A tribute to Kirk Douglas, one of the last stars of Hollywood's golden years, has passed away at 103

American Thinker ^ | 02/05/2020 | Andrea Widburg

[SeekAndFind]

Before World War II, Depression-era Americans wanted their Hollywood male leads to be suave and sophisticated, whether they were in dramatic or humorous roles. After World War II, however, Americans craved authentic men on the screen — and in Kirk Douglas, they got a movie star so authentic, so searing, that even today Douglas is still a cultural touchpoint.

Issur Danielovitch Demsky, better known as Kirk Douglas, was born into poverty on December 9, 1916, in Amsterdam, New York. He died on February 5, 2020, at age 103, in Beverly Hills, California, not only wealthy, but also one of the most admired actors Hollywood has ever produced.

Douglas's life trajectory epitomized the opportunities available to hardworking first-generation American children hungry for success. He started on the bottom-most rung of the American ladder, writing in his autobiography The Ragman's Son:

"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 families were struggling, the ragman was on the lowest rung on the ladder. And I was the ragman's son."

Douglas knew he could do better. Through hard work and intelligence, he put himself through St. Lawrence University, graduating in 1939 with a B.A. During college, he worked as a gardener, a janitor, and even a carnival wrestler. After graduating, Douglas earned a scholarship to the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City.

In December 1941, after Pearl Harbor, Douglas joined the U.S. Navy, serving as a communications officer in anti-submarine warfare. He was medically discharged in 1944. By that time, he had married, and his first child was on the way.

[SeekAndFind]

RE: but the interviews on the documentary that I originally watched nearly 20 years ago were quite compelling and forever shaded my view of Kirk Douglass.

Sure, sure. And there were women who accused Brett Kavanaugh of rape too. And there is one woman alive today who accuses Trump of raping her. At least Natalie Wood never accused Kirk Douglas of anything.

[Boogieman]

Apparently, we don’t need any evidence if the accusation fits our preferred narrative. #TrustAllInternetDetectives #EmotionOverLogic

[PGalt]

Condolences to family and friends of Mr. Kirk Douglas. R.I.P., sir. love.

[Boogieman]

“They didn’t name Kirk Douglass directly to avoid a lawsuit...”

People who are telling the truth don’t worry about being sued for slander.

[JimRed]

She never even said she was raped by anyone.

The casting couch was pretty much voluntary back then so she may not have complained of a rape. Young women who wanted to work were in a tight spot- cooperate or go jobless.

Evil, yes it was.

[schurmann]

“Apparently, we don’t need any evidence if the accusation fits our preferred narrative...” [Boogieman, post 42]

A bit of historical perspective might help.

Bad behavior was going on in Hollywood before talkies came into existence. Ponder Fatty Arbuckle. Or Charlie Chaplin.

Strangely enough, such behavior was going on before the public had film stars to obsess over.

Alice Roosevelt Longworth - president Theodore’s eldest daughter - was chased by the press. Her behavior as a teen scandalized and titillated the nation; the President himself was alternately bemused and exasperated. Right after a stormy exchange between father and daughter, he remarked to White House visitor Owen Wister (author of the western novel _The Virginian_), that he could control Alice or run the country, but not both.

And it didn’t end when Alice grew up and married Congressman Nicholas Longworth (later Speaker of the House). Their affairs and assignations were the essence of Inside-the-Beltway legend and gossip (whispered, to be sure).

Edward Albert, eldest son of Queen Victoria of the UK, spent almost all his life as Prince of Wales before becoming King Edward VII of the UK. His mother kept him out of politics and governance; living at the pinnacle of society with nothin substantive to do, he personified the “leisure class.” His exploits and dalliances were talked about around the globe.

[fireman15]

Yeah, yeah... her mom had to take her to the hospital and her sister and friends have told the tale. With Brett Cavanaugh and political figures like President Trump there is a political reason to lie. In this situation there was no possibility of financial gain and only the promise that her career would be over by the perp. So yes it takes a little judgement to be able to tell the difference, but not that much. I was always a Kirk Douglass fan as well, but the interviews that I saw on the documentary were pretty danged convincing.

[SeekAndFind]

A man is innocent until proven guilty in this country.

Natalie Wood became a world famous actress in her own right, and she did it without the help of Kirk Douglas.

She had decades to tell her horrifying story (if it happened), yet, never said a word.

These other people chose to make a documentary half a century after the fact. That those interviewed were *believable* is subjective. After all, this is Hollywood. We find good actors everywhere.

Both of these folks are dead. I am well within my senses to be skeptical of this. Someday, when I meet the ultimate infallible judge, maybe my skepticism will be overcome.

But pending any good evidence (e.g., a diary written by Natalie herself), I remain skepticalm

[fireman15]

Fine with me. There is a huge pile of accounts about how Hollywood producers, directors, actors and Kirk Douglass in particular treated young actresses back in the day. This kind of appalling behavior is recorded in scores of biographies and even many autobiographies.

If the only way you can be convinced that this type of behavior took place is whether a jury convicted someone in a criminal trial then you basically can only be described as mentally challenged. Most people understand the kind of crap that the Clintons have gotten away with... have they been tried and convicted of anything? And the same goes for all the nonsense that so many have gotten away with over the years. Kennedy was having affairs with Marilyn Monroe and scores of other women both before and after he was president, one was a known enemy agent, another was a gangsters girlfriend. He disclosed sensitive info to some of them. The FBI had all this stuff on him and he got away with it anyway.

My wife is a retired nurse... she worked with a bunch of administrators who hired women specifically that they wanted to have sex with. How many of them had to go to court when they were caught? None! Countless nurses and social workers had their careers destroyed by these kinds of characters. I even saw some of this type of crap on the fire department that I worked for. It is all kept completely hush hush. I am glad that you seem to have the opportunity to keep living your life in LaLa Land.

[SeekAndFind]

RE: Fine with me. There is a huge pile of accounts about how Hollywood producers, directors, actors and Kirk Douglass in particular treated young actresses back in the day. This kind of appalling behavior is recorded in scores of biographies and even many autobiographies.

As in every biographies, we have to treat each and everyone of them on a case by case basis. Just because someone alleges that Actor X did some horrible Y thing does not necessarily mean it is true. I want EVIDENCE, not hearsay. Better still, I want CONFIRMATION.

I will grant that this sort of behavior is very common in Hollywood, but I am talking about ONE SPECIFIC person — Kirk Douglass.

I want to know what evidence, other than because someone says so, there is that he raped Natalie Wood.

Wood died in 1981. The alleged rape occurred when she was 16 they say, which was 1954.

She became famous ONE YEAR LATER, nominated for Best Supporting Actress for “Rebel Without a Cause”. She went on to be nominated for Several More Best Actress awards.

She had 27 years to reveal what happened to her but never said a word about it.

Then suddenly, almost 30 years after she died, we get a Gawker article that tell us that Douglas raped Natalie “for hours”.

So, here’s where we are today -— BOTH ACTORS ARE DEAD.

Can I categorically say that Kirk Douglas did not rape Natalie Wood? Of course not. I have no way of knowing that.

But rape is something I take very seriously. It’s one of the worst things anyone can do to a person, if not the worst thing. It’s also a horrible thing to falsely accuse someone of without any evidence.

It feels like people have gotten into this mindset where that doesn’t matter anymore, and that it’s not actually a big deal to ruin someone’s reputation in that way if it’s not true. It is a big deal.

If we say it’s not a big deal to ruin someone’s reputation by saying they did a thing we have no evidence for, we are also saying that thing isn’t that big of a deal anyway. That worries me.

I’d rather lay this matter to rest than speculate.

[fireman15]

Then suddenly, almost 30 years after she died, we get a Gawker article that tell us that Douglas raped Natalie

I know that you have gone to a lot of effort to put words in my mouth and set up meaningless straw man arguments, but try to follow me on this... The biography that I watched was made in 2003, ten years before the “Gawker” piece that I have no knowledge of. Her close friends and family were interviewed. You can choose to believe that they were all lying, but what would have been their motivation? For “legal reasons” they didn't even name Kirk Douglass, but they gave unmistakable clues to his identity.

There are other accounts of Kirk's behavior as well, but what is the point of finding the links for you? You have made up your mind, he is a hero to you and you can believe what you want. To me he is just another miserable, degusting predecessor to Harvey Weinstein.

[fireman15]

Thanks android auto-correct for changing disgusting to degusting. What will they think of next?

[fireman15]

She became famous ONE YEAR LATER,

You really do have no clue do you? Natalie Wood was a child star! She was acting when she was 4. She was famous when she was a kid. Did you ever watch Miracle n 34th Street?

[SeekAndFind]

RE: You really do have no clue do you? Natalie Wood was a child star!

Well, this bolsters my point even further. She isn’t one of those Harvey Weinstein starlets whose careers would have been affected later had she came out against Kirk Douglas ( IF HE DID RAPE HER ).

Yet, Nothing came out of her, no mention of Douglas for nearly 30 years.

And here we are — harping on the so-called story that he was a rapist after he just died.

[SeekAndFind]

RE: The biography that I watched was made in 2003, ten years before the “Gawker” piece that I have no knowledge of. Her close friends and family were interviewed. You can choose to believe that they were all lying, but what would have been their motivation? For “legal reasons” they didn’t even name Kirk Douglass, but they gave unmistakable clues to his identity.

WHY DID THEY NOT NAME HIM?

If he really was the rapist, He should be named.

I am going to believe a story about Kirk Douglas because of an interview that did not name him?

[Boogieman]

“A bit of historical perspective might help.”

I fail to see how any of those stories substantiates a rape allegation against Kirk Douglas.

[fireman15]

Discussing this with you is like trying to explain the door knob principal to a dog. You do realize that if Natalie Wood's family would have gone public when this happened that her budding career would have been over. At that time a young girl who had been raped by an older man was considered “damaged goods”. And this does not even go into the fact that Kirk Douglass was one of the first stars to start his own production company and one of the most powerful men in Hollywood. He had the power and connections to make sure that she would never get a job again.

As far as why the 2003 documentary covered the incident but did not mention Kirk's name and gave unmistakable clues instead... We live in strange times where criminals and their representatives often feel the best defense is a strong offense. Look at the Clintons, the Obamas, and all the nonsense President Trump has been put through. You pretending not to understand this is pathetic.

You are not actually helping Kirk by continuing to show off your stupidity and ignorance about both the history of Hollywood and the history of societal norms. If you want to continue to worship Kirk's screen persona... that is your choice. But in real life by many documented accounts he was an evil leftist pedophile. This is a strange place to be defending that type of person with all of your queer rationalizations.

[Fury]

There are other accounts of Kirk's behavior as well, but what is the point of finding the links for you?

If you referred to the links previously and are using information from them to advance your point, it would be the courteous and professional thing to provide the links, more-so when you are asked.

[SeekAndFind]

RE: Discussing this with you is like trying to explain the door knob principal to a dog. You do realize that if Natalie Wood’s family would have gone public when this happened that her budding career would have been over.

I disagree with that premise. She was a BIG STAR, Several times nominated for the academy awards. She need not justify her career or fear for her future.

I would even argue that she would be admired for her courage if she came out with it. She would be sympathized with. Heck, She would even be given better roles for her courage.

I would understand if she stayed silent in the 1950’s. But 1960’s? 1970’s ?

She had all the time in the world to come out with her story (if true ).

Since she did not, there is reason to doubt it.

[SeekAndFind]

RE: You are not actually helping Kirk by continuing to show off your stupidity and ignorance about both the history of Hollywood and the history of societal norms.

And you are not helping Natalie by continuing to ignore the fact that Natalie Wood NEVER spoke about any rape in her life.

Hollywood norms? Have you heard of Harvey Weinstein? Bill Cosby? Kevin Spacey? All of them were accused, all of them put to shame. If an, Hollywood would SUPPORT the woman or the minority and not the accused.