The great stars of Hollywood were, and maybe still are, our demigods.
They have always existed on a magical plane, standing in for some cathartic fusion of who we are and who we want to be.
They’re our idealized selves.
But even all demigods aren’t created equal.
In vintage Hollywood, there was a certain kind of movie star — Gary Cooper, Charlton Heston, and, of course, Kirk Douglas, who died Wednesday — that represented, in his look and his aura, a too-handsome-for-words stalwart “perfection,” one that spoke to the glory of America in the 20th century.
These were actors who looked like they were put on earth to play Superman — and even without a cape, they played supermen.
They were our larger-than-life heroes, our dream-god selves.Kirk Douglas was the quintessence of that kind of star.
When you hear his name, so crisp and ramrod strong (Kirk!), you think, at first,
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