Kirk Douglas (1916 to present-he'll be 100 Dec. 9, 2016) was born Issur Danielovitch in Amsterdam, N.Y. He changed his name to Kirk Douglas just before he joined the Navy. He had a lot of help, and did much to support himself while he was taking drama classes, as he was "poorer than a church mouse".
He got some good parts on Broadway and really got peoples attention. He decided to try films and his first was "The Strange Love of Martha Ivers", which brought him a lot of attention. He went on to critical acclaim for movies such as "The Bad and the Beautiful" and "Lust for Life". One of his biggest films was 1960's "Sparticus". He tried directing but did not have much success there. Where he excelled was in writing. His auto biography was a best seller. He was also a singer. He was on several shows and did a decent job of it.
His dimple in his chin was almost as famous as Shirley Temple's.
One of his quotes is "In order to achieve anything, you must be brave enough to fail".
He made Westerns, non-Westerns and appeared on many TV shows. Some of the non-Westerns are: "Seven Days in May","Sparticus", "Top Secret Affair", and The Bad and the Beautiful". Some of the various TV shows were "Tales From the Crypt", "The Jack Benny Show", and even "The Simpsons". Some of his Westerns are: "There Was a Crooked Man", "The Gunfight", "The Indian Fighter", "Last Train From Gun Hill", "The War Wagon", "Posse", "Gunfight at the O.K. Coral", and one of my favorites "The Villain". It sort of resembles a "Wile E. Coyote" cartoon, but with real people.
Congrats to RedRider99 for FTF.