Kirk Douglas and his wife Anne

The Centennial Couple – Kirk Douglas is 102 and his Wife Anne Just Turned 100!

Apr 23, 2019 Nancy Bilyeau

 

Photo by Getty Images

Many movie fans are aware that Kirk Douglas is 102 years old, but he’s only part of the longevity equation in his home. Douglas’ wife, Anne Buydens, turns 100 on April 23, 2019. The two have been married for 64 years and in interviews the actor has said she is his soul mate. In the famous Douglas clan, populated by Kirk’s oldest son, Michael, and his wife, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Anne is someone who may not win as many headlines. But her life has been an interesting one.
She was born in 1919 in Hanover, Germany, moving with her family to Belgium. She was well educating, achieving fluency in English, German, and French, and was living and working in Paris when an actor named Kirk Douglas asked her for a date in 1953.

Kirk Douglas at his 101st birthday. Photo by Getty Images

Buydens was working as a film publicist in Paris when she was introduced to Douglas, then filming Lust for Life, according to the couple’s joint memoir, Kirk and Anne. She met him in his trailer, known as “the lion’s den” by those working on the film, because the divorced actor was such a playboy.
According to their memoir, Douglas “took a look at me and then he said, ‘Would you like to have dinner with my friends at some chic restaurant?’ And I said, ‘No, thank you, I think I’ll go home and make myself some scrambled eggs.’ That was not what he expected.”
Although Douglas was annoyed by her refusal, he later hired her to be his publicist. They got to know each other on a platonic basis. “With no romance in the picture, I stopped trying to impress Anne. Instead I stopped talking about myself and began to listen to her,” they wrote in their book.

Ann Buydens. Photo by John Mathew Smith & www.celebrity-photos.com CC BY-SA 2.0

They married on May 29, 1954, and had two children. (Michael is Kirk’s son by his first marriage to actress Diana Dill.) Their son Eric passed away in 2004. In Kirk and Anne, Douglas shared that he had affairs with actresses like Rita Hayworth, Patricia Neal, and Joan Crawford’s daughter, Christina Crawford. “Kirk never tried to hide his dalliances from me,” Buydens said in the book. “As a European, I understood it was unrealistic to expect total fidelity in a marriage.”

Kirk & Ann attend Jefferson awards. Photo by John Mathew Smith & www.celebrity-photos.com CC BY-SA 2.0

Anne Buydens is a well-respected philanthropist and art collector. She has a better sense of money than Kirk, both agree, starting with helping him see that his money manager in the 1950s was not doing a good job, they wrote in their memoir.
Related Video: Quotes From Legends Of Hollywood’s Leading Ladies

“So I’m going out with a man who’s poor?” she told USA Today was her reaction to finding out that her boyfriend, the famous actor Kirk Douglas, was nearly broke. She helped him change managers. Anne Buydens has been a member of the International Best Dressed List since the 1970s.

Douglas and wife Anne with President Ronald Reagan, December 1987

When they dated and then during their marriage, the two wrote each other heartfelt letters. In the USA Today interview, she said emails aren’t the same, and she has mixed feelings about technology. “I gave him the iPad for his 100th birthday,” she said. “Every night we always have our what we call ‘golden hour’ about 6, 6:30, until 7:15 pm, and then dinner. And during this golden time we each have our drink and used to talk about what happened during the day.”
Read another story from us: Kirk Douglas is Going Camping at the Age of 102
“Nowadays he takes his iPad that I gave him, I take my iPad and both look at CNN or something. And we don’t talk!” she lamented. For last year’s birthday for Kirk, the couple posed for photographs, Anne dressed in bright pink, sitting in wheelchairs side by side and holding hands.

---

Nancy Bilyeau, a former staff editor at Entertainment Weekly, Rolling Stone, and InStyle, has written a trilogy of historical thrillers set in the Tudor era for Touchstone Books. Her new book, The Blue, is a spy story set in the 18th-century porcelain world. For more information, go to www.nancybilyeau.com
We hope you are enjoying The Vintage News. Please consider helping us with our journey to bring popular historical content to everyone by becoming a supporter today. Thanks.

Angelika Jung and Wolfgang Hampel in Marc Marshall's SWR 3 TV Show HERZSCHLAG-MOMENTE  on Saturday  3rd of August 2019  21.50



We have a very special Betty MacDonald fan club surprise for you. 

Tell us your favourite satirical text of Wolfgang Hampel's book Satire ist mein Lieblingstier, please and you'll get several fascinating Betty MacDonald fan club items for free.
Wolfgang Hampel's very successful book is available in many countries around the world. ( see links below )

Don't miss this unique Betty MacDonald fan club offer, please.

Wolfgang Hampel's very witty book 'Satire ist mein Lieblingstier' ( Satire is my favourite animal ) is No 1 Buecher de TOP List.

Wolfgang Hampels sehr witziges Buch ' Satire ist mein Lieblingstier' ( Satire is my favourite animal ) ist No 1 Buecher de TOP Liste.


Many greetings - viele Grüße

Mats 

buecher.de - Schnell, Günstig, Versandkostenfrei

Translate this page

Ich habe dieses Buch gekauft, weil Krimi-Königin Ingrid Noll Wolfgang ... sehr, daß wir die monatliche literarische Veranstaltung Vita Magica von Wolfgang Hampel bald einmal besuchen können.

Wolfgang Hampel's Satire ist mein Lieblingstier in Buecher de TOP list 

• PROMOTED Weltbild Satire ist mein Lieblingstier - Satirische Gedichte. Wolfgang Hampel, - Buch

You can order Wolfgang Hampel 'Satire ist mein Lieblingstier' (Satire is my favourite animal) 

U.S.A.

United Kingdom 

Australia

Austria

Brazil  

Canada

Czechia

Denmark

Finland

France

Germany

Hungary

Italy 

Japan 

Mexico

Norway

Poland 

Romania

Slovak Republic

Spain 

Sweden

Switzerland

The Netherlands


Wolfgang Hampel - Satire ist mein Lieblingstier ( Satire is my favourite animal ) 

Informationen über die Kultveranstaltung "Vita Magica" der Akademie für Ältere in Heidelberg  

Wolfgang Hampel - Satire ist mein Lieblingstier ( Satire is my favourite animal ) 

The best president ever 

Roger Cicero - ESC winner 2007  

Many ESC fans from all over the world are so very sad because we lost Joy Fleming - one of the best singers ever. 

Betty MacDonald fan club founder Wolfgang Hampel sings  'Try to remember' especially for Betty MacDonald fan club organizer Linde Lund at Vita Magica September

you can join 

Betty MacDonald fan club

Betty MacDonald Society  

Vita Magica  

Eurovision Song Contest Fan Club 

 

Wolfgang Hampel - Betty MacDonald fan club - and Vita Magica Founder 

on Facebook

Vita Magica Betty MacDonald event with Wolfgang Hampel, Thomas Bödigheimer and Friedrich von Hoheneichen

Vita Magica 

Betty MacDonald 

Betty MacDonald fan club 

Betty MacDonald fan club on Facebook

Betty MacDonald forum  

Wolfgang Hampel - Wikipedia ( English ) 

Wolfgang Hampel - Wikipedia ( English ) - The Egg and I 

Wolfgang Hampel - Wikipedia ( Polski)   

Wolfgang Hampel - Wikipedia ( German )

Wolfgang Hampel - LinkFang ( German ) 

Wolfgang Hampel - Academic ( German )

Wolfgang Hampel -  cyclopaedia.net ( German ) 

Wolfgang Hampel - DBpedia  ( English / German )

Wolfgang Hampel - people check ( English ) 

Wolfgang Hampel - Memim ( English )

Vashon Island - Wikipedia ( German )

Wolfgang Hampel - Monica Sone - Wikipedia ( English )

Wolfgang Hampel - Ma and Pa Kettle - Wikipedia ( English )

Wolfgang Hampel - Ma and Pa Kettle - Wikipedia ( French ) 

Wolfgang Hampel - Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle - Wikipedia ( English)

Wolfgang Hampel in Florida State University

Betty MacDonald fan club founder Wolfgang Hampel 

Betty MacDonald fan club interviews on CD/DVD

Betty MacDonald fan club items 

Betty MacDonald fan club items  - comments

Betty MacDonald fan club - The Stove and I  
 
Betty MacDonald fan club groups 

Betty MacDonald fan club organizer Linde Lund