End Credits #94: Cinema's 2020 Lost Treasures Kirk Douglas
These are some of Cinema's sad departures of 2020 taken from my personal notes soon after the events took place:
One of only a few remaining Golden Age icons has sadly left us: Kirk Douglas has died at age 103. Growing up poor in a New York ghetto, he demonstrated sufficient acting talent while at Saint Lawrence University to gain a scholarship to the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. After appearing in a few small Broadway productions, and encouraged by fellow Academy student Lauren Bacall, Douglas screen tested for what became his film debut: a supporting but substantial role alongside Barbara Stanwyck in the atmospheric and enveloping The Strange Love of Martha Ivers. Douglas went on to give other vivid film noir supportive performances including what many consider to be the genre’s finest, Out of the Past, in addition to I Walk Alone, the three of which were released in 1947. I Walk Alone was his second film with Ivers’ actress Lizabeth Scott and the first of what would become seven motion pictures with fellow mega star Burt Lancaster. In all of the aforementioned parts, Douglas played bad really good and would go on doing so in the boxing sensation Champion (1949), his first starring role, whereby the actor’s driven, cold-hearted portrayal won him a best actor Academy Award nomination. This was the first of three he received, the others being The Bad and the Beautiful (1952) and as Vincent Van Gogh in Lust for Life (1956). In 1996, he received an Academy Honorary Award “for his 50 years as a creative and moral force in the film community.”
In 1955, inspired by Burt Lancaster forming his own company, Douglas did the same. Bryna Productions was named after his mother, Bryna Demsky. This allowed the actor further control over which parts were selected as well as script production, resulting in 19 films being produced. Among those most notable were two starring Douglas, directed by a relatively (at the time) unknown Stanley Kubrick: Paths of Glory (1957, perhaps the director’s most accomplished work) and Spartacus (1960, for which Douglas helped break Hollywood’s “blacklist” by giving on screen credit to the film’s adaptation writer Dalton Trumbo). Another Bryna triumph written by Trumbo followed with Lonely are the Brave (1962) featuring one of Douglas’ most heartfelt and understated performances, reportedly his favourite. His company also produced the romantically resonant Strangers When We Meet (1960) featuring Douglas as an emotionally consumed but conflicted family man having an illicit love affair with Kim Novak’s similarly situated siren, directed by the underrated Richard Quine. In addition, his company produced the vibrant political drama Seven Days in May (1964), containing another riveting character duel between Douglas and Burt Lancaster written by Rod Serling and directed with flair by John Frankenheimer. Also worth noting, are the well crafted but less mentioned Douglas produced and starring westerns The Indian Fighter (1955, Bryna’s first production) directed by Andre De Toth and Last Train from Gun Hill (1959) directed by John Sturges.
Perhaps Douglas’ most dynamic, albeit cynical, characterisation occurs in Billy Wilder’s American film masterpiece Ace in the Hole aka The Big Carnival (1956). As newspaper reporter Chuck Tatum, Douglas is on fire, ignited by his character’s insatiable lust for that brass ring, relishing each step closer to achieving his ambition. The fact that he’s able to elicit so much sympathy at the end of his story, substantiates one of the greatest performances in cinema’s history.
Kirk Douglas starred in the Broadway play “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” and was the author of, among other literary works, “The Ragman’s Son”, his 1988 “tell-all” autobiography. He was also a renowned philanthropist and charitable activist.
His son Michael announced his passing with the following: "It is with tremendous sadness that my brothers and I announce that Kirk Douglas left us today at the age of 103. To the world he was a legend, an actor from the golden age of movies who lived well into his golden years, a humanitarian whose commitment to justice and the causes he believed in set a standard for all of us to aspire to. But to me and my brothers Joel and Peter he was simply Dad, to Catherine, a wonderful father-in-law, to his grandchildren and great grandchild their loving grandfather, and to his wife Anne, a wonderful husband."
Kirk Douglas’ departure signals the end of an era. In his time, Hollywood storytelling was unique. Audiences knew, at the very least, some collaborative effort to tell a story with integrity and enough care, would allow us to enter a world, where for awhile, we could leave our troubles behind. Overall, the films of yesteryear appeared less commodified. No matter, comedy or drama, captivating or mundane, these were the stories “dreams are made of”, possessing a special kind of anticipatory nature: to grow, learn, develop and further understand ourselves and others through the fictional lives we witnessed on screen. These were the kind of films Kirk Douglas made, with and about conscience, leaving a legacy to be cherished for what will hopefully be endless generations to come. Kirk Douglas (December 9, 1916 – February 5, 2020) R.I.P.