The man immortalised by the classic movie line "I am Spartacus" is 100 on Friday.
The gladiator is about to turn centurion. And it's been a tough ride.
Douglas, with three Oscar nominations, two Golden Globes and over 90 films to his name, has survived countless setbacks with a will of iron.
A hard-knocks childhood to Russian Jewish peasants, a dad who showed little love, beatings because of his Jewish heritage, a helicopter crash which killed two, a stroke which left him unable to speak, sons dogged by addiction, family tragedy...
It is little wonder Kirk developed a reputation early on as the "angry young man" and a "b*****d'"on set.
As a husband he didn't know the meaning of fidelity. As a young dad, he was not the paternal type.
Actor son Michael, 72, said recently: "Whichever way you cut it, Kirk was a man who cast - who still casts - an extremely long shadow.
"He was, and is, incredibly dynamic, larger than life, sometimes aggressive, a masculine man who loved women."