The new Chatsworth Park Elementary School playground is festooned with balloons and mobbed by a group of very happy elementary school children eager to careen down the slide and wiggle across the monkey bars. But first come festivities to honor Anne Douglas, who made refurbishment of the 50-year-old playground possible. Douglas' eyes are on the giggling, squirming children, whose parents collectively speak 25 languages, exemplifying the diversity of Los Angeles schools.

"In our land of great wealth, the children are shortchanged," Douglas says firmly. "They work hard in school, and they deserve to be compensated by being able to play. They need a safe place where they can interact with children of all colors and customs."

Chatsworth Park is the 210th Los Angeles school to have its play area renovated by Douglas, whose goal is to work on more than 400.

Renovating rickety playgrounds is an abiding passion for Douglas, but not her only one. A former public-relations representative and for 49 years the wife of actor, Kirk Douglas quietly has built a reputation as compassionate crusader for several worthy causes -- but not so quietly that her work has escaped notice: The American Institute for Public Service has selected Douglas to receive the 2003 Jefferson Award during a ceremony set to take place today at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington.

AIPS was founded in 1972 by former first lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, then-Senator Robert Taft Jr., R-Ohio, and Sam Beard, with the goal of establishing a "Nobel Prize for outstanding community service." Past recipients include Bob Hope, Oprah Winfrey, Lilly Tartikoff, Microsoft mogul Bill Gates and former President Jimmy Carter.

Douglas, winner of the S. Roger Horchow Award for greatest public service by a private citizen, is one of four 2003 Jefferson recipients, joining national security adviser Condoleezza Rice, American Foundation for AIDS Research founder Mathilde Krim and Matthew Meyer, who began helping the citizens of Africa while a student during the 1990s. Kirk, Anne's partner in the Douglas Foundation, received a Jefferson honor in 1983; some might argue that he deserves another award for importing to the United States a woman who legitimately can be described as a national treasure.

Born Anne Buydens in Hanover, Germany, Douglas was in her early teens when her family fled fascism and emigrated to Belgium, where she became a citizen. Douglas continued her education there and in Switzerland before moving to Paris, where her fluent knowledge of several languages kept her busy subtitling films. She went on to oversee protocol for the Festival de Cannes and to work on publicity campaigns for films including John Huston's 1952 version of "Moulin Rouge" and 1954's "Ulysses." Anne met Kirk while working for his 1953 film "Act of Love," and the two were married in Las Vegas in 1954.

"When I met her, she wanted to become a (U.S.) citizen," Kirk Douglas says. "She felt this country was something special, and as soon as she became a citizen, she became anxious to pay back."

And pay back she has. For years, Douglas traveled the world with her husband as goodwill ambassadors on behalf of the State Department and the U.S. Information Agency. Kirk Douglas also named Anne president of his production unit, the Byrna Co., and she produced the 1973 film "Scalawag."

Although the couple established their charitable foundation early on, it was not until the early '90s -- upon liquidating their Impressionist art collection -- that they began major philanthropic undertakings.

"Anne and Kirk looked at the beautiful art on their walls and said, 'We've gotten many years of real pleasure out of this beautiful work; now, let's let someone else benefit from it,'" says Marcia Newberger, Anne's publicist for the past six years.

One of Anne Douglas' first forays into powerhouse philanthropy came on the heels of recovering from breast cancer: With six fellow survivors, she established Research for Women's Cancers, which raised millions of dollars to help finance a research facility at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. (Douglas has been a member of Cedars-Sinai's women's guild for more than 38 years.)

Both Douglases were behind the establishment of Harry's Haven, an Alzheimer's disease unit at the Motion Picture & Television Fund Home in Woodland Hills. Named for Kirk's father, Harry's Haven cares for 40 patients.

"What they've done so effectively is not just give their own money but inspire others to do so," MPTF Foundation CEO Ken Scherer says. "Anne's way is to talk about her passion to people and ask them to join her. To me, that's the ultimate donor: You give of yourself as well as your resources."

But the Douglases perhaps are best-known for rebuilding Los Angeles Unified School District playgrounds. The effort began when Anne read in the newspaper that the district's schoolyards were so decrepit that children were being kept indoors -- and she was outraged.

"It's her belief -- and I think it's backed up by research -- that it's on the playground that kids learn socialization skills and get to experience democracy in action," Newberger says.

Douglas vowed immediately to fix the playgrounds. "I thought she was crazy," recalls Kirk, shaking his head. But Anne quickly marshaled the troops, beginning with a phone call to then-Mayor Richard Riordan.

"We are extremely fortunate that Anne Douglas identified building school playgrounds as her passion," LAUSD superintendent Roy Romer says. "The children are the beneficiaries of these wonderful structures she's been providing over recent years, and we are all very appreciative."
The Douglases also have funded three playgrounds and a park in Israel.

"It's been a dream of theirs that the Jewish kids and the Arab kids would play together, and it would foster an understanding between the cultures," Newberger says. "It hasn't really worked out that way, but the idealism is there."

The Douglases' largess is spread even when they travel close to home. For example, during a visit to the downtown Los Angeles Mission, Anne innocently asked what was being done there for women.

"We had a small facility with only a few beds for women, with a sheet separating them from the men's beds," Los Angeles Mission president and CEO Marshall McNott says.

That was not the case for long: In 1992, the 30-bed Anne Douglas Center for Women opened to provide long-term care and recovery for homeless women laid low by depression, substance abuse and family issues. During a recent visit, Douglas listened as some women told their tales -- and poured out gratitude for helping to make their recovery possible.

"That's the best testimony," McNott says. "Anne is very self-effacing, but she's put her resources and her heart into our program."

Douglas evinces surprise and deep gratitude at receiving the prestigious Jefferson Award, which joins a growing list of personal honors. But her most satisfying reward is viewing the impact of her philanthropic work.

"You have no idea how it makes me feel when the children hug me and thank me," Douglas says. "I just hope that this makes a little difference for the children and that when they grow up, they remember and have the impulse to give back themselves."