Anne Douglas, philanthropist and widow of Kirk Douglas, dies at 102

“My father might by no means preserve a secret. Anne was simply the alternative,” Michael Douglas mentioned in an announcement launched by the household. “That’s why once I learn their co-authored ebook, `Kirk and Anne,’ wherein she talked about her adolescence in Germany; her warfare years in occupied Paris; her profession earlier than she met my father; she additionally included their personal correspondence, which gave me new insights into their courtship and marriage.

Kirk Douglas, the Hollywood legend who starred in “Spartacus,” “Lust for Life” and dozens of different movies, died in February 2020 at 103.

He married Anne Buydens in 1954 after they met in Paris whereas he was filming “Act of Love” and he or she was doing publicity. That they had two sons, Peter, a producer, and Eric, an actor.

“Anne was greater than a stepmother, and by no means `depraved.’ She introduced out the perfect in all of us, particularly our father. Dad would by no means have had the profession he did with out Anne’s assist and partnership. Catherine and I and the kids adored her. She is going to all the time be in our hearts.”

Anne Douglas was married to legendary actor Kirk Douglas for greater than 60 years, till his demise final 12 months. The couple initially wed in Las Vegas in 1954, however that they had a extra lavish ceremony after they renewed their vows 50 years later, in 2004.

That they had two youngsters collectively, Peter and Eric. Kirk Douglas had two youngsters from his earlier marriage to Diana Dill — Michael and Joel.

“I typically surprise what would have occurred to me if I hadn’t married Anne. I may not have survived with out her enterprise acumen and her finely-honed instincts,” Kirk Douglas as soon as mentioned.

In 2017 the couple revealed “Kirk and Anne: Letters of Love, Laughter, and a Lifetime in Hollywood.”

The Douglas Basis, which Anne and her husband co-founded, has donated hundreds of thousands to a variety of establishments, from Kids’s Hospital Los Angeles to the Movement Image & Tv Fund.

She was an avid philanthropist, co-founding the Cedars-Sinai Analysis for Girls’s Cancers. She and her husband additionally led a large marketing campaign to refurbish playgrounds at Los Angeles Unified College District campuses, renovating greater than 400 and all the time personally attending dedication ceremonies after they opened.

She additionally funded the Anne Douglas Middle for Girls on the Los Angeles Mission downtown, and the Douglas Basis has contributed greater than $118 million to quite a lot of causes, together with the Movement Image and Tv Residence’s Alzheimers and dementia unit, Sinai Temple’s Kirk and Anne Douglas Childhood Middle and St. Lawrence College’s Kirk Douglas scholarships for minority college students.

Michael Douglas mentioned his stepmother “will all the time be in our hearts.”