In this file photograph taken on March 1, 2011 actor Kirk Douglas attends the ceremony to honor Indian conductor Zubin Mehta with a Star on the Walk of Fame in Hollywood, California. GABRIEL BOUYS / AFP
US silver display screen legend Kirk Douglas, the son of Jewish Russian immigrants who rose by the ranks to develop into considered one of Hollywood’s biggest-ever stars, has died, his household stated Wednesday. He was 103.
One of the final survivors of the golden age of cinema and the daddy of Oscar-winning actor and filmmaker Michael Douglas, the “Spartacus” actor was famend for the macho robust man roles he took on in round 90 films over a six-decade profession.
“It is with tremendous sadness that my brothers and I announce that Kirk Douglas left us today at the age of 103,” Michael Douglas stated in a press release posted to Facebook.
“To the world he was a legend, an actor from the golden age of movies who lived well into his golden years, a humanitarian whose commitment to justice and the causes he believed in set a standard for all of us to aspire to.”
Douglas was Oscar-nominated for his roles as a double-crossing and womanizing boxer in “Champion” (1949), a ruthless film producer in “The Bad and the Beautiful” (1952) and tortured artist Vincent Van Gogh in “Lust for Life” (1956).
But his solely Academy Award got here in 1995 — an honorary lifetime achievement statuette “for 50 years as a creative and moral force in the motion picture community.”
Douglas is survived by second spouse Anne Buydens, 100, and three sons. A fourth baby, Eric, died of a drug overdose in his 40s, in 2004.
“(To) me and my brothers Joel and Peter he was simply Dad, to Catherine (Zeta-Jones), a wonderful father-in-law, to his grandchildren and great grandchild their loving grandfather, and to his wife Anne, a wonderful husband,” stated Michael.
“Kirk’s life was well lived, and he leaves a legacy in film that will endure for generations to come, and a history as a renowned philanthropist who worked to aid the public and bring peace to the planet.”