From the moment he made his debut in The Strange Love of Martha Ivers, it was pretty much obvious to everyone that Kirk Douglas would make a long-lasting impact in the world of film. Not long after his first movie, Kirk became a well-known name and remained one of the best actors of Hollywood until the day he passed, February 5, 2020.
He died at the age of 103 and is still dearly missed by his family, especially his son Michael Douglas and his stunning daughter-in-law Catherine Zeta-Jones, who never miss an opportunity to pay legendary Kirk a tribute.
On the one year anniversary of Kirk leaving this world, Michael posted a photo of him and his dad and wrote: “Can’t believe it’s been a year since you left us,At 103, you picked a good time to check out. I love you with all my heart! #KirkDouglas.” Zeta-Jones commented “Love you Pappy🙏🏻😘.”
The Douglas family have always been very close to one another and wanted the world to know that.
Last year, Michael shared a touching video of him and Kirk over the decades. It was voiced-over and the 76-year-old star could be heard saying: “The best advice my father gave me was, ‘Whatever you do, you do it to the best of your ability. You leave that job knowing that you couldn’t have done any more, and then walk away, you’ve done the best. Don’t look back.”
During an interview with Entertainment Tonight, Michael once again spoke of the love for his father and how much he had done for him throughout his life, as well as how much he missed him. “There wasn’t anyone like him. There’s another generation, that was the great generation, post-World War II…and Dad was one of kind. I think he’s very happy. I know he takes particular pride — not so much in whatever I worked with and I’m doing with the Motion Picture Television Fund — but I know he loves Catherine [and] the work that she’s doing. He always used to tease me. We would call him up and he would be like, ‘Enough with you, let me talk to your wife,’” he added. “He was a flirt until the very end.”
Zeta-Jones, who always speaks with huge amount of love and deep appreciation of Kirk said: “Oh yes, he’s a great flirt. He crosses our minds every day. But for me, during this time of, ‘OK, we are all locked down, what do you do?’ It’s so easy to go into a procrastination vibe. And Kirk, he went through so much from a helicopter crash to a stroke and then just age, being alone and what does he do with this time. And what was so admirable about him was he was always involved with courage events, he wrote 11 books, he worked with his rabbi, he worked with his philanthropic endeavors and he always created something to do and he taught me that lesson. He always said to us, ‘Write a book, do something else. What are you doing?’ And he’d be working on something right now, I’m sure.”
We will never forget how great of an actor and a human being Kirk Douglas was. His loving family is keeping his legacy alive. May he rest in peace!