From Kirk Douglas, Hollywood royalty and bestselling author of The
Ragman's Son and My Stroke of Luck, comes the candid story of the
making of Spartacus, the blockbuster film that broke the blacklist
One of the world's most iconic movie stars, Kirk Douglas has
distinguished himself as a producer, philanthropist, and author of
ten works of fiction and memoir. Now, more than fifty years after
the release of his enduring epic Spartacus, Douglas reveals the
riveting drama behind the making of the legendary gladiator film.
Douglas began producing the movie in the midst of the politically
charged era when Hollywood's moguls refused to hire anyone accused
of Communist sympathies. In a risky move, Douglas chose Dalton
Trumbo, a blacklisted screenwriter, to write Spartacus. Trumbo was
one of the "Unfriendly Ten," men who had gone to prison rather than
testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee about
their political affiliations. Douglas's source material was already
a hot property, as the novel Spartacus was written by Howard Fast
while he was in jail for defying HUAC. With the financial future of
his young family at stake, Douglas plunged into a tumultuous
production both on- and off-screen. As both producer and star of
the film, he faced explosive moments with young director Stanley
Kubrick, struggles with a leading lady, and negotiations with giant
personalities, including Sir Laurence Olivier, Charles Laughton,
Peter Ustinov, and Lew Wasserman. Writing from his heart and from
his own meticulously researched archives, Kirk Douglas, at
ninety-five, looks back at his audacious decisions. He made the
most expensive film of its era-but more importantly, his moral
courage in giving public credit to Trumbo effectively ended the
notorious Hollywood blacklist. A master storyteller, Douglas paints
a vivid and often humorous portrait in I Am Spartacus The book is
enhanced by newly discovered period photography of the stars and
filmmakers both on and off the set. "Kirk Douglas is many things .
. . But he is, first and foremost, a man of extraordinary
character. The kind that's formed when the stakes are high. The
kind we always look for at our darkest hour." -George Clooney Kirk
Douglas is a renowned actor whose work on and off the screen has
been rewarded by three Academy Award nominations, an Oscar for
Lifetime Achievement, and the Medal of Freedom. Through his
production company, Bryna, Douglas has produced acclaimed films
such as The Vikings, Lonely Are the Brave, Paths of Glory, and
Seven Days in May. He has penned ten novels and memoirs, including
The Ragman's Son (1988). His 1960 epic, Spartacus, based on the
Howard Fast novel of the same name, is credited with helping to end
the practice of blacklisting film professionals who had refused to
cooperate with the House Un-American Activities Committee. Douglas
appeared in some-ninety movies before retiring from film acting in
2004. In 2009, he starred in an autobiographical one-man show
called Before I Forget at the Center Theatre Group's Kirk Douglas
Theatre in Los Angeles. Douglas maintains an active life in Beverly
Hills and Montecito, where he resides with his beloved wife Anne.
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