- Lee Radziwill
Infobox_Person
name = Lee Radziwill
birth_date = birth date and age|1933|3|3
birth_place = Southampton,New York ,United States
occupation =actress ,socialite ,author
spouse =
* Michael Canfield (annulled; 1953-1959)
*Stanisław Albrecht Radziwiłł (annulled; 1959-1974)
*Herbert Ross (divorced; 1988-2001)
children = Anthony, Anna Christina
parents =John Vernou Bouvier III ,Janet Norton Lee
sibling =Jacqueline Lee Bouvier Caroline Lee Ross (née Bouvier, formerly Canfield, formerly Radziwill)(born
March 3 ,1933 in Southampton,New York ), best known as Lee Radziwill, is an Americansocialite , public relations executive, and former actress. She is the younger sister of the late formerFirst Lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis .Parents
Caroline Lee Bouvier, called Lee after her maternal grandfather James T. Lee, was the daughter of
John Vernou Bouvier III and his wife, the former Janet Norton Lee. "Black Jack" Bouvier was a Roman Catholic in religion; Janet Lee was a Roman Catholic too prior to her marriage to Hughdie Auchincloss, who in turn, is an Episcopalian. Raised Roman Catholic because of her parents' prenuptial agreement, Lee and her sister, Jacqueline, sometimes attended Episcopal churches since they lived under the wing of Hughdie Auchincloss. cite news |first= |last= |authorlink= |coauthors= |title= Janet Lee Auchincloss Morris, 81 |url= |quote=Janet Lee Auchincloss Morris , a leading member of society inNewport, Rhode Island , andWashington, D.C. , and the mother ofJacqueline Kennedy Onassis and Lee Radziwill Ross, died Saturday after a long illness at her home on Hammersmith Farm inNewport . She was 81 years old and also had a home in Washington. |publisher=New York Times |date=July 24 ,1989 |accessdate=2007-06-21 ]Marriages
Radziwill has been married three times. Her first marriage, in April
1953 , was toMichael Temple Canfield , a publishing executive who was rumored to be an illegitimate son ofPrince George, Duke of Kent and the American banking heiressKiki Preston ; he had been adopted as an infant by the American publisherCass Canfield . They divorced in 1959, and the marriage was later annulled by the Roman Catholic Church.Her second marriage, on
March 19 ,1959 , was to the Polish princeStanisław Albrecht Radziwiłł , who divorced his second wife, the formerGrace Maria Kolin , and received a Roman Catholic annulment of the marriage to marry the former Mrs. Canfield. Five months after the wedding, the couple had a son,Anthony Radziwill , and a year after that, a daughter,Anna Christina Radziwill . They divorced onMarch 3 ,1974 . Some sources indicate that Lee Radziwill also received an annulment from her church for this marriage. Anthony Radziwill died of cancer at the age of 40 on August 10, 1999, just one month after the death of his cousinJohn F. Kennedy, Jr. and JFK Jr.'s wife, Carolyn, and sister-in-law,Lauren Bessette , in a plane crash nearMartha's Vineyard ,Massachusetts .Five years after her 1974 divorce, Radziwill became engaged to California hotel magnate
Newton Cope , but the marriage was called off five minutes before the wedding ceremony was to begin.On
September 23 ,1988 , she became the second wife of American film director and choreographerHerbert Ross ; they divorced in2001 , shortly before his death. [cite news |first= |last= |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=Lee Bouvier Radziwill Weds Herbert Ross, Film Director |url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=940DE0DA1731F937A1575AC0A96E948260 |quote=Lee Bouvier Radziwill andHerbert Ross were married yesterday evening at the bride's home in New York by Justice E. Leo Milonas of the Appellate Division of State Supreme Court, First Department. After the ceremony,Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis , the sister of the bride, gave a dinner party for the couple at her home in New York.Rudolf Nureyev , the dancer and director of theParis Opera Ballet , andJohn Taras , the associate director ofAmerican Ballet Theater , attended the couple. |publisher=New York Times |date=September 24 ,1988 |accessdate=2007-06-21 ]Radziwill is also reported to have been romantically involved with
Aristotle Onassis before his marriage to her sister, and to have battled alcoholism.Career attempts and fame
In the 1960s, Radziwill attempted to forge a career as an actress. It was not a success though it received international publicity. Largely untrained, she appeared to dismal reviews in the 1967 production of "
The Philadelphia Story ", starring as spoiled Main Line heiress Tracy Lord. The play was staged at the Ivanhoe Theatre inChicago , and Radziwill's performance was widely panned. A year later, she appeared in a television adaptation of the Hollywood film "Laura ", which was also badly received. Radziwill did no further acting work.Radziwill received a great deal of favorable coverage for her personal style in the 1960s and 1970s. The two English homes she shared with her second husband were decorated by Italian stage designer
Renzo Mongiardino and were greatly admired and frequently published. She herself worked briefly as an interior decorator as well in a style much influenced by her association with Mongiardino. She was seen in celebrity company, such as on the 1972 American tour ofThe Rolling Stones , during which she accompaniedTruman Capote .For some years, Radziwill was a public relations executive for
Giorgio Armani , the Italian fashion designer. She is also the author of "Happy Times" (Assouline,2003 ), an autobiographical coffee-table book about her life.Radziwill received the title of Dame de la Légion d´Honneur in Paris from
Bernard-Henri Lévy andArielle Dombasle in Paris.References within popular culture
In 2006, a musical entitled Grey Gardens opened on Broadway. In the musical, the character of Lee Bouvier appears as a child visiting her aunt's home along with her sister Jackie for the engagement party of their cousin 'Little' Edie Beale. The musical centers on the lives of Radziwill's cousin
Edith Bouvier Beale and auntEdith Ewing Bouvier Beale .References
Magazine Paris Match 6th july 2008 pag. 16.
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