Editing Kirk Douglas (section)

==Style and philosophy of acting==
[[File:Lana Turner and Kirk Douglas in Bad and the Beautiful.jpg|right|thumb|Douglas with Lana Turner in ''[[The Bad and the Beautiful]]'' (1952)]]
{{quote box|width=30em|align=right|bgcolor=Cornsilk|quote=Kirk is one of a kind. He has an overpowering physical presence, which is why on a large movie screen he looms over the audience like a tidal wave in full flood. Globally revered, he is now the last living screen legend of those who vaulted to stardom at the war's end, that special breed of movie idol instantly recognizable anywhere, whose luminous on-screen characters are forever memorable.|source= —[[Jack Valenti]], president of the Motion Picture Association of America.<ref name=Valenti/>}}

Douglas stated that the keys to acting success are determination and application: "You must know how to function and how to maintain yourself, and you must have a love of what you do. But an actor also needs great good luck. I have had that luck."<ref>Thomas, p. 11.</ref> Douglas had great vitality and explained that "it takes a lot out of you to work in this business. Many people fall by the wayside because they don't have the energy to sustain their talent."<ref name="Thomas, p. 21">Thomas, p. 21</ref>

That attitude toward acting became evident with [[Champion (1949 film)|''Champion'']] (1949). From that one role, writes biographer John Parker, he went from stardom and entered the "superleague", where his style was in "marked contrast to Hollywood's other leading men at the time".<ref name=Parker/> His sudden rise to prominence is explained by comparing it to that of [[Jack Nicholson]]'s:

{{blockquote|He virtually ignored interventionist directors. He prepared himself privately for each role he played, so that when the cameras were ready to roll he was suitably, and some would say egotistically and even selfishly, inspired to steal every scene in a manner comparable in modern times to Jack Nicholson's ''modus operandi''.<ref name=Parker/>}}

As a producer, Douglas had a reputation of being a compulsively hard worker who expected others to exude the same level of energy. As such, he was typically demanding and direct in his dealing with people who worked on his projects, with his intensity spilling over into all elements of his film-making.<ref name="Thomas, p. 19"/> This was partly due to his high opinion of actors, movies, and moviemaking: "To me it is the most important art form—it ''is'' an art, and it includes all the elements of the modern age." He also stressed prioritizing the entertainment goal of films over any messages, "You can make a statement, you can say something, but it must be entertaining."<ref name="Thomas, p. 28"/>

As an actor, he dived into every role, dissecting not only his own lines but all the parts in the script to measure the rightness of the role, and he was willing to fight with a director if he felt justified.<ref name="Thomas, p. 21"/> [[Melville Shavelson]], who produced and directed ''[[Cast a Giant Shadow]]'' (1966), said that it didn't take him long to discover what his main problem was going to be in directing Douglas:

{{blockquote|Kirk Douglas was ''intelligent.'' When discussing a script with actors, I have always found it necessary to remember that they never read the other actors' lines, so their concept of the story is somewhat hazy. Kirk had not only read the lines of everyone in the picture, he had also read the stage directions ... Kirk, I was to discover, always read every word, discussed every word, always argued every scene, until he was convinced of its correctness. ... He listened, so it was necessary to fight every minute.<ref name="Thomas, p. 21"/>}}
[[File:KirkDouglasZubinMehtaMar11.jpg|thumb|Douglas with [[Zubin Mehta]], March 2011]]

For most of his career, Douglas enjoyed good health and what seemed like an inexhaustible supply of energy. He attributed much of that vitality to his childhood and pre-acting years: "The drive that got me out of my hometown and through college is part of the makeup that I utilize in my work. It's a constant fight, and it's tough."<ref name="Thomas, p. 21"/> His demands on others, however, were an expression of the demands he placed on himself, rooted in his youth. "It took me years to concentrate on being a human being—I was too busy scrounging for money and food, and struggling to better myself."<ref>Thomas, p. 25</ref>

Actress [[Lee Grant]], who acted with him and later filmed a documentary about him and his family, notes that even after he achieved worldwide stardom, his father would not acknowledge his success. He said "nothing. Ever."<ref name=Grant/> Douglas's wife, Anne, similarly attributes the energy he devotes to acting to his tough childhood:

{{blockquote|He was reared by his mother and his sisters and as a schoolboy he had to work to help support the family. I think part of Kirk's life has been a monstrous effort to prove himself and gain recognition in the eyes of his father ... Not even four years of psychoanalysis could alter the drives that began as a desire to prove himself.<ref name="Thomas, p. 24"/>}}

Douglas has credited his mother, Bryna, for instilling in him the importance of "gambling on yourself", and he kept her advice in mind when making films.<ref name="Thomas, p. 19"/> Bryna Productions was named in her honor. Douglas realized that his intense style of acting was something of a shield: "Acting is the most direct way of escaping reality, and in my case it was a means of escaping a drab and dismal background."<ref>Thomas, p. 22</ref>