Kirk’s better half was shrewd investor
Anne Douglas, who has died in Beverly Hills aged 102, was the widow of Kirk Douglas and for 65 years by no means the lesser half of one of the most fascinating and enduring marriages in Hollywood.
She and Douglas met in Paris in 1953 when he was looking for a bilingual publicist. His box-office appeal recently established by performances in films such as Young Man with a Horn (1950), Douglas had gained a reputation for being as intense and self-interested off screen as he could be on it.
He was recently divorced from his first wife, Diana Dill, who would later describe him as a “sexually voracious bird of prey,” partial to orgies and hallucinogenic drugs.
Meanwhile, Anne Buydens, as she was, had been married for a decade to a Belgian, Albert Buydens. This was subsequently reported to have been largely an arrangement of convenience, for she was German-born and had married to gain papers after fleeing Brussels for Paris when war came. She had since worked as a location scout for John Huston and had recently become head of protocol for the Cannes Film Festival.
Taken to meet Douglas by a cinematographer who warned her that it was a lion’s den, she shocked the star by turning down his invitation to dinner, saying she would rather make scrambled eggs at home for herself. Nonetheless, she agreed to work for Douglas.
Douglas recalled that he was struck by her self-possessed beauty, so different to the actresses he knew, and that for the first time he found himself listening to a woman instead of trying to impress her. Anne Buydens gave as good as she got, for instance inviting all his recent liaisons to his birthday party in Paris.
They were married in Las Vegas in 1954. It was then that Anne Douglas discovered that her husband was virtually bankrupt, living on daily allowances from the studios. She took charge of her husband’s finances. She also became a producer in his company.
Douglas later paid tribute to her acumen, and in the 1990s the sale of their art collection raised millions for their philanthropic foundation.
The couple had two sons, Peter and Eric — Douglas already had his sons Michael and Joel from his earlier marriage. Anne Douglas converted to her husband’s faith, Judaism, on their 50th wedding anniversary.