So you have to pay back.”

On Dec. 9, 1916, the future Kirk Douglas was born in the upstate New York town of Amsterdam as Issur Danielovitch, the son of an illiterate Russian-Jewish immigrant who supported his family of six daughters and one son as a rag picker and junkman. Douglas later married Anne Buydens in 1954 and they also had two sons together, producer Peter Douglas and actor Eric Douglas, who died in 2004. Best known for his roles in Spartacus (1960) and 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea (1954), Douglas earned his Oscar nominations for Best Actor in Champion (1949), The Bad And The Beautiful (1952), and Lust For Life (1956), but lost out on the trophy each time. “I’m so glad there’s not 100!” she exclaimed, before leading the room to sing “Happy Birthday” with a string quartet accompaniment.
American film actor and producer Kirk Douglas, one of the last living movie stars of the Golden Age of Hollywood, celebrates his 100th birthday.