Film publicist Anne Douglas – the widow of Kirk Douglas – dies aged 102 at home in Beverly Hills 


Film publicist Anne Douglas, the widow of Kirk Douglas and stepmother of Michael Douglas, has died at the age of 102. 

Douglas died peacefully Thursday afternoon at her home in Beverly Hills, California, that she shared with her late actor husband of 66 years. No cause of death was given. 

Michael Douglas paid tribute to his stepmother in a statement saying she ‘will always be in our hearts.’

‘Anne was more than a stepmother, and never ‘wicked,’ he said. 

‘She brought out the best in all of us, especially our father. Dad would never have had the career he did without Anne’s support and partnership. Catherine and I and the children adored her; she will always be in our hearts.’ 

Her death comes just over one year after Hollywood legend Kirk died at the age of 103 back on February 5 2020.    

Film publicist Anne Douglas, the widow of Kirk Douglas and stepmother of Michael Douglas, has died at the age of 102. Anne and Kirk together in 1960

Film publicist Anne Douglas, the widow of Kirk Douglas and stepmother of Michael Douglas, has died at the age of 102. Anne and Kirk together in 1960 

Douglas died peacefully Thursday afternoon at her home in Beverly Hills, California, that she shared with her late actor husband of 66 years. Pictured on her 101st birthday

Douglas died peacefully Thursday afternoon at her home in Beverly Hills, California, that she shared with her late actor husband of 66 years. Pictured on her 101st birthday

Douglas had a long career in the entertainment industry as a location scout for John Huston, a publicist at Cannes and then the president of Kirk’s production company. 

In her later life, she became well known for her philanthropy work, including founding the Anne Douglas Center for Women at the Los Angeles Mission and cofounding The Douglas Foundation with her husband. 

Born Hannelore Marx on April 23, 1919 in Hannover, Germany, to a socialite mother and textile store owner father, she moved to Switzerland in her youth to attend boarding school.

She wed her first husband Albert Buydens and the two fled to Paris during World War II to escape the Nazis.

Her education – being fluent in German, English, French and Italian – put her in good stead as it was there that she embarked on the beginning of her long movie industry career.  

She first got a job writing German subtitles for movies, before producing an NBC program called Paris Cavalcade of Fashion in 1948. 

Anne then met Kirk on the set of  Act of Love in Paris back in 1953 when he was starring in the film and she was doing publicity for it. 

But the couple later revealed in their joint 2017 book ‘Kirk and Anne: Letters of Love, Laughter, and a Lifetime in Hollywood’ that she spurred his advances at first.

Her death comes just over one year after Hollywood legend Kirk died at the age of 103 back on February 5 2020.  Pictured together at the BAFTAs in London in 1985

Her death comes just over one year after Hollywood legend Kirk died at the age of 103 back on February 5 2020.  Pictured together at the BAFTAs in London in 1985

Anne and Kirk Douglas attend the 2013 Vanity Fair Oscar Party at the Sunset Tower Hotel on February 24 2013 in West Hollywood

Anne and Kirk Douglas attend the 2013 Vanity Fair Oscar Party at the Sunset Tower Hotel on February 24 2013 in West Hollywood

At the time, she was still married to Buydens and he was engaged to Italian actress Pier Angeli. 

Kirk offered her a job as his assistant but she turned it down, before finally agreeing to work with him making clear it would be ‘strictly business’.  

Their relationship soon blossomed.  

‘We talked for hours, and I had a strange feeling in my heart that I could fall in love with this man,’ Anne wrote in their book. 

‘I didn’t want to, because I had seen too many young women enter into intense affairs with visiting movie stars — Dean Martin, Marlon Brando, Cary Grant among them. 

‘Then the film wrapped and the men returned to their wives and families.’

One year later, they married in Las Vegas and they had two sons Peter, born in 1955, and Eric, born in 1958.  

Eric went on to become an actor and stand-up comedian but tragically died of an accidental drug overdose in 2004 aged 46. 

Anne had a long career in the entertainment industry as a location scout for John Huston, a publicist at Cannes and the president of Kirk's production company

Anne had a long career in the entertainment industry as a location scout for John Huston, a publicist at Cannes and the president of Kirk’s production company

Anne and Kirk (pictured at their home in Beverly Hills in 2008) met on the set of Act of Love in Paris back in 1953 and married the next year in Las Vegas

Anne and Kirk (pictured at their home in Beverly Hills in 2008) met on the set of Act of Love in Paris back in 1953 and married the next year in Las Vegas

Peter is an TV and film producer who won an Emmy for Outstanding Drama or Comedy Special for Inherit the Wind in 1988. 

Anne’s movie career continued to take off throughout the 50s as she worked for director John Huston as a location scout and assistant on Moulin Rouge in 1952.

The next year, she did a three-year stint as head of protocol at the Cannes Film Festival.

Later, she went on to work as president of her husband’s independent film production company the Bryna Co.

There she worked as a producer on Peg Leg, Musket & Sabre and Posse which Kirk starred in. 

Her husband said much of the success of his own career was down to his wife.

‘I often wonder what would have happened to me if I hadn’t married Anne. I might not have survived without her business acumen and her finely-honed instincts,’ Kirk once said.  

The couple also revealed how a bad feeling caused Anne to stop her husband getting on a private plane from Palm Springs to New York with director Michael Todd in 1958, which later crashed killing all on board. 

In her later life, she became well known for her philanthropy work, including founding the Anne Douglas Center for Women at the Los Angeles Mission. Pictured together at The Los Angeles Mission and Anne Douglas Center for Women Gala in 2013

In her later life, she became well known for her philanthropy work, including founding the Anne Douglas Center for Women at the Los Angeles Mission. Pictured together at The Los Angeles Mission and Anne Douglas Center for Women Gala in 2013

‘I don’t know what came over me, but I had a strange feeling,’ she wrote in their book. 

‘Absolutely not, Kirk. I don’t want you on that plane. You can fly commercial and meet him there.’

When they learned the plane had crashed in New Mexico, Kirk said he told her: ‘Darling, you saved my life. I will always trust your intuition from now on.’ 

Anne later went on to focus much of her time to her philanthropy work.

She campaigned to build the Los Angeles County Music Center and served on the boards of the Mark Taper Forum and the Center Theater Group for decades. 

She championed women’s careers cofounding the Cedars-Sinai Research for Women’s Cancers and launched the Anne Douglas Center for Women at the Los Angeles Mission.

Together, the couple also set up The Douglas Foundation which focuses on improving the education and health and providing opportunities for children.

Over the years, the foundation has donated millions to a wide range of institutions, from Children’s Hospital Los Angeles to the Motion Picture & Television Fund.  

She leaves behind son Peter, stepson Michael and Joel, daughters-in-law Catherine and Lisa, grandchildren Cameron, Dylan, Carys, Kelsey, Tyler, Jason and Ryan, great-grandchildren Lua Izzy and Ryder, and sister Merle.  

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