Editing Kirk Douglas (section)

===Peak years of success===
[[File:Douglas Mangano.jpg|thumb|Douglas and [[Silvana Mangano]] in a pause during the shootings of ''[[Ulysses (1954 film)|Ulysses]]'' (1954)]]
Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, Douglas was a major box-office star, playing opposite some of the leading actresses of that era. He portrayed a frontier peace officer in his first western, ''[[Along the Great Divide]]'' (1951). He quickly became very comfortable with riding horses and playing gunslingers, and he appeared in many Westerns. He considered ''[[Lonely Are the Brave]]'' (1962), in which he plays a cowboy trying to live by his own code, his personal favorite.<ref>Thomas, p. 181</ref> The film, written by [[Dalton Trumbo]], was respected by critics but did not do well at the box office due to poor marketing and distribution.<ref name="Thomas, p. 28"/><ref>{{Cite web|date=April 7, 2013|title=TCM – Lonely are the Brave|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCfDJnKtqTc| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170215183511/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCfDJnKtqTc| archive-date=February 15, 2017|access-date=July 19, 2016|website=YouTube}}</ref>

In 1950, Douglas played Rick Martin in ''[[Young Man with a Horn (film)|Young Man with a Horn]]'', based on a novel of the same name by [[Dorothy Baker (writer)|Dorothy Baker]] based on the life of [[jazz]] [[cornet]]ist [[Bix Beiderbecke]]. Composer and pianist [[Hoagy Carmichael]], a friend of the real Beiderbecke, played the sidekick, adding realism to the film and giving Douglas insight into the role.<ref>Thomas, p. 64</ref> [[Doris Day]] starred as Jo, a young woman who was infatuated with the struggling [[jazz]] musician. This was strikingly opposite of the real-life account in Doris Day's autobiography, which described Douglas as "civil but self-centered" and the film as "utterly joyless".<ref>Hotchner, A. E. (1975). Doris Day: Her Own Story. William Morrow and Company, Inc. {{ISBN|978-0688029685}},</ref> During filming, bit actress [[Jean Spangler]] disappeared, and her case remains unsolved. On October 9, 1949, Spangler's purse was found near the Fern Dell entrance to [[Griffith Park]] in Los Angeles. There was an unfinished note in the purse addressed to a "Kirk," which read:
"Can't wait any longer, Going to see Dr. Scott. It will work best this way while mother is away". Douglas, married at the time, called the police and told them he was not the Kirk mentioned in the note. When interviewed via telephone by the head of the investigating team, Douglas stated that he had "talked and kidded with her a bit" on set,<ref name="spangler">{{cite web|title=Disappearance|url=http://www.mariamusikka.com/JeanSpangler_disappearance.htm|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180312083704/http://www.mariamusikka.com/JeanSpangler_disappearance.htm|archive-date=March 12, 2018|access-date=March 11, 2018|website=mariamusikka.com}}</ref><ref name="spangler3">{{cite web|date=October 13, 1949|title=Actor Quizzed on Missing Girl|url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=SBS19491013.1.1|access-date=March 11, 2018|website=The San Bernardino Daily Sun}}</ref> but that he had never been out with her.<ref name="auto">{{cite web|author=Lyons|first=Arthur|title=The Mysterious Disappearance of Jean Spangler|url=http://www.palmspringslife.com/Palm-Springs-Life/Whispering-Palms/The-Mysterious-Disappearance-of-Jean-Spangler/|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150212114937/http://www.palmspringslife.com/Palm-Springs-Life/Whispering-Palms/The-Mysterious-Disappearance-of-Jean-Spangler/|archive-date=February 12, 2015|access-date=February 12, 2015|website=Palm Springs Life}}</ref> Spangler's girlfriends told police that she was three months pregnant when she disappeared,<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L1uj6s-d44UC&pg=PA332 |page=332 |title=American Murder: Criminals, Crimes, and the Media |author=Mike Mayo |publisher=Visible Ink Press |year=2008|isbn=978-1578592562 }}</ref> and scholars such as Jon Lewis of Oregon State University have speculated that she may have been considering an illegal [[abortion]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Lewis|first=Jon|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=76owDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA59|title=Hard-Boiled Hollywood: Crime and Punishment in Postwar Los Angeles|publisher=Univ of California Press|year=2017|isbn=978-0520284326|page=59}}</ref>

In 1951, Douglas starred as a newspaper reporter anxiously looking for a big story in ''[[Ace in the Hole (1951 film)|Ace in the Hole]]'', director [[Billy Wilder]]'s first effort as both writer and producer. The subject and story was controversial at the time, and U.S. audiences stayed away. Some reviews saw it as "ruthless and cynical ... a distorted study of corruption, mob psychology and the free press."<ref>Sikov, Ed. ''On Sunset Boulevard: The Life and Times of Billy Wilder,'' New York: Hyperion, (1998) pp. 325–26; {{ISBN|0786861940}}</ref> Possibly it "hit too close to home", said Douglas.<ref name=EW>McGovern, Joe. [https://ew.com/article/2015/02/23/kirk-douglas-four-his-greatest-roles "A Life in Film: Kirk Douglas on four of his greatest roles"], ''Entertainment Weekly'', February 23, 2015.</ref> It won a Best Foreign Film award at the [[Venice Film Festival]]. The film's stature has increased in recent years, with some surveys placing it in their Top 500 Films list.<ref>[https://empireonline.com/500/22.asp ''Empire Magazine's'' The 500 Greatest Movies of All Time.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151009124548/http://www.empireonline.com/500/22.asp |date=October 9, 2015 }} ''[[Empire (magazine)|Empire]]''; retrieved March 21, 2013.</ref> [[Woody Allen]] considers it one of his favorite films.<ref name=Chandler>Chandler, Charlotte (2002). ''Nobody's Perfect: Billy Wilder, a Personal Biography'', New York: Applause Books, p. 166 {{ISBN|978-1557836328}}, {{OCLC|932564547}}</ref> As the film's star and protagonist, Douglas is credited for the intensity of his acting. Film critic [[Roger Ebert]] wrote, "his focus and energy ... is almost scary. There is nothing dated about Douglas' performance. It's as right-now as a sharpened knife."<ref>{{cite news|last=Ebert|first=Roger|date=August 12, 2007|title='Ace in the Hole' movie review & film summary (1951)|work=RogerEbert.com|url=http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070812/REVIEWS08/70810003/1023|access-date=January 4, 2011|archive-date=June 5, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110605191507/http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070812/REVIEWS08/70810003/1023|url-status=dead}}</ref> Biographer Gene Philips noted that Wilder's story was "galvanized" by Douglas's "astounding performance" and no doubt was a factor when [[George Stevens]], who presented Douglas with the [[AFI Life Achievement Award]] in 1991, said of him: "No other leading actor was ever more ready to tap the dark, desperate side of the soul and thus to reveal the complexity of human nature."<ref name=Phillips>Phillips, Gene (2010). ''Some Like it Wilder: the Life and Controversial films of Billy Wilder'', Univ. Press of Kentucky, p. 141 {{ISBN|978-0813125701}}. {{OCLC|716971755}}</ref>

Also in 1951, Douglas starred in ''[[Detective Story (1951 film)|Detective Story]]'', nominated for four Academy Awards, including one for [[Lee Grant]] in her debut film. Grant said Douglas was "dazzling, both personally and in the part. ... He was a big, big star. Gorgeous. Intense. Amazing."<ref name=Grant>[[Lee Grant|Grant, Lee]]. ''I Said Yes to Everything: a Memoir'', Blue Rider Press (2014) pp. 75, 428–29; {{ISBN|978-0399169304}}</ref> To prepare for the role, Douglas spent days with the New York Police Department and sat in on interrogations.<ref>{{Cite web|date=May 27, 2013|title=TCM – Detective Story Intro [Robert Osborne]|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BVKMID-cNc| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200305100201/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BVKMID-cNc| archive-date=March 5, 2020|access-date=December 17, 2016|website=YouTube}}</ref> Reviewers recognized Douglas's acting qualities, with [[Bosley Crowther]] describing Douglas as "forceful and aggressive as the detective".<ref>[[Bosley Crowther|Crowther, Bosley]]. [https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9805E1DF1438E43BBC4F53DFB767838A649EDE ''Detective Story'' review], ''[[The New York Times]]'', November 7, 1951; accessed December 26, 2007.</ref>
[[File:Douglas - Big Trees - 1952.jpg|thumb|left|With [[Eve Miller]] in ''The Big Trees'' (1952)]]
In ''[[The Bad and the Beautiful]]'' (1952), another of his three Oscar-nominated roles, Douglas played a hard-nosed film producer who manipulates and uses his actors, writers, and directors. In 1954 Douglas starred as the titular character in ''[[Ulysses (1954 film)|Ulysses]]'', a film based on [[Homer]]'s epic poem ''[[Odyssey]]'', with [[Silvana Mangano]] as [[Penelope]] and [[Circe]], and [[Anthony Quinn]] as [[Antinous]].<ref>{{cite news|last=Crowther|first=Bosley|title=Screen: 'Ulysses' Wanders Into Globe; Kirk Douglas Portrays Bewhiskered Hero Silvana Mangano Both Circe and Penelope|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1955/08/18/archives/screen-ulysses-wanders-into-globe-kirk-douglas-portrays-bewhiskered.html|work=The New York Times|date=August 18, 1955|access-date=February 6, 2020}}</ref>

In ''[[20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954 film)|20,000 Leagues Under the Sea]]'' (1954), Douglas showed that in addition to serious, driven characters, he was adept at roles requiring a lighter, comic touch. In this adaptation of the [[Jules Verne]] novel, he played a happy-go-lucky sailor who was the opposite in every way to the brooding Captain Nemo ([[James Mason]]). The film was one of [[Walt Disney]]'s most successful live-action movies and a major box-office hit.<ref name="Thomas, p. 7"/> Douglas managed a similar comic turn in the western ''[[Man Without a Star]]'' (1955) and in ''[[For Love or Money (1963 film)|For Love or Money]]'' (1963). He showed further diversity in one of his earliest television appearances. He was a musical guest (as himself) on ''[[The Jack Benny Program]]'' (1954).<ref>[[List of The Jack Benny Program episodes#Season 5 (1954–1955)|"Jam Session at Jacks'"]], originally telecast on CBS on October 17, 1954.</ref>

In 1955, Douglas was finally able to get his film production company, [[Bryna Productions]], off the ground.<ref name="Thomas, p. 13"/> To do so, he had to break contracts with Hal B. Wallis and [[Warner Bros.]], but he began to produce and star in his own films, starting with ''[[The Indian Fighter]]'' in 1955.<ref>{{cite web|last=Hilmes|first=Michele|title=Kirk Douglas and Bryna Productions|url=http://old.wcftr.commarts.wisc.edu/collections/featured/kirkdouglas/business/index.html|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150223201449/http://old.wcftr.commarts.wisc.edu/collections/featured/kirkdouglas/business/index.html|archive-date=February 23, 2015|website=Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research}}</ref> Through Bryna, he produced and starred in the films ''[[Paths of Glory]]'' (1957), ''[[The Vikings (1958 film)|The Vikings]]'' (1958), ''[[Spartacus (film)|Spartacus]]'' (1960), ''[[Lonely are the Brave]]'' (1962), and ''[[Seven Days in May]]'' (1964).<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tkKWCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA70 |page=70 |title=Conversations with Classic Film Stars: Interviews from Hollywood's Golden Era |author1=James Bawden |author2=Ron Miller |publisher=University Press of Kentucky |year=2016|isbn=978-0813167121 }}</ref> In 1958, Douglas formed the music publishing company [[Peter Vincent Music|Peter Vincent Music Corporation]], a Bryna Productions subsidiary.<ref name="Billboard-1958">{{Cite magazine|date=April 21, 1958|title=Dot Acquires 'Viking' Track|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Billboard/50s/1958/Billboard%201958-04-21.pdf|magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]|pages=5}}</ref> Peter Vincent Music was responsible for publishing the soundtracks of ''The Vikings'' and ''Spartacus''.<ref name="Billboard-1958" /><ref name="LoC-1958">{{Cite book|last=Library of Congress. Copyright Office.|url=http://archive.org/details/catalogofcopyrig3125libr|title=Catalog of Copyright Entries 1958 Music July–Dec 3D Ser Vol 12 Pt 5|date=1958|publisher=U.S. Govt. Print. Off.|others=United States Copyright Office|language=English}}</ref>

While ''Paths of Glory'' did not do well at the box office, it has since become one of the great anti-war films, and it is one of director [[Stanley Kubrick]]'s early films. Douglas, a fluent French speaker,<ref name="Hughes2013">{{cite book|author=Hughes, David|title=The Complete Kubrick|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zf9BYv5DiCwC&pg=PT36|year= 2013|publisher=Random House|isbn=978-1448133215|page=36}}</ref> portrayed a sympathetic French officer during [[World War I]] who tries to save three soldiers from facing a firing squad.<ref name=Monush>Monush, Barry (2003). ''The Encyclopedia of Hollywood Film Actors'', Applause Books, p. 200 {{ISBN|978-1557835512}}, {{OCLC|472842790}}</ref> Biographer Vincent LoBrutto describes Douglas's "seething but controlled portrayal exploding with the passion of his convictions at the injustice leveled at his men."<ref name=LoBrutto>LoBrutto, Vincent (1997). ''Stanley Kubrick: A Biography'', New York: Carroll & Graf Publishers, pp. 105, 135<!-- These page #'s are based on the DeCapro 1997 edition which was previously listed here w/o ISBN --> {{ISBN|978-0786704859}}, {{OCLC|1037232538}}</ref> The film was banned in France until 1976. Before production of the film began, however, Douglas and Kubrick had to work out some large problems, one of which was Kubrick's rewriting the screenplay without informing Douglas first. It led to their first major argument: "I called Stanley to my room ... I hit the ceiling. I called him every four-letter word I could think of ... 'I got the money, based on ''that'' [original] script. Not this shit!' I threw the script across the room. 'We're going back to the original script, or we're not making the picture.' Stanley never blinked an eye. We shot the original script. I think the movie is a classic, one of the most important pictures—possibly the ''most'' important picture—Stanley Kubrick has ever made."<ref name=LoBrutto/>

Douglas played military men in numerous films, with varying nuance, including ''[[Top Secret Affair]]'' (1957), ''[[Town Without Pity]]'' (1961), ''The Hook'' (1963), ''[[Seven Days in May]]'' (1964), ''[[Heroes of Telemark]]'' (1965), ''[[In Harm's Way]]'' (1965), ''[[Cast a Giant Shadow]]'' (1966), ''[[Is Paris Burning? (film)|Is Paris Burning]]'' (1966), ''[[The Final Countdown (film)|The Final Countdown]]'' (1980), and ''[[Saturn 3]]'' (1980). His acting style and delivery made him a favorite with television impersonators such as [[Frank Gorshin]], [[Rich Little]], and [[David Frye]].<ref name="Thomas, p. 24">Thomas, p. 24</ref><ref>{{cite web|date=December 19, 2013|title=Rich Little roasts Kirk Douglasipad|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ej2J4b5rO0Y| archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211028/Ej2J4b5rO0Y| archive-date=October 28, 2021|access-date=December 17, 2016|website=[[YouTube]]}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|date=January 13, 2015|title=David Frye Doing Kirk Douglas, LBJ, Rod Steiger & Brando Impersonations|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nI9gJU4k6Y0| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160117103618/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nI9gJU4k6Y0| archive-date=January 17, 2016|access-date=December 17, 2016|website=[[YouTube]]}}</ref>
 
His role as [[Vincent van Gogh]] in ''[[Lust for Life (1956 film)|Lust for Life]]'' (1956), directed by [[Vincente Minnelli]] and based on [[Irving Stone]]'s [[Lust for Life (novel)|bestseller]], was filmed mostly on location in France. Douglas was noted not only for the veracity of van Gogh's appearance but for how he conveyed the painter's internal turmoil. Some reviewers consider it the most famous example of the "tortured artist" who seeks solace from life's pain through his work.<ref>Fairbanks, Brian. ''Brian W. Fairbanks – Writings'', Lulu (2005) e-book</ref> Others see it as a portrayal not only of the "painter-as-hero", but a unique presentation of the "action painter", with Douglas expressing the physicality and emotion of painting, as he uses the canvas to capture a moment in time.<ref>McElhaney, Joe (2009). ''Vincente Minnelli: The Art of Entertainment,'' Detroit: Wayne State Univ. Press. p. 300 {{ISBN|978-0814333075}}. {{OCLC|232002215}}</ref><ref>Niemi, Robert (2006). ''History in the Media: Film and Television'', Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO. p. 296 {{ISBN|978-1576079522}}. {{OCLC|255629433}}</ref>

Douglas was nominated for an Academy Award for the role, with his co-star [[Anthony Quinn]] winning the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor as [[Paul Gauguin]], van Gogh's friend. Douglas won a [[Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama|Golden Globe]] award, although Minnelli said Douglas should have won an Oscar: "He achieved a moving and memorable portrait of the artist—a man of massive creative power, triggered by severe emotional stress, the fear and horror of madness."<ref name="Thomas, p. 7">Thomas, p. 7</ref> Douglas himself called his acting role as Van Gogh a painful experience: "Not only did I look like Van Gogh, I was the same age he was when he committed suicide."<ref>Douglas 1988, p. 266.</ref> His wife said he often remained in character in his personal life: "When he was doing ''Lust for Life'', he came home in that red beard of Van Gogh's, wearing those big boots, stomping around the house—it was frightening."<ref name="Thomas, p. 44">Thomas, p. 44</ref>

In general, however, Douglas's acting style fit well with Minnelli's preference for "melodrama and neurotic-artist roles", writes film historian [[James Naremore]]. He adds that Minnelli had his "richest, most impressive collaborations" with Douglas, and for Minnelli, no other actor portrayed his level of "cool": "A robust, athletic, sometimes explosive player, Douglas loved stagy rhetoric, and he did everything passionately."<ref>[[James Naremore|Naremore, James]] (1993). ''The Films of Vincente Minnelli'', Cambridge Univ. Press, p. 41, {{ISBN|978-0521387705}}, {{OCLC|231580819}}</ref> Douglas had also starred in Minnelli's film ''[[The Bad and the Beautiful]]'' four years earlier, for which he received a Best Actor Oscar nomination.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Bad-and-the-Beautiful|encyclopedia= Encyclopaedia Britannica |title= The Bad and the Beautiful|date=n.d.|last=Pfeiffer|first=Lee}}</ref>