magazine -- 50 years after she appeared on the magazine's front cover.

Ms Douglas and her Academy Award-winning son Michael appear on the editor's page, showing off the 1943 LIFE cover which "played matchmaker'' for her and her first husband, actor Kirk Douglas.

According to the editorial, Kirk Douglas showed the magazine to his Navy buddies and claimed to know the cover model, 20-year-old Diana Dill.

"Not only that,'' he told them, "I'm going to marry her.'' The article continued: "He dashed off a letter to her in care of LIFE, and she, remembering him from acting school, wrote back. Within six months she agreed to wed her persistent suitor.'' As a youngster, Michael Douglas would show off a framed copy of the issue to his friends when they visited the family's Vermont home.

"I was absolutely stunned when they gave me the cover,'' Ms Douglas told LIFE.

She also said it was "impossible'' to forget just how long ago the photo was taken because fans still "find copies in antique stores'' and send them to her.

Neither Michael nor his equally-famous father have managed to get a LIFE cover of their own.

Ms Douglas has been headlining the off-Broadway hit "The Best of Friends'' this spring, which is co-produced by Michael.

LIFELONG MEMORIES -- Ms Diana Douglas and her son Michael featured in LIFE magazine.