Overview

He 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. As Kirk Douglas has grown older - he turned ninety in December 2006 - he has become less impetuous and more reflective. In this poignant and inspiring new 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 tells wonderful tales and shares favorite jokes and hard-won insights. In the book, 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. He includes anecdotes about his friends 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, Michael, Peter, Eric, and Joel, and his grandchildren. Douglas's life has been filled with pain as well as joy. In Let's Face It, he writes frankly for the first time about the tragic death of his son Eric from a drug overdose at age forty-five. Douglas tells what it was like to recover from several near-death episodes, including a helicopter crash, a stroke, and a cardiac event. He writes of his sadness that many of his closest friends are no longer with us; the book includes many moving stories such as one about a regular poker game at Frank Sinatra's house at which he and Anne have been fixtures along with Gregory Peck, Jack Lemmon, and their wives. Though many of the players are gone, the game continues to this day. In Let's Face It, Douglas reflects on how his Jewish faith has become more and more important to him over the years. He offers strong opinions on everything from anti-Semitism to corporate greed, from racism to Hurricane Katrina, and from the war in Iraq to the situation in Israel. He writes about the importance in his life of the need to improve education for all children and about how we need to care more about the world and less about ourselves. A must-read for every fan, this engrossing memoir provides an indelible self-portrait of a great star - while sharing the wit and wisdom Kirk Douglas has accumulated over a lifetime.

Full Product Details

Author:   Kirk Douglas
Publisher:   Turner Publishing Company
Imprint:   John Wiley & Sons Ltd
Dimensions:   Width: 16.00cm , Height: 2.30cm , Length: 23.30cm
Weight:   0.528kg
ISBN:  

9780470084694

ISBN 10:   0470084693
Pages:   256
Publication Date:   04 April 2007
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   To order  
Stock availability from the supplier is unknown. We will order it for you and ship this item to you once it is received by us.

Table of Contents

Foreword by Jack Valenti. Acknowledgments. Introduction. 1. My Birthday. 2. Two Heads Are Better Than One. 3. A Day in My Life. 4. Hoops of Steel. 5. Amsterdam, New York. 6. Children. 7. My Sons. 8. Eric. 9. Dealing with Death. 10. Harry's Haven. 11. Don't Put Your Daughter (or Son) on the Stage! 12. Fans. 13. Inside of Me. 14. Romance Begins at Eighty. 15. Never Forget. 16. Be the Person Your Dogs Think You Are. 17. Cemeteries. 18. A Whale of a Tale. 19. I Love Dogs. 20. Trying Our Best. 21. Some of My Best Friends Are Actors. 22. Can We Talk? 23. Anne in Orbit. 24. Decisions. 25. Almost Dying. 26. Mama's Boy. 27. The Dangers of Celebrity. 28. Thinking about Death. 29. Passion Plays. 30. Second Wedding. 31. Hate. 32. Real Heroes. 33. Reading Obituaries. 34. Laugh, Clown, Laugh. 35. Knees. 36. Put Your House in Order. 37. Both Semites. 38. Writing. 39. Technology. 40. Does God Laugh? 41. Greed Is Not Good. 42. Stones and Flowers. 43. Am I a Good Father? 44. Don't Be Too Religious. 45. Hold the Gefilte Fish. 46. Who's Minding the Store? 47. Israel. 48. Sunset. Epilogue. Credits.

Reviews

Douglas is upbeat, engaging and full of sharp observations. (PW.com, April 16, 2007) Now 90, Douglas weighs in on everything from Terri Schiavo to racism. He contemplates the meaning of life, gives tips on a happy marriage (he and his wife have been married for over 50 years), shares his sorrow over the death of his son Eric, and relates what it's like to outlive all of your friends. There is less pomposity here and perhaps even more truth as the actor rethinks things he wrote earlier. At his age, what do you have to lose? (Library Journal, April 1, 2007) written in deftly lucid prose as a series of insights into the mind of a man reflecting on the past . (The Times (Knowledge Supplement),14th April 2007) ...you want to close your eyes and be taken into the world of Douglas.What a world and life ... (SomethingJewish.co.uk, 12th April 2007) ...this self-deprecating, wise and witty book is not a vanity project - it's a genuinely moving account. (Empire, August 2007)

Author Information

KIRK DOUGLAS has been a household name for six decades. He has appeared in more than eighty films and has been nominated for an Academy Award for Champion, The Bad and the Beautiful, and Lust for Life. Douglas received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1981, a special Oscar in 1996, and the National Medal of the Arts in 2001. He is the author of three previous bestselling memoirs, three novels, and two children's books.

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