Claim: Kirk Douglas works professionally by acting.

Kirk Douglas -LRB- born Issur Danielovitch , December 9 , 1916 -RRB- is an American actor , producer , director , and author . He is one of the last living people of the film industry 's Golden Age . After an impoverished childhood with immigrant parents and six sisters , he had his film debut in The Strange Love of Martha Ivers -LRB- 1946 -RRB- with Barbara Stanwyck . Douglas soon developed into a leading box-office star throughout the 1950s and 1960s , known for serious dramas , including westerns and war movies . During his career he appeared in more than 90 movies .   Douglas became an international star through positive reception for his leading role as an unscrupulous boxing hero in Champion -LRB- 1949 -RRB- , which brought him his first nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor . Other early films include Young Man with a Horn -LRB- 1950 -RRB- , playing opposite Lauren Bacall and Doris Day ; Ace in the Hole opposite Jan Sterling -LRB- 1951 -RRB- ; and Detective Story -LRB- 1951 -RRB- . He received a second Oscar nomination for his dramatic role in The Bad and the Beautiful -LRB- 1952 -RRB- , opposite Lana Turner , and his third nomination for portraying Vincent van Gogh in Lust for Life -LRB- 1956 -RRB- .   In 1955 , he established Bryna Productions , which began producing films as varied as Paths of Glory -LRB- 1957 -RRB- and Spartacus -LRB- 1960 -RRB- . In those two films , he starred and collaborated with the then relatively unknown director , Stanley Kubrick . Douglas helped break the Hollywood blacklist by having Dalton Trumbo write Spartacus with an official on-screen credit , although Trumbo 's family claims he overstated his role . He produced and starred in Lonely Are the Brave -LRB- 1962 -RRB- , considered a cult classic , and Seven Days in May -LRB- 1964 -RRB- , opposite Burt Lancaster , with whom he made seven films . In 1963 , he starred in the Broadway play One Flew Over the Cuckoo 's Nest , a story he purchased , which he later gave to his son Michael Douglas , who turned it into an Oscar-winning film .   As an actor and philanthropist , Douglas has received three Academy Award nominations , an Oscar for Lifetime Achievement , and the Presidential Medal of Freedom . As an author , he has written ten novels and memoirs . Currently , he is No. 17 on the American Film Institute 's list of the greatest male screen legends of classic Hollywood cinema , and the highest-ranked living person on the list . After barely surviving a helicopter crash in 1991 and then suffering a stroke in 1996 , he has focused on renewing his spiritual and religious life . He lives with his second wife -LRB- of 63 years -RRB- , Anne , a producer . He turned 100 on December 9 , 2016 .