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.
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