Question 1

True or false: Kirk Douglas was the father of actor Michael Douglas and had no other children.

Accepted Answer

False. Kirk Douglas had four sons: Michael, Joel, Peter, and Eric. He had other children besides Michael, making the statement false.

Question 2

True or false: Kirk Douglas won an Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in 'Lust for Life' as Vincent van Gogh.

Accepted Answer

False. He was nominated but did not win; he received an Honorary Oscar in 1996 for his career.

Question 3

True or false: Kirk Douglas was born Issur Danielovitch to Jewish immigrant parents in New York.

Accepted Answer

True. His birth name was Issur Danielovitch; he grew up poor in Amsterdam, New York, and later changed it.

Question 4

True or false: Kirk Douglas was born as Issur Danielovitch.

Accepted Answer

True. Kirk Douglas was born Issur Danielovitch on December 9, 1916, in Amsterdam, New York. He changed his name to Kirk Douglas when he began his acting career.

Question 5

True or false: Kirk Douglas performed all his own stunts in the film 'The Vikings'.

Accepted Answer

False. He did many of his own stunts, but a stunt double was used for the dangerous rope-swinging scene.

Question 6

True or false: Kirk Douglas served as a communications officer on a submarine chaser in the U.S. Navy during World War II.

Accepted Answer

True. He was a communications officer on the submarine chaser USS PC-1137, not its commander. He served in the Pacific and was medically discharged in 1944.

Question 7

True or false: Kirk Douglas survived a helicopter crash in 1991 that left two other people dead.

Accepted Answer

True. He was one of only two survivors in a mid-air collision over Santa Paula, California.

Question 8

True or false: Kirk Douglas was the first actor to publicly denounce the Hollywood blacklist and hire Dalton Trumbo.

Accepted Answer

False. Humphrey Bogart and other stars publicly denounced the HUAC hearings in 1947 through the Committee for the First Amendment, years before Douglas hired Trumbo in 1960. Douglas's action was pivotal but not the first denouncement.

Kirk Douglas Trivia Questions