Already have an account?
Get back to the

‘Spartacus’ Star and Acting Legend Kirk Douglas Was a Father to 4 Grown Sons — Get to Know Them!

Not only was Kirk Douglas a Hollywood icon, he also excelled in his role as a father — and his four sons can attest!

The Spartacus actor began welcoming children in the 1940s with his first wife, actress Diana Dill. The pair would tie the knot in 1943 and have two sons, Michael and Joel. While the couple would part ways in 1951, that would not be the end of bringing kids into the world for Kirk.

Kirk Douglas
Globe Photos/Shutterstock

In 1954, the Oscar-nominee would say “I do” to producer Anne Buydens. They too would have two children — sons Peter and Eric — making that four total kids. The most notable, of course, is his eldest, and he once revealed just how close he was to his famous father. “He’s still very sharp,” the Wall Street actor revealed to OK!  in a 2018 interview. “He just discovered FaceTime on his phone. So now he calls me every night, which is a bit crazy!”

Michael also explained just how vital his dad was not only in his life, but in his successful career. “When I first started, I was a very bad actor,” the Hollywood star explained to the outlet. “My father came to see my first performance and was very honest about it. I asked, ‘How was I, Dad?’ [And he said], ‘You were not very good, son.'”

Michael Kirk Douglas
NINA PROMMER/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

The close duo even celebrated together when Michael was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in November 2018. “My dad is here,” the A-lister said during a speech on the special day. “In a month, Kirk turns 102 years old. So those of you who took the under on him taking 80, you lost a long time ago.”

“It means so much to me, Dad, that you’re here today. I’ll say it simply and with all my heart: I’m so proud to be your son,” he added. So sweet! It is clear that Kirk has had a large positive impact on his grown sons, and it seems like he’s continuing to do just that today.

When Kirk passed away in February 2020, Michael was also the one to memorialize him in a statement shared with the public. “It is with tremendous sadness that my brothers and I announce that Kirk Douglas left us today at the age of 103,” he wrote on Instagram. “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. 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.”

Scroll on down to meet Kirk’s four wonderful children!