(Photo by Gregory Pace / FilmMagic)
Diana Douglas, the first wife of
actor Kirk Douglas and the mother of actor Michael Douglas, died of cancer Saturday in a motion picture industry retirement home in Los Angeles, The Associated Press reported. She was 92.
Born Diana Love Dill Jan. 22, 1923, in Devonshire, Bermuda, to a prominent local family, she began a 60-year career as an actress and model by studying at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York. Here, she met fellow student Kirk Douglas, who, while serving in the Navy during World War II, saw a picture of her on the cover of Life magazine and famously told his shipmates he planned to marry her. They married that November and had two sons, Michael and Joel, before their 1951 divorce.
She was married to Bill Darrid from 1965 until his 1992 death, but she remained on amicable terms with her first husband, appearing with him in several
movies such as 2003's "It Runs in the Family," which also starred other members of the Douglas clan.
Douglas began her professional work in a minor uncredited role in "Keeper of the Flame" in 1942, followed by many movies throughout the '50s and '60s. Her film work continued throughout her life, including a notable turn in Steve Martin's "Planes, Trains, and Automobiles." She focused on television and stage work in the later years of her career, with roles in both "ER" and "The West Wing."
She is survived by her husband of 15 years, Donald Webster.
