NAMES IN THE NEWS : Kirk Douglas: Still Hot Stuff

CHICAGO — Kirk Douglas was downplaying his movie hero image and talking about his new book when a fire alarm created some live-action adventure.

Douglas was in the middle of a newspaper interview last week when an intercom in his 16th-floor hotel suite came alive.

“Remain calm and stay where you are,” came the repeated warning over the intercom.

“Sure,” Douglas told his interviewer from the Chicago Tribune. “Remain calm. The ladders are outside the windows, don’t look down.”

It turned out to be a false alarm.

“I didn’t plan this drama, you know,” he said.

Douglas, 73, was in town to plug his first novel, “Dance With the Devil.” The actor’s autobiography, “The Ragman’s Son,” was made into a movie, and Douglas played himself.