Kirk Douglas: Interview, 1995

He grew up Issur Danielovitch, the embittered son of struggling immigrants, surrounded by six sisters. ``I think it gave me the feeling of the lost child for a long time,'' he says, ``losing myself in fantasies and daydreams and not being sure of what I was. All of that contributed to making me an actor -- the seeking out of make-believe to buttress me against the world of reality.''

Now he's known around the world as Hollywood tough-guy Kirk Douglas, still vigorous in his 70s as he's successfully embarked on a second career as an author (of his best-selling memoirs, The Ragman's Son, and two potboiler novels). Douglas is still holding his own in movies against actors young enough to be his grandchildren.

He's made nearly 80 films, and has earned three Oscar nominations and an American Film Institute Life Achievement Award, and so it is difficult to pick out the quintessential Douglas role. Surprisingly, his own favorite is not, say, the gladiator slave Spartacus, but an amiable cowboy in the lesser known Lonely Are the Brave.

Question: Looking back almost a half century, what's your assesment of your first film performance in The Strange Love of Martha Ivers?

Douglas: I loved that film. I played a very weak character, and I've always said nobody can play a weak character better than I can. John Wayne would never play that part. And then soon after I played Champion, where I was the toughest character, and they rarely gave me the chance to play a weak character again.

Question: Champion got you your first Oscar nomination.

Douglas: That was easy to play. That was me then. I didn't want to be a `Hey, you!' all my life. I wanted to hear them say, `Hey, Mister!' It was really where I was at that point. And it was the first physical role that I had.

Question: Your second nomination was for playing a Hollywood mogul -- not a physical role, but a tough guy nonetheless.

Douglas: That movie [The Bad and the Beautiful] intrigued me because they rarely make a movie about Hollywood that seems real. My recollection was that movie had some reality to it about what Hollywood was all about. But I haven't seen it in some time.

Question: Your third Oscar nomination was for one of your most popular films, Lust for Life.

Douglas: Lust for Life was painful. I never went to see that movie because the life of Vincent Van Gogh is so sad. You look at a Van Gogh painting and the millions of dollars that people will pay for it. I couldn't afford a Van Gogh painting, and yet during his lifetime he thought he was a failure. Nobody wanted to buy his paintings.

Question: So there are no Van Goghs in your own art collection?

Douglas: I try and buy paintings from living artists, so I can meet the artist.

Question: What was the best thing about being the first human to star in the first live-action Disney film, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea?

Douglas: I got to know Walt very well. He showed me all the plans for Disneyland before it was built.

Question: And you also got to sing in that film.

Douglas: [Sings] `I've got a whale of a tale to tell you, lads.' They made a record of it, and I must have got about $120 in royalties. When it came out, I said to Frank Sinatra, `Listen, I'm making records now. Let's make a deal. I'll give you all the records I make, and you give me all the records you make.' So far, I've only made one record.

Question: If we were browsing at the video store for a Kirk Douglas film, which three would you recommend as your best performances?

Douglas: Lust for Life. Ace in the Hole had a powerful role. Detective Story I thought was an interesting role for an actor. He was so good he was bad.

Question: Which video would you advise us to put back on the shelf?

Douglas: The Big Trees. Along the Great Divide.

Question: If there's one thing as enduring as your film career, it's been your 40-year marriage to Anne. When you first met her in Paris, how did you know she was the one for you?

Douglas: I was fascinated with her because she spoke so many languages -- English, German, French, Italian. I was amazed by this young charming gal, and I invited her to come to California and spend a couple of weeks. I was not thinking marriage. When it was time for her to go back to Paris, I said, `If she goes back, I'm going to lose her,' so I asked her to marry me. A year later, after we were married, we went back to Paris and met friends of Anne's there, and someone said to her, `Remember when you told us you were going to California to marry Kirk Douglas?' See how smart women are? The man is the last to know. Women always know the man they want to be with; men only know the woman they don't want to be without. Now I tease her and say, `All I wanted to do was get you into bed; I didn't expect to get married.'

Question: We came across an article she wrote in 1962 for the Saturday Evening Post in which she described your moods as volcanic. Do you still erupt?

Douglas: [Playfully] I don't know how she could write that. You see me: I'm gentle, soft-spoken, kind. I never raise my voice...

Question: But we don't live with you.

Douglas: [Resigned] I suppose that was an accurate description.

Question: Still true?

Douglas: I like to think less. I once said to my kids, `Don't make the same mistakes I did.' My problem a lot of times was that I was right in what I said, but I was wrong in how I said it. They never heard what I said, just a guy yelling.

Question: You've taught your four sons so much. What have you learned from them?

Douglas: My kids have taught me to be less impatient, not to yell so much, that when you yell and rage so much it comes from fear and insecurity.

Question: Which of your sons does the best Kirk Douglas impersonation?

Douglas: They all do pretty good imitations. They really do. I get a kick out of it. Once I was watching Frank Gorshin on TV doing an imitation of me, and I was intrigued because I can't do good imitations. I'm going along with him [Douglas demonstrates an exaggerated, jaw-clenched, tough-guy grimace], and I don't know that my son Peter's behind me. And he says, `Dad, Gorshin does you better than you.'

Question: We'd give a dollar right now to see you do a Kirk Douglas impersonation.

Douglas: No way. You'll have to get one of my sons. They'll give you a better one than I can.

Copyright 1995, Lazar Productions.