Anne Douglas, Wife Of The Late Kirk Douglas, Has Died At 102 — She 'Will Always Be in Our Hearts'

Apr 30, 2021

On Thursday, April 29, Anne Douglas, the wife of late Kirk Douglas, passed away in her longtime Beverly Hills home she shared with the legendary actor and husband of 66 years. Her death was announced by her family. She was 102 years old. Kirk had died at the age of 103 on February 5, 2020.

Anne was born in Hanover, Germany, as Hannelore Marx to a father who owned a textile business and a socialite mother, according to The Hollywood Reporter. She attended boarding school in Switzerland where she became fluent in English, French and Italian after her parents divorced. During World War II, she married her Belgian partner Albert Buydens and the two of them fled from Belgium to Paris. 

While in Paris, she worked a job writing German subtitles for movies before she was hired by NBC to produce a show called "Paris Cavalcade of Fashion." This is really where her career began to take off and would eventually lead her to her husband of 66 years.

Anne and Kirk first met in 1953 on the Paris set of "Act of Love," and at the time the two were involved with different people. Anne, of course, was married to Buydens while Kirk was already divorced from actress Diana Dill and secretly engaged to Italian actress Pier Angeli. She was a film publicist at the time and had been working as a location scout and assistant for director John Huston in 1952. In 1953, she had a three-year period where she worked as head of protocol for the Cannes Film Festival where she scheduled parties and made sure that they were filled with celebrities and media. 

When Kirk first offered her a job to be his assistant, she vehemently turned him down, according to The Hollywood Reporter. In the book Kirk and Anne co-authored in 2017, "Kirk and Anne: Letters of Love, Laughter, and a Lifetime in Hollywood," Kirk wrote, "She finally agreed to work with me on a trial basis, making it clear our relationship would be strictly business."

Anne also had something to say about it. "We talked for hours, and I had a strange feeling in my heart that I could fall in love with this man. 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," she said.

However, what was meant to be would be. The couple, in a spontaneous moment, decided to get married in Las Vegas in 1954 after a year of working together and pursuing a complicated relationship. Their son Peter was born a year later followed by Eric who was born in 1958. Their marriage would last for more than six decades, which is extremely rare in the Hollywood industry. Speaking about Anne, Michael Douglas said in a statement to PEOPLE:

"Anne was more than a stepmother, and never 'wicked.' 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."

Anne was a dedicated philanthropist all her life and served on the boards of The Mark Taper Forum and the Center Theater Group, according to PEOPLE. She was also one of five original founders of the Cedars-Sinai Research for Women's Cancers and without her, The Anne Douglas Center for Women at the Los Angeles Mission would not exist today. The Hollywood Reporter stated that Anne and Kirk's Douglas Foundation has contributed more than $118 million to worthy causes to date. 

Anne celebrated her 102nd birthday just last week on April 23, 2021, for which Michael Douglas shared a photo of his family gathered around Anne and Kirk. The caption read, "Happy Birthday Anne Douglas! We love you! ❤️ Michael, Catherine, Carys, & Dylan."

Kirk and Anne shared a happy and long marriage, and have been a point of inspiration for many people, including their children. "I often wonder what would have happened to me if I hadn't married Anne," Kirk had once said. "I might not have survived without her business acumen and her finely-honed instincts. She saved me from financial ruin when she persisted in her distrust of my long-time lawyer and surrogate father, who indeed stole the fortune he told me I had."

Kirk continued, "She saved my life when she refused to let me fly to New York on Mike Todd's plane which crashed, killing everyone aboard. She gave me tough love when I had my stroke and thought I would never speak or work again. Anne is selfless, compassionate and loyal to a fault. She also has a wicked sense of humor and can make me laugh in English, French and German."

We send our condolences to the Douglas family. Did you know the love story between Kirk and Anne Douglas? Tell us what you thought about it, and be sure to let others know about how the legendary couple was able to have such a long marriage.