Kirk Douglas turns 100, still in love with soulmate Anne
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KIRK Douglas, whose illustrious career has taken in some of cinema’s landmark roles, turns 100 tomorrow — 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 practised 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.
Born Issur Danielovitch in poverty in New York to a Jewish father and Protestant mother, Douglas went to the city’s Academy of Dramatic Arts.
“Champion” (1949) earned him the first of three Oscar nominations for best actor.
Among his most famous films were 1956 Van Gogh biopic “Lust for Life,” “Gunfight at the OK Corral” (1957), “Spartacus” (1960) and “Seven Days in May” (1964).
Douglas’ first marriage to American actress Diana Webster produced sons Michael and Joel before it ended in divorce in 1951.
Three years later he married Belgian-American Anne Buydens. They would go on to have two sons, Eric and Peter.
She once wrote of Douglas: “Living with my husband is like sitting in a beautiful garden right next to a volcano that may erupt at any moment.”
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