Mark Blum, a veteran character actor who starred in the films "Desperately Seeking Susan" and "Crocodile Dundee," as well as the recent TV series "You," died March 26. He was 84. That man was Kirk Douglas. In 1960, thirteen years after the witchhunt had begun, one man found the moral courage to openly give the first screen credit received by anyone on the blacklist. He was 89. ", "I did a lot of crazy things for fun with my boys," said the brawny dad (lifting sons Joel, left, and Michael by the family swimming pool ca. Once notorious for his arrogance and ego (which nevertheless had propelled him to superstardom and business success), he found himself mellowing and learnt humility. I don’t think we did such a good job, and I hope that they will do a better one.”. My parents were Russian peasants. I’ve been very blessed.”. Many fled to Europe. "[My wife] used to have on our answering machine, 'Spartacus and I are not home at the moment, please leave a message, ' " said Kirk Douglas (here, in the '50s). “I didn’t want Michael to be an actor,” he told PEOPLE. He was 76. “Everybody was accused of being a communist. I’ve tried to pass that message on to the kids.”. 1955). "There wasn't much to it," Douglas said of his Oscar-winning wardrobe for Spartacus (1960). He was 79. He was 78. After that, she established the Anne Douglas Centre for Homeless Women, where she takes women off the street who are homeless and prostitutes, and changes their lives.”, Helping others less fortunate is an example set for him by his mother and it’s one that he hopes to inculcate in his grandchildren. Gregory Tyree Boyce, an actor best known for his role as Tyler Crowley in the 2008 film 'Twilight,' died May 13. Ten writers (‘the Hollywood Ten’) went to jail for refusing to testify or admit any affiliation to the communist party. Rapper 5th Ward Weebie, who was a major player in the distinctive bounce music scene in New Orleans, died January 9. He was 92. A scholarship from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts moved him closer to his dream, and he made his Broadway debut in 1940 as a singing telegram boy in Spring Again. He was 52. Larry Kramer, a noted playwright and AIDS activist known for his plays and novels, "The Normal Heart" and "The American People," died May 27. “I think he has done a good job under adverse conditions,” he says. “It is with tremendous sadness that my brothers and I announce that Kirk Douglas left us today at the age of 103,” Michael said in a statement obtained by PEOPLE. David Roback, co-founder of the widely celebrated alt-rock group Mazzy Star, died February 24. Hana Kimura, a Japanese professional wrestler and a TV celebrity who appeared on Netflix’s reality show “Terrace House,” died May 23. Some committed suicide, people suffered terribly.”. He was 73. But, in the meantime, Michael is still keen to bag as many roles as possible. Keeping your torso upright, bend your legs and lower your body into a lunge [A]. They are, he reminds them, the hope of the future. There, surrounded by his six sisters, the young Kirk – who was born Issur Danielovitch – dreamed of becoming an actor. 1999) was released from prison in August 2016 after serving seven years on drug charges. Celebrity Musicians Pay Tribute To Barbara Davis For Charity, Beauty Beat: Krys Lunardo Shares Celeb Pregnancy Beauty Tips, 4 beauty products celebrity makeup artists swear by, Celebrity blogger Perez Hilton on his new memoir ‘TMI: My life In Scandal’, BT Entertainment: Celebrities react to Donald Trump testing positive for COVID-19. She was 81. “I never tried to encourage him to be an actor,” says Kirk. Photographer and collaborator Astrid Kirchherr, renowned for taking the first ever photograph of The Beatles in her hometown of Hamburg, when they were an unknown five-piece, died May 12. “Thank you for your advice, inspiration, and I’ll say it simply and with all my heart: I’m so proud to be your son.”. “I think being generous is selfish,” reflects Douglas. Dad- I love you so much and I am so proud to be your son.”. Ken Shimura, a comedian who was a fixture on Japanese television for decades, died March 29. He received his first Academy Award nomination in 1950 for Champion, and was nominated again in 1953 for the Hollywood expose The Bad and the Beautiful, and once more in 1957 for his performance as Vincent Van Gogh in the biopic Lust for Life. But he’s a good actor, he’s my favorite actor.”. His own father was distant, so Douglas (with Michael in '49) said he "hugs and kisses my boys Russian style, on the lips, all the time, [and] I say, 'I love you.' “There will always be incidents that work against us. “When you have a stroke,” he explains, only partly serious, “you must talk slowly to be understood, and I’ve discovered that when I talk slowly, people listen.” He laughs self-deprecatingly. Kirk Douglas talks of his 10th book, I Am Spartacus! Everybody here can be a movie star or a millionaire.”. And after 10 years she’s finished the work, in over 400 schools. Fred Willard, best known for his roles in the sitcom "Modern Family" and the "mockumentary" comedies of writer and director Christopher Guest, died May 15. I had six sisters and no brothers and I wanted to be close to my father and he just ignored me.”. Writer Bruce Jay Friedman, who received an Oscar nomination for the 1984 comedy “Splash,” died June 3. “It means so much to me, Dad, that you’re here today,” Michael said tearing up. A post shared by Michael Douglas (@michaelkirkdouglas) on Dec 9, 2019 at 10:00am PST. “At 95,” he chuckles, “I don’t have the need to prove anything to myself any more.”, Directed by Jay Roach, Trumbo is released in cinemas across the UK on 5 February, 2015, © Copyright of Telegraph Media Group Limited 2015, All-time great: Kirk Douglas with his daughter-in-law, Catherine Zeta-Jones, in 2009. Robert Conrad, the actor best known for his role in the television show "The Wild Wild West", died February 8. She was at 86. Douglas’s parents were illiterate Russian Jews who had emigrated to New York and settled in the small town of Amsterdam. 1954) wed in Las Vegas soon after. To celebrate, Michael, 75, shared a sweet Instagram photo of his famous father and himself, thanking the Hollywood Foreign Press Association for nominating him on the same day as Kirk’s milestone birthday. For almost 25 years, he’s been working as an ambassador for the United Nations, as one of their “Messengers of Peace”. Bonnie Pointer of Grammy-winning group The Pointer Sisters, died June 8. On the Paris set of 1953's Act of Love, Douglas asked Anne for a date. She was 95. She was 69. “It was such a terrible, shameful time,” Douglas told PEOPLE about the communist purge of the entertainment industry during the ’40s and 50’s. 'Cameron is doing really well. We have new moms like Gigi Hadid, Katy Perry, and stars like Kelly Rowland, Meghan Trainor are announcing pregnancies. I admire him for what he does and I’ve been surprised at how hard he works.