An Hour with a Film Legend by Los Angeles Senior Staff photographer Fred Prouser.
The assignment was pretty straight forward, accompany Global Entertainment Editor Arthur Spiegleman to illustrate an interview with film legend Kirk Douglas about his book “Let’s Face It” at the star’s Beverly Hills home.

A housekeeper welcomed us and led us to the living room. She suggested I look around to find a suitable place to take my pictures. Nearby was a comfortable den with shelves loaded with art books and a skylight with natural light streaming in, perfect for candid portraits during the interview and outside by the pool was a sculpture garden.

Kirk Douglas strode into the room from a door off the den. He was alone. There was no publicist, no manager, no pre-approved questions, he just sat down on the couch and said, “What would you like to know?” and so we began.

He appeared oblivious to the camera, concentrating on Art’s questions. As he spoke he emphasised his words with hand gestures and despite his 90 years and a stroke which affected his speech he was articulate and comprehensible. He mentioned that his best friend Jack Valenti was dying. Little did we realise that later that day we would actually be reporting the death of this former aide to US president Lyndon Johnson and father of the US film rating system.

Douglas told us that his favourite film was Spartacus which he also produced and he spoke of how he had “brought on” the young director, Stanley Kubrick. One of his proudest moments was a pat on the back from son Michael Douglas.

At one point he looked over at me and complimented the beard I have worn for 30 years. I told him, “my wife likes it”.

As the hour drew to a close, Douglas motioned for us to walk with him to the pool area, he posed next to a large sculpture by Seward Johnson showing the young and the old Kirk Douglas and after showing us around his garden, he walked us to the front door and bid us farewell.