Kirk Douglas, Broadway Veteran of Cuckoo's Nest & Award-Winning Hollywood Legend, Dies at 103

Kirk Douglas, an actor, producer and author whose film and television work was complemented by memorable performances on the Great White Way, died on February 5, according to his son, actor Michael Douglas. He was 103 years old.

Douglas made his first two Broadway appearances originating roles in Spring Again (1941) and a revival of The Three Sisters (1942). He later replaced with principal turns in the short-lived plays Trio (1944) and Alice in Arms (1945), followed by performances in The Wind Is Ninety (1945) and Woman Bites Dog (1946).

Douglas returned to the stage almost two decades later with his final and most indelible Broadway turn, as Randle P. McMurphy in Dale Wasserman's stage adaptation of Ken Kesey's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1963). Douglas later purchased the rights to a film adaptation, which was produced in 1975 to Oscar-winning effect by Michael Douglas; Jack Nicholson also won an Oscar for his turn as McMurphy.

As an actor, Douglas' many Hollywood achievements include Oscar-nominated performances in Champion (1950), The Bad and the Beautiful (1953) and Lust for Life (1957) and Emmy-nominated turns in Amos (1986), Tales from the Crypt (1992) and Touched by an Angel (2000). Among his most notable film-producing credits is the Golden Globe-winning Spartacus (1960), in which he also starred alongside Laurence Olivier and Jean Simmons.

As an author, Douglas penned numerous books including the memoirs The Ragman's Son (1988) and My Stroke of Luck (2003) about surviving a helicopter crash in 1991 and suffering a stroke in 1996.

Among the many honors bestowed upon Douglas are the AFI Life Achievement Award (1991), a Kennedy Center Honor (1994), an Honorary Oscar (1996) and a Screen Actors Guild Lifetime Achievement Award (1999).

From 1943 to 1951, Douglas was married to Diana Dill (who died in 2015); together they had the aforementioned Michael Douglas and Joel Douglas, both of whom survive him. After his divorce from Dill, Douglas wed Anne Buydens in 1954; together they had sons Eric, who died in 2004, and Peter, who also survives him along with Buydens.