Kirk Douglas Countdown" (1980) and "Saturn 3" (1980). His acting style and delivery made him a favorite with television impersonators such as Frank Gorshin, Rich Little and David Frye. 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
The Letters of Vincent van Gogh more about his techniques, his use of color, and his theories. Van Gogh was an avid reader, and his letters reflect his literary pursuits as well as a uniquely authentic literary style. His writing style in the letters reflects the literature he read and valued: Balzac, historians such as Michelet, and naturalists such as Zola, Voltaire and Flaubert. Additionally he read novels written by George Eliot, Charlotte Brontë, Charles Dickens, Keats' poetry, reading mostly at night when the light was too poor for painting. Gauguin told him "that he read too much". Van Gogh scholar Jan Hulsker wrote of van