# Did Kirk Douglas (Vincent van Gogh) Meet Jeanne Calment? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 1, 2016, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-kirk-douglas-vincent-van-gogh-meet-jeanne-calment/741917 "2016-01-01T17:10:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![botsgotme](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@botsgotme](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/botsgotme)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2016, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-kirk-douglas-vincent-van-gogh-meet-jeanne-calment/741917/1 "2016-01-01T17:10:15Z")
If you watch the movie trailer (“Lust For Life”)-wherein Kirk Douglas played the part of Vincent van Gogh, he relates an amazing incident that took place in the same cafe that van Gogh frequented, in France. Douglas (who bore a striking resemblance to van Gogh) walked into the cafe, and an old women was taken aback-she thought she had seen Van Gogh-it turned out that she had known the artist as a child. I wonder if this woman could have been Jeanne Calment (1875-1997), who had the longest verified life span. I believe that the fim was made around 1954-at which point Calment would have been 79 years old. Even then there were probably very few left who knew van Gogh. ---
**Author:** ![MickNickMaggies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/59ef9b/32.png) [@MickNickMaggies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MickNickMaggies)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2016, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-kirk-douglas-vincent-van-gogh-meet-jeanne-calment/741917/2 "2016-01-01T17:33:36Z")
I think so, I seem to recall an extra feature on the making of where he stood in a cafe with some locals- and an older lady told him he wasn’t ugly enough. I’ll look and see what I can turn up, as all of my things are boxed atm… Edit: a quick look ids the feature the as ‘VanGogh: Darkness into Light’ and credits one Jeanne Louise Calment as herself, so it looks likely. ---
**Author:** ![botsgotme](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@botsgotme](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/botsgotme)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2016, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-kirk-douglas-vincent-van-gogh-meet-jeanne-calment/741917/3 "2016-01-03T02:03:12Z")
> [@MickNickMaggies](#): > > I think so, I seem to recall an extra feature on the making of where he stood in a cafe with some locals- and an older lady told him he wasn’t ugly enough. > > I’ll look and see what I can turn up, as all of my things are boxed atm… > > Edit: a quick look ids the feature the as ‘VanGogh: Darkness into Light’ and credits one Jeanne Louise Calment as herself, so it looks likely. Thanks…I am interested in this. ---
**Author:** ![Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Springtime_for_Spacers)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2016, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-kirk-douglas-vincent-van-gogh-meet-jeanne-calment/741917/4 "2016-01-03T03:04:10Z")
From Wikipedia (and I also remember this from news reports). > [@](#): > > According to Calment, she met Vincent van Gogh when he came into her uncle’s shop to buy canvas in 1888. She found him to be “Dirty, badly dressed and disagreeable.” Eta also > [@](#): > > “very ugly, ungracious, impolite, sick”. ---
**Author:** ![MickNickMaggies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/59ef9b/32.png) [@MickNickMaggies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MickNickMaggies)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2016, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-kirk-douglas-vincent-van-gogh-meet-jeanne-calment/741917/5 "2016-01-03T13:14:27Z")
If you’re in the US, they usually air the short with ‘Lust for Life’ on TCM. ---
**Author:** ![Claverhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Claverhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claverhouse)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2016, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-kirk-douglas-vincent-van-gogh-meet-jeanne-calment/741917/6 "2016-01-03T21:57:28Z")
Poor Jeanne; she was taken from us far too young. Remember, kids: Smoking Kills. ---
**Author:** ![MickNickMaggies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/59ef9b/32.png) [@MickNickMaggies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MickNickMaggies)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2016, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-kirk-douglas-vincent-van-gogh-meet-jeanne-calment/741917/7 "2016-01-03T22:06:04Z")
In a twist, Wikipedia claims that that cafe was filmed for the short in Auvers sur Oise, not where Calment lived in Arles. Soooooo…it remains unknown! It could, possibly, have been Adeline Ravoux, who would have been 76-ish when the filming happened and who created a written account in 1956 where she said she was one of the last, if not the last, in Auvers to have known Van Gogh.