How Izzy Demsky became Kirk Douglas: the ultimate Hollywood makeover

The scrawny son of Jewish immigrants transformed himself into an icon of US manhood - a narrative the nation is forgetting in the Trump era. Yet a darker side lurked too Handsome, muscular, noble - not words that would automatically have been associated with a Yiddish-speaking schmutter-seller's son whose family were not long off the boat from what is now Belarus. But we know better: in these nativist times, it is worth remembering that Izzy Demsky was the beneficiary of the ultimate Hollywood m...