Actor Kirk Douglas Signs His Book of Biblical Deeds

There is a long line of people outside Pages, the children's bookstore in Tarzana, on a Saturday afternoon.

Waiting patiently, they are here to have copies of "Young Heroes of the Bible" signed by its celebrated author, actor Kirk Douglas.

When he arrives, the silver-haired actor, still handsome at 83, poses for snapshots and jokes with the crowd.

Inside, as each person approaches Douglas, it becomes clear that many have come mainly to wish him well. In 1996, Douglas had a stroke that garbled his speech. Since then, he has gone through the grueling process of learning to speak again--well enough to star in the recent film 'Diamonds."

He has also received a lifetime achievement award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, celebrated a second bar mitzvah, authored a second best-selling memoir, "Climbing the Mountain: My Search for Meaning," and busied himself with good works. Among them, repairing public-school playgrounds.

Grants from a foundation started by Douglas and his wife, Anne, have repaired and improved almost 100 area playgrounds, including 42 in the Valley. And West Granada High School, a continuation school in Northridge, has changed its name to Kirk Douglas High in recognition of his support of public schools.

"For the first time in history, Kirk Douglas and I have the same plans for 2 o'clock Saturday," a woman jokes as Douglas signs her copy of his book, a lively retelling of David and Goliath, Joseph and his brothers and other Bible stories with youthful heroes and heroines.

As Douglas explains, his speech slow but clear, he didn't much care for the Bible as it was taught at the synagogue Sunday school he was forced to attend as a child. The stories were boring. So he has retold them in ways designed to appeal to kids. David's defeat of Goliath becomes "The True Origins of Rubber Bands and Spitballs." And the story of Joseph and his jealous siblings has as its premise that young Joseph was a spoiled brat before he grew into heroism. As for Joseph's famous 'coat of many colors," Douglas writes that "it was made out of the same kind of shiny material that Superman's and Batman's capes are made out of."

A number of men in the line carry publicity stills showing a very young, very fit Douglas in his most famous role, that of the rebellious slave Spartacus. "I am Spartacus," several of them say when it is their turn to approach the actor, echoing the scene in which, one after another, Spartacus' men try to persuade the Romans to punish them instead of their leader.