Issur Danielovitch Demsky was to Russian-Jewish immigrant parents in Amsterdam, New York, on this day in 1916 and, to celebrate, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung and the Telegraph have posted photo galleries. Both are fine as these things go, but not nearly as much fun as Douglas's own official site, which greets you with a clip (you know which one) from Kubrick's Spartacus (1960).
It was while serving in the Us Navy during World War II that Izzy Demsky changed his name to Kirk Douglas, by which time he'd already made a name for himself as a champion wrestler and as a performer in plays at Saint Lawrence University in upstate New York. He'd attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in NYC, where he met Betty Joan Perske (later to become better known as Lauren Bacall), who'd eventually score him a screen test for his first film role in The Strange Love of Martha Ivers,...
It was while serving in the Us Navy during World War II that Izzy Demsky changed his name to Kirk Douglas, by which time he'd already made a name for himself as a champion wrestler and as a performer in plays at Saint Lawrence University in upstate New York. He'd attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in NYC, where he met Betty Joan Perske (later to become better known as Lauren Bacall), who'd eventually score him a screen test for his first film role in The Strange Love of Martha Ivers,...
- 12/9/2011
- MUBI
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