Anne Buydens

Anne Buydens
Buydens in 2000
Born	Hannelore Marx (1919-04-23)23 April 1919 Hanover, Hanover, Prussia, Germany
Died	29 April 2021(2021-04-29) (aged 102) Beverly Hills, California, U.S.
Resting place	Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery
Other names	Anne Douglas
Occupation	Philanthropist producer
Years active	1952–2013
Spouse(s)	Albert Buydens ​ (divorced)​ Kirk Douglas ​ ​ (m. 1954; died 2020)​
Children	Peter Douglas Eric Douglas
Awards	Jefferson Award (2003)

Anne Buydens or Anne Douglas (born Hannelore Marx;^[1] 23 April 1919 – 29 April 2021) was a German-born American philanthropist and film producer. She was the wife of actor Kirk Douglas from 1954 until his death in 2020. She received a Jefferson Award for Public Service in 2003.

Early life[]

Born Hannelore Marx in Hanover, Hanover, Prussia, Germany, on 23 April 1919,^[2] she was the daughter of Siegfried Marx,^[3] a textile merchant who imported silk for making parachutes; her mother, Paula Marx,^[4] was a socialite.^[5] After her parents were divorced, she was sent to a boarding school in Switzerland, where she learned English, French, and Italian.^[5] She later studied in Brussels but fled the bombed city for Paris during World War II.^[6] As her German identity was a problem, she became a Belgian citizen by marrying a Belgian, Albert Buydens, whom she later divorced.^[6][5]

Career[]

With Kirk Douglas in 1959

When the Nazis in Paris insisted that films be shown with German subtitles, her language skills allowed her to find a job adding subtitles for a French film distributor.^[6] In 1948, she was hired to produce an NBC program, Paris Cavalcade of Fashion.^[5] She also worked as a location scout on the 1952 production of Moulin Rouge for John Huston.^[5] From 1953, she scheduled celebrity parties at the Cannes Film Festival.^[5]

When Buydens met Kirk Douglas in Paris in 1953,^[7] he was divorced from his first wife, Diana Dill, with whom he had two sons, Michael and Joel.^[8] They worked on the film Act of Love, directed by Anatole Litvak, he as an actor and she as a publicist.^[9] He offered her a job as his publicist, which she first refused, but eventually accepted, described by him later: "She finally agreed to work with me on a trial basis, making it clear our relationship would be strictly business".^[5]

Personal life[]

In the Oval Office with Douglas and President Jimmy Carter in 1978

Buydens and Douglas married in Las Vegas on 29 May 1954.^[6] The couple had two sons, Peter (born 1955) and Eric (1958–2004), who both went into the film business.^[8][9][10] Douglas credits Buydens for saving his life in 1958 when she had insisted that he not travel via private plane with director Mike Todd; the plane crashed the next day, killing all four people aboard.^[5]

Buydens became a United States citizen in 1959.^[1] She converted to Judaism when she renewed her wedding vows with Douglas on their 50th wedding anniversary in 2004.^[11][12]

In 2017, they co-wrote a memoir, Kirk and Anne: Letters of Love, Laughter, and a Lifetime in Hollywood, including letters they had exchanged.^[9] She and her husband both became centenarians; he died on 5 February 2020.^[8]

Buydens died on 29 April 2021, six days after her 102nd birthday, at their longtime Beverly Hills home.^[5]

In a statement released by the family, her stepson Michael Douglas paid her tribute:

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.^[13]

Philanthropy[]

The couple at the 2003 Jefferson Awards where she won an award

One of Buydens' first forays into philanthropy came on the heels of recovering from breast cancer: With six fellow survivors, Buydens established the "Research for Women's Cancers" charity, which raised millions of dollars to help finance a research facility at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.^[14]

The two started the Douglas Foundation in 1964, which has since donated roughly 118 million USD to institutions such as the Children's Hospital Los Angeles and the Motion Picture & Television Fund (MPTF).^[9][15] They were also behind the establishment of Harry's Haven, an Alzheimer's disease unit named after Douglas's father at the MPTF Home in Woodland Hills.^[16]

The couple was known for their efforts to rebuild playgrounds in the Los Angeles Unified School District, attending opening ceremonies in person.^[13] In recognition of her compassion toward homeless women, the Anne Douglas Center for Women was named after her.^[17]

Awards[]

Buydens was inducted into the International Best-Dressed Hall of Fame List in 1970.^[18][19]

In recognition of her philanthropic deeds as a private citizen, Buydens received a Jefferson Award for Public Service in 2003.^[20] Buydens and Douglas are the only married couple to have each received an individual Jefferson Award; Douglas was awarded in 1983.^[20]

References[]

External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Anne Buydens.

• Anne Buydens at IMDb