Kirk Douglas (December 9, 1916), one of the greatest movie legends of all time, turns 100 today. He and Olivia de Havilland, which already entered the century on July 1, are the latest myths from the most golden Hollywood that still tread this world. But actually they are already eternal.

So no better date to read or reread his autobiography, The rag's son (1988). The most cinephiles we levitate with the exciting life of this actor and man who has already transcended himself. The least will also find interesting the account that Douglas himself made of it.

I have been aware of Kirk Douglas all my life, as I imagine it happens to all of us, but without a doubt one of the first times that fascinated me was in Twenty a thousand leagues of underwater travel (1954), Richard Fleischer's classic for Disney. That sailor Ned land Striped T-shirt, ear earring and smiling chin dimple cannot be forgotten when you are an impressionable girl, reader and precocious cinephile. My infatuation was total when he repeated with Fleischer as that fearsome and great viking einar in the greatest Los vikingos(1958).

The rag's son account what the actor wants to tell, naturally. And one like Douglas, with a reputation for difficultSurely he left several issues in the pipeline, of course the darkest ones. But what does it matter ... It has been and will be one of the greatest in the history of cinema, with a charisma without equal.

Some data

Recall that was born in New York under the name Issur Danielovitch Demsky. Son of immigrants russian jews who came to the United States in the early XNUMXth century, their father was a ragpicker. So the title of his autobiography could not be another. His childhood and youth were very difficult, but he never denied his humble origin.

So it was moving forward and that fighting spirit it meant it in his life. I know faced the big studios of cinema, when his career began to take off, because of the draconian hiring policies that they imposed on their "workers." But also denounced the more social dark side that surrounded him, that of the McCarthyism, censorship and imprisonment of actors and directors for their ideas.

Douglas also tells us about his perceptions of colleagues whose list would be as eternal as he. And of course, he also tells us about his movies like The clay idol, which catapulted him into that starry sky. Or how it marked him very deeply to interpret the painter Vincent Van Gogh in The crazy red hair.

He tells us about his failures and successes with directors and screenwriters like Dalton Trumbo, Preminger, Elia Kazan or Stanley Kubrick, with whom he would possibly star in the two top works of his career: Paths of Glory y Spartacus (novel by Howard Fast and scripted by Trumbo). But he worked with all the greats, who brought out memorable interpretations of any character, from scoundrels to heroes, more intimate, more boastful ... Whatever.

There are so many titles: Return to the past, that fantastic Captives of Evil, 21st Brigade, Duel of the Titans, The Great Carnival, The Strange Love of Marta Ivers, The Last Train of Gun Hill... Or one for which my brother and I have special devotion, The final countdown, already from 1980. Impossible to name them all.

In short, that to honor Douglas, nothing better than fresh a good handful of his films (better if it is in original version) or read or reread this autobiography. The rag's son have the perfect rythm of a first-person narrative about a life that is worthy of being told like few others. And perhaps this legend of legends will still be able to tell something.

Some curiosities

-He agreed in seven films, almost all of the West, with Burt Lancaster but they were never friends.

-Nor did he make friends with John Wayne, a pro Republican, with whom the Democrat Douglas had notorious quarrels. However, he maintained good relations with Republican presidents such as Ronald Reagan.

-He was offered the role of Colonel Truman in Cornered (1982), but he resigned because the producers refused to accept his proposal that John Rambo die at the end of the film, as in the original novel.

-He never won an Oscar, another of the great shots backfired that the Academy gets from time to time. They gave him one honorific in 1996 (I guess out of shame). During the gala he received the Spielberg tribute for his support of Dalton Trumbo in the Witch hunt.

On December 9, 2006, he said: “My name is Kirk Douglas. Maybe you've heard of me. If not, google me. I am the father of Michael Douglas and father-in-law of Catherine Zeta-Jones. Today I am 90 years old and, in my case, reaching this age is not only special, but also miraculous ». The miracle has reached 100.

The biggest congratulations, admiration and thanks, Mr. Douglas. Y… "I am Spartacus!"