Kirk Douglas Lusted For Life

Actor, producer and writer Kirk Douglas has passed away at the age of 103.

While his passing is sad we can take comfort that he lived a full life. He was not robbed in the prime in the way Kobe Bryant was 10 days ago.

Kirk Douglas lusted for life. It was a lust born of poverty living as Issur Danielovitch Demsky growing in upstate New York, the son of a wayward ragman whilst living with his mother and six sisters. The lust took him into the Pacific with the U.S. Navy during in WWII to Broadway in New York City and the silver screen in Hollywood. Douglas reached the peak of his success in the 1950's with films like Champion, Young Man with a Horn, Detective Story, The Bad & The Beautiful, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and Lust for Life. Although he was thrice nominated for Best Actor, Douglas is probably best known for the 1960 film Spartacus directed by Stanley Kubrick. It was the film that brought Dalton Trumbo from exile and smashed the Hollywood blacklist.

In 1988, Douglas published his memoirs "The Ragman's Son" which I highly recommend reading. In an interview with Johnny Carson to promote the book he said, "Growing up in abject poverty was an advantage because it meant I had nowhere to go but up."  It was the first of 10 books over the next 25 years including several written after sustaining a stroke in 1996.

Kirk Douglas lived a life of beauty, creativity and intensity that burned bright for more than a century. A case a point is his portrayal of a man who never lived to see the fruits of his labors namely Vincent Van Gogh in Lust for Life. R.I.P.

Douglas is survived by Anne Buydens, his wife of 65 years who is also a centarian and three sons including Michael Douglas. When Michael Douglas became a success in his own right, Kirk Douglas began to refer to himself as "Michael Douglas' father."