He lived in Palm Springs, CA, for more than 40 years. In October 2005 the city honored him by naming a lushly-landscaped drive "Kirk Douglas Way". It winds around part of Palm Springs International Airport. A lavish ceremony and party was given by the Palm Springs International Film Society and International Film Festival and was attended by the actor, his wife Anne Douglas and their three surviving sons. His son Joel, also a Palm Springs resident, was responsible for the campaign.
He was a close friend of Jack Valenti.
He was awarded the American National Medal of Arts in 2001 from the National Endowment of the Arts.
He was not as good of a friend with Burt Lancaster as was often perceived. The closeness of their friendship was largely fabricated by the publicity-wise Douglas, while, in reality, Lancaster was often cruel and dismissive to Douglas.
He was not close friends with Burt Lancaster as was often perceived. The closeness of their friendship was largely fabricated by the publicity-wise Douglas, while, in reality, they were very competitive with each other and sometimes privately expressed a mutual personal disdain despite a mutual respect for their acting talents.
He was originally cast in John Wayne's role in Sands of Iwo Jima (1949), but pulled out in order to make Champion (1949).
He was voted the 36th Greatest Movie Star of all time by Entertainment Weekly.
He wore lifts in many of his films, which made him appear about 5' 11" or 6 feet on screen. Once, as a prank, Burt Lancaster found Douglas's lifts on a film set and hid them from him, which allegedly infuriated the shorter actor.
Helped break the Hollywood blacklist by hiring Dalton Trumbo, a member of the "Hollywood Ten", to write the screenplay. Despite widespread criticism from many in the industry, including John Wayne and Hedda Hopper, Douglas refused to back down and Trumbo received a screen credit under his own name. When presenting Douglas with an honorary Oscar for lifetime achievement at The 68th Annual Academy Awards (1996) (TV), Steven Spielberg thanked Douglas for his courage.
His idol was President Harry S. Truman.
His star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame is at 6263 Hollywood Blvd.
If he had not heeded wife Anne Douglas's advice, he would have been on producer Michael Todd's private plane in 1958 when it crashed and killed all onboard. Todd's wife Elizabeth Taylor was also scheduled to be on the plane but canceled to to a bad cold.
In 1955 he was among the first actors to set up his own production company. He called it Bryna, after his mother.
In his last book, "Let's Face It: 90 Years of Living, Loving and Learning", he expressed regret at turning down William Holden's Oscar-winning role in Stalag 17 (1953), Stephen Boyd's role in The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964), and Lee Marvin's Oscar-winning role in Cat Ballou (1965).
Inducted into the Hall of Great Western Performers of the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in 1984.
Is an avid user of the Internet and is registered with MySpace.
Kirk had a fully Jewish upbringing, but did not practice extensively as an adult. This changed when, in his 80s, he had a second Bar Mitzvah, reaffirming his faith and causing him to practice again.
Kirk has celebrated his Bar Mitzvah twice. Once, obviously, when he was 13 years old and the other time when he was 83 years old.
Made his stage debut in 1942.
Member of the jury at the Cannes Film Festival in 1970.