Legendary Hollywood superstar Kirk Douglas passed away on Wednesday in Los Angeles. He was aged 103. Douglas, a son of Russian immigrants who rose to play Spartacus and other legendary roles during Hollywood’s Golden Era was one of the last surviving leading men of Hollywood’s Golden Age.
Born in New York in 1916, he rose to prominence during Hollywood’s “golden age”, earning his first Oscar nomination for the 1949 boxing story Champion. He was also the father of Oscar-winning actor Michael Douglas.
Michael said in a statement on Instagram “It is with tremendous sadness that my brothers and I announce that Kirk Douglas left us today.To the world, he was a legend, an actor from the golden age of movies… but to me and my brothers Joel and Peter he was simply Dad.
Check out his post here;
Kirk Douglas starred in more than 75 movies throughout his career and was best known for his role in the 1960 gladiator film “Spartacus.” Douglas walked away from a helicopter crash in 1991 and suffered a severe stroke in 1996 but, ever the battler, he refused to give in.
Nominated three times for best actor by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences — for Champion (1949), The Bad and the Beautiful (1952) and Lust for Life (1956) — Douglas was the recipient of an honorary Oscar in 1996.
He retired in 2004 after working in more than 80 films.
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