A true Spartacus: Hollywood legend Kirk Douglas dies
LOS ANGELES: Kirk Douglas, one of the last superstars of Hollywood’s golden age of cinema who was renowned for his intense, muscular performances in Spartacus and Paths of Glory, died on Wednesday aged 103. The US leading man, producer and director came to prominence in the late 1940s and never lost his popularity, taking on nearly 100 movies over a six-decade career that endured beyond a severe stroke in his later years.
His death at his family home in Beverly Hills was confirmed by his son Michael, the Oscar-winning actor and filmmaker. Not unlike his title character in Spartacus, Douglas was known throughout his life for his fiercely rebellious streak.
In his early movie days he would clash with studio heads over his choice of roles, before ultimately splitting off to form his own production company, Bryna - one of the first major post-war stars to do so. Douglas also defied more established directors by teaming up with a young Stanley Kubrick for both Paths of Glory and Spartacus. And on Spartacus, Douglas hired Dalton Trumbo-one of the “Hollywood Ten” blacklisted as a suspected communists under the
Mccarthy era - to write the screenplay. Unlike many producers during the time, Douglas refused to hide this fact, instead using Trumbo’s real name in the credits.
Nonetheless Douglas missed out on taking home the trophy on each of his three Oscar nominations, the last for his performance in the 1956 film Lust for Life, and never won a competitive Academy Award. He was instead granted an honorary lifetime achievement statuette by the Academy in 1996 just months after his stroke.
Douglas was born Issur Danielovitch to Jewish-russian immigrants in upstate New York in 1916.