6. februar 2020 arkiv

En sang der formede hans liv: Wilko Johnson

6. februar 2020

“I got cancer, when was it? Five years ago was it? I was told I had less than a year to live – 10 months they said. They said that they couldn’t do anything for me. In fact, this was the beginning of one of the greatest years of my life laughs waiting to die from cancer! Many, many strange things happened to me that year. One of them was that Roger Daltrey got in touch. Roger phoned me and said ‘listen we should make an album together’ and I said ‘we better do it quick!’

“So, this song, I was almost due to die and I’m in the studio working with Roger. Every now and then I used to go for a walk outside – it was out in the country this studio – and look at the stars, look at the trees and think ‘come on, is this weird or what?! I’m making an album with Roger Daltrey, I’m gonna die quite soon and it’s all a bit too much to take in!’ I didn’t die, obviously, because I’m sitting here talking now. My life was saved by Addenbrooke’s hospital. In an 11-hour operation, they removed this tumour from my stomach that weighed three kilograms and it was the size of a melon. They saved my life. Thank you once again Addenbrooke’s hospital and everybody there.” [Wilko Johnson]

 

Farvel til Kirk Douglas – 103

6. februar 2020

Hvis man har læst Jens Andersens bog om Kim Larsens unge år, så vil man vide, at Hollywoodskuespilleren Kirk  Douglas spiller en helt særlig rolle for den helt unge Larsen, der får en kunstnerisk opvågnen ved at se Douglas i “Odysseus” i barndommens biograf Nora på Nørrebro. Og denne lille anekdote fortæller noget om, hvilket format den nu afdøde Hollywood-legende havde. Han var en af de sidste store skuespillere fra Hollywoods gyldne år. Og med hans bortgang forsvinder en ikke ringe portion af Hollywoods storhedstids glans.

Douglas var også en af en af de helte, der indtog lærredet i min barndoms biograf, Phønis bio, når søndagsprogrammet løb over lærredet. En af dem, hvis fysionomi. kropslige ageren og stemmeklang, vi drenge forsøgte at efterligne i den efterfølgende obligatoriske leg. Jeg hsuker især En verdensomsejling under havet. Jules Verne og datidens science fiction.

Ud over en imponerende filmografi, så gjorde Douglas sig også bemærket ved at være en af dem, der nægtede at være medløber i heksejagten på Hollywoods påståede kommunistsympatisanter, da Mccarthyismen satte den politiske dagorden sidst i 1940’erne og begyndelsen af 1950’erne . Noget han blev rost for (af sin svigerdatter Cathrine Zeta-Jones) så sent som i 2017,  hvor han var 101 år.

Nu er Kirk Douglas ikke mere, og Hollywood er kun en bleg afglans af sin storhedstid.