Kirk Douglas: Silver Screen Legend

Kirk Douglas was born Issur Danielovitch Demsky in Amsterdam, New York, in 1916. He appeared in a handful of minor Broadway productions before joining the US Navy in 1941. On the insistence of ex-classmate Lauren Bacall, movie producer Hal B. Wallis screen-tested Douglas and cast him in the lead role in The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946). Despite a helicopter crash and a stroke suffered in the 1990s, he remains active and continues to appear in front of the camera. THE STRANGE LOVE OF MARTHA IVERS: A ruthless, domineering heiress is married to an alcoholic D.A. A childhood companion-and the only living witness to her murder of her rich aunt seventeen years earlier- returns to town. MY DEAR SECRETARY: A secretary who is an aspiring writer is hired by a well known novelist. She did not realize she would be working at his apartment and is soon disappointed when he turns out to be an erratic, immature playboy. THE BIG TREES: The Giant Sequoias of California are threatened by the financial ambitions of a timber baron who is confronted by Quakers who are settled on his land. THE MASTER TOUCH: A safe-cracker released from prison plans one more heist before retirement.