KIRK DOUGLAS COLUMN
                                                          Part 1


It seemed like Kirk Douglas was around forever, and he almost was. He lived to be 103 years old, and he needed a lot of years to get all those starring roles in.
Douglas was nominated three times for Best Actor, but never won. He did win one of those lifetime achievement deals in 1996. He was in so many good movies, it will take two articles to document them.
I’ll begin with Champion (1949). It was the first really good boxing movie and he was good in it. He plays Midge Kelly, a fighter who rises from very humble beginnings to the top of the sport. On the way he back stabs and womanizes full throttle. Convincing Douglas to play a total jerk wasn’t easy but he made the most of it. He was nominated for an Oscar but lost to Broderick Crawford for All The King’s Men. BTW, Crawford also plays a total jerk in his winning role.
Again rising from poor beginnings to become a mean drunk, Douglas is very good as Rick Martin, cornetist extraordinary. Young Man With A Horn (1950) is the thinly disguised story of jazz great Bix Beiderbecke and Douglas does it justice. Actually, the happy ending of the movie did not happen in real life. Beiderbecke died broke and unmourned. Rick Martin winds up sober, again playing well and redeemed with his true love Jo (Doris Day). But hey, this is Hollywood!
There have been many cinematic versions of Tennessee Williams’ Glass Menagerie, but to me the 1950 version is by far the best. Jane Wyman absolutely glows as the shy, dainty Laura and Kirk Douglas is simply wonderful as The Gentleman Caller, Jim O’Connor. He slowly and successfully draws Laura out of her shell and when he leaves she is a quite different young woman. And once again, the happy ending tacked onto this film is not like the original play. But that’s ok!
The Bad and the Beautiful (1952) is a convoluted film about Hollywood shenanigans. It has an all-star cast (Gloria Graham, Lana Turner, Dick Powell, Walter Pigeon, Barry Sullivan). It is severely dated and wasn’t very good when it was new, though it somehow garnered six Oscars. Douglas was nominated for Oscar again for his role as movie producer Jonathan Shields (another total SOB). This time he lost to Gary Cooper for High Noon (a slam dunk!). 
Kirk Douglas was taken to task by some for his over the top performance as Vincent Van Gogh in Lust For Life(1956). So, do you think a guy that would cut off his own ear isn’t a little past the limit? Anyway, Douglas again lost the Oscar for Best Actor, this time to Yul Brynner for The King And I. No argument here. A charming part of the Van Gogh film is matching paintings to the actual location where they originated. 
All of the films in this article are available on DVD. All are for adults. Next time, more Kirk Douglas winners.