Kirk and Anne: Letters of Love, Laughter, and a Lifetime in Hollywood

by Kirk Douglas, Anne Douglas, Michael Douglas (Foreword by), Marcia Newberger (With), Turner Classic Movies

Overview

The late film icon and screen legend Kirk Douglas was married to Anne Buydens for more than six decades. Here they both look back on a lifetime filled with drama both on and off the screen. Sharing priceless correspondence with each other as well as the celebrities and world leaders they called friends, Kirk and Anne is a candid portrayal of the pleasures and pitfalls of a Hollywood life lived in the public eye.

Compiled from Anne's private archive of letters and photographs, this is an intimate glimpse into the Douglases' courtship and marriage set against the backdrop of Kirk's screen triumphs, including The Vikings, Lust For Life, Paths of Glory, and Spartacus. The letters themselves, as well as Kirk and Anne's vivid descriptions of their experiences, reveal remarkable insight and anecdotes about the legendary figures they knew so well, including Lauren Bacall, Frank Sinatra, Burt Lancaster, Elizabeth Taylor, John Wayne, the Kennedys, and the Reagans. Filled with photos from film sets, private moments, and public events, Kirk and Anne details the adventurous, oftentimes comic, and poignant reality behind the glamour of a Hollywood marriage.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780762462179
Publisher:	Running Press Book Publishers
Publication date:	05/02/2017
Series:	Turner Classic Movies
Pages:	240
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Kirk Douglas (1916-2020) distinguished himself as an actor, producer, philanthropist, and author. His numerous recognitions for achievements both on and off screen include an Academy Award for Lifetime Achievement, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and France's Legion of Honor. Over a career spanning seventy years, he starred in some eighty films.

Anne Buydens Douglas built her career in the film industry as a publicist. She met Kirk Douglas during the making of Act of Love (1953) and they married soon after. Anne would become his closest advisor and eventually take the reins as president of their independent production company, Bryna Productions.

Turner Classic Movies is the definitive resource for the greatest movies of all time. We entertain and enlighten to show how the entire spectrum of classic movies, movie history, and movie-making touches us all and influences how we think and live today.

Table of Contents

Foreword Michael Douglas 6

Introduction 9

Chapter 1 When We Were Young 11

Chapter 2 Our Complicated Courtship 31

Chapter 3 1954: Our Romance Goes Transatlantic 45

Chapter 4 Together At Last 65

Chapter 5 Bryna's Early Years 77

Chapter 6 1957: On Location in Arizona, Germany, and Norway 89

Chapter 7 Facing Difficulties at Home 101

Chapter 8 Becoming Spartacus 121

Chapter 9 Our Hollywood Life 133

Chapter 10 A Life Beyond Hollywood 153

Chapter 11 Friends in High Places 171

Chapter 12 Friends and Family 189

Chapter 13 Caring is Sharing 205

Afterword 221

Editorial Reviews

04/17/2017
This collection from married couple Kirk, the Oscar-winning Hollywood star, and Anne, president of Kirk’s production company, demonstrates that unique insights can be gleaned from letters. Each chapter emphasizes a time period (“1957: On Location in Arizona, Germany, and Norway”) or subject (“Friends and Family”). The Douglases focus on the intimate letters of their courtship and marriage, but they also share their correspondence with others who touched their lives over the years, including actors, directors, and politicians. As a result, their tender musings are intermingled with letters from every U.S. president from John F. Kennedy to Barack Obama and from such Hollywood legends as Tony Curtis and Frank Sinatra. The letters are accompanied by commentary from the couple that reveals their feelings about love, family, friendship, and life in general. Movie aficionados will enjoy the gossip about such stars as Robert Mitchum, Vivien Leigh, and Elizabeth Taylor, and be touched by messages Kirk received while recovering from a stroke in 1996. Now 100 and 97 years old respectively, Kirk and Anne have been married over 60 years—a lifetime of experiences that offers captivating material for this little gem of a book. (May)

Publishers Weekly

Entertainment icon Kirk Douglas, now 100, and his wife, Anne, have been married for 63 years. Here, they share stories of their evolving relationship through personal correspondence between themselves and with others. Thankfully, the couple provides pithy contextual remarks for many of the letters. Kirk’s actor son Michael’s two grown children voice the work, a first-time narration for both. They are enthusiastic, sincere, and precise in their deliveries. However, word emphasis is often provided in the wrong place in many sentences and phrases, hindering clear understanding. The greatest distractions, easily prevented by closer production quality control, are the mispronunciations, such as the surname of the Zanuck family of Twentieth Century Fox, as well as every Yiddish expression used. Though the narration has flaws, this is a strong written effort. W.A.G. © AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine

JUNE 2017 - AudioFile