Irene Bouvier Weissmuller

Irene Bouvier Weissmuller Auchincloss (July 28, 1931-) is an American actress and socialite. She is known for her habitual personal life and her marriages and divorces.

 

She was born in Easthampton, New York, the daughter of a hungarian aristocrat, Count Stephan Balla von Iregh and his wife, Michelle Bouvier (later Princess Hohenlohe). Her mother's family descended from Michel Bouvier (1792–1874), a French cabinetmaker, who left France in 1815 after the defeat of Napoleon. Irene is the cousin of Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis and Lee Radziwill.

 

Early life

Irene had two sister: Princess Elisabeth Bouvier-Hohenlohe (later Countess Kasa-Hunyady) and Princess Helena Bouvier-Hohenlohe. Irene’s father left her family when she was 4 years old and her mother moved to Europe with the family. They lived in Berlin, Vienna and Budapest, because her mother, Michelle had a close relationship with important nazi leaders. In 1941 her mother married to Franz Josef von Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Schillingsfürst, the son of her very close friend, Princess Stephanie von Hohenlohe. After the marriage Prince Franz Josef adopted Irene and her sisters and they styled their name as Princess Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Schillingsfürst.

After the Second World War the Red Army arrested her family but she emigrated before the russian occupation. Her mother, Michelle was died in the Gulag and her sisters were sent to an internment camp in Hungary. Helena was died in the camp some month after the arrival.

 

Career

After the war, Irene and George lived in New York City, where they worked as artists' models. In 1948 Irene was offered a supporting role in a Broadway revival of Shakespeare's Anthony and Cleopatra. After it she had success in television, playing a number of roles in CBS's Studio One, one of the most popular anthology dramas of the 1950s. In 1956 she perform int he theather production Anastacia with Lili Darvas and in 1960 in Camelot with Julie Andrews and Richard Burton. In the ’60s she had cast to some small role in Hollywood but after her second marriage with Prince Sultan of Egypt she she never stepped in front of a movie camera again. She was offered many roles over the years, but always turned them down.

 

Marriages

Irene  was married four times, but had no children.

 

* 1947-1951 - George Tatar, hungarian ballett dancer

* 1958-1962 - Johnny Weissmuller

* 1964-1968 - HRH Prince Sultanzade Abbas of Egypt and Sudan

* 1969-1973 - James Lee Auchincloss

 

Recent life

Bouvier now lives in Bel Air, Los Angeles, in the neigbourhood of her close friend, Zsa Zsa Gabor. Winters she spend at an estate she built in '70s in Honolulu, Hawaii (next to the Shangri La mansion). Besides Bouvier owns a 210,000 deeded acre ranch in Fort Stockton, Texas and a 14-room duplex in the 740 Park Avenue luxury apartment building in Manhattan, New York.

 

In 2009 she claimed that she lost as much as $7 million invested with Bernard Madoff, but the official bankruptcy court victims documents don’t show Irene as a victim. After this case her lawyer reported that Mrs. Bouvier Auchincloss will leave her wealth to her nearest relatives, including the model Susanne Livanos.

 

Titles and styles

* Ms. Irene Bouvier

* Her Serene Highness Princess Irene von Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Schillingsfürst

* Mrs. George Tatar

* Mrs. Irene Bouvier Weissmuller

* Her Royal Highness Irene, Princess of Egypt and Sudan

* Mrs. James Lee Auchincloss

* Mrs. Irene Bouvier Auchincloss


 
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