Acclaimed Hollywood actor Kirk Douglas, who starred in classics like Lust For Life, Spartacus and Paths Of Glory, has died aged 103.
His son Michael Douglas confirmed the news of his passing in a statement on Facebook: “It is with tremendous sadness that my brothers and I announce that Kirk Douglas left us today at the age of 103.
“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. But to me and my brothers Joel and Peter he was simply Dad, to Catherine, a wonderful father-in-law, to his grandchildren and great grandchild their loving grandfather, and to his wife Anne, a wonderful husband.
Read the full statement here:
Born in Amsterdam, New York in 1916, Kirk Douglas rose to fame in the golden age of Hollywood. He was one of the icons of the era, which also produced megastars like Gregory Peck, Marlon Brando, James Dean, Paul Newman and Steve McQueen.
With a career spanning six decades (1940s-2000s), Douglas was prolific as a screen actor, and has more than 90 credits to his name. He was thrice nominated for a Best Actor Oscar in his illustrious career: for Champion (1949), The Bad And The Beautiful (1952), and Lust For Life (1956). Although he did not win the statuette, he was conferred the Academy’s honorary award in 1996 in recognition of five decades in the industry.
But of his roles, Douglas was arguably best known for his role in Stanley Kubrick’s Spartacus, in which he played the titular character. In the scene that has since been engraved in pop culture lexicon forever, Spartacus rises to proclaim “I’m Spartacus!”, identifying himself to spare others.
Douglas is survived by his wife, three sons (including Michael), five grandchildren and a great-grandchild.
