Kirk Douglas Quotes

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Acting is a youthful profession.
Kirk Douglas Quotes: Acting is a youthful profession.
Fame is as much about luck as it is about talent, perhaps more.
Kirk Douglas Quotes: Fame is as much about
If I thought a man had never committed a sin in his life, I don't think I'd want to talk with him. A man with flaws is more interesting.
Kirk Douglas Quotes: If I thought a man
Michael [Douglas] was just leaving the TV series The Streets of San Francisco and he said, 'Dad, let me try it.' I thought, 'Well, if I couldn't make it ... ' So, I gave it to him and he got the money, the director and the cast. The biggest disappointment for me, I always wanted to play McMurphy. They got a young actor, Jack Nicholson. I thought, 'Oh God. He will be terrible.' Then I saw the picture and, of course, he was great in it! That was my biggest disappointment that turned out to be one of the things I'm most proud of because my son Michael did it. I couldn't do it, but Michael did it.
Kirk Douglas Quotes: Michael [Douglas] was just leaving
The biggest lie is the lie we tell ourselves in the distorted visions we have of ourselves, blocking out some sections, enhancing others. What remains are not the cold facts of life, but how we perceive them. That's really who we are.
Kirk Douglas Quotes: The biggest lie is the
I love talking to interesting people - people like O.J. Simpson, Andretti ... I love champions. A champion has something special about him.
Kirk Douglas Quotes: I love talking to interesting
I'm glad they gave women the right to vote, but sometimes I'm sorry they have the right to smoke. Most women are messy about it, particularly about their lipstick. I don't mind wiping lipstick off myself, but I hate seeing it on cigarettes, napkins and coffee cups! I don't like women with all their beauty machinery showing-curlers, cold cream, mascara brushes. I'd even prefer to not see a woman touch up her lipstick, but I guess that's expecting too much.
Kirk Douglas Quotes: I'm glad they gave women
Sometimes an interviewer will look at me and say, 'You're bright!' They're actually surprised I might be bright.
Kirk Douglas Quotes: Sometimes an interviewer will look
I guess I was a bad boy ... Yes, yes, I've had lots of women in my life.
Kirk Douglas Quotes: I guess I was a
My kids never had the advantages I had. I was born poor.
Kirk Douglas Quotes: My kids never had the
I have been an actor for most of my life. When I started out, I didn't think about anything except what was good for me. Like many movie stars, I became all wrapped up in myself.
Kirk Douglas Quotes: I have been an actor
When you become a star, you don't change - everyone else does.
Kirk Douglas Quotes: When you become a star,
You haven't learned how to live until you've learned how to give.
Kirk Douglas Quotes: You haven't learned how to
What would my parents think about America if they arrived here today? Would they even want to come? I wonder.
Kirk Douglas Quotes: What would my parents think
I have one computer that my wife gave me. All I know how to do, and I do it every day, is play Spider Solitaire. And I don't have a cell phone.
Kirk Douglas Quotes: I have one computer that
My mother, we were a very poor family. When I was a kid, we would be in our little room, and there would be a knock on the door almost every night with a hobo begging for food. Even though we didn't even have enough to eat, my mother always found something to give them.
Kirk Douglas Quotes: My mother, we were a
I didn't think I was so tough until I did 'Champion'; then I was a tough guy.
Kirk Douglas Quotes: I didn't think I was
The biggest spur to my interest in art came when I played van Gogh in the biographical film Lust For Life. The role affected me deeply. I was haunted by this talented genius who took his own life, thinking he was a failure. How terrible to paint pictures and feel that no one wants them. How awful it would be to write music that no one wants to hear. Books that no one wants to read. And how would you like to be an actor with no part to play, and no audience to watch you. Poor Vincent - he wrestled with his soul in the wheat field of Auvers-sur-Oise, stacks of his unsold paintings collecting dust in his brother's house. It was all too much for him, and he pulled the trigger and ended it all. My heart ached for van Gogh the afternoon that I played that scene. As I write this, I look up at a poster of his "Irises" - a poster from the Getty Museum. It's a beautiful piece of art with one white iris sticking up among a field of blue ones. They paid a fortune for it, reportedly $53 million. And poor Vincent, in his lifetime, sold only one painting for 400 francs or $80 dollars today. This is what stimulated my interest in buying works of art from living artists. I want them to know while they are alive that I enjoy their paintings hanging on my walls, or their sculptures decorating my garden
Kirk Douglas Quotes: The biggest spur to my
Cancer does give you a new rejuvenation. I know what it's like to be down. I lost a couple of good friends - Larry Hagman and Nick Ashford - who had the same type of cancer that I did, and that makes you think.
Kirk Douglas Quotes: Cancer does give you a
Unfortunately, once I did learn to smoke, I couldn't stop. I escalated to two packs a day very quickly, and stayed that way for about ten years. When I decided to stop, I adopted the method that my father had used when he quit. He would carry a cigarette in his shirt pocket, and every time he felt like smoking, he would pull out the cigarette and confront it: "Who stronger? You? Me?" Always the answer was the same: "I stronger." Back the cigarette would go, until the next craving. It worked for him, and it worked for me.
Kirk Douglas Quotes: Unfortunately, once I did learn
I was conscious of my father's fame from the time I was 6.
Kirk Douglas Quotes: I was conscious of my
When you get to my age, you find that most of your dear friends are gone.
Kirk Douglas Quotes: When you get to my
My mother and my father were illiterate immigrants from Russia. When I was a child they were constantly amazed that I could go to a building and take a book on any subject. They couldn't believe this access to knowledge we have here in America. They couldn't believe that it was free.
Kirk Douglas Quotes: My mother and my father
I never had any desire to be a film actor. I never thought I was the good-looking movie type, which I assumed they wanted.
Kirk Douglas Quotes: I never had any desire
"Hail to the Chief" was played, and the President got up and made a gracious opening remark. "I've been in this office for six years, and yet every time I hear that music, I turn around wondering who they're playing it for."
Kirk Douglas Quotes:
Life is like a B-picture script.
Kirk Douglas Quotes: Life is like a B-picture
The first thing I look for in a woman is warmth-femininity. It's got nothing to do with a pretty face.
Kirk Douglas Quotes: The first thing I look
I was going to play in First Blood, but I suggested to changing it and I dropped out. I said to [Silvester] Stallone, 'You know, I almost stopped you from making millions of dollars,' because in my suggestion, I killed his character at the end of the picture .
Kirk Douglas Quotes: I was going to play
Obey the voice within - it commands us to give of ourselves and help others. As long as we have the capacity to give, we are alive
Kirk Douglas Quotes: Obey the voice within -
Listen - pacemaker, crash, stroke. What does it mean? God doesn't want me now. That's all.
Kirk Douglas Quotes: Listen - pacemaker, crash, stroke.
I don't need a critic to tell me I'm an actor. I make my own way. Nobody's my boss. Nobody's ever been my boss.
Kirk Douglas Quotes: I don't need a critic
Sometimes, the thing that ties you down sets you free.
Kirk Douglas Quotes: Sometimes, the thing that ties
I never wanted to be in movies. In a sense, I'm still a failure because I wanted to be a star on the stage.
Kirk Douglas Quotes: I never wanted to be
Fear is a terrible thing. It makes you do awful things.
Kirk Douglas Quotes: Fear is a terrible thing.
If you want to know about a man you can find out an awful lot by looking at who he married.
Kirk Douglas Quotes: If you want to know
I studied Judaism a lot. I studied religion in general, and I have never imposed my Judaism on my kids. They are what they want to be. I think ... you must care for others. That's the correct religion, I think.
Kirk Douglas Quotes: I studied Judaism a lot.
I didn't start out to be a movie star. I started out to be an actor.
Kirk Douglas Quotes: I didn't start out to
I was living in a terrible time when people were being accused of being communists, and they attacked the movie industry, especially the writers. People couldn't work if they were on the blacklist. The studios banned them. It was the most onerous period in movie history. I don't think we have ever had a period so dark as that.
Kirk Douglas Quotes: I was living in a
My first job was on Broadway. Then I went into the Navy. When I came out of the Navy, I went back to Broadway and a friend of mine, Lauren Bacall, was in Hollywood filming with Humphrey Bogart. She told one of her producers I was great in my play, and he saw it and cast me in 'The Strange Love of Martha Ivers'.
Kirk Douglas Quotes: My first job was on
The first time I had got an offer to come to Hollywood, I turned it down. I said, 'No, I'm an actor of the stage.'
Kirk Douglas Quotes: The first time I had
The only advantage I have found in being Jewish is that I can be openly anti-Semitic.
Kirk Douglas Quotes: The only advantage I have
No matter how bad things are, they can always be worse. So what if my stroke left me with a speech impediment? Moses had one, and he did all right.
Kirk Douglas Quotes: No matter how bad things
I have studied religion, and I have concluded that there is some power. We don't understand it.
Kirk Douglas Quotes: I have studied religion, and
On a crowded bus in Israel, a mother was speaking to her son in Yiddish. An Israeli woman reprimanded her. "You should be speaking Hebrew. Why are you talking to him in Yiddish?" The mother answered, "I don't want he should forget he's a Jew."
Kirk Douglas Quotes: On a crowded bus in
Michael [Douglas] is, I think, a great actor. He's made some very interesting pictures. When he was going to college, I was very proud of him, but when he said, 'Dad, I want to be in a play,' he had a bit part. I went to see it and Michael said, 'Dad, how was I?' I said, 'You were terrible.' I thought he would go on to be a lawyer and in three months, he was in another play and I went and, I must admit, he was great. I think he has been good in everything he's done.
Kirk Douglas Quotes: Michael [Douglas] is, I think,
The best wine comes from home, wherever it is.
Kirk Douglas Quotes: The best wine comes from
When I made Spartacus during the McCarthy Era, we were losing our freedom. It was an awful, awful way. McCarthy saw Communists everywhere, in every level of government and they concentrated on Hollywood and especially on Hollywood writers.
Kirk Douglas Quotes: When I made Spartacus during
I went to Hollywood to test for Martha Ivers and I thought I was going to play the part that Van Heflin played.But they wanted me to play the part of Barbara Stanwyck's husband, so I played that. Then when I finished the movie, I went back to Broadway and did another flop.
Kirk Douglas Quotes: I went to Hollywood to
You have not learned to live until you have learned to give
Kirk Douglas Quotes: You have not learned to
I bought the book, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. I paid to have it made into a play and I played in it for six months. I came back and I tried to make it into a movie, without success.
Kirk Douglas Quotes: I bought the book, One
People are composed of many things, and in my work, what influences me is the complexity of people - the chiaroscuro of dark and light. When I play a strong guy, I try to find, where is he weak? And, conversely, when I play a weak guy, where is he strong?
Kirk Douglas Quotes: People are composed of many
Fifteen years ago, I suffered a stroke, which caused me to lose my speech. Now, what does an actor who can't talk do? Wait for silent pictures to come back? I work with a speech therapist twice a week.
Kirk Douglas Quotes: Fifteen years ago, I suffered
I remember little things that break my heart. We were coming out of Michael's house one day, and he noticed my shoelaces were undone. He bent down and tied them. I almost cried. To me, it was such a gesture of love.
Kirk Douglas Quotes: I remember little things that
Now, why is it that most of us can talk openly about the illnesses of our bodies, but when it comes to our brain and illnesses of the mind we clam up and because we clam up, people with emotional disorders feel ashamed, stigmatized, and don't seek the help that can make the difference.
Kirk Douglas Quotes: Now, why is it that
Too often, I have not been what I wanted to be; I've succumbed to pressures. Yes, I have. The things I've done that I liked, I've always done against advice.
Kirk Douglas Quotes: Too often, I have not
I directed two films, not very successfully, and after that, I went back to being an actor and a producer.
Kirk Douglas Quotes: I directed two films, not
People are always talking about the old days. They say that the old movies were better, that the old actors were so great. But I don't think so. All I can say about the old days is that they have passed.
Kirk Douglas Quotes: People are always talking about
When you get old the worst thing is you lose so many friends. Burt Lancaster, Frank Sinatra, John Wayne. People who I loved to work with.
Kirk Douglas Quotes: When you get old the
I have always been grateful that my Russian mother and father came to this country to give me a better chance, and I have had a better chance.
Kirk Douglas Quotes: I have always been grateful
Really a bad guy is more interesting, dramatically, than the good guy.
Kirk Douglas Quotes: Really a bad guy is
I was not a very good Jew. I never practised what Judaism tells you to do, to teach your kids all about Judaism.
Kirk Douglas Quotes: I was not a very
In order to achieve anything you must be brave enough to fail.
Kirk Douglas Quotes: In order to achieve anything
If I have to speak in public, I am terrified.
Kirk Douglas Quotes: If I have to speak
My four sons all knew I was a Jew, but they were allowed to be whatever they wanted to be. The only thing important to me was that they be good people who help other people, because all religion should try to make you a better person and a more caring person. Whenever religion does that for you, it's a good religion.
Kirk Douglas Quotes: My four sons all knew
I came from abject poverty. There was nowhere to go but up.
Kirk Douglas Quotes: I came from abject poverty.
Acting is make-believe. I never believe I'm the character; I want you to believe.
Kirk Douglas Quotes: Acting is make-believe. I never
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