Editing Kirk Douglas (section)

===''Spartacus'' and mid-career===
[[File:Spartacus - 1960 - poster.png|thumb|''Spartacus'' (1960)]]

In 1960, Douglas played the title role in what many consider his career-defining appearance<ref>{{cite news|last1=Samuelson|first1=Kate|title=3 Things to Know About Kirk Douglas on His 100th Birthday|url=https://time.com/4596395/kirk-douglas-100/|magazine=Time|access-date=April 11, 2017|language=en|date=December 9, 2016}}</ref> as the [[Thracian]] gladiator slave rebel [[Spartacus]] with an all-star cast in ''[[Spartacus (film)|Spartacus]]'' (1960). He was the executive producer as well, which increased the $12&nbsp;million production cost and made ''Spartacus'' one of the most expensive films up to that time.<ref>Thomas, p. 168</ref> Douglas initially selected [[Anthony Mann]] to direct, but replaced him early on with [[Stanley Kubrick]], with whom he had previously collaborated in ''[[Paths of Glory]]''.<ref>Thomas, p. 149</ref>

When the film was released, Douglas gave full credit to its screenwriter, [[Dalton Trumbo]], who was on the [[Hollywood blacklist]], and thereby effectively ended it.<ref name="face"/>{{rp|81}} During a 2012 interview Douglas said, "I've made over 85 pictures, but the thing I'm most proud of is breaking the blacklist."<ref name="Paskin-2012" /> The film's producer, Edward Lewis, and the family of Dalton Trumbo publicly disputed Douglas's claim.<ref>{{Cite web|last1=Meroney|first1=John|last2=Coons|first2=Sean|date=July 5, 2012|title=How Kirk Douglas Overstated His Role in Breaking the Hollywood Blacklist|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2012/07/how-kirk-douglas-overstated-his-role-in-breaking-the-hollywood-blacklist/259111/|access-date=December 27, 2016|website=The Atlantic}}</ref> In the film [[Trumbo (2015 film)|''Trumbo'']] (2015), Douglas is portrayed by [[Dean O'Gorman]].<ref>[https://latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-ca-mn-sneaks-trumbo-dean-ogorman-20151101-story.html "'Trumbo's' Dean O'Gorman plays Kirk Douglas and earns praise from the legend"], ''Los Angeles Times'', October 30, 2015.</ref>

[[File:Kirk Douglas - 1963.jpg|thumb|left|240px|With [[Joan Tetzel]] in the 1963 Broadway play [[One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (play)|''One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest'']]]]

Douglas bought the rights to stage a play of the novel [[One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (play)|''One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest'']] from its author, [[Ken Kesey]]. He mounted a play from the material in 1963 in which he starred and that ran on Broadway for five months. Reviews were mixed. Douglas retained the movie rights due to an innovative loophole of basing the rights on the play rather than the novel, despite Kesey's objections, but after a decade of being unable to find a producer he gave the rights to his son, [[Michael Douglas|Michael]]. In 1975, the [[One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (film)|film version]] was produced by Michael Douglas and [[Saul Zaentz]], and starred [[Jack Nicholson]], as Douglas was then considered too old to play the character as written.<ref name=Valenti/> The film won [[List of Big Five Academy Award winners and nominees|all five major Academy Awards]], only the second film to do so (after ''[[It Happened One Night]]'' in 1934).<ref>Douglas, Edward (2009). ''Jack: A Biography of Jack Nicholson'', HarperCollins, p. 136<!-- Page is based on the "2004 edition, which World Cat does not list. Providing 2009 eBook data from WorldCat --> {{ISBN|978-0061745492}}. {{OCLC|1237159010}}</ref>

Douglas made seven films over four decades with actor [[Burt Lancaster]]: ''[[I Walk Alone]]'' (1947), ''[[Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (film)|Gunfight at the O.K. Corral]]'' (1957), ''[[The Devil's Disciple (1959 film)|The Devil's Disciple]]'' (1959), ''[[The List of Adrian Messenger]]'' (1963), ''[[Seven Days in May]]'' (1964), ''[[Victory at Entebbe]]'' (1976), and ''[[Tough Guys]]'' (1986), which fixed the notion of the pair as something of a team in the public imagination. Douglas was always billed under Lancaster in these movies, but, with the exception of ''I Walk Alone'' and, even more so, ''The List of Adrian Messenger'' (where Lancaster's part is just a [[cameo appearance]], while Douglas plays the film's villain), their roles were usually of a similar size. Both actors arrived in [[Hollywood, Los Angeles|Hollywood]] at about the same time and first appeared together in the fourth film for each, albeit with Douglas in a supporting role. They both became actor-producers who sought out independent Hollywood careers.<ref name="Thomas, p. 44"/>

[[John Frankenheimer]], who directed the political thriller ''[[Seven Days in May]]'' in 1964, had not worked well with Lancaster in the past and originally did not want him in this film. However, Douglas thought Lancaster would fit the part and "begged me to reconsider," said Frankenheimer, and he then gave Lancaster the most colorful role. "It turns out that Burt Lancaster and I got along magnificently well on the picture," he later said.<ref>Armstrong, Stephen B. ed. (2013), ''John Frankenheimer: Interviews, Essays, and Profiles'', Lanham: The Scarecrow Press, p. 166, {{ISBN|978-0810890572}}. {{OCLC|820530958}}</ref>

In 1967 Douglas starred with [[John Wayne]] in the western film directed by [[Burt Kennedy]] titled ''[[The War Wagon]]''.<ref>{{cite news|title=New Double Bill|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1967/08/03/archives/new-double-bill.html|work=The New York Times|date=August 3, 1967|access-date=February 6, 2020|page=0}}</ref>

In [[The Arrangement (1969 film)|''The Arrangement'']] (1969), a drama directed by [[Elia Kazan]] and based upon his [[The Arrangement (novel)|novel of the same title]], Douglas starred as a tormented advertising executive, with [[Faye Dunaway]] as costar. The film did poorly at the box office, receiving mostly negative reviews. Dunaway believed many of the reviews were unfair, writing in her biography, "I can't understand it when people knock Kirk's performance, because I think he's terrific in the picture," adding that "he's as bright a person as I've met in the acting profession."<ref>Hunter, Allan. ''Faye Dunaway'', St. Martin's Press, NY (1986) p. 81</ref> She says that his "pragmatic approach to acting" would later be a "philosophy that ended up rubbing off on me."<ref name=Dunaway>Dunaway, Faye; Sharkey, Betsy (1995). ''Looking for Gatsby: My Life '', Simon & Schuster, p. 193 {{ISBN|978-0684808413}}, {{OCLC|474923659}}</ref>