The movie role that made Kirk Douglas “dizzy and nauseous”
Some actors have had a remarkable rise to the top, and the iconic Kirk Douglas is such a star. Born Issur Danielovitch in 1916 in New York, the future actor had a difficult childhood, being raised by an alcoholic and abusive father, and it looked for all intents and purposes that he would be consigned to a life of misery and poverty.
However, young “Izzy” became interested in acting after reciting a poem by John Clare in kindergarten. When he grew up, he was picked up by the American Academy of Dramatic Arts on a special scholarship. What followed over the preceding decades saw Douglas establish himself as one of the greatest actors of all time, with memorable performances in the likes of Champion, The Bad and the Beautiful, Lust for Life, and Spartacus.
While Douglas is easily considered one of the all-time Hollywood greats, the fact remains that, just like any actor, he had to start somewhere. After serving in the United States Navy in World War II, he initially worked on the stage as an actor. Before long, though, the big screen came calling, and Douglas made his film debut in Lewis Milestone’s The Strange Love of Martha Ivers.
When speaking with HuffPost about his favourite movie roles, Douglas noted his early experience in his debut. The Strange Love of Martha Ivers, also starring Barbara Stanwick, Van Heflin, Lizabeth Scott and Judith Anderson, tells of a man who is reunited with his childhood friend and her husband, who both think he knows the truth about the death of the woman’s wealthy aunt many years before.
After performing in a play called The Wind Is Ninety, Douglas was visited backstage by a Hollywood producer by the name of Hal Wallis as a result of his friend Lauren Bacall’s encouragement. When Wallis offered Douglas a job in a movie with Barbara Stanwyck and Van Heflin with a “better paycheck than [he] could get on Broadway,” the young actor knew that he couldn’t refuse.
In preparation for his first film role, Douglas set about memorising all his parts “so I could hold my own with the seasoned film stars.” At the first rehearsal, he impressed himself and felt he had said all his lines “perfectly.” However, according to the looks on everyone else’s faces, there seemed to be something wrong.
“I had learned Van Heflin’s part instead of the role of the weak, alcoholic husband of Martha Ivers. How mortifying!” Douglas explained. As it was Douglas’ first film role, perhaps there was a sense of taking it easy on the young actor, but sadly, his “next humiliation” was not far behind. As the production went ahead, Douglas, who didn’t smoke, was asked to light a cigarette by director Lewis Milestone.
Anyone who doesn’t smoke knows that just a few drags from a cigarette can make someone feel very sick, and this is precisely what happened to poor Douglas. It made me dizzy and nauseous, and I ran to my dressing room to throw up,” he explained, showing that his first movie was full of personal calamities.
Still, the film served as a crucial moment in his career and after returning to New York after The Strange Love of Martha Ivers, Douglas performed in a “few more flops” and became “a film actor out of necessity”. Not only was he soon working in Hollywood regularly, but he had also begun to smoke four packets of cigarettes per day.
