Happy birthday Kirk Douglas
By 
Born 100 years ago today.
In his 1988 autobiography, The Ragman’s Son, Douglas notes the hardships that he, along with six sisters and his parents, endured during their early years in Amsterdam, New York:
“My father, who had been a horse trader in Russia, got himself a horse and a small wagon, and became a ragman, buying old rags, pieces of metal, and junk for pennies, nickels, and dimes. … Even on Eagle Street, in the poorest section of town, where all the families were struggling, the ragman was on the lowest rung on the ladder. And I was the ragman’s son.[3]”
Growing up, Douglas sold snacks to mill workers to earn enough to buy milk and bread to help his family. Later, he delivered newspapers and during his youth worked at more than forty different jobs before getting a job acting.[11] He found living in a family with six sisters to be stifling: “I was dying to get out. In a sense, it lit a fire under me.”[12] In high school, after acting in plays, he then knew he wanted to become a professional actor.[12] Unable to afford tuition, Douglas talked his way into the Dean’s office at the St. Lawrence University and showed him a list of his high school honors. He received a loan which he paid back by working part-time as a gardener and a janitor. He was a standout on the wrestling team, and wrestled one summer in a carnival to make money
Douglas played the lead with an all-star cast in Spartacus (1960). He was the executive producer as well, raising the $12 million production cost, making it one of the most expensive films made up to that time.[54] Douglas initially selected Anthony Mann to direct, but replaced him early on with Stanley Kubrick, with whom he previously collaborated in Paths of Glory.[55]
When the film was released, Douglas gave full credit to its screenwriter, Dalton Trumbo, who was on the Hollywood blacklist, and thereby effectively ended it.[9]:81 About that event, he said, “I’ve made over 85 pictures, but the thing I’m most proud of is breaking the blacklist.”[56]At the time, his career was at risk, with Hollywood people claiming Douglas would never get work again. “I was scared to death, but I insisted on doing it,” he said.[56] George Clooney has said that “in the history books, it’s marked as the moment that the Hollywood blacklist ended.”[57]