Did Kirk Douglas Have a Secret Tunnel to the Playboy Mansion?

Image by Wikimedia Commons

By Anne Cohen April 1, 2015

Kirk Douglas with Eve Miller in ‘The Big Trees’ // Wikimedia Commons

Alas, we discovered this was all an elaborate Playboy April’s fools joke!

Oh, the things you come across when looking for pictures to make Hugh Hefner’s birthday collage.

A couple of editors at Playboy were rummaging through the magazine’s archives looking for material to properly honor their esteemed founder, when they came across some polaroids from 1977 showing a massive construction project at the Playboy Mansion. Confused, they asked the property’s general manager about it. His answer: “That’s probably when they built the tunnels in the 7’0s.”

Given that it’s April 1, aka the day no one should trust news outlets, let’s just hope it’s not a prank.

Apparently, some Hollywood lotharios weren’t content with just walking in the front door like your average Joe. So, to oblige the likes of James Caan, Kirk Douglas — both MOTs — Jack Nicholson and Warren Beatty, Hugh Hefner decided to build a series of underground tunnels leading directly into the actors’ homes.

An adventurous field-trip to the mansion revealed blueprints for these tunnels, leading to the homes of “Mr. J. Nicholson,” “Mr. W. Beatty,” “Mr. K. Douglas” and “Mr. J. Caan.”

The tunnels — if they were ever even built — were reportedly shut down sometime in the late ’80s. None of the actors involved have agreed to comment (shocker).

Anne Cohen was the Forward’s deputy digital media editor. When she’s not looking for the secret Jewish history of Voodoo in New Orleans, or making lists about Ruth Bader Ginsburg, she writes for The Assimilator. She graduated from the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism with an M.S. magazine concentration in 2012.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO