Here begins his journey into the
doors of a real heroine: Maria Altmann, a Holocaust refugee who fought to
retrieve five family - owned paintings stolen by the Nazis in World War II from
the Austrian government. Her Aunt Adele
Bloch- Bauer, a patron of the arts posed as the model for some of Klimt's
best-known paintings, including two of those eventually recovered by her niece.
Below Gregor provides a teasing snippet, in his words, of their meeting:
On
January 30th 2008 at around ten in the morning, I reluctantly entered a small
red bungalow in Beverly Hills to meet this “amazing” woman named Maria my
friend Tom had been pestering me about for weeks. A month earlier he answered
an ad on Craigslist for a caregiver position, and the family quickly realized
they needed another one. So yours truly was the lucky candidate. Despite
agreeing to meet her I made it clear I wasn’t committing to anything. No way.
For one, I was a busy Hollywood actor on his rise to the top. The last thing I
needed was an old lady.
Five
minutes after pulling up to the house, everything changed. I don’t know if you
believe in love at first sentence—or if you’ve ever heard of it. I hadn’t. But
after Maria opened her mouth for the first time I could say with beautiful
certainty that it exists. I felt I had met a real-life princess. I accepted the
position, and within the first week it became more than a job. It was destiny,
and it felt as if we had known each other our entire lives. Suddenly I didn’t
care about anything else in my life but keeping a 92-year-old woman alive and
happy. And not for one moment did we feel 60 years apart—we were both in our
twenties, and were on one long, thrilling rollercoaster date together. What
would ensue would be the most exciting, enriching, and emotional three years of
my adulthood. It culminated with my first real death. A death that changed my
life.
On my
first day I began instinctually taking notes. The notes would turn into journal
entries, and the journal entries would eventually become a book called The
Accidental Caregiver, charting how I evolved from a selfish artist to a
selfless caregiver, how Maria opened up my heart more than any other woman was
able to do in my life, and, as I look back on our three years together, it
reminds me that love knows no age.
Extract from the back cover of
the book:
The
Accidental Caregiver charts Gregor’s evolution from a self-absorbed artist to a
selfless caregiver for Maria Altmann, the world-renowned Holocaust refugee and
Supreme Court Case victor. For three years Gregor cared for Maria, experiencing
firsthand her rich history, heroism, and ultimately, her love.
Gregor
offers us a personal and unprecedented look at Maria—her incredible escape from
the Nazis, her fight and subsequent win in the landmark case against Austria to
return original Gustav Klimt artwork that belonged to her family, and the
extraordinary people she met along the way. But the real heart of the story
goes beyond the mere facts.
Through a
raw and honest portrayal of their unlikely and unbreakable bond, imbued with
humorous, candid anecdotes about his often mercurial relationship with
Hollywood, Gregor brings us on an incredible journey of how he opened up his
heart to a 92-year-old woman in need—and in turn experienced the love he had
been searching for his entire life.
Early
praise for my new book, The Accidental Caregiver: "From the
most unlikely of unlikely romances comes a deeply felt, touching, humorous
exploration of what love and age mean in today's world. I can’t recommend this
book highly enough.’
-Stan
Evans, Emmy award-winning writer and author of Box of Mustaches
Gregor Collins
Actor-Writer-Producer
Actor-Writer-Producer
Email: gregorcollins@gmail.com Twitter: @gregorcollins
