Who played Vincent van Gogh in the film 'Lust for Life'?

Kirk Douglas (born Issur Danielovitch, December 9, 1916) is an American actor, producer, director, and author. He is one of the last living people of the film industry's Golden Age. After an impoverished childhood with immigrant parents and six sisters, he had his film debut in 'The Strange Love of Martha Ivers' (1946) with Barbara Stanwyck. Douglas soon developed into a leading box-office star throughout the 1950s and 1960s, known for serious dramas, including westerns and war movies. During his career he appeared in more than 90 movies. Douglas is well known for his explosive acting style.

His role as Vincent van Gogh in 'Lust for Life' (1956), directed by Vincente Minnelli and based on Irving Stone's best-seller, was filmed mostly on location in France. Douglas was noted not only for the veracity of van Gogh's appearance but for how he conveyed the painter's internal turmoil. Some reviewers consider it the most famous example of the "tortured artist" who seeks solace from life's pain through his work. Others see it as a portrayal not only of the "painter-as-hero," but a unique presentation of the "action painter," with Douglas expressing the physicality and emotion of painting, as he uses the canvas to capture a moment in time.