Kirk Douglas Turns 100; 'I Feel Lonely', Says 'Champion' Actor
Kirk Douglas, the actor known for his films like 'Spartacus', '2,000 Leagues Under The Sea', 'Champion' and 'The Last Sunset' turned 100 on Friday (December 9) - a feat not matched regularly. Kirk has also been known to be a producer, director, author and philanthropist.
Kirk was born in New York as Issur Danielovitch to Jweish immigrants from present-day Belarus and went on to become one of America's famous actors of the 20th century.
Members of the Douglas family assembled along with150 guests at the Beverly Hills Hotel in Los Angeles, California, to commemorate the occasion. The "Lust for Life" star was accompanied by his son Michael, another renowned Hollywood actor, his daughter-in-law Catherine Zeta Jones, grandchildren and of course Anne Buydens, his 97-year-old wife.
Everybody looked in a great spirit while celebrating the grand-old actor's 100th birth anniversary.
Speaking at his father's birthday bash, Michael, 72, said: "At the point in his life where he's faced adversity, losing a son, having a helicopter crash, having a stroke, and what he's accomplished in this third act in his life, I find quite extraordinary." The Daily Mail quoted him as saying.
Three generations of the Douglas family featured in a film named "It Runs in The Family" in 2003. Besides Kirk and Michael, Michael's son Cameron and his mother Diana, who passed away last year at the age of 92, were also present.
Kirk Douglas, who has won several awards during his long acting career, had acted last in "Empire State Building Murders" in 2008.
However, also his loved ones celebrated the moment with great energy and enthusiasm, Kirk said he feels "lonely" now for all his contemporaries like Burt Lancaster and Laurence Olivier have now left this planet. Speaking to Variety magazine, Kirk said he reads about Hollywood but cannot really relate.
"Where is Burt [Lancaster]? Where is Laurence Olivier? They're all gone. I miss them. I feel lonely," he said. Lancaster died in 1994 while Olivier passed away in 1989. Kirk said that he doesn't have much knowledge about the current stars in Hollywood, of course with the exception of his son and daughter-in-law.
