Kirk Douglas

Today if someone says the name Douglas in connection with the movie industry most peopel will immediately think of Michael Douglas. Before he became well known though there was Kirk Douglas, his father.

Kirk Douglas was born December 9, 1916 to parents who immigrated to the United States from Russia. He had roles in more than 90 movies beginning in 1946 with The Strange Love of Martha Ivers.

The Kirk Douglas movie I remember best is Spartacus, a 1960 release, which also starred Laurence Olivier and Jean Simmons. Because we were studying Roman history in school at the time, specifically Sparta, I developed an on going interest in history. So you might say Spartacus had a major impact on my life.

Besides movies Kirk Douglas has a lot of TV appearances to his credit. He also worked as a producer and director. Lately, as a result of writing a book and promoting it on the internet, Kirk Douglas has renewed his connection to his fan base.

At age 92 Kirk Douglas discovered the social aspects of blogs when he began a blog on My Space to promote his book, Let's Face It. the promotional idea garnered enough positive response to encourage Douglas to continue posting on a regular basis. His once or twice a month blogs garner enough feedback to keep him writing.

His fans keep an eye on his blog and respond whenever he writes about something that interests them. His comments about Obama's election generated over a hundred responses. All his blogs have some responses but that was the big one so far.

Kirk Douglas should be an inspiration to anyone who is feeling the chill of age breathing down their neck. He keeps going and doing and growing; something we should all try to do all our lives.