Kirk Douglas (natural December 9 1916) is an American actor and film producer known for his oft-imitated & parodied crushed rock ridden voice and his recurring roles when, world health organization Douglas himself another time known as, "sons of bitches". He is besides father to Hollywood actor and producer Michael Douglas. Born Issur Danielovitch Demsky, he was natural inside Amsterdam, New York to poor Belarusian-Jewish parents (who come from either Homel, also referred to as Gomel). At St. Lawrence University he was on the wrestling team. To help produce his way across college, he thought receiving an acting scholarship might work. His talents had him found at a acclaimed American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City, where he before long received the scholarship, along side class fellow Betty Joan Perske (better, & presently to exist as referred to as Lauren Bacall). Served in the U.S. Navy from the outbreak of World War II in 1941 until it ended in 1945. When a war he returned to Up to date York City & began doing radio theater and commercials, while trying to break inside in Broadway.

Douglas was helped by actress Lauren Bacall within obtaining his foremost screen role in the Hal B. Wallis movie, The Strange Love of Martha Ivers 1946, starring Barbara Stanwyck. Hal B. Wallis get on his way to Future York to search recently talent whenever Bacall suggested he consult her old drama school schoolfellow, world health organization was working around an off-Broadway play at the instance.

Popular home & about a world, Kirk Douglas received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1981 and the French Legion of Honor in 1985.

Kirk Douglas received little joe Academy Award nominations for his work within Champion, The Bad and the Beautiful and Lust for Life (as Vincent Van Gogh). Douglas did non waround any competitory Oscars, however received the favorite Oscar in 1996 for "50 years as a moral and creative force in the motion picture community."

He besides played an crucial role inside breaking a Hollywood blacklist by publicly opposing Stanley Kubrick's intention to take credit for the screenplay of Spartacus, which had been adapted from either Howard Fast's novel by the blacklisted Dalton Trumbo.

For his contributions to the motion picture industry, Kirk Douglas has the star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6263 Hollywood Blvd. Around 1984, he was inducted into the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

Inside October 2004, the avenue "Kirk Douglas Way" in Palm Springs, California was named around his honor per Palm Springs International Film Society and International Film Festival.

Douglas has been married twice, foremost to Diana Dill (innate 22 January, 1923; married November 2, 1943 - divorced in 1951), with whom he got ii sons, actor Michael Douglas and producer Joel Douglas. So to his 2nd married woman, Anne Buydens (married May 29, 1954 to the present) with whom he has 2 sons, producer Peter Vincent Douglas born November 23,1955 and actor Eric Douglas born June 1958, died July 6, 2004 of an accidental drug overdose.

Filmography
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) Ulysses (1955) Man Without a Star (1955) The Indian Fighter (1955) Van Gogh: Darkness Into Light (1956) (short subject) Lust for Life (1956) Top Secret Affair (1957) Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957) Paths of Glory (1957) (also producer) The Vikings (1958) Last Train from Gun Hill (1959) ''The Devil's Disciple (1959) Premier Khrushchev in the USA (1959) (documentary) Strangers When We Meet (1960) Spartacus (1960) (also executive producer) 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) The Heroes of Telemark (1965) In Harm's Way (1965) Cast a Giant Shadow (1966) Is Paris Burning? (1966) The Way West (1967) The War Wagon (1967) Rowan & Martin at the Movies (1968) (short subject) Once Upon a Wheel (1968) (documentary) A Lovely Way to Die (1968) The Brotherhood (1968) (also producer) The Arrangement (1969) There Was a Crooked Man... (1970) To Catch a Spy (1971) The Light at the Edge of the World (1971) (also producer) A Gunfight (1971) The Master Touch (1972) Scalawag (1973) (also director) Jacqueline Susann's Once Is Not Enough (1975) Posse (1975) (also director and producer) Holocaust 2000 (1977) The Fury (1978) Home Movies (1979) The Villain (1979) Saturn 3 (1980) The Final Countdown (1980) The Man from Snowy River (1982) Eddie Macon's Run (1983) Tough Guys (1986) Oscar (1991) Welcome to Veraz (1991) A Century of Cinema (1994) (documentary) Greedy (1994) Diamonds (1999) It Runs in the Family (2003) Illusion'' (2004)