Kirk Douglas was born in Amsterdam, New York, on December 9, 1916. He made his Broadway debut in 1941, served in the U.S. Navy and embarked on a screen career in 1946. Popular films include "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea," "Spartacus" and "The Bad and the Beautiful." Douglas also worked as director. Douglas is shown in a studio portrait, circa 1955.
Editor's note: CNN Contributor Bob Greene is a bestselling author whose 25 books include "Late Edition: A Love Story"; "Once Upon a Town: The Miracle of the North Platte Canteen"; and "When We Get to Surf City: A Journey Through America in Pursuit of Rock and Roll, Friendship, and Dreams."
(CNN) -- At dinnertime the other evening I walked into a seafood restaurant in a small strip mall off U.S. 41 in southwestern Florida.
The décor was faithful to an under-the-ocean theme, right down to bubbling water behind portholes built into one wall.
Along a corridor, on the door to the men's room, was a framed photograph of a young, smiling Kirk Douglas. You couldn't look at it without grinning.
Even if you had never set eyes on him in your life, you would know in a glance that this guy was some sort of star. The business he was in -- the movie-star business -- has always been built on instant visceral reaction. You've got star quality, or you don't.
With Kirk Douglas, there was never a question. He was golden.
I bring this up because Sunday is Douglas' birthday. He is turning -- believe it or not -- 96.
He is the last man standing of all the great name-above-the-title stars of Hollywood's so-called Golden Age. John Wayne, Gary Cooper, Humphrey Bogart, Jimmy Stewart, Clark Gable -- all of them, except him, gone.
I knew exactly why that photograph of Douglas was on the door to the men's room in the submarine-themed restaurant. One of Douglas' most unforgettable movies was 1954's "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea," adapted from the Jules Verne saga. Douglas played the swashbuckling seafarer Ned Land.
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It was the first favorite movie of my life. I must have seen it at least six times in the big palace of a downtown theater in our Midwestern hometown. I kept making my parents take me.
The whole movie was thrilling, but one scene topped them all:
Douglas, in a red-and-white-striped T-shirt, a guitar in his hands, sang a song called "Whale of a Tale" to his shipmates:
"Got a whale of a tale to tell you, lads. . . ."
No textbooks are needed to define what constitutes star quality. That one bit of film contains all the information necessary.
About 25 years ago, I saw in the paper that "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" was scheduled to be broadcast in prime time on ABC. This was in the pre-YouTube, pre-Netflix era; if a wonderful old movie was going to be aired, your one shot at seeing it was at the whim and convenience of a network.
I eagerly awaited -- especially for the chance to see and hear Kirk Douglas sing "Whale of a Tale" one more time.
I watched the movie -- every minute of it.
No "Whale of a Tale."
They had cut it out, for time reasons. "Edited for television."
I couldn't believe they'd done it. The next morning, I remembered that I knew someone who knew someone who claimed to know Kirk Douglas. I made a few phone calls, and was given a California number that I was told was Douglas' business office.
I called, expecting to leave a message.
And Kirk Douglas picked up the phone.
I asked him if he'd heard about how the movie had been edited.
He hadn't. "I rarely watch my own films," he said. "They're for other people, not for me."
I told him that "Whale of a Tale" had been taken out of the TV version.
He became livid. Furious.
"That's a sacrilege," he said. "I had no idea they'd done that. If they can't use 'Whale of a Tale,' then they shouldn't run the picture at all."
I could barely concentrate on what he was saying, because it was hard enough processing the fact that I was talking with Kirk Douglas.
"It was really a rollicking song that everyone liked," he said. "'20,000 Leagues Under the Sea' holds a very special place in my heart, because it was the movie that made me a star to young kids. In my earlier movies I had played rather rough characters -- characters that kids probably shouldn't have seen. But when I played Ned Land in '20,000 Leagues Under the Sea,' all of a sudden I had a whole new audience."
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And then, in the middle of our conversation, without prompting, he did something that will stay with me forever.
He started to sing "Whale of a Tale" over the telephone:
"Got a whale of a tale to tell you lads, a whale of a tale or two. . ."
The sound of that voice, across all the years. The magic of a movie star:
". . .'bout the flapping fish and the girls I've loved, on nights like this with the moon above, a whale of a tale and it's all true, I swear by my tattoo."
Being 96 is often not much fun for those who make it to that age, and Douglas has battled health problems in recent years. The last of those legends with the special something that turns out to be eternal. All those indelible roles, in "A Letter to Three Wives" and "Ace in the Hole" and "The Bad and the Beautiful" and "Strangers When We Meet" and "Spartacus" and "Seven Days in May". . . .
When Douglas started making pictures, Charlie Chaplin was still acting in movies. Douglas' son Michael has already had a long and full movie career. Ninety-six. I stood in that restaurant and looked at him grinning off the painted door, the wattage of the smile above his cleft chin undimmed.
Happy birthday, sir. What a life for Issur Danielovitch, as he was named by his parents on December 9, 1916, in Amsterdam, New York -- what a life for the self-described ragman's son who decided he would be Kirk Douglas, and see where that might take him.
A whale of a tale, and it's all true.
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Douglas, seen in a portrait from the 1950s, changed his name several times before settling on Kirk Douglas. Previous names include Issur Danielovitch Demsky, Issur Danielovitch and Isadore Demsky.
Douglas sits at a picnic table on the desert location for director Billy Wilder's film "Ace In The Hole" as other crew members eat in the background in 1951.
Douglas and actor Anthony Quinn, right, perform in director Vincente Minnelli's film "Lust for Life," which premiered in 1956. Douglas plays Vincent Van Gogh.
Kirk Douglas looks at a book with his second wife, Anne Buydens, circa 1956. The two married in 1954.
Douglas kneels beside his sons, Joel, left, and Michael, circa 1955. Joel and Michael followed their father's career path and became actors.
Douglas is seen at the Rome airport on his way to a safari in Kenya in 1962.
Kirk Douglas and his son Michael Douglas on the set of the film "Cast a Giant Shadow" directed by Melville Shavelson in Rome, 1965. Kirk starred and Michael worked as assistant director.
Douglas speaks at a press conference in 1980 during the 33rd Cannes International Film Festival.
Actor Jack Nicholson greets Kirk Douglas and his son, Michael, after a ceremony honoring Michael, who placed his hands and footprints in cement at Grauman's Chinese Theatre in 1997. Michael Douglas is the first "second generation" movie star to be honored. Kirk Douglas' handprints were imprinted there in 1962.
From left, Corbin Allred, Dan Aykroyd, and Kirk Douglas star in "Diamonds," 1999.
Kirk Douglas and son, actor Michael Douglas, attend the Simon Wiesenthal Center's National Tribute Dinner honoring Michael Douglas with the 2001 Humanitarian Award on June 25, 2001. Kirk Douglas has appeared in two movies with his son.
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