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Kirk Douglas, one of the original superstars of Hollywood’s Golden Age, has died.
Douglas, 103, passed away on Wednesday after years of declining health. He had suffered a stroke in 1996 and regained the majority of his facilities as his life progressed. His son, Michael Douglas made the announcement to PEOPLE of his father’s passing.
“It is with tremendous sadness that my brothers and I announce that Kirk Douglas left us today at the age of 103,” Michael said. “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 of us all to aspire to. But to me and my brothers Joel and Peter he was simply Dad, to Catherine, a wonderful father-in-law, to his grandchildren and great-grandchildren their loving grandfather, and to his wife Anne, a wonderful husband.”Kirk Douglas is best known for films such as “Spartacus” and “20,000 Leagues Under The Sea” as well as being awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Jimmy Carter in 1981 along with an honorary Oscar in 1995.Born Issur Danielovitch in 1916, Douglas married Diana Dill in 1943 and they had two sons, Michael and Joel. He had two more sons, Peter and Eric with Anne Buydens who he married in 1954.
Kirk Douglas is survived by Anne, children Michael, Joel and Peter, and seven grandchildren.
