OT 2016=8 new (possible) members......

[Rick2583]

to the 90 club. Okay so I'm bored...............

Stuart Whitman (90) 2/1/26
Jerry Lewis (90) 3/16/26
Shecky Greene (90) 4/8/26
Cloris Leachman (90) 4/30/26
Don Rickles (90) 5/8/26
Mel Brooks (90) 6/28/26
Tony Bennett (90) 8/13/26
Chuck Berry (90) 10/18/26

 

[Rick2583]

Kirk Douglas could catch Bob Hope & George Burns in the 100 club as he turns 99 on December 9th 2015.

 

[Mattingly23NY]

Kirk Douglas could catch Bob Hope & George Burns in the 100 club as he turns 99 on December 9th 2015.

with all the bullshit going on in this Nation and World, I wouldn't want to see 100 yrs of age.

 

[Rick2583]

with all the bullshit going on in this Nation and World, I wouldn't want to see 100 yrs of age.

Going forward Rob I would agree but he's gone through some amazing decades.

 

[Mattingly23NY]

Going forward Rob I would agree but he's gone through some amazing decades.

no doubt. Kirk has seen an amazing life, both personal and professional. His early life bio is stunning, as well as his entire career and/or life.


Douglas was born Issur Danielovitch in Amesterdam, New York, the son of Bryna "Bertha" (née Sanglel) and Herschel "Harry" Danielovitch (1884-1950), a businessman. His parents were Jewish immigrants from Chavusy, Mogiley Region, in the Russian Empire (now Belarus), and the family spoke Yiddish at home. His father's brother, who emigrated earlier, used the surname Demsky, which Douglas' family adopted in the United States. Douglas grew up as Izzy Demsky and legally changed his name to Kirk Douglas before entering the Navy during World War II.


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 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.




College graduation, 1939


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. 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." In high school, after acting in plays, he then knew he wanted to become a professional actor.


Unable to afford tuition, Douglas talked his way into St. Lawrence University and 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' acting talents were noticed at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City and he received a special scholarship. One of his classmates was Betty Joan Perske (later to become better known as Lauren Bacall), who would play an important role in launching his film career. Another classmate, and a friend of Bacall, was aspiring actress, Diana Dill, who would later become Douglas's wife.


Bacall writes that she "had a wild crush on Kirk," and they dated casually. During their time together, she learned that he had no money, and he once spent the night in jail as he had no place to sleep. She gave him her uncle's old coat to keep warm: "I thought he must be frozen in the winter.... He was thrilled and grateful." During that period she fantasized about some day sharing her personal and stage life with Douglas, but would later be disappointed: "Kirk did not really pursue me. He was friendly and sweet–enjoyed my company–but I was clearly too young for him," she later wrote.