DOUGLAS, KIRK

born Dec. 9, 1916, Amsterdam, N.Y., U.S. original name Issur Danielovitch, also called Isadore Demskey American motion-picture actor and producer. The son of Russian-Jewish immigrants, Douglas worked at odd jobs while attending St. Lawrence University, Canton, N.Y. (B.A., 1939), and then studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts (193941) in New York City. He played mostly minor roles on the Broadway stage before and after service in the U.S. Navy (194344) and then was drawn to Hollywood. His first film, The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946), with Barbara Stanwyck, was one of seven films in which he played major roles before emerging as a star in 1949 as the ruthless boxer in Champion. Douglas, a robust, athletic man with a distinctive voice and a deeply cleft chin, appeared in a variety of leading film roles: as the arrogant movie producer in The Bad and the Beautiful (1952), Vincent van Gogh in Lust for Life (1956), and Doc Holliday in Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957). He produced several films in which he also starred, including Paths of Glory (1957), The Vikings (1958), Spartacus (1960), Lonely Are the Brave (1962), The List of Adrian Messenger (1963), Seven Days in May (1964), and The Brotherhood (1968). Other of his films include Two Weeks in Another Town (1962), The Heroes of Telemark (1965), The Fury (1978), and The Man from Snowy River (1982). Douglas also wrote an autobiography, The Ragman's Son (1989), and novels, Dance with the Devil (1990) and The Gift (1992). His eldest son, Michael Douglas, was also a major producer and actor, winning Academy Awards as producer of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) and as leading actor in Wall Street (1987).