Tuesday, July 3, 2007 | 7:41 a.m.
Who: Kirk Douglas signs his autobiography "Let's Face It: 90 Years of Living, Loving and Learning"
When: 2 p.m. Wednesday
Where: The Reading Room at Mandalay Place
Selected filmography
Kirk Douglas has appeared in 75 feature films, including:
"The Strange Love of Martha Ivers," 1946
"Champion," 1949
"Young Man With a Horn," 1950
"The Bad and the Beautiful," 1952
"20,000 Leagues Under the Sea," 1954
"Lust for Life," 1956
"Gunfight at the O.K. Corral," 1957
"Paths of Glory," 1957
"The Vikings," 1958
"Spartacus," 1960
"Lonely Are the Brave," 1962
"Seven Days in May," 1964
"Is Paris Burning?", 1966
"There Was a Crooked Man," 1970
"Scalawag," 1973
"Posse," 1975
"The Final Countdown," 1980
"It Runs in the Family," 2003
Admission: Free; 632-9374
When: 6 p.m. Wednesday
Where: Borders Books & Music, 2190 N . Rainbow Blvd.
Admission: Free; 638-7866
The often-imitated voice of Kirk Douglas isn't as recognizable after a stroke 12 years ago, but the strong personality and indomitable spirit that made him a superstar still shine through.
The 90-year-old actor and author will be in Las Vegas on Wednesday to sign copies of his latest book - a memoir titled "Let's Face It: 90 Years of Living, Loving and Learning."
He spoke to the Sun recently from his home in Los Angeles.
"You know, for a guy who can't talk, I talk a lot," Douglas says midway through the interview in which he discussed the book and other subjects.
Among them was Las Vegas.
"I'm really excited about coming to Las Vegas," he says. "Las Vegas means a lot to me. I got married in Las Vegas more than 50 years ago, at the Sahara."
Is there a movie fan in the world who doesn't know Kirk Douglas, who was born Issur Danielovitch in Amsterdam, N.Y., the son of illiterate Jewish-Russian immigrants?
Douglas, father of actor/producer/director Michael Douglas, rose from poverty to become an international star, performing in such memorable films as "Lonely Are the Brave" (1962); "Spartacus" (1960); "Gunfight at the O.K. Corral" (1957); "Paths of Glory" (1957) and "Lust for Life" (1956), in which he portrayed Vincent van Gogh.
His roster of friends - many of whom have died - reads like Hollywood's A-list: Frank Sinatra, Burt Lancaster, Lauren Bacall, Ava Gardner, Fred Astaire, Yul Brynner and John Wayne and includes the likes of Henry Kissinger and Johnny Cash.
Douglas' first book was an autobiography, "The Ragman's Son," which was published in 1988. He went on to write novels: "Dance With the Devil" in 1990; "The Gift," 1992; and "Last Tango in Brooklyn" in 1994.
After his stroke he wrote a children's book, "The Broken Mirror" (1997); a second autobiography, "Climbing the Mountain: My Search for Meaning" (1997); another children's book, "Young Heroes of the Bible" (1999) ; and a third autobiography , "My Stroke of Luck" (2001).
"Let's Face It" should be an enjoyable read for any Douglas fan. His experiences and his memories make those of us mere mortals seem inconsequential.
Although this is not a reveal-all book, Douglas hints at indiscretions and does not shy from his faults. He is honest.
"I'm too old to be lying," Douglas says. "You have to be honest with other people and with yourself."
Douglas says he wrote the book to help young people.
"My feeling is that, let's face it, the world is in a mess and the younger generation will inherit that mess," he says. "And the older generation has to do everything it can to help them."
Douglas says one of the people who influenced him was the 19th-century educator Horace Mann.
"He said , 'Be ashamed to die before you make a victory for humanity.' That impressed me," Douglas says. "Everybody, no matter who they are, should do something for the people that come after you."
He and his wife, Anne, have done a lot, from building schoolyards across Los Angeles to giving money to every student who graduates from that city's Kirk Douglas High School.
"For kids today, it's so tough with the world in such a mess," Douglas says. "The high school named after me has troubled students. At graduation I give everyone who graduates $500 because I want them to know that if they finish their education they should have some reward."
Douglas' book touches on many topics, including a 1991 collision of the helicopter in which he was a passenger and a small plane.
"It makes me very sad," he says. "Two young people died, one was 18 and was going to go to his senior prom. I was in my 70s. I felt guilty. Why was I alive and they were killed?"
Another painful subject he discusses in the book is the death of his son Eric by an accidental drug overdose in 2004. He was 46.
"That was tragic," Douglas says. "At first I wasn't going to write about it, but I realized my book 'Stroke of Luck' helped a lot of people, so I decided to write about it."
He says when someone so close to you dies, there is no closure.
"They all talk about closure," Douglas says. "But there's no closure. You just have to live with it. The counselor says follow the three C's. You didn't cause it. You can't cure it. You can't control it.
"But you realize you just have to live with it."
In the book Douglas even writes about changing his name.
"When I went into summer stock and on to college they said I should change my name for the stage and so I did," he says. "Kirk Douglas became my legal name - but when I'm with myself, I think of myself as Issur, the name I was born with.
"I think we all have the young boy hiding somewhere within us. At least I do, and every so often he comes out."
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