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In_pictures Kirk Douglas: A life in pictures
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Hollywood acting legend Kirk Douglas has died, at the age of 103.
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AFP
Kirk Douglas, the American actor whose chiselled good looks, steely glare and distinctively dimpled chin made him one of Hollywood’s most popular leading men, was born Issur Danielovitch on 9 December 1916.
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Hulton Archive
His early films include a 1947 adaptation of Eugene O’Neill’s play Mourning Becomes Electra, in which he appeared alongside Rosalind Russell.
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Getty Images
Douglas in a promotional portrait for Champion, directed by Mark Robson in 1949, an early film that gained him a nomination for Best Actor at the 1950 Oscars and helped cement his reputation.
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Sunset Boulevard
He is seen here in 1949 with his son Michael, whom he had with his first wife, actress Diana Love Dill. They divorced in 1951.
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Silver Screen Collection
He played the painter Vincent van Gogh in Lust for Life, directed by Vincente Minnelli in 1956.
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PA Media
Douglas and his second wife, Anne Buydens, being met by actor Tony Curtis, on their arrival at London Airport, in 1957, for the film The Vikings.
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Getty Images
Paths of Glory, directed by Stanley Kubrick in 1957, was produced through Douglas’s own production company. He plays Col Dax, a commanding officer of French soldiers who attempts to defend them against a charge of cowardice in a court martial after they refuse to take part in a suicidal attack.
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Getty Images
He is perhaps best known for the role of Spartacus, a slave who leads a rebellion against Rome. Directed by Stanley Kubrick and produced by Douglas’s company, it is one of his most celebrated films. Douglas’s insistence former Communist Party member Dalton Trumbo be credited for the 1960 release’s screenplay was instrumental in ending the Hollywood blacklist.
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Getty Images
He had a friendly rivalry with his Hollywood contemporary Burt Lancaster, with whom he made seven films, including Seven Days in May, Tough Guys and, in 1957, Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (pictured).
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Getty Images
Douglas married Anne Buydens in 1954 and they were married until his death.
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Getty Images
Three generations of the Douglas family, Cameron, Kirk and Michael, attend the ceremony honouring Michael with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, in 2018.
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