Kirk Douglas once saved her life, Jamie Lee Curtis says

(CNN) — Kirk Douglas was a lifesaver.

That's according to actress Jamie Lee Curtis, who posted a tribute to the acclaimed actor on Friday.

In an Instagram post, Curtis recounted how the late Hollywood star once saved her from drowning.

"Kirk and Anne were important to BOTH my parents," she began.

"I just remembered this morning that Kirk saved my life when I rode my tricycle into the pool at a party and he dove in and brought me up from the bottom, still peddling. I was in school with their son, Eric who they lost in 2004. Tony lost his son, Nicholas in 1994. Families tied together in life and success and loss and struggle, past and present."

"Kirk is an example for us," she wrote. "ALL. COURAGE. INTEGRITY. GENEROSITY."

The actor starred in The Vikings, a 1958 film that also featured Curtis' parents, Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh.

Curtis posted other tributes to the late actor on social media. Her father and Douglas were good friends, she wrote on the day news of his death broke. She grew up with his sons, she said.

Douglas died Wednesday at 103 and was laid to rest at a private service in Los Angeles, California. Attendees included Anne Buydens, Douglas' wife of 65 years, and three surviving sons Michael, Peter and Joel.

Michael Douglas, 75, made the announcement of his father's passing on Instagram.

"To the world he was a legend, an actor from the golden age of movies who lived well into his golden years, a humanitarian whose commitment to justice and the causes he believed in set a standard for all of us to aspire to," he wrote. "But to me and my brothers Joel and Peter he was simply Dad, to Catherine, a wonderful father-in-law, to his grandchildren and great grandchild their loving grandfather, and to his wife Anne, a wonderful husband."

By Leah Asmelash, CNN