Kirk Douglas—actor, producer, author, humanitarian, man of courage,
father, and husband—is also a graduate of St. Lawrence in the great
Class of 1939. Actually, he is also Dr. Douglas, having received an honorary
doctorate from St. Lawrence in May of 1958, his last visit to campus until
today.
Many of you know the story, I’m
sure, of his arrival at St. Lawrence in September of
1935, as told in his 1988 memoir The Ragman’s Son.
Having hitchhiked to campus from his home in Amsterdam
in the back of a fertilizer truck, he presented himself
and his strong high school record to Dean Hulett, said
he had $163, and asked to be admitted. Hulett thought
for a moment, looked him in the eye, and said he would
take a chance. Hulett arranged a loan so that, if Kirk
got a job also, he could afford it. The rest, as they
say, is history.
He began the trip from Amsterdam as
Issur Danielovitch. When he arrived in Canton, he was
Isadore Demsky, and that is the name by which St. Lawrence
knew him until he became Kirk Douglas at the start of
his stage and film career.
His performance at St. Lawrence was
legendary. He majored in English, became a champion wrestler
recognized in the St. Lawrence Athletic Hall of Fame,
was elected president of Thelmo (the first non-fraternity
man to be elected—in a sad piece of fraternity
history, Jews could not be members then), and was tapped
for membership in Kixioc, the men’s leadership
honorary (now ODK). And, of course, he acted in plays,
becoming president of the Mummers.
Kirk is known primarily as a film actor
and, with his wife Anne, who is also with us today, a
producer, but early in his career he appeared on Broadway.
He is also a writer of two volumes of memoirs, three
novels, and several children’s books. Behind the
scenes, Kirk and Anne have provided for playgrounds in
the United States and Israel, helped those suffering
from Alzheimer’s, and quietly promoted freedom
in war-torn parts of the world. St. Lawrence, too, has
felt his strong support. The recipient of three academy
award nominations and a 1996 Honorary Oscar for 50 years
of achievement in the film industry, among a long list
of film awards, Kirk was also awarded the Medal of Freedom
by President Carter in 1981, the highest award given
a civilian in peacetime.
Most impressive to me, however, is his
commitment to speaking out for what is right, even at
the risk of his own career. An example was his insistence
in 1959 that Dalton Trumbo, blacklisted by the McCarthy
Committee along with many other artists in the communist
scares of the mid-1950’s, be listed on the credits
of Spartacus, whose screenplay Trumbo had written, under
his real name and not a pseudonym, breaking the hold
of the blacklist on the careers of those artists.
When my Ann and I visited Kirk and Anne
at their home in California over a year ago, Kirk said
he wanted to come back to campus one more time. I asked
if he would spend time with students, and he said “yes,
lots of them, not just a few—students are what
St. Lawrence is about.”
As in so many other things, he’s
got that just right. Please join me in welcoming Kirk
Douglas.
