Editors Note: This story corrects the original which misrepresented the era in which a Hollywood “blacklist” was circulated. This occurred during the 1950s.
Legendary film star and producer Kirk Douglas spoke at an afternoon seminar at Cal State Long Beach’s Daniel Recital Hall yesterday about adversity he faced as a student.
“I had $163 in my pocket, and I wanted to go to college, ” Douglas said.
The star of “Spartacus” claimed he never meant to be in movies, but once he started college, everything changed.
“A fraternity invited me to dinner, which meant they wanted me to become a member,” Douglas said. “When dinner came, no one came. A boy told me later the fraternity found out I was Jewish. I never forgot that.”
In 1996, Douglas had a stroke that left his speech partially impaired.
“When I had a stroke about 15 years ago, I couldn’t speak” Douglas said. “I wrote a play where I played myself and it was successful — eight performances a week.”
After talking about his stroke, Douglas sat down and read a poem entitled “Acting Faces” written by Betty McMicken, a CSULB communicative disorders assistant professor and speech-language pathologist.
Speech-language pathologists often aid people, like Douglas, who struggle to speak because of strokes or other speech impairing events.
Douglas and McMicken told the story of Kirk’s recovery from a stroke.
“The very first time I saw you 8 years ago, I thought writing poems would be a great way to help your speech,” McMicken said.
The two told the audience of about 100 students and faculty how they have worked with Douglas’ speech recovery since the stroke and also discussed some of their personal conversations.
McMicken asked Douglas to share his opinion on movie ratings.
“In a G-rated film, nobody gets the girl,” he said. “In an R-rated film, the hero gets the girl. In an X, everyone gets the girl.”
As an actor, Douglas was featured in a variety of genres, from westerns to romantic comedies.
Some of his most well-known movies are “Spartacus,” which won an Academy Award for best cinematography, and “Paths of Glory.”
He once described the characters he played as “real sons of bitches.”
“I am happy to have had the opportunity to listen to him and learn more about his personal view on his work,” said Helena Haman, a film major on exchange from Germany. “It was also very interesting to hear about his experience with the blacklist in the past.”
The Hollywood blacklist was a list of entertainers who were denied employment because of their political views in the mid-1950s.
Douglas was the first to defy the blacklist and gave credit to the screen writer of “Spartacus,” who was blacklisted.
Douglas speaking up was essential to ending the blacklist.
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