Kirk Douglas' youngest son found dead
The youngest son of Oscar-winning actor Kirk Douglas (pictured) has been found dead inside a New York apartment building, police said.
Eric Douglas, 46, who battled drug and alcohol problems for years, was discovered yesterday.
There were no signs of foul play, police said. A post mortem was planned.
Eric was an aspiring actor and comedian, but he never found the success of his father or of his Academy Award-winning sibling, Michael. He had a short-lived acting career in the 1980s and early 1990s, playing supporting roles in films such as Delta Force 3: The Killing Game.
He also appeared in an episode of an HBO cable television programme, Tales From the Crypt, opposite his father, who earned an Emmy nomination for his role.
The Douglas family was “very shocked and saddened” after learning of the death, said Allen Burry, a family spokesman.
In recent years, the youngest of Kirk Douglas’s four sons drew attention more for his problems than for any performances. In a 2000 interview, he said he spent eight days in a coma after a pill overdose a year earlier.
For years before that, Eric struggled with drug and alcohol addictions while repeatedly clashing with the law. He spent time behind bars and in rehabilitation clinics.
In 1997, he pleaded guilty to cocaine possession after his arrest for accepting a shipment of more than 1,000 anti-depressant pills.
A year earlier, he spent the night in jail after smashing his rental car into two vehicles in an alleged drunken-driving incident.
In 1996, he was jailed for a month following a flight from Los Angeles to Newark, New Jersey, in which he allowed his dog to roam the aeroplane while he became “loud and verbally abusive” towards the crew, authorities said.
Michael Sands, a friend, said Eric had made repeated attempts to get sober.
“In the end, he must’ve been in a lot of pain,” Mr Sands said. “He didn’t know when to stop.”
