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Hollywood actor Kirk Douglas has turned 100. He is best known for playing the title role in Stanley Kubrick's 1960 film Spartacus, which he also produced. Douglas was nominated for the best actor Oscar three times, and awarded an honorary Academy Award in 1996.
His son, actor Michael Douglas, paid an early birthday tribute to his father at an October event for the Motion Picture and Television Fund, calling him an icon, a legend and "a true movie star from an era when movie stars were looked upon as our version of royalty".
During an interview in 2014, actor Kirk Douglas admitted that crediting a blacklisted Dalton Trumbo as a screenwriter on Spartacus was his most rebellious move.
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During an interview in 2014, actor Kirk Douglas admitted that crediting a blacklisted Dalton Trumbo as a screenwriter on Spartacus was his most rebellious move.
Kirk Douglas was also presented with cake and a rendition of Happy Birthday at the event.
Recalling his work with Kubrick in an interview with Variety, Douglas said the director was "difficult … So we had lots of fights, but I always appreciated his talent. I always said he was a bastard, but he was a talented, talented guy,"
Actor Kirk Douglas, centre, gets a kiss from his son Michael Douglas, left, and Michael's wife Catherine Zeta-Jones during his 100th birthday party. Photo: AP
Douglas said the proudest moment of his career was helping to break the blacklist by giving credit to writer Dalton Trumbo for his work on Spartacus. No blacklisted writer had been given onscreen credit for 12 years. (Trumbo was the subject of a recent film starring Bryan Cranston.)
Douglas has almost 100 film and television credits to his name but says he still considers himself a stage actor. His career took him from the golden years of Hollywood, when he worked with directors such as Billy Wilder and Vincente Minelli; to '80s TV movies; a role in the Australian film, The Man from Snowy River and a voice part on The Simpsons.
Lana Turner and Kirk Douglas in the 1952 film The Bad and the Beautiful.
He told Variety that the Hollywood he once knew no longer exists.
"I am now 100 years old. I read about Hollywood, and I don't know the people. Where is Burt? Where is Laurence Olivier? They're all gone. I miss them. I feel lonely."