Linda Lee Thomas

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Lady in Blue, painted by Emil Fuchs in 1906
Linda Lee Thomas, passport photo from 1919

Linda Lee Thomas (November 17, 1883 – May 20, 1954) was an American socialite and the wife of musical theatre composer Cole Porter.

First marriage

She was born Linda Belle Lee to the prominent

car accident) [citation needed]. They married on June 29, 1901, at Newport, Rhode Island. She was 17. They lived a life of luxury, with houses in Palm Beach, Manhattan, and Newport. It was said that her favorite "department store" was Van Cleef & Arpels. They divorced on October 26, 1912,[1]
reportedly due to his abuse.

Marriage to Porter

Thomas and

Ethel Borden Harriman, daughter of railroad and investment banking tycoon J. Borden Harriman and his wife, née Florence "Daisy" Hurst, at the Hôtel Ritz Paris
.

Linda and Cole were married on December 18, 1919, in the city hall of the 8ème arrondissement of Paris.[2]

From 1930 to 1939, the Porters lived at 13 rue Monsieur, a house next door to Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, and with a garden adjoining the future residence of Nancy Mitford. They were married 34 years, and although they had no children born of their marriage, Linda conceived and miscarried.[3] [4]

Cole Porter, Linda Lee Thomas, Bernard Berenson, and Howard Sturges in gondola, 1923

Linda died from emphysema in 1954. aged 70, in the couple's apartment in the Waldorf Towers. She left an estate of over $1.5 million (over $17 million today) in which Cole inherited a lifetime interest. Her jewelry collection included pieces by Paul Flato.[5] She was buried in the Porter family plot at Mount Hope Cemetery in Peru, Indiana.

Portrayals

Thomas is portrayed by Alexis Smith in the 1946 film Night and Day and by Ashley Judd in the 2004 film De-Lovely. A one-woman show about her life with Porter, titled Love, Linda: The Life of Mrs. Cole Porter, starring jazz vocalist Stevie Holland, ran Off-Broadway at the York Theatre in 2013.

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Linda Lee Thomas.
  1. ^ E. R, THOMAS, NOTED SPORTSMAN, DIES, The New York Times (July 7, 1926)
  2. ISBN 0-394-58235-7
    .
  3. ^ "Cole Porter". Masterworks Broadway. Retrieved December 20, 2018. Her only pregnancy ended in a miscarriage.
  4. ISBN 978-0-7864-9965-6
    . Sources close to Linda and Cole" [confirmed] "that she did indeed miscarry a child and they chose to keep it private.
  5. ^ "AN UNUSUAL PAIR OF EMERALD AND DIAMOND CLIP-BROOCHES, PAUL FLATO". Christies.
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