Audiobooks by Kirk Douglas

Kirk and Anne: Letters of Love, Laughter, and a Lifetime in Hollywood

"The late film icon and screen legend Kirk Douglas was married to Anne Buydens for more than six decades. Here they both look back on a lifetime filled with drama both on and off the screen. Sharing priceless correspondence with each other as well as the celebrities and world leaders they called friends, Kirk and Anne is a candid portrayal of the pleasures and pitfalls of a Hollywood life lived in the public eye. Compiled from Anne's private archive of letters and photographs, this is an intimate glimpse into the Douglases' courtship and marriage set against the backdrop of Kirk's screen triumphs, including The Vikings, Lust For Life, Paths of Glory, and Spartacus. The letters themselves, as well as Kirk and Anne's vivid descriptions of their experiences, reveal remarkable insight and anecdotes about the legendary figures they knew so well, including Lauren Bacall, Frank Sinatra, Burt Lancaster, Elizabeth Taylor, John Wayne, the Kennedys, and the Reagans. Filled with photos from film sets, private moments, and public events, Kirk and Anne details the adventurous, oftentimes comic, and poignant reality behind the glamour of a Hollywood marriage."

Anne Douglas, Kirk Douglas (Author), Cameron Douglas, Kelsey Douglas (Narrator)

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I Am Spartacus!: Making a Film, Breaking the Blacklist

"From Kirk Douglas, Hollywood royalty and bestselling author of The Ragman’s Son and My Stroke of Luck, comes the candid story of the making of Spartacus, the blockbuster film that broke the blacklist One of the world’s most iconic movie stars, Kirk Douglas has distinguished himself as a producer, philanthropist, and author of ten works of fiction and memoir. Now, more than fifty years after the release of his enduring epic Spartacus, Douglas reveals the riveting drama behind the making of the legendary gladiator film. Douglas began producing the movie in the midst of the politically charged era when Hollywood’s moguls refused to hire anyone accused of Communist sympathies. In a risky move, Douglas chose Dalton Trumbo, a blacklisted screenwriter, to write Spartacus. Trumbo was one of the “Unfriendly Ten,” men who had gone to prison rather than testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee about their political affiliations. Douglas’s source material was already a hot property, as the novel Spartacus was written by Howard Fast while he was in jail for defying HUAC. With the financial future of his young family at stake, Douglas plunged into a tumultuous production both on- and off-screen. As both producer and star of the film, he faced explosive moments with young director Stanley Kubrick, struggles with a leading lady, and negotiations with giant personalities, including Sir Laurence Olivier, Charles Laughton, Peter Ustinov, and Lew Wasserman. Writing from his heart and from his own meticulously researched archives, Kirk Douglas, at ninety-five, looks back at his audacious decisions. He made the most expensive film of its era—but more importantly, his moral courage in giving public credit to Trumbo effectively ended the notorious Hollywood blacklist."

Kirk Douglas (Author), Michael Douglas (Narrator)

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Let’s Face It: 90 Years of Living, Loving, and Learning

"Kirk Douglas has been one of the brightest stars in Hollywood, a hard-charging actor whose intensity on the screen has been mirrored in his personal life. In this poignant and inspiring memoir, Douglas contemplates what life is all about, weighing current events from his present frame of mind while summoning the passions of his younger days. Kirk Douglas is a born storyteller, and throughout Let's Face It he offers wonderful tales, favorite jokes, and hard-won insights. He explores the mixed blessings of growing older and looks back at his childhood, his young adulthood, and his storied, glamorous, and colorful life and career in Hollywood. He tells delightful stories of the making of such films as Spartacus, Lust for Life, Champion, The Bad and the Beautiful, and many others, and he includes anecdotes about such friends as Frank Sinatra, Burt Lancaster, Lauren Bacall, Ronald Reagan, Ava Gardner, Henry Kissinger, Fred Astaire, Yul Brynner, John Wayne, and Johnny Cash. He reveals the secrets that have kept him and his wife, Anne, happily married for more than five decades and talks fondly and movingly of times spent with his sons and grandchildren. He also reflects upon his Jewish faith and offers strong opinions on everything from racism to corporate greed to the war in Iraq and the situation in Israel. A must-read for every fan, this engrossing memoir provides an indelible self-portrait of one of America's screen icons—while sharing the wit and wisdom Kirk Douglas has accumulated over a lifetime."

Kirk Douglas (Author), Jason Alexander (Narrator)

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My Stroke of Luck

"In the six decades since he took to the stage and screen, Kirk Douglas has starred in eighty-three films, nine plays, written seven books, and made a remarkable commitment to humanitarian causes world-wide. Now in My Stroke of Luck, his vivid and very personal reflection upon his extraordinary life, Kirk Douglas finally completes his story by offering a candid and heartfelt memoir of where it all went right. Written in his own words, Kirk offers tender vignettes of his childhood, family, and the seminal event that changed his life for the better. Kirk offers the lessons that saved him and helped him to heal; he also shares warm memories of some of the most famous figures of our time -- including Burt Lancaster, Michael J. Fox and Gary Cooper. Filled with personal insights and read by Kirk Douglas and his son Michael, My Stroke of Luck is an audio sure to inspire all who hear it."

Kirk Douglas (Author), Kirk Douglas, Michael Douglas (Narrator)

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The Gift: A Novel

"Softhearted, emotionally fragile Patricia Dennison— orphaned heiress to the Stoneham fortune— divides her life between trips to a Swiss sanatorium, where she is ensconced in the suicide ward, and the farm where she pensions off broken-down horses, cultivates a lush rose garden, and moons after a handsome, seemingly heroic doctor. Enter arrogant Miguel Cardiga, a Portuguese bullfighter whose career is sidelined by a rogue bull's deadly horns. Son of a famed equestrian, Miguel schools Patricia in dressage and love. Meantime, trustees at the Stoneham Group plot to declare Patricia incompetent and engineer a series of accidents designed to drive her over the edge."

Kirk Douglas (Author), Kirk Douglas (Narrator)

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Dance with the Devil: A Novel

"Thought-provoking, riveting, and erotic, Dance with the Devil is the debut novel of legendary actor Kirk Douglas. Hollywood can be a tough town, but it's been awfully good to Danny Dennison. At 55, he's wealthy, successful, and respected throughout the film world. But Danny has been living a lie. Haunted by his past, he longs to find peace and answers. His true identity is buried halfway around the world in the ruins of a Nazi concentration camp. Danny believes his secret to be safe— until he meets the young and sensuous Luba, whose mesmerizing sexuality begins to shatter his well-guarded facade."

Kirk Douglas (Author), Kirk Douglas (Narrator)

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