So long to a true Hollywood legend
The iconic KIRK DOUGLAS died this month, aged 103. Back in 1994, Empire visited his Beverly Hills home for a career-spanning chat — read an extract here
KIRK DOUGLAS HAS an over-friendly Labrador. Your reporter knows this because he is being pinned to the sofa by it. “Good dog, Banshee. Nice dog,” chuckles its owner.
The stars of Old Hollywood, like their pooches, are indeed a breed apart. On an unassuming street in Beverly Hills, you’d be hard pushed to believe that a movie star, let alone one of the greatest ever to have graced the silver screen, lives within. But all of a sudden, here he comes, striding towards you, trusty pooch by his side — tanned, fit and dressed rather nattily. At 77 he carries it well: the silver non-receding celebrity haircut, the clenched-teeth Colgate grin, and there, sitting majestically in the middle of his chin, that dimple — the kind it’d take at least three cotton buds to get the fluff out of. You are, in short, in the presence of a legend.
“Hi,” says Mr. Douglas in that throaty drawl, pumping Empire’s hand in the finest swashbuckling tradition. “I’m Kirk...”
Born Issur Danielovitch in December 1916 (there is some debate, due to his mother’s confusion, as to the exact date), Kirk Douglas grew up in upstate New York in a place called Amsterdam, the son of illiterate Russian-jewish immigrants, slogging it to the top the hard way. He found his niche on the stage, making his Broadway debut as a singing telegram boy in 1939’s Spring Again. War interrupted proceedings and in 1942 Lieutenant Douglas set sail to fight the Japanese; after he returned to the stage, and within three years he’d bagged an Oscar nomination for Champion. And the rest, as they say, is history — with classics like The Vikings, Ace In The Hole, Detective Story, The Big Sky and Paths Of Glory.
And then there’s Spartacus, arguably his most famous role, and most intertwined with him. An immigrant from humble origins breaks from his chains, takes on the establishment and fights his way to national celebrity status. All sounds a bit familiar, doesn’t it? To what extent is Kirk Douglas Spartacus?
Kirk laughs, ponders the question, and declines to answer. Instead, he supplies a legendary anecdote.
“I was doing Spartacus and it was a Friday night. My co-producer Eddie Lewis said, ‘What are you going to do this weekend?’ And I said, ‘I’m just gonna drive down to Palm Springs’ He
said, ‘Kirk, you’re a star, we’ll get a limousine and driver for you.’ It had a nice blanket in the back so I just jumped in with my tunic on — I thought, ‘I’ll get changed when I get there.’
“I pulled the blanket over me and I thought, ‘He’s right, I am a star. Goddammit, I used to hitch-hike to college.’ And here we are and I’m dreaming about what a big man I am and we turned into a gas station. I thought, ‘I’ll have to go to the men’s room,’ and they had a bar there, so I quickly dropped over to get a beer and I turned around and I saw the driver coming back to the car and he drives off down the road. I called up a police station up ahead and said, ‘My name’s Kirk Douglas. My driver is driving the car, he thinks I’m sleeping in the back.’ And he said, ‘Don’t be a wise guy.’
“Ten minutes ago I was a movie star and the head of a big company and now I’m there on the goddamn highway. I got so mad I started hitch-hiking. We were supposed to go to dinner at Dean Martin’s house. [At the house] my wife hears a car and comes out and the driver opens the back and she goes, ‘Hey, did you lose my husband?’ It’s like God teaching you a lesson in humility…”
The American Academy Of Dramatic Arts did provide him with the following citation: “Kirk Douglas’ talent begins in the soles of his feet and ends in the spirit that can vault beyond the stars.”
“That,” utters the great man, “sounds a little bit like someone who’s dead…”
Well, try this one for size then: “Kirk would be the first person to tell you that he’s a very difficult man and I would be the second.”
“Who said that?” Burt Lancaster. “Hahahaha! He must have meant something,” chuckles Kirk of his old mucker. “He could say it about me and I could say it about him. We’re both tough.”