the books he has written, and the death of his son, Eric in 2004.
portrait of Douglas, titled "The Great and the Beautiful," which encapsulated his film career, art collection, philanthropy and rehabilitation from a deadly helicopter crash and the aftermath of a severe stroke, appeared in Palm Springs Life magazine in 1999. The article said "For years, this energetic performer could be seen jogging several miles to get his morning paper, playing tennis with locals or posing for snapshots and signing autographs for star-struck out-of-towners. He has been a veritable one-man tourist promotion over the past four decades, extolling the virtue of the city he loves to virtually anyone who'll listen".
Features
The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946)
Out of the Past (1947)
Mourning Becomes Electra (1947)
I Walk Alone (1948)
The Walls of Jericho (1948)
My Dear Secretary (1949)
A Letter to Three Wives (1949)
Champion (1949)
Young Man with a Horn (1950)
The Glass Menagerie (1950)
Along the Great Divide (1951)
Ace in the Hole (1951)
Detective Story (1951)
The Big Trees (1952)
The Big Sky (1952)
The Bad and the Beautiful (1952)
The Story of Three Loves (1953)
The Juggler (1953)
Act of Love (1953)
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954)
The Racers (1955)
Ulisse (U.S. title: Ulysses) (1955)
Man Without a Star (1955)
The Indian Fighter (1955)
Lust for Life (1956)
Top Secret Affair (1957)
Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957)
Paths of Glory (1957)
The Vikings (1958)
Last Train from Gun Hill (1959)
The Devil's Disciple (1959)
Strangers When We Meet (1960)
Spartacus (1960)
Town Without Pity (1961)
The Last Sunset (1961)
Lonely Are the Brave (1962)
Two Weeks in Another Town (1962)
The Hook (1963)
The List of Adrian Messenger (1963)
For Love or Money (1963)
Seven Days in May (1964)
In Harm's Way (1965)
The Heroes of Telemark (1965)
Cast a Giant Shadow (1966)
Is Paris Burning? (1966)
The Way West (1967)
The War Wagon (1967)
Once Upon a Wheel (1968) (documentary)
A Lovely Way to Die (1968)
The Brotherhood (1968)
The Arrangement (1969)
There Was a Crooked Man... (1970)
To Catch a Spy (1971)
The Light at the Edge of the World (1971)
A Gunfight (1971)
A Man to Respect (1972)
The Master Touch (1972)
Scalawag (1973)
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1973) (TV) (1973)
Posse (1975)
Jacqueline Susann's Once Is Not Enough (1975)
Holocaust 2000 (1977)
The Fury (1978)
The Villain (1979)
Saturn 3 (1980)
Home Movies (1980)
The Final Countdown (1980)
The Man from Snowy River (1982)
Remembrance of Love (1982)
Eddie Macon's Run (1983)
Tough Guys (1986)
Inherit the Wind (1988)
Oscar (1991)
Veraz (1991)
The Secret (1992) (television)
A Century of Cinema (1994) (documentary)
Greedy (1994)
Diamonds (1999)
It Runs in the Family (2003)
Illusion (2004)

Van Gogh: Darkness Into Light (1956)
Rowan & Martin at the Movies (1968)
I just thought it was so sweet when Michael Douglas saw his Dad on the red carpet at the oscars that I wanted to do this!They are both such wonderful actors!