Wednesday, February 5, 2020

Kirk Douglas (1916-2020)

Kirk Douglas, who died on Wednesday at age 103, was a wonderful actor.

He was also a noted film producer, and wrote many books--including The Ragman's Son, a 1988 memoir; a 2002 memoir, written after his severe 1996 stroke, My Stroke of Luck; and 1997's Climbing the Mountain: My Search for Meaning. He also wrote fiction.

Here is a quote from Mr. Douglas's New York Times obituary.  It is from an essay he wrote about aging, in 2008, for Newsweek magazine.

“Years ago I was at the bedside of my dying mother, an illiterate Russian peasant. Terrified, I held her hand. She opened her eyes and looked at me. The last thing she said to me was, ‘Don’t be afraid, son, it happens to everyone.’ As I got older, I became comforted by those words.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/05/obituaries/kirk-douglas-dead.html