R.I.P. Kirk Douglas (1916-2020)

Kirk Douglas

On February 5, 2020, actor Kirk Douglas passed away at the age of 103 in Beverly Hills, California. He is best known for his career of playing tough men in films like Spartacus and Ace in the Hole, earning acclaim as one of the best actors of his generation. He is considered to be one of the last surviving members from the Golden Age of Hollywood and lives his life with a tough work aesthetic that he carried over from his youth. With a prolific career that includes breaking up the blacklist, he leaves behind an impressive body of work and one that shows the defiant power of his generation in its purest form. His work will continue to live on unwilling to die just like the man himself.

Birthday Take: Stanley Kramer in "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" (1967)

Scene from Guess Who's Coming to Dinner

Welcome to The Birthday Take, a column dedicated to celebrating Oscar nominees and winners' birthdays by paying tribute to the work that got them noticed. This isn't meant to be an exhaustive retrospective, but more of a highlight of one nominated work that makes them noteworthy. The column will run whenever there is a birthday and will hopefully give a dense exploration of the finest performances and techniques applied to film. So please join me as we blow out the candles and dig into the delicious substance.