Actor. An award-winning actor and Hollywood icon, he was known for his strong portrayals of Spartacus, Vincent Van Gogh, and Doc Holliday. The son of Jewish immigrants, he became the patriarch of an acting family. He was the father of actor Michael Douglas and father-in-law of actress Catherine Zeta Jones. He attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City, New York, where he met Lauren Bacall who helped to launch his film career. Bacall recommended him to producer Hal B. Wallis, and he was cast in "The Strange Love of Martha Ivers" (1946) opposite Barbara Stanwyck. He starred in over 90 films on the silver screen and on television, and guest starred on the shows "The Jack Benny Program," "Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In," "Tales from the Crypt," "The Simpsons," and "Touched by an Angel." He was a popular leading man from the 1940s through the 1980s, often playing roles in Westerns and film noir. From playing a happy go-lucky sailor playing an instrument made out of a turtle shell in Jules Verne's "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" (1954), to a cowboy who hated barbed wire in "Man Without a Star" (1955), he played a wide variety of characters from the dark and troubled to the happy-go-lucky. Some of his most iconic roles were playing the gladiator Spartacus in the titular film (1960), the troubled artist Vincent Van Gogh in "Lust for Life" (1956), and Doc Holliday in "Gunfight at the O.K. Corral" (1957). His many awards include the Best Actor award at the San Sebastian International Film Festival for "The Vikings" in 1957, an AFI Lifetime Achievement Award in 1991, a Kennedy Center Honors recipient in 1994, and a Screen Actors Guild Lifetime Achievement Award in 1998. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1962, the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Jimmy Carter in 1981, and the National Medal of Arts award from President Bush in 2002. He was producer on over 30 films including "Spartacus" and "Tough Guys" (1986), in which he starred with Burt Lancaster. He directed two 1970s films, "Peg Leg, Musket, & Sabre" and "Posse." He wrote eleven books, including his autobiography "The Ragman's Son" in 1988. He suffered a stroke in 1996 and he later wrote a book about his recovery, "My Stroke of Luck," in 2003. He was married to actress Diana Dill, from 1943 to 1951; they had two sons, Michael and Joel. He met his second wife, producer Anne Buydens, while filming "Lust for Life," and they married in 1954. They had two sons, Peter and Eric. Together they penned the book "Letters of Love, Laughter, and a Lifetime in Hollywood" in 2017. He passed away at the age of 103.