BREAKING: Hollywood icon Kirk Douglas has died at the age of 103
Last Updated Wednesday, February 5, 2020 7:10PM ESTLOS ANGELES -- Kirk Douglas, the intense, muscular actor with the dimpled chin who starred in "Spartacus," "Lust for Life" and dozens of other films, helped fatally weaken the blacklist against suspected Communists and reigned for decades as a Hollywood maverick and patriarch, died Wednesday, his family said. He was 103.
But in 1996, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences awarded him an honorary Oscar. His other awards included a Presidential Medal of Freedom and a lifetime achievement award from the American Film Institute.In his latter years, he was a final link to a so-called "Golden Age," a man nearly as old as the industry itself.
Douglas, who years earlier had reluctantly signed a loyalty oath to get the starring role in "Lust for Life," provided a crucial blow when he openly credited the former Communist and Oscar winner Dalton Trumbo for script work on "Spartacus," the epic about a slave rebellion during ancient Rome that was released in 1960.
Douglas' personal favourite was the 1962 Western "Lonely are the Brave," which included a line of dialogue from a Trumbo script he called the most personal he ever spoke on screen: "I'm a loner clear down deep to my very guts."In "Spartacus," Roman officials tell a gathering of slaves their lives will be spared if they identify their leader, Spartacus.
Douglas was a performer as early as kindergarten, when he recited a poem about the red robin of spring. He was a star in high school and in college he wrestled and built the physique that was showcased in many of his movies. He was determined, hitchhiking to St. Lawrence as a teen and convincing the dean to approve a student loan. And he was tough. One of his strongest childhood memories was of flinging a spoonful of hot tea into the face of his intimidating father.
He had long desired creative control and "Champion" was followed by a run of hits that gave him the clout to form Bryna Productions in 1955, and a second company later. Douglas also became one of Hollywood's leading philanthropists. The Douglas Foundation, which he and Anne Douglas co-founded, has donated millions to a wide range of institutions, from the Children's Hospital Los Angeles to the Motion Picture & Television Fund.
He had been married to Diana Dill, but they divorced in 1951. Three years later, he married Anne Buydens, whom he met in Paris while he was filming "Act of Love" and she was doing publicity. In the 1970s, he gave up and let Michael have a try. The younger Douglas produced a classic that starred Jack Nicholson and dominated the Oscars, winning for best picture, director, actor, actress and screenplay.
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