Kirk Douglas is probably the most legendary Hollywood alive actor. This 100-year-old actor is still full of energy. His current net worth is $60 million.
Issur Danielovitch Demsky, was born on December 6th, 1916 in Amsterdam, New York (USA). His parents were Jewish peasants, coming from Chavusy, in the region of Mogilev, in the Russian Empire (now in Belarus). Douglas’s father, Herschel Danielovitch, made a living selling food and wood on the streets of Amsterdam, New York, but that was not enough to support six daughters and a son, so Kirk Douglas had to start working from a very young age, since he was still going to school. At that time, he sold soft drinks and sweets in the street and distributed newspapers during a season.
Career
Kirk Douglas had his first contact with the acting world in primary school and at Wilbur Lynch High School, where he won a medal for reciting the poem Across the Border. At that same time, he began speaking and debate, joining the institute team.
At the age of 17, he finished high school, and he wanted to enroll in college, but his salary (at that time, he worked in warehouses) was not enough for him to enter. Even so, Douglas decided to apply for admission to the St. Lawrence University in New York directly to the dean, who accepted him at the university in exchange for Douglas to work there as a gardener (later as a beadle) while studying there. Douglas was in St. Lawrence from 1935 to 1939, where he graduated in letters with a Bachelor of Arts degree (equivalent to the current degree in Philosophy and Letters).
After graduating from St. Lawrence University, he was awarded a scholarship at the American Academy of Dramatic Art in New York, where he remained until 1939, at the age of 23. During his stay, Douglas taught drama to the children of the center, and during the summers he worked in summer theaters as a repertoire actor. It was his beginnings in acting as a professional, and it was during this time that Kirk Douglas adopted his stage name. It was also there, at the American Academy of Dramatic Art, where Douglas met Lauren Bacall.
Road to stardom
After his return to New York, Douglas participated in a play called Kiss and Tell, next to Joan Claufield, where he replaced Richard Widmark. Later, he worked in Trio by Dorothy Baker, and worked in the radio as an interpreter.
But Douglas’s debut in the film came with the help of Lauren Bacall, who recommended Douglas to Hal B. Wallis, producer and head of the Paramount.
