'Spartacus' actor Kirk Douglas dead at 103, son Michael Douglas says

[webfact]

'Spartacus' actor Kirk Douglas dead at 103, son Michael Douglas says

 

FILE PHOTO: Actor Kirk Douglas arrives to receive an inaugural award for Excellence in film presented by the Santa Barbara International Film Festival at a black-tie gala fundraiser in his honor at the Bacara Resort & Spa in Santa Barbara, California, July 30, 2006. REUTERS/Phil Klein/File Photo

 

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Kirk Douglas, the cleft-chinned movie star who fought gladiators, cowboys and boxers on the screen and the Hollywood establishment, died on Wednesday at the age of 103, his son Michael Douglas said.

 

“It is with tremendous sadness that my brothers and I announce that Kirk Douglas left us today at the age of 103,” Michael Douglas said in a statement to People magazine and on his Facebook page.

 

“To the world, he was a legend, an actor from the golden age of movies who lived well into his golden years, a humanitarian whose commitment to justice and the causes he believed in set a standard for all of us to aspire to,” Douglas added.

 

“Kirk’s life was well lived, and he leaves a legacy in film that will endure for generations to come, and a history as a renowned philanthropist who worked to aid the public and bring peace to the planet,” Michael added, saying he was “so proud” to be his father’s son.

 

Douglas made more than 90 movies in a career that stretched across seven decades and films such as “Spartacus” and “The Vikings” made him one of the biggest box-office stars of the 1950s and ‘60s.

 

He also played a major role in breaking the Hollywood blacklist - actors, directors and writers who were shunned professionally because of links to the communist movement in the 1950s. Douglas said he was more proud of that than any film he made.

 

(Reporting by Jill Serjeant and Steve Gorman; Editing by Chris Reese and Lisa Shumaker)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-02-06

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[Liverpudlian]

Farewell kirk, lonely are the brave. 

[faraday]

103 - a great innings, from a great actor.

[CharlieH]

Another one of the Icons of cinema passes. Gives you a sense of your own mortality when you see people you grew up watching pass.

 

103, another great achievement for him.

[steven100]

he played in some really good movies.  103 is really old so i suspect he didn't drink or smoke like John Wayne.

RIP kurt, thank's for the memories

[RichardColeman]

Oh, well, that's put an end to Spartacus 2.

 

[Odysseus123]

"I'm Spartacus!"

 

One of the great iconic moments in cinema history.

 

RIP Mr Douglas.

[bendejo]

15 minutes ago, steven100 said:

103 is really old so i suspect he didn't drink or smoke like John Wayne.

He lost his voice 10+ years ago.

 

[evadgib]

RIP to a thoroughly decent bloke. His performance in Spartacus enthralled me all the more at the age of 9 when a Roman settlement c/w mosaics, pottery, swords and evidence of underfloor heating was unearthed in the fields where I grew up.

Edited February 6, 2020 by evadgib

[Skallywag]

He acted in some of the all time American classic movies.  The Bad and the Beautiful (1952), 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954), Lust for Life (1956), Paths of Glory (1957), Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957), The Vikings (1958), Spartacus (1960), Lonely Are the Brave (1962), Seven Days in May (1964), The Heroes of Telemark (1965), Saturn 3 (1980) and Tough Guys (1986).

 

RIP Kirk, fellow Skalawag (1973)

 

[ezzra]

The epitome and embodiment of what make a person a movie star titan, they don't make them like this anymore...

[worgeordie]

Farewell, Spartacus.

regards Worgeordie 

[impulse]

1 hour ago, CharlieH said:

Another one of the Icons of cinema passes. Gives you a sense of your own mortality when you see people you grew up watching pass.

 

103, another great achievement for him.

 

Wow.  Even from the USA, I felt the collective gasp as retirees in Thailand recalculated whether they had enough saved up.

 

[Metropolitian]

Goodbye Thracian

 

Thanks for the moving pictures

Rip

[KC 71]

3 hours ago, Liverpudlian said:

Farewell kirk, lonely are the brave. 

R.I.P 

[Assurancetourix]

103 years ...
Bel age that few on this earth will reach ..

I hope to do better than him and continue to pedal happily;
in fact i have a record to beat before dying ...:

 

"22.547 kilometres (14.010 mi) in one hour, by Robert Marchand the 105 years old french centenarian "

 

Kirk , have a nice trip with your friends of the 7 * art who preceded you.

 

[geriatrickid]

3 hours ago, bendejo said:

He lost his voice 10+ years ago.

 

No he did not. He had his voice and no paralysis.  He had a stroke in 1996 which resulted in aphasia, or speech impairment due to brain damage. He dedicated himself to his speech therapy and learned to speak again acting as an inspiration to millions of older people who suffer impairments due to a stroke.

https://www.aphasia.org/stories/profiles-aphasia-kirk-douglas/

 

He was suffiently able to speak  that he did an interview with Deutsche Presse in December 2018.

https://www.dpa-international.com/topic/kirk-douglas-102-grateful-given-urn%3Anewsml%3Adpa.com%3A20090101%3A181209-99-148487

 

He was also able to talk enough to promote his last book with some interviews with journalists.  How do you think he communicated? smoke signals? Pantomime?

 

It's sad that you felt the need to post a  false statement.

[sanuk711]

Its worth noting who wrote "Spartacus" While he was locked up in Mill point Federal prison, because he refused to disclose the names of contributors to a fund for a home for orphans of American veterans of the Spanish Civil war. (The ones who went to fight & lose, against the Spanish fascist back by German Nazis)

 

No one in America would print his book and he had to get funds from friends for a private publication. 50K printed 48K sold out first week. Kurt Douglas and other stars had a lot of pressure put on them not to act in the movie. Howard Fast wrote many other books.

 

A good movie was also made about the life of the person who screen wrote it into a movie-- Dalton Trumbo --He was also jailed.

 

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3203606/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_25

 

[trainman34014]

Farewell Kirk; thanks for the Movie thrills down the years.

[Jingthing]

RIP Issur Danielovitch.

 

An incredible career in the movies. But as also an incredible life story. 

 

I can personally relate to him in that he had a very similar background to my father who also was a nearly starving child in America as a son of immigrants. Who also felt the need to change his name to combat antisemitism in his career.

 

Face it, if the very same man had kept his original name, he would have never been a movie star, or possibly even cast at all in any movie.

 

In the current toxic political environment demonizing poor minority group immigrants, it's valuable to consider life stories such as Kirk Douglas. Under current laws, also in an America where antisemitism is on the rise again, his parents would have been soundly rejected.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirk_Douglas

Edited February 6, 2020 by Jingthing

[EricTh]

I will be glad if I can make it pass 80, let alone 100.

[Andrew Dwyer]

RIP Kirk , your legacy will continue for many years to come.

 

( on the bright side he won’t have to worry about people calling him Kurt anymore )

[30la]

6 hours ago, webfact said:

'Spartacus' actor Kirk Douglas dead at 103, son Michael Douglas says

You had a long life Kirk, I hope it was also beautiful!
R.I.P.

[Krataiboy]

A movie hero of my boyhood, when cinemas offered a luxurious escape from the drab austerity of the post-war years. My mother was an usherette at our local flix, the Gloria, which meant I got two tickets a week for any seat in the house.

 

Magic days, made ever-memorable by the likes of Kirk Douglas, Burt Lancaster, Bob Mitchum and all those other irreplaceable giants of the silver screen. We'll never see their like again.

[malibukid]

farewell Ned Land

[sandrabbit]

I remember being taken to the cinema to see 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea as a child in the 60's, stunning special effects for a film made in the 50's.

[Benmart]

7 hours ago, impulse said:

 

Wow.  Even from the USA, I felt the collective gasp as retirees in Thailand recalculated whether they had enough saved up.

 

His death is a reminder that longevity is reserved for some and humility for others.

[balo]

My dad met Kirk and his crew during the filming of "Heroes of Telemark" in 1965 . They exchanged a few words.  Good movie about WW2 in Norway if you haven't seen it. 

[vogie]

14 minutes ago, balo said:

My dad met Kirk and his crew during the filming of "Heroes of Telemark" in 1965 . They exchanged a few words.  Good movie about WW2 in Norway if you haven't seen it. 

One of my favourite movies watched it many times. 

 

The first Kirk Douglas movie I ever watched was The Vikings, watched it in Belgium as 7 year old, loved it.

Edited February 6, 2020 by vogie

[Odysseus123]

3 hours ago, vogie said:

One of my favourite movies watched it many times. 

 

The first Kirk Douglas movie I ever watched was The Vikings, watched it in Belgium as 7 year old, loved it.

Ah yes The Vikings, I had forgotten that one..Kirk jumping along the oars of his longship as it proceeds down the fjiord towards the village.No stunt man required!

But it is his role as Colonel Dax in 'Paths of Glory' that bears the bell away...a great actor.