Hollywood legend Kirk Douglas turns 100

Kirk Douglas, one of Hollywood’s all-time legends, turns 100 years old on Friday, Dec. 9.

He continued by talking about what he had gone through and faced, including “adversity, losing a son, having a helicopter crash, having a stroke, and what he’s accomplished in this third act in his life, I find quite extraordinary”. There is the Kirk Douglas Theatre in Culver City. Despite his various roles, he’ll always be Spartacus to me.

There might be no Burt Lancaster, Humphrey Bogart, John Wayne or Jimmy Stewart to pal round with now but he still has the great company of his loving wife Anne – they have been together since 1953 – and the rest of the family, including superstar son Michael Douglas. He’s dying to meet you.’ I was, like, ‘Okay, what do I say?’ Kirk was sensational.

Douglas is known for such films as “Spartacus”, “Paths of Glory” and “Lonely are the courageous”, among many other titles.

No word if the guests each stood up and yelled, “I’m Kirk Douglas!” – but that would’ve been cool. “I loved it. I still do”, he wrote in a USA publication years later.

“I was lucky enough to find my soul mate 63 years ago, and I believe our wonderful marriage and our nightly “golden hour” chats have helped me survive all things”, he wrote in Closer Weekly. “I’ve made over 85 pictures, but the thing I’m most proud of is breaking the blacklist”, he said.

Back at the Douglas’s house, a source tells PEOPLE the home was jam-packed with flowers from well-wishers … and there were still 100 more on the way from none other than Tony Bennett. It is the most acid film in Douglas’ career, and that is saying a lot. I’m not given to celebrity autobiographies, but if you only read five in your life, read that one. Along with his son Michael, and Zeta-Jones, Douglas was joined at his table by Anne Douglas, his wife of over 62 years, and his grandchildren Dylan Michael and Carys Zeta, after walking in to the room to the Rocky theme song.

I also agree with The New York Times movie critic Bosley Crowther, who said in his review of the film, “Kirk Douglas is best as the producer – a glib, restless, unrelenting gent whose energies and resources are matched only by his perfidy and gall”.

In an attempt to resurrect his faltering Broadway career Douglas bought the rights to Kasey’s book One Flew Over the Cuckoo Nest in 1963 and had it rewritten for the stage.

The three-time Oscar nominee, who received the Academy’s prestigious Lifetime Achievement award in 1996, married wife Anne in 1954, three years after his first marriage to Diana Douglas ended in divorce.