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Kirk Douglas Rings In The Big 100 With Birthday Bash Worthy Of A Legend

Kirk Douglas Rings In The Big 100 With Birthday Bash Worthy Of A Legend
CBS News

Screen legend Kirk Douglas celebrated his 100th birthday surrounded by friends and family at a star-studded dinner in the heart of Beverly Hills on Friday.

Honestly, it looked like fun, but we can’t help feeling there was a missed opportunity for guests to intermittently stand up and declare “No, I’m 100!” à la “Spartacus.”

Those guests included legends-in-their-own-right Steven Spielberg and Don Rickles, as well as the centenarian’s son Michael Douglas, daughter-in-law Catherine Zeta-Jones and wife Anne Douglas. They all gathered in the Sunset Room of the Beverly Hills Hotel to ring in Kirk Douglas’ milestone.

Happy đź’Żth Birthday, Spartacus! #spartacus #centaur #1000 #hollywood #kirkdouglas

A video posted by Pat Riot (@pat_riot_art) on

Happy Birthday Kirk!

A video posted by Catherine Zeta-Jones (@catherinezetajones) on

The man of the hour reportedly made a dramatic entrance as the theme from “Rocky” blared in the background. Sounds appropriate for someone who earned his first Academy Award nomination playing a boxer in the 1949 movie “Champion.”

His son Michael kicked off the round of tributes with a touching speech about how his father was his biggest inspiration.

“One of the things that I find most incredible about dad is the third act of his life,” Michael Douglas said, according to ABC News. “After all he accomplished in his professional career and what he’s given for his country, at the point in his life where he’s faced adversity, losing a son, having a helicopter crash, having a stroke, and what he’s accomplished in this third act in his life, I find quite extraordinary.”

Kirk Douglas, who suffered a stroke in 1996 that impaired his ability to speak, offered up a few remarks of his own before letting the rest of his guests sing his praises.

“I wonder who he was talking about? He said some nice things about someone I don’t know,” the actor-producer-director-writer said, before joking that Michael was hosting the party because “he has the most money.”

But perhaps the greatest surprise of the evening was the martini glass full of vodka that Douglas had been promised by his doctor if he ever celebrated his 100th birthday.

Cheers to 101!