# Kirk Douglas at 95 - Still signing autographs. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 2, 2012, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kirk-douglas-at-95-still-signing-autographs/630219 "2012-08-02T21:18:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2012, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kirk-douglas-at-95-still-signing-autographs/630219/1 "2012-08-02T21:18:34Z")
We’ve posted so many sad farewells to aging stars. I thought it would be nice posting about someone before they pass. Kirk is 95 and still goes out to eat and signs autographs. The stroke he had over a decade ago took his voice but he still gets around reasonably well. Issur Danielovitch Demsky was born in 1916. I hope I’m doing that well at 95. > **[Kirk Douglas, 95, hasn't lost star appeal as he signs autographs and bids...](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2182372/Kirk-Douglas-95-lost-star-appeal-signs-autographs-bids-fans-farewell-royal-wave.html)** > > The Spartacus actor was greeted by an enthusiastic throng of admirers as he emerged from Madeo restaurant in West Hollywood last night, accompanied by his wife of 58 years, Anne Buydens. Any Kirk Douglas fans here? Favorite movies or books that he wrote? I read _The Ragman’s Son_. Really moving bio of Kirk’s Jewish heritage and the family’s struggle as Russian immigrants in America. I was so moved by Kirk’s pride in his heritage and the poverty that he overcame. Kirk was a fitness buff long before it became trendy. He worked out constantly all the way up into his eighties. That’s why he was able to play roles like Spartacus in his mid forties. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2012, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kirk-douglas-at-95-still-signing-autographs/630219/2 "2012-08-02T22:20:00Z")
No favorite but yes a big fan of the man. 95? Wow. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2012, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kirk-douglas-at-95-still-signing-autographs/630219/3 "2012-08-02T22:36:38Z")
Kirk is giving a lot of his money to charity. 50 million is a lot of savings for a actor that was primarily a big star in the 1940’s,50’s, and 60’s. He never got the huge multimillion $ paychecks like his son Michael. Glad his wife Anne is still alive. They’ve been married 58 years. > **[Kirk Douglas to give more money to Kirk Douglas Theatre](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/la-xpm-2012-jul-30-la-et-cm-kirk-douglas-to-give-more-money-to-kirk-douglas-theatre-20120729-story.html)** > > Kirk Douglas to give more money to Kirk Douglas Theatre > [@](#): > > The actor’s new $50 million pledge will also go toward four other organizations – St. Lawrence University, which is Douglas’ alma mater; Harry’s Haven Alzheimer’s unit at the Motion Picture & Television Fund in Woodland Hills; the Anne Douglas Center for Women in L.A.; and the Sinai Temple in Westwood. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2012, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kirk-douglas-at-95-still-signing-autographs/630219/4 "2012-08-02T22:52:14Z")
Kirk is the producer of two of my all-time favorite movies: _Paths of Glory_ and _Spartcus_. I saw him in a 2010 documentary just a couple of days ago, interviewed for a documentary on cinematographer Jack Cardiff. His voice may be slurred, but he is still completely comprehensible – that is, unless he’s gotten significantly worse in the last couple of years. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2012, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kirk-douglas-at-95-still-signing-autographs/630219/5 "2012-08-02T22:55:52Z")
I was at an event where he spoke earlier this year. His voice was slurred but he was totally understandable, personable and funny. He lives here in the Santa Barbara area and has done a lot for this community. ---
**Author:** ![lost4life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c4cdca/32.png) [@lost4life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lost4life)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2012, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kirk-douglas-at-95-still-signing-autographs/630219/6 "2012-08-03T15:11:30Z")
Well, put me on the list of Coulda Sworn He Was Dead. Glad I’m wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2012, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kirk-douglas-at-95-still-signing-autographs/630219/7 "2012-08-03T15:15:40Z")
I heard a podcast of him on “Real Time with Bill Maher” about a month ago. He was surprisingly witty and even dropped the F-bomb. Bill said they had lunch together occasionally. He sounds like a great guy really. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2012, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kirk-douglas-at-95-still-signing-autographs/630219/8 "2012-08-03T15:18:50Z")
[_Ace in the Hole_](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0043338/), aka _The Big Carnival._ I have never been able to watch the ending of [_Lonely are the Brave._](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056195/) 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![UntouchedTakeaway](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/d78d45/32.png) [@UntouchedTakeaway](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UntouchedTakeaway)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2012, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kirk-douglas-at-95-still-signing-autographs/630219/9 "2012-08-05T00:34:09Z")
Some doofus in the comments section identified the man assisting Kirk as Robert Altman, which would be quite the feat since Altman died in 2006. Heh. I think it’s actually George Schlatter, the producer of “Laugh-In”, who seems to know _everybody_ UT~