Behind the scenes of 100 years of Kirk Douglas and his son Michael Douglas

Kirk Douglas, one of the last legends of Hollywood’s centenary. On the occasion of his birthday (December 9), Yanou Collart, a friend of the family, takes us into his privacy, tells us about the relationship with his son Michael Douglas and his incredible love story with Anne, his woman for 62 years.

Yanou Collart whose career in international public relations and attended, among others, those of Michael Douglas, is a friend of the family for almost 50 years …
“When I realized that on December 9, Kirk was a hundred years old, I sent an email to all their friends to suggest him write a little postcard. Kathleen Turner , Angela Bassett, Jack Nicholson, Stallone, Goldie Hawn … everyone has found great idea and pledged to do . Michael, he arranged for his father a big party at the Beverly Hills Hotel. the all-Hollywood was the game  ! I n ‘I could go there, but I did deliver to Kirk, the first time, at home, a bottle of champagne, as I have done so often in the past. it’s become a symbolic gesture between we are the bubbles of friendship.
I met Kirk Douglas the first time in the late sixties . It was in Los Angeles, during a dinner with Danny Kaye. Danny was an actor, dancer, singer, but he was also the greatest expert of Chinese food in the world! This man could do everything and every year for twenty years, he went to sharpen his leadership talents in Hong Kong. So on Sunday, it was always open table at Danny. That’s how one fine day I saw land Kirk, the legend. It was a very handsome man with a sarcastic humor irresistible, he held, I think, his Belarusian origins. Seducer, of course, but very in love with Anne (his second wife met in 1953 at the Cannes Film Festival, where she was hostess, ed) and with which I immediately heard well, especially since it came from Belgium, like me .
Kirk had two son from his first marriage – including Michael – and have two with Anne. The youngest, Eric, addict, committed suicide … Does he was a good father? It’s hard to say. When I see what happened to the six children of Jerry Lewis , it’s a catastrophe, that of Gregory Peck , like … It’s not easy to find a place in the shade of a giant! Michael has succeeded . But this has not always been easy between Kirk and himself. I especially remember one evening in Paris. It was in 1984 or 1985, right after the success of A Romancing the Stone . Michael called me, “Yanou, I’m in Paris, also dad, and I want you organize a dinner because I have something important to say. “As I was involved in Castel of media relations, I reserve a private dining room for twenty people. Dinner is great. Just before dessert, Michael gets up to speak. Everyone is silent and he launched: ” Dad, I have great news, I can tell you that from now on, I have already earned more money than you throughout your career! ” I suddenly felt the ground give way beneath my feet. It was so violent! Anne wanted to get up, Kirk was immediately accepted. Luckily, at that time arrived the cake with fireworks fountains I ordered. In psychoanalysis, he is said to kill the father to build, that was the case, I think . A decade earlier he had already been a rivalry between them. Kirk had bought the rights to One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest but could not raise the necessary funds for the shoot. Michael took over the project, managed to convince Jack Nicholson and ultimately it was he who in 1975 released the film.
All this now belongs to the past. Michael and Kirk are now very close , supportive. Especially since death came close separate … Kirk is indeed a survivor! He first had, in 1986, a helicopter crash which he was the only survivor . I remember he came out broken, traumatized. Then, ten years later, he made that stroke one believed fatal . The doctors gave him for dead. He however noted but, for a year, he could not speak – he also retained speech problems – and made a very serious depression. Again, he found the strength to rise.
Kirk is a Phoenix! And I think that Anne, his wife, is not foreign . She has always been in the background, who always admired – and even more after all these trials – has, over the years, taken a fundamental place. For him, she converted to Judaism . For her, he learned French as to be virtually bilingual … A ninety-seven years, discrete Anne is still among the ten best dressed women in the world, and this since 1970 . She managed to make their villa in Beverly Hills, a cozy place, taste, in light years of a foil to Trump. It is essential to Kirk. And their love story lasted for sixty-two years …! This is perhaps my feminist side, but I think she’s the secret to longevity Kirk! Do not we say that there is always a woman behind a great man? “