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Presidential Medal of Freedom Recipient Kirk Douglas
KIRK DOUGLAS
Awarded by
President Jimmy Carter
January 16, 1981
Acclaimed as a screen actor and director here at home, Kirk Douglas has often played a different role abroad. Acting as an ambassador of good will beyond our shores, he has travelled around the world for our State Department and the United States Information Agency. The son of Russian immigrants, he travels, too, for the opportunity to share with other peoples his love of film, and country.
Once quoted as saying "I've made a career of playing sons of bitches," Kirk Douglas is considered by many to be the epitome of the Hollywood hard man. In addition to acting in countless films over the course of his long career, Douglas has served as a director and producer, and will forever be associated with his role in helping to put an end to the infamous Hollywood black list.
Douglas (born Issur Danielovitch) was the son Russian Jewish immigrant parents in Amsterdam, NY, on December 9, 1916. He waited tables to finance his education at St. Lawrence University, where he was a top-notch wrestler. While there, he also did a little work in the theater, something that soon gave way to his desire to pursue acting as a career. After some work as a professional wrestler, Douglas held various odd jobs, including a stint as a bellhop, to put himself through the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. In 1941, he debuted on Broadway, but had only two small roles before he enlisting in the Navy and serving in World War II. Following his discharge, Douglas returned to Broadway in 1945, where he began getting more substantial roles; he also did some work on radio.
After being spotted and invited to Hollywood by producer Hal Wallis , Douglas debuted onscreen in The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946), but he did not emerge as a full-fledged star until he portrayed an unscrupulously ambitious boxer in Champion (1949); with this role (for which he earned his first Oscar nomination), he defined one of his principle character types: a cocky, selfish, intense, and powerful man. Douglas fully established his screen persona during the '50s thanks to strong roles in such classics as Billy Wilder 's Ace in the Hole (1951), William Wyler 's Detective Story (1951), and John Sturges ' Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957). He earned Oscar nominations for his work in The Bad and the Beautiful (1952) and Lust for Life (1956), both of which were directed by Vincente Minnelli . In 1955, the actor formed his own company, Bryna Productions , through which he produced both his own films and those of others, including Stanley Kubrick 's Paths of Glory (1957) and Spartacus (1960); both of these movies would prove to be two of the most popular and acclaimed of Douglas ' career. In 1963, he appeared on Broadway in Ken Kesey 's One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest , but was never able to interest Hollywood in a film version of the work; he passed it along to his son Michael Douglas (a popular actor/filmmaker in his own right), who eventually brought it to the screen to great success.
During the '60s, Douglas continued to star in such films as John Huston 's The List of Adrian Messenger (1963) and John Frankenheimer 's Seven Days in May (1964), both of which he also produced. He began directing some of his films in the early '70s, scoring his greatest success as the director, star, and producer for Posse (1975), a Western in which he played a U.S. marshal eager for political gain. Though he continued to appear in films, by the '80s Douglas began volunteering much of his time to civic duties. Since 1963, he had worked as a Goodwill Ambassador for the State Department and the USIA, and, in 1981, his many contributions earned him the highest civilian award given in the U.S., the Presidential Medal of Freedom . For his public service, Douglas was also given the Jefferson Award in 1983. Two years later, the French government dubbed him Chevalier of the Legion of Honor for his artistic contributions. Other awards included the American Cinema Award (1987), the German Golden Kamera Award (1988), and the National Board of Review's Career Achievement Award (1989). In 1995, the same year he suffered a debilitating stroke, Douglas was presented with an honorary Oscar by the Academy; four years later, he was the recipient of the American Film Institute's Lifetime Achievement Award, an honor that was accompanied by a screening of 16 of his films. In addition to his film work, Douglas has also written two novels: Dance with the Devil (1990) and The Secret (1992). He published his autobiography, The Ragman's Son , in 1988. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Kirk Douglas has had a legendary career in Hollywood, including 84 films, nine plays, eight books, and a host of other contributions to his art, his country and his fellowmen.
Born Issur Danielovitch on December 9, 1916 in Amsterdam, NY, he was the son of illiterate Jewish-Russian immigrants. He won a wrestling scholarship to Saint Lawrence University and worked as a wrestler in summer carnivals. A second scholarship from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts put him on the road to Broadway. He made his Broadway debut in Spring Again , but interrupted his budding stage career in 1942 to enlist in the U.S. Navy, where he served as a communications officer in anti-submarine warfare.
He returned to Broadway in The Wind is Ninety . He was then cast opposite Barbara Stanwyck in The Strange Love of Martha Ivers. Three years later, in 1949, his role in Stanley Kramer's Champion won him both stardom and an Academy Award nomination. He received his second nomination in 1952 for The Bad and the Beautiful, and his third in 1956 for his portrayal of Vincent Van Gogh in Lust for Life (he won the New York Film Critics' Best Actor Award).
In 1955, Douglas formed one of Hollywood's first independent film companies, Bryna, named for his mother, and managed by his wife, Anne. The Bryna Company produced many memorable films, including Paths of Glory, The Vikings, Spartacus, Lonely Are the Brave, and Seven Days in May.
Kirk Douglas also established the Douglas Foundation in order to make more significant and meaningful contributions to civic and charitable causes, including the Los Angeles Mission for the Homeless, which has opened the Anne Douglas Center for Women, and the Motion Picture Relief Home's Alzheimer's Unit, which has been named Harry's Haven after Mr. Douglas's father. The Douglas Foundation is currently restoring neglected playgrounds of Los Angeles schools and building a series of playgrounds in Israel. The Foundation has committed funds for a theater directly opposite the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem and for the Kirk Douglas Theatre of The Center Theatre Group, set to open in Culver City, California, in 2004.
In 1958, Douglas broke the notorious Hollywood blacklist when he gave screen credit to blacklisted writer Dalton Trumbo for the Spartacus screenplay. He was widely condemned for his decision at the time. 30 years later the American Civil Liberties Union and the Writers Guild of America recognized his act as courageous. He considers it his proudest achievement.
In 1963, he bought the dramatic rights to Ken Kesey's book One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and starred in it on Broadway. In 1975, his son Michael produced the movie, which collected five Oscars including best picture, but the biggest disappointment of his life was that he didn't play in the film.
In 1981, President Carter presented Douglas with the Medal of Freedom , America's highest civilian award. He has been honored by governments and organizations of other countries as well, including France, Italy, Portugal, Israel, and Germany. Among the top international awards he received was his appointment in 1990 as Officier de la Legion d'Honneur for distinguished services to France in arts and letters.
In 1991, the American Film Institute singled him out for its Life Achievement Award. In 1995, the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts distinguished him with its award for contributions to U.S. cultural life. In 1996, the Academy of Motion Pictures honored him with a Special Oscar for 50 years as a creative and moral force in the motion picture community.
Kirk Douglas's conscience has often found an outlet in his movies. The TV movie Amos, which earned him Emmy and Golden Globe nominations, focused public attention on abuse of the elderly. His efforts have also included editorials and letters to newspapers, appearances on national television, and testimony before the Congressional Select Sub-Committee on Aging. In 1992, through the TV movie, The Secret, he attacked the social stigma associated with dyslexia. His performance was singled out as the year's best by the Los Angeles Times critics, and earned him the Einstein Award from the National Dyslexia Research Foundation.
Kirk Douglas movie projects are often family affairs. Amos was produced by his son Peter, as were Final Countdown and Inherit the Wind, which won an Emmy award for best film. He has also co-starred with his son Eric in Yellow, a segment in HBO's Tales of the Crypt series, which earned him a second Emmy nomination. His son, Joel, served as production manager on the Douglas-directed Posse.
In 1991, Douglas had a helicopter crash in which two people were killed and Kirk almost broke his back. In 1996, he had a stroke which affected his speech. For a time, he believed this would end his career as an actor, but with the encouragement of his friends and family, he kept working with a speech therapist and at the end of 1998 he returned to the screen in Diamonds, followed by an Emmy-nominated guest star role for Touched by an Angel.
When not acting, Douglas occupies his time writing. His autobiography, The Ragman's Son, published in 1988, received rave reviews and became an international bestseller. He followed it up with three novels (Dance with the Devil in 1990, The Gift in 1992, and Last Tango in Brooklyn in 1994) and children's books (The Broken Mirror in 1997). In 1997, he published a sequel to his autobiography entitled Climbing the Mountain: My Search for Meaning. His second children's book, Young Heroes of the Bible, was published in October of 1999. The third installment of his autobiography, My Stroke of Luck, came out in January 2002.
On December 9, 1999, Douglas celebrated his second Bar Mitzvah at age eighty-three at Sinai Temple in Westwood, California, marking the second cycle of life that began at the age of seventy, according to the Talmud. Since then, he has traveled to Israel and Jordon (as guest of King Abdullah and Queen Rania). He had a high school named for him in West Granada Hills, received the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival, published another autobiography, received the Presidential Medal of the Arts in Washington.
Douglas has been married to his wife, Anne, for 48 years, and is the father of four sons from two marriages: Michael, Joel, Peter and Eric. He also has five grandchildren who call him Poppy. He and Anne divide their time between residences in Beverly Hills and Montecito.
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Medal History
