Kirk Douglas is my new hero. Today the legendary actor and his wife Anne dedicated their 400th school playground. Ten years ago the pair set up a foundation to build safe play areas for Los Angeles-area kids. After the dedication, 91-year-old Douglas played in the playground and even slid down the slides.

Kirk Douglas and his wife have dedicated their 400th school playground — completing a decade-long effort to give Los Angeles kids a place to frolic.

The 91-year-old actor took a ride down a slide during the unveiling Wednesday at a Los Angeles elementary school.

Douglas and his wife, Anne, created a foundation that has provided more than $8 million to build or refurbish play areas in the Los Angeles school district.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was on hand for the dedication and praised Douglas and his wife for their efforts. The governor and Douglas worked together in a 1979 movie called “The Villain” and have remained friends for three decades.

[From Newsvine]

That’s amazing. These pictures make me ridiculously happy. What a great example to set for other people – especially celebs with the money to make such a positive impact.

Here’s Kirk and Anne Douglas at the kindergarten playground dedication ceremony at Ivanhoe Elementary School in Silver Lake, Los Angeles. These are easily my favorite celebrity photos ever. Images thanks to WENN.

Celebrities were out in LA yesterday to assist the Los Angeles homeless mission in serving an early Thanksgiving meal to the city’s homeless. Actors Kirk Douglas, Harrison Ford, Calista Flockhart and Nia Long were among the famous faces helping out and bringing attention to the cause.

Wearing red aprons and plastic gloves, they stood alongside volunteers at the annual feast at downtown’s Los Angeles Mission, doling out turkey drumsticks, mashed potatoes and gravy, rolls, vegetables and pumpkin pie.

Actresses Nia Long and Calista Flockhart and “The Hills” reality TV star Spencer Pratt were among others passing out almost 3,000 plates of food to lines of men, women and children.

“It’s very grounding,” said Long, who dished out vegetables and rolls with her 7-year-old son. “I feel grateful for all the things I have.”

A house band pounded out music as people sipped on bright green and orange punch at rows of tables outside.

[From The Huffington Post]

LA mayor Antonio Villaraigosa was there, and he actually washed homeless people’s feet as part of the event, getting down on his hands and knees to personally attend to the feet of the down-on-their-luck attendees. That’s an incredible gesture and I find it touching. One of the women whose feel Villaraigosa washed agrees. Yasmine Villalobos is quoted by Huffington Post as saying “He washed my feet, and it was so special. I will remember it forever.”

I love seeing 90 year-old screen legend Kirk Douglas out. He was most recently photographed looking incredibly surprised as John Travolta kissed him full on the mouth before presenting him with an award. Hopefully they’ll be plenty more photo ops for Mr. Douglas, and those pictures will soon fade from our collective memory.

Kirk Douglas has volunteered with the LA Mission for years, and helped establish their Anne Douglas Center for Women, named after his wife. Anne and Kirk Douglas oversaw the donation of ten computers to the center last summer. In a statement about the celebrities volunteering at the LA Mission on Thanksgiving, Douglas said “Their involvement will help their souls as much as it helps the guests being served.”

Have a great Thanksgiving everyone.

Shown below are Kirk Douglas, Harrison Ford, Calista Flockhart, Alana Curry, Spencer Pratt, Antonio Villaraigosa, Kate Linder, Nicholle Tom, Nia Long, Antonio Villaraigosa, and Calista Flockhart’s son, Liam. Thanks to PRPhotos.

90 year-old screen legend Kirk Douglas is promoting his latest memoir, “Let’s Face It,” a talkative book that discusses his take on life after 9 decades and two close brushes with death. In 1991 he suffered severe back injuries after a helicopter he was in crashed into a light stunt plane, killing two young people. The pain and recovery from the crash led him to turn to the Jewish religion, and as he lay in bed he read the Torah, calling it “the best screenplay ever written.”

The elder Douglas also had a stroke in 1996, which resulted in speech problems. Another life changing event was the loss of youngest son Eric, Michael’s half brother, who died of a drug overdose in 2004.

Kirk has been married to the same woman, his second wife Anne, for 53 years. Anne, who grew up in Belgium, was new to the country and struggling with the language when she married the screen star after meeting him in Paris. He says he was attracted to “Her vicious sense of humor.” In a chapter in “Let’s Face It” titled “Romance Begins at Eighty,” Douglas tells how he surprises his wife, a breast cancer survivor, with little romantic gestures.

As to how to make your marriage last, he says that it’s about focusing on how you can make a difference as a couple. “Be understanding of each other, but don’t focus only on your relationship. Reach out and be concerned with the world around you.” [From JewishJournal.com]

Douglas urges us, the Internet generation, to do what we can to heal this messed-up world. He is promoting his book via YouTube using the video below and on MySpace. He says “I believe in the power of the internet. This is the first book that I am promoting virtually because I am hoping that my universal message will spread on blogs and websites. We live in a global world and the future is in the hands of the younger generation.” Here’s an excerpt from the book:

I started life as a poor boy who didn’t have enough to eat, I became a crook. The next door neighbor had a fine tomato garden — tomatoes are my favorite vegetable. One day when I sneaked in the garden and picked a big ripe tomato, the owner shot some buckshots in my ass. That ended that. My next victim was on the other side where my neighbor had chickens. I love eggs, and where do you find eggs? Where the chickens are. In the early morning I would quietly sneak into the barn and grab a few eggs, sometimes eggs that were lying under the chicken. I love raw eggs. I would crack them open and swallow them on the spot. The owner must have gotten wise, he moved the chickens.

I graduated to more daring ventures. There was a fruit stand at the corner with fruits and vegetables attractively displayed. I walked by for a preliminary survey and spotted a big luscious tomato. My mouth water and I went back and deftly swiped the tomato. A hand reached out and grabbed me. I was looking up in the face of a tall stern man. “Does that tomato belong to you?” he asked. I was frightened, I answered, “no sir.”

“It belongs to the store keeper who paid for it and he was selling it to make money to take care of his family. Do you understand?” his voice became very harsh. “Yes sir,” I answered timidly.

“Well don’t ever take things that don’t belong to you,” and he gave my arm a final squeeze. It hurt. “Do you understand?” he said menacingly. “Yes sir.” He let me go.

Again I was caught and decided never to steal again, but I always thought I could have been a good crook.

[From Press Release for "Let's Face It"]

“Let’s Face It” is Douglas’ 11th book. Among his works are other memoirs, novels and children’s books.

Kirk Douglas has three surviving children, actor Michael Douglas, and producers Joel Douglas and Peter Vincent Douglas. IMDB lists 89 films to his credit.

Kirk Douglas is shown at a book signing yesterday at Barnes and Noble in Encino, CA. Thanks to Splash News.

Here’s his video from YouTube, which is a cute compendium of his film clips and was made some time ago:

Spartacus star and Hollyood Legend Kirk Douglas Proves that no one does Hollywood Glamour like Old Hollywood

Kirk Douglas has written a new memoir(via Female First) about his colourful sex life.
The 90-year-old Oscar winner has recalled how he lost his virginity with his teacher and enjoyed bizarre bedroom sessions with a German airline stewardess.

In what promises to be the must read tome for the Cocoon generation and a frighteningly cautionary tale for Catherine Zeta Jones — Kirk Douglas is publishing a picaresque romp through his first 9 decades: “Let’s Face It - 90 Years of Living, Loving and Learning’.

In a pre-WWII Mary Kay Letourneau turn Kirk surrendered the delicate flower of his innocence to his high school teacher … “I had been a ragamuffin kid of 15 coping with a neighbourhood filled with gangs. Under my teacher’s guidance I became a different person. I am eternally grateful” I bet you are you saucy ragamuffin … and at ninety that’s a lot more years of gratitude than even Teach expected …talk about the gift that keeps on giving.

And in a revelation that must have late night comedy writers rubbing their Leno-enriched palms together as they scribble tonight’s monologue - Ye Olde Spartacus Douglas also revealed that he enjoyed discipline rich romps with a tall blonde stewardess who yelled “I’m a Nazi” during the act — which was Kirk’s cue to give her a smack! There’s really no arguing with that … Wonder if he yelled out “I am Spartacus!” at the penultimate moment … that would put a new spin on this years Oscar tv commercials.

Catherine ZeeJay you have decades of horror ahead .. gird your Welsh loins and stay strong!

Pictures of Catherine Zeta-Jones and her father in-law kinky Kirk Douglas are from the Producers Guild of America Golden Laurel Awards in 2001, where Kirk was honored for lifetime achievement. Pictures from American Photo Library.

Micheal Douglas just looks really scared in this picture that reveals how he’s let his hair, but not his face, go to seed. He was photographed while out celebrating his dad, actor Kirk Douglas’, 90th birthday:

As his hair turned increasingly grey the Hollywood star had regular highlights in the past to keep it a more youthful blonde.

But these days it seems he is finally ready to start looking his age - at least as far as his hair and eyebrows are concerned.

Pictured leaving The Ivy restaurant in Beverly Hills with his 37-year-old wife Catherine Zeta Jones, Douglas had reverted to his natural grey.

Wearing a cream jacket and lilac top with purple trousers and sunglasses he walked in from of Miss Zeta-Jones who looked stunning in a low-cut black dress and diamond necklace…

Over the years speculation has been rife about Douglas’s enduring good looks.

The actor, who turned 62 in September, has denied having any cosmetic procedures despite reports that he had paid £7,000 to “freshen up” his features with a face and eye lift before his marriage to Miss Zeta-Jones.

And last year, when the couple, who have two children, Dylan, six, and Carys, three, holidayed in Barbados, the Fatal Attraction star was seen with two bleeding scars in front of both ears.

His publicist denied surgery, insisting he had had two benign lesions removed from his face.

Later that week he appeared on the beach showing off a newly toned physique, prompting speculation he had also had liposuction a and a tummy tuck.

And this summer he was spotted with a remarkably smooth wrinkle-free face above a wrinkly, haggard neck, which experts said could prove he had had some kind of cosmetic treatment. He was in Los Angeles with his wife to celebrate his father Kirk’s 90th birthday.

Kirk Douglas issued a cool press release to the young ‘uns on his 90th birthday. He urges us to vote and get involved in making a difference in the world and says if we don’t know who he is we can just Google him!