Legendary actor Kirk Douglas passes away aged 103

Legendary actor Kirk Douglas who became the last great star of Hollywood’s golden age passed away at the age of 103.

The actor starred in iconic films as 'Champion,' 'The Bad and the Beautiful,' 'Lust for Life,' 'Gunfight at the O.K. Corral,' 'Spartacus,' and 'Ulysess' to name a few.

The stage and screen actor was well-known for a range of roles, which included a lead  in the 1960 classic Spartacus, in which he played the titular character. It was inspired by the life story of Spartacus himself and followed the events of the Third Seville War.

Douglas also starred in the 1954 film Ulysses, an Italian fantasy adventure film based on Homer’s epic poem Odyssey.

Born in New York in 1916, he rose to fame during Hollywood's "golden age", earning his first Oscar nomination for the 1949 boxing story 'Champion'.

He was also the father of Oscar-winning actor Michael Douglas, who announced the news in a statement posted on Instagram on Wednesday evening.

“To the world, he was a legend, an actor from the golden age of movies who lived well into his golden years, a humanitarian whose commitment to justice and the causes he believed in setting a standard for all of us to aspire to,” the statement said.

“But to me and my brothers Joel and Peter he was simply Dad, to Catherine, a wonderful father-in-law, to his grandchildren and great-grandchild their loving grandfather, and to his wife Anne, a wonderful husband.”

*Image of Michael and Kirk Douglas courtesy of The Epoch Times