Kirk Douglas dead at 103
Hollywood legend starred in “Spartacus,” “Lust for Life.”
Little stopped Spartacus, right to the end. Legendary actor Kirk Douglas died at age 103, his son Michael Douglas confirmed Wednesday.
“It is with tremendous sadness that my brothers and I announce that Kirk Douglas left us today at the age of 103,” wrote Michael on Instagram.
He liked to refer to himself as “the ragman’s son,” but to most people the cleft-chinned Douglas was the epitome of an old-fashioned movie star. The chiseled-featured actor with the winning smile left a legacy of dignity, grace and talent in the wake of his death.
Douglas’ movie career began after fellow classmate Lauren Bacall urged producer Hal Wallis to give Douglas a screen test. The test went so well that he was cast in the lead role in 1946’s “The Strange Love of Martha Ivers.” After receiving a host of kudos for that performance, he went on to make “I Walk Alone” with another future screen legend, Burt Lancaster. Their chemistry was so potent that they made seven films together, including the western “Gunfight at the O.K. Corral” (1957) and the political thriller “Seven Days in May” (1964). Their last collaboration was in the gangster comedy “Tough Guys” in 1986.
His busiest decades were the ’50s and ’60s. Douglas was nominated for an Oscar in 1952 1953 for “The Bad and the Beautiful” and again in 1957 for his portrayal of Van Gogh in “Lust for Life.” In the following few years he would take on his pivotal roles, as Colonel Dax in the anti-war epic “Paths of Glory” (1957) and as leader of a rebellion against the Roman empire in “Spartacus” (1960).