The Ragman’s Son

I've made a career of playing sons of bitches.—Kirk Douglas

And now a word about the ragman’s son.

We lost Kirk Douglas last week, and even though he reached the incredible age of 103 years old, it still doesn’t feel like enough time.

Born Issur Danielovitch Demsky in Amsterdam, N.Y., Kirk Douglas grew up in extreme poverty--literally the son of a ragman, which was also the name of his autobiography-and went on to become a Hollywood legend.

He had a way of commanding the screen and he could play heroes and villains with equal brilliance—some thing that many fine actors can’t pull off.

And even if the film turned out to be a dog, Douglas would still give a top-notch performance.

In 1981, President Jimmy Carter awarded Douglas the Presidential Medal Freedom.

Bear in mind, of course, that this was before we were giving our highest civilian honor to racist, pill-popping radio hosts.

Douglas’ resume includes such classics as “Spartacus,” “The Bad and the Beautiful,” and “Lust for Life.”

In 1957, the year I was born, Kirk Douglas starred in Stanley Kubrick’s “Paths of Glory,” which is simply one of the best war movies ever made.

Set during the First World War, the results of a twisted French general’s disastrous decision to mount an impossible attack upon an impregnable German fortress.

Scores of soldiers die needlessly, but to assuage the general’s wounded ego, three soldiers are picked at random and tried for mutiny.

Douglas is their defense attorney and during the “trial,”—which has no stenographer--he is forbidden from calling witnesses, which may sound familiar to those of you who were following the presidential impeachment "trial."

'Bad News Sells Best'

The film had such an impact that it was banned in France.

"Stanley,” Douglas reportedly told the famed director, “I don't think this picture will ever make a nickel, but we have to make it."

And he was right on both counts.

As a reporter, I have a fondness for Billy Wilder’s “Ace in the Hole,” also known as “The Big Carnival.”

Douglas plays Chuck Tatum, a big city reporter, who, stuck in a New Mexico paper, shamelessly exploits a story about a man trapped in a cave as a way of getting back in the big time.

Not satisfied with keeping the victim stuck underground longer than necessary to milk the story, Tatum starts an affair with the poor bastard’s wife.

Like Satan, the character has a gift tapping into other people’s corruption to get what he wants. The film failed financially but it deserves to be recognized.

In 1962, Douglas made “Lonely Are the Brave,” about John W. Burns, a cowboy who is hopelessly out of time in the modern world. The opening scene sets the tone for the film, where Burns and his horse, looking like relics from the 19th Century, look up at jets streaking overhead.

“Time we took off, too,” he says.

Burns has a touching encounter with a friend’s wife, whom we learn Burns loved, but knew he could never have because of his solitary lifestyle.

“Know what a loner is?” he asks. “He's a born cripple. He's a cripple because the only person he can live with is himself.”

Douglas would be out of place in today’s film industry, which seems to run on superheroes, Wookies, and countless sequels.

We were lucky to have him and I’m sorry to see him go.