(Jamaica Observer) The legendary American actor Kirk Douglas, who died on February 5 at age 103, was popular with Jamaican movie-goers for over 50 years.
Douglas visited Jamaica in 1954. He starred in the science fiction, adventure film 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, which was shot in Negril and The Bahamas.
Released that year, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea had several cave scenes which were done in what today is known as Xtabi Resort, located on the cliffs of Negril’s West End.
The film had a budget of US$9 million, one of the most expensive at the time. It was produced by Walt Disney and directed by Richard Fleischer.
20,000 Leagues Under The Sea was a commercial success. Its co-stars were Peter Lorre, Paul Lukas, and British actor James Mason; nominated for three Academy Awards, it won for Best Art Direction and Best Special Effects.
Douglas was one of the leading stars of Hollywood’s golden age of the 1940s and 1950s. Though he is best remembered for playing the lead role in Spartacus, The Strange Love of Martha Ivers and The Bad and The Beautiful with Lana Turner, Jamaicans savoured him in Westerns like Gunfight at The OK Corral.
His death was confirmed on the Instagram account of Academy award-winner Michael Douglas, one of his four sons.
“It is with tremendous sadness that my brothers and I announce that Kirk Douglas left us today at the age of 103. 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 set a standard for all of us to aspire to.”
Douglas was nominated for a Best Actor Academy Award three times. He was awarded an Honorary Oscar in 1996.
He was born Issur Danielovitch on December 9, 1916 to Jewish parents from Russia.