Born Issur Danielovitch Demsky in New York, Kirk Douglas had small roles on Broadway before joining the Navy in 1942. He was a "120-day wonder" midshipman and served as a Communications Officer on anti-submarine patrol craft in the Pacific. By his own admission, he was a mediocre and unwilling officer, never saw action and was discharged in surnmer 1944 after contracting amoebic dysentery.

At right, Kirk Douglas as Col. Dax in Paths of Glory.

His most notable war/action films are Paths of Glory, and the epic Spartacus--both Stanley Kubrick films. As the producer of the latter, he broke the Hollywood blacklist by insisting that leftist screen writer Dalton Trumbo be given a proper credit for his work.

Kirk Douglas is also one of the few screen actors ever to appear on a wargame counter, in the game I am Spartacus! designed bv Ty Bomba and published in Command magazine (the game also includes counter images of Tony Curtis, Laurence Olivier, and Peter Ustinov).

His war/historical action films include: Ulysses, Paths of Glory, The Vikings, Spartacus, The Hook, In Harm's Way, The Heroes of Telemark, Is Paris Burning?, The War Wagon, Cast a Giant Shadow, and Victory at Entebbe.