Hollywood's 'rags to riches' icon Kirk Douglas turns 100 today
The Spartacus star has been through a lot – including a plane crash and being robbed of the ability to speak following a stroke.
KIRK DOUGLAS, WHOSE illustrious career has taken in some of cinema’s landmark roles, turns 100 today – attributing his remarkable longevity to his “wonderful marriage” of more than six decades.
The iconic actor revealed in a special essay to mark the milestone that his second wife Anne, 97, had been his inspiration in rebounding from adversity over the years.
“I was lucky enough to find my soulmate 63 years ago, and I believe our wonderful marriage and our nightly ‘golden hour’ chats have helped me survive all things,” he writes in celebrity magazine Closer Weekly.
The three-time Oscar nominee will celebrate with 200 friends and family at a party in California hosted by his son Michael and daughter-in-law Catherine Zeta Jones.
The star, who was forced to retire because of speech problems after a stroke, has practiced delivering a few words on the day with the help of a speech therapist.
“I am always asked for advice on living a long and healthy life. I don’t have any. I do believe, however, that we have a purpose for being here,” he says.
“I was spared after a helicopter crash and a stroke to do more good in the world before I leave it.”
Douglas, the son of illiterate Russian immigrants, appeared in some of cinema’s most iconic roles, from slave Spartacus and painter Vincent van Gogh to Western legend Doc Holliday.
He was in more than 80 movies but, unlike stars of younger generations, never took a role in a sequel.
He once said of his fame, that “when you become famous, you don’t change. Everyone else does.”
‘Volcano’
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