Active in the film industry for over 60 years, celebrated actor Kirk Douglas has passed away from natural causes at the age of 103. Debuting on the big screen in 1946's The Strange Love of Martha Ivers, Douglas was nominated for three Academy Awards for Best Actor before receiving lifetime achievement awards from the Academy of Motion Pictures & Science, the Golden Globes, the American Film Institute and the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. He is survived by his second wife, Anne Buydens, and sons Joel, Peter and Michael Douglas. A fourth son, Eric, passed away from an accidental overdose in 2004.
Born in Amsterdam, NY, under the name Issur Danielovitch Demsky, Douglas was the son of Russian-Jewish refugees who had fled from Russia to the United States to avoid forced conscription into the Russian military. Changing his name to Kirk Douglas shortly before enlisting in the U.S. Navy in 1941, Douglas was discharged two years into his military service due to an injury and decided to pursue a career in show business.
Often appearing in tough-guy roles, Douglas starred in numerous classic films, including the 1954 Disney film 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, a cinematic adaptation of the Greek epic Ulysses and as iconic gunfighter Doc Holliday in Gunfight at the O.K. Corral. Douglas also worked with visionary filmmaker Stanley Kubrick twice, in 1957's Paths of Glory and 1960's Spartacus, on which he also served as an executive producer. Douglas would be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his starring roles in 1949's Champion, 1952's The Bad and the Beautiful and 1956's Lust for Life, where he famously portrayed the noted artist Vincent van Gogh. Douglas would later branch into producing and directing,
After surviving a helicopter crash in 1991 and a massive stroke in 1996, Douglas' work significantly reduced in the final 20 years of his life, with the actor temporarily losing his ability to speak. After months of therapy, Douglas regained limited speech and resumed acting in smaller roles, with the 2008 television movie Empire State Building Murders marking his final acting role.
"It is with tremendous sadness that my brothers and I announce that Kirk Douglas left us today," announced Michael Douglas in a written statement. "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. Let me end with the words I told him on his last birthday and which will always remain true. Dad -- I love you so much and I am so proud to be your son."
(via BBC News)