Medford mail tribune., October 16, 1960, Image 43

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Family WeaJkly October 16, 1960
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KIRK DOUGLAS tells:
"Why I'm Hollywood's
Family Weekly's recent filmland poll is right, he says;
Most Unpopular Actor",
PEER J. OPPENHEIMER
Douglas in horse opera, "Day of the Gun." '
Not lono ago on the Mexico City location of "Day
of the Gun," Kirk Douglas was studying a
recent issue of family weekly. It contained a sur
vey of approximately 100 movie personalities who
named Kirk "Hollywood's Most Uncooperative
Male Star." ' .
Commented Kirk: "They're right to a point. I
believe they really meant to say that I'm the most
disliked actor in Hollywood, and with that I agree
100 percent!"
Frankness like this is rare among stars. With
Kirk it was only the beginning.
"You probably expect me to say I am disliked
because I'm a perfectionist and want everything
to be just right. That's a lot of hogwash. I'm disliked
because I'm me."
Kirk is convinced that this dislike cost him an
Academy Award at least once. He was nominated
three times for "Champion" in 1949, "The Bad and
the Beautiful" in 1952, and "Lust for Life" in 1956.
He believes he should have won an Oscar for his
1956 portrayal of Van Gogh.
The most obvious reason for Kirk's lack of popu
larity which has increased since he has worked
almost exclusively for his own company, Bryna
Productions is his insistence on being director,
producer, and actor at the same time, although
nominally he has a producer and director working
for him. "Of course, I have a proprietary interest
in everything connected with the production," con
cedes Kirk, who often irked his costai-s by rewrit
ing the script to build up his own scenes.
Battled Allies in "Spartacus"
For instance, when he worked with Charles
'Laughton and Laurence Olivier in his production
of "Spartacus," Laughton got so upset that he
walked off the set twice, and Olivier threatened
to sue Kirk, although Kirk insists, "I still don't
k now why. If I felt a scene should be shot'differently
from the script, and it took longer, he had nothing
to complain about He got paid overtime." Then he
added, "Anyhow it's unimportant how we got
along: What counts is that we made a good picture."
A publicist who used to work for Kirk recalls
the time he brought an English writer to the
Brittany location of "The Vikings." After an hour's
. flight and a three-hour train ride, the reporter
- showed up at 3 o'clock in the afternoon, too late to
continue to the actual location site. So the publicist
and the correspondent waited for Kirk in the hotel
bar. When Kirk showed up at 5:30, he shook hands
with the reporter, stood on his head, did a couple
of push-ups, and turned to leave. The dismayed cor-
g Family Weekly. October IS, I960
This time a Roman, Douglas rides again in "Spartacus."
respondent told Kirk he had to get back to London
the next evening, and could he please talk to him
that night. Kirk curtly replied that he planned to
have dinner with his family. .
"I'll meet you any time--midnight, 6 in the morn
ing . . ." the reporter pleaded.
"I'll think about it," Kirk said vaguely and left
without committing himself to an interview.
Immediately Kirk rushed to a phone, put in a
call to the publicist, and ordered him to report to
his room on the double. '
When he did, Kirk cussed him out for having
made the arrangements.
"But I told you he was coming," the man defended
himself. "It's going to look terrible if you don't get
together ..."
. Threateningly, Kirk shook his fist in front of the
publicist's eyes, as he had done many times before.
"That's your business. You have to get along with
everybody. You're a publicist I'm the star. I can
be the rudest guy in the world if I want!"
"If that's your ambition, you'll be happy to know
you've already realized it!" the publicist angrily
snapped back.
The unpredictable Kirk burst into laughter, held
out his hand to apologize for his actions, and agreed
to see the reporter later that evening.
When he wants to, Kirk can turn on the charm
like a professional politician and make any antago
nist forgive and forget.
This is possible because, while Kirk is disliked,
he is also respected for his talent his punctuality,
his enthusiasm, and his willingness to tackle any
scene no matter how rough physically.
Kirk's character is complicated and contradictory.
He can frighten a man half to death with his out
bursts. He has the physical strength to crush a man
with his bare hands. He was once a professional
wrestler; yet he hates physical violence. v
Outbursts Are an Old Story
While success, and particularly the formation of
his own company, has brought Kirk's unpopularity
to a peak, he claims he hasn't changed. "I'm the
same moody guy I've always been. Only before I
became successful no one cared. Now-everybody
is conscious that I get angry often and easily, and
that I swear furiously when there are no ladies
around. But so do a lot of other men. My friend
Burt Lancaster swears louder and interferes more
with scripts and direction than I do. But no one
hates him the way they hate me. That's the part I
don't get. And it has nothing to do with Hollywood
and success. It has always been like this."
Kirk's facility for making people dislike him dates
back to his college days, when his drive and.ambi-.
tion made him student-body president only to be
attacked regularly and angrily by editorials in the
campus newspaper. "I constantly felt the resent
ment of my fellow students," he recalls, "even when
I vindicated myself at student meetings. They
listened to me but they kept on hating me."
While Kirk seems conscious of his shortcomings,
he has been unable to do anything about them.
Lengthy sessions with a psychiatrist have not
helped, although the main purpose of the consulta
tions was to probe' his inability to get along with
the former Diana Dill, his first wife and the mother
of his sons Michael, 15, and Joel, 13. Apparently
the sessions were of some value, however, because
his second marriage, to Belgian publicist Anne
Buydens, mother of his two youngest children,
Peter, 5, and Eric, 1, has worked out very well.
His early environment had-a -decided influence
on Kirk, who has had to struggle all the way. The
son of Russian immigrants, Kirk whose real name
is Issur Danielovitch grew up in intimate associa
tion with hunger, the memory of which still haunts
him to the point where he insists that his refrigera-
what's more, he doesn't blame people for not liking him,
tor must always be fully stocked with food.
Kirk, his six sisters, and his mother could seldom
count on his father to provide the family with food,
although he sometimes found employment as a fruit
peddler or junk collector. Early in life Kirk worked
at odd jobs to help keep himself and his family alive.
Kirk's mother convinced her son that he needed
an education to get anywhere. By constant work
from selling soda pop to woi-king as a junior book
keeper whenever he wasn't in school Kirk saved
enough to get into St. Lawrence University in
Canton, N. Y. Although he hadn't applied for ad
mission, he talked his way into the university, just
as he talked himself into the American Academy of
Dramatic Arts in New York City after graduation.
Life taught Kirk to be tough and to the point.
Never a hypocrite, he kept getting himself into con
stant hot water and still does by his straight
forwardness, which is not reserved for underlings.
It lashes out regardless of who's around or the possi
ble consequences. . -
Ironically, his often-pompous, backslapping,strut-ting-about-like-he-owned-the-world
attitude that
made Kirk so disliked in Hollywood has made him .
a great deal more appreciated in Mexico indeed
in all countries where people are more outgoing.
These people prefer him to the quiet mind-my- ,
own-business type like fellow-actor Rock Hudson,
who, incidentally, was chosen the most popular
actor among his Hollywood coworkers in the recent
FAMILY WEEKLY poll!
"That's the Way I Am"
There seems little chance that Kirk's attitude and
thus his popularity will change in the near future,
- because as he himself admitted, "That's the way I
am." And that's the way he is in his private life,
too, as shown by a recent run-in with his oldest boy.
Not long ago, Michael was sulking after a good
tongue-lashing from Kirk. "Just because I'm your
father doesn't mean you have to like me," Kirk
finally burst out
Convinced that all kids hate their parents because
they're in authority, Kirk hopes that "someday my
children will like me that much more when they
realize that what I did I did in their best interest."
' The one change which someday might help Kirk's
popularity with his coworkers if for him to take
over officially the chores he already handles for all
practical purposes: produce and direct.
Kirk was agreeable to the idea. "I wouldn't mind
getting started on a small-budget black and white
picture right now."
"Would you like to star in the picture yourself?"
I asked him.
A grin formed on his rugged face. "I should say
not I don't think I could put up with myself!"
Firs
I I Ui I!
Douglas gathers with clan, Michael and Joel, sons of
and here's why
first marriage.and young Eric and Peter, born of second.
Family Weekly, October IS, 190
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