Kirk Douglas (born
Issur Danielovitch; December 9, 1916) is an American retired actor, producer, director, and author. After an impoverished childhood with immigrant parents and six sisters, he had his film debut in
The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946) with
Barbara Stanwyck. Douglas soon developed into a leading box-office star throughout the 1950s and 1960s, known for serious dramas, including westerns and war movies. During a sixty-year acting career, he has appeared in over 90 movies, and in 1960 was responsible for helping to end the
Hollywood blacklist.