Editing Kirk Douglas (section)

===Financial troubles===
For approximately 15 years and 27 films, Douglas's agent had been Sam Norton, who was compensated with 10% of Douglas's gross earnings. In addition, Norton was partners with Jerome "Jerry" B. Rosenthal in the law firm of Rosenthal & Norton which received an additional 10%.<ref name=Kirk&Anne1>{{cite book |last1= Douglas |first1= Kirk |last2= Douglas |first2= Anne |last3= Newberger |first3= Marcia |year= 2017 |title= Kirk and Anne: Letters of Love, Laughter and a Lifetime in Hollywood |location= Philadelphia |publisher= Running Press |pages= 67, 101, 103, 104, 113, 114, 115, 121, 122 |type= Hardcover |isbn= 978-0-7624-6217-9}}</ref> On the day of his wedding in 1958 his bride Anne had been quietly pulled aside by Norton and been presented by Norton (without Kirk Douglas's knowledge) with a pre-nuptial agreement. She signed the document, but Douglas, because he held Norton as both his best friend and a father figure, was unwilling to get involved in his wife's subsequent attempts to obtain a copy.<ref name= Kirk&Anne1/> Anne Douglas went behind her husband's back, engaging lawyer Greg Bautzer and suing to obtain a copy from Norton successfully. Her distrust of Norton grew, especially as he had been granted power of attorney, and she found that the pre-nuptial agreement meant that she and their children had no claim on Douglas's estate until they had been married for five years. She could also find no documentation to prove Norton's assertion that Douglas was a millionaire. Her suspicions were further aroused when the Broadway play ''A Very Special Baby'' for which Norton had convinced Douglas to guarantee financing, closed after only a week. She shared her concerns first with Greg Bautzer and then [[Edward Lewis (producer)|Edward Lewis]] who advised her to hire Price Waterhouse to investigate her husband's finances.<ref name= Kirk&Anne1/>

Douglas returned from filming ''The Devils Disciple'' in England in late 1958, and was presented with the results of Price Waterhouse's audit which detailed that the 18 months he had recently spent overseas on the advice of Norton did not qualify for a tax-free income break, that the investments he had been advised to make in fact had been channeled through dummy companies owned by his agent. As a result, Douglas had no money and owed the IRS $750,000. Douglas engaged a new lawyer and was able to get Rosenthal & Norton to give up their rights to any interest in his latest film ''The Vikings'' and any of his future income. Norton was dismissed as his agent, but as he had put nearly all of his assets in his wife's name, Douglas was only able to recover $200,000 from him.<ref name= Kirk&Anne1/>

The profits from ''The Vikings'' allowed Douglas to pay off his IRS debt, with his financial future now dependent on the success of ''Spartacus''.<ref name= Kirk&Anne1/>