Eric Douglas, 46; Son of Kirk Douglas Struggled With Substance Abuse

NEW YORK —  Actor Kirk Douglas’ youngest son, Eric, who for many years struggled with drug and alcohol abuse, was found dead Tuesday in a New York apartment, police said. Douglas was 46.

The body of the sometime actor and stand-up comic, who had many brushes with the law, was found by a maid who had come to clean the Manhattan apartment where he was staying, police said.

He was found on the floor next to a sofa in the living room of the one-bedroom apartment on East 29th Street, police said. There were no signs of foul play, and the city medical examiner was planning an autopsy to determine the cause of death, police said.

The Douglas family was “very shocked and saddened,” said Allen Burry, a family spokesman.

Douglas, who was the son of Kirk Douglas from his marriage to Anne Buydens and who was the half-brother of actor Michael Douglas, appeared in a smattering of television shows and movies such as “Delta Force 3.” But he was best known for his headline-making skirmishes with the law.

In the mid-1990s, he was arrested after a tussle with an airline crew on a flight to Newark, N.J., from Los Angeles when he let his dog out of its carrier and threw blankets at flight attendants; he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor drug charge after being arrested signing for a package of crack and anti-depressants from an undercover police officer dressed as a delivery man, and he spent the night in jail after smashing his rental car into two vehicles in an alleged drunken-driving incident.

Discussing his battles with drugs and alcohol, Douglas, who also attended rehab programs, once said he found it difficult being part of a well-known family.

“The pressures of being the youngest son in a famous family sometimes got to me,” he said. “I used to feel I had to compare myself to them.”

Douglas once disclosed that his speech and gait had been affected by an eight-day accidental, drug-related coma in 1999.

Last year, he was tossed out of a North Carolina hotel after hotel managers found him drunk in a room filled with trash. He told police he was working as a stand-up comedian and participating in a weight-reduction program.

Michael Sands, a friend, said Douglas had made repeated attempts to get sober.

“In the end, he must’ve been in a lot of pain,” Sands said. “He didn’t know when to stop.”

Douglas was born in L.A. on June 21, 1958, the fourth of Kirk Douglas’ sons. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Claremont College and also attended UCLA. He trained for the stage at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts and at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts.

In addition to his parents and half-brother Michael, he is survived by his brother Peter and half-brother Joel.