A big birthday is just around the corner. Kirk Douglas, America’s Spartacus, turns 98 on Dec. 9, and he’s releasing a work of poetry and stories of his life, Life Could Be Verse (HCI, out Tuesday), for the occasion.
“I’ve written 10 books,” says the witty legendary actor, as sharp and impish as ever, despite navigating a speech impediment that remains from a severe stroke suffered in 1996. “But this was the first time I was looking over the things in my life, and I was surprised to know how many poems I’ve written.”
Douglas has worked to regain his speech, but he continued writing all the while, and in 2012 published an in-depth account of his most famous film, I am Spartacus: Making a Film, Breaking the Blacklist. Now, he’s reflecting on a life spent in Hollywood, from his first audition with Mae West (a solid rejection) to his changing relationship with son Michael Douglas. Andrea Mandell catches up with the legend on life at (nearly) 98.
On technology
“Technology frightens me. I don’t have a cellphone. I don’t even have a watch,” says Douglas. “My wife insisted on buying me a computer. I know nothing about computers. But one thing: I love having a place to play solitaire. I play all the time.” So who handles his correspondence? “I have a good-looking secretary,” he grins. “But really, technology changed the world. People don’t write. It’s a different world I’m about to leave.” Not so fast, a reporter protests. “I’m about to be 98 you think, maybe?” Didn’t Moses make it to 120? “Yes, but when they said that he got to 120 nobody has proof of it.” And what of People magazine publishing his obituary by mistake online just this past weekend? “The announcement of my death is premature,” Douglas said on Monday, via an assistant. “I’m looking forward to turning 98 next week.”
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“I watch the news,” he says, but not many movies, although he keeps a library of classics in his home. “I have mixed feelings. I feel like for me to watch movies now I would feel like an intruder. Because I don’t make any movies (anymore). I thought about making a movie, I was going to have a script written for two people, me and my grandson (Dylan, 14, son of Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones), but I said, ‘Oh Kirk, too much work.’ “
On romance
“I have been in love with my wife for 60 years,” says Douglas of his second wife, Anne, 84, who is running errands during the interview. “And I wrote a poem about that. I think romance begins at 80. And I ought to know, because I live with a girl who would tell you so!” Does he still romance Anne? “Of course! I send her a note, and put it on her pillow. She likes that.” In Life Could be Verse, “I tried to take the poems and put them in the story (of my life). And the story ends with my wife and me.”
On fatherhood vs. being a grandfather
Douglas acknowledged he’s evolved as a father. “I didn’t remain so self-centered. When you’re trying to be an actor you’re just thinking of yourself,” says the star, who was nominated for a best-actor Academy Award three times (1950’s Champion, 1953’s The Bad and the Beautiful, 1957’s Lust for Life) and awarded an honorary Oscar in 1996. “But when you have had some experiences …you have time to think more about others. You think what you can do to help others. And I think that should be the core of every living (being), to help other people.” Today he spends “as much (time) as I can,” with his grandkids. “I find my grandchildren very interesting.”
On the gridlock on Capitol Hill
“We will always have problems that we have to deal with,” says Douglas, who fought to credit writer Dalton Trumbo (who was blacklisted during McCarthyism) onscreen for Spartacus in 1960. “But life goes on. I think the important thing is that people must have a chance. A chance to do something in life. I feel I was given a chance. And I like to help other people get a chance.”
