He earned two more Oscar bids working with director Vincent Minnelli, first for the Hollywood melodrama “The Bad and the Beautiful” (1952) and again for the Vincent Van Gogh biopic “Lust for Life” (1956). His first Oscar nomination as Best Actor came just three years later for Mark Robson‘s boxing drama “Champion” (1949). He made his film debut with a small role in “The Strange Love of Martha Ivers” (1946). Tour our photo gallery above to see how we rank his greatest 15 films an an actor.īorn in 1916, Douglas kicked off his acting career after serving in the Navy during WWII. DeMille Award at the Golden Globes, Screen Actors Guild life achievement award and National Medal of Arts. Over his own career and beyond, Douglas received an honorary Oscar, American Film Institute life achievement ward, Kennedy Center Honors, Cecil B.

The three-time Oscar nominee defied the Hollywood black list when he gave rightful credit screenwriter Dalton Trumbo on the film “Spartacus.” That move gave new life to careers of many directors, actors and writers accused of Communist ties in the 1950s. Hollywood icon Kirk Douglas is dead at the age of 103.

Lonely are the brave cast of characters