D AV I D PAT R I C K C O L U M B I A anything bad about anybody.” And she wanted to know why I didn’t. That made me laugh. It always makes me laugh. It’s not unconscious on my part, or accidental. I don’t see any point to make judgments, but rather let the actions speak for themselves. I didn’t tell her that this first meeting was a pleasure for me, and that the Lee I had heard so much about that was so unattractive, was not even remotely present. The woman who had never seemed to be aware of my presence even at a dinner table, now was expressing her interest, and I was naturally flattered.
Besides, I could see her charm in action. Her curiosity was real. She then told me that she knew that I had known (the late) Dorothy Hirshon. Dorothy, whom I’d written about, was also a fascinating woman. She’d been the first wife of Jack Hearst, son of the Old Man, and William Paley, besides Walter Hirshon. Dorothy was a charismatic woman, and she had curiosity, which is the ace in this world. Lee and she had that in common. Lee told me that she had never met her, had always heard about her, but never had the occasion to meet her. She had no sense of
what it was like to be in her company, and she wanted to know. I related some anecdotes about Dorothy and later gave her a brief memory I’d written for the Sotheby’s catalogue of Dorothy’s estate auction. The luncheon lasted for a little more than an hour. I then had the sense that she was not comfortable enough physically to remain at table. She called me a day later and asked me to lunch again on the following Saturday. At 1 p.m. She conducted the conversation. She was naturally curious and from that, there were no quiet moments. Somehow Rudolf
Nureyev came into the conversation. She said he was the most charming man she ever knew. She then related the last time she went to see him at the end of his life, describing what he was wearing and what he talked about, all of which amused her. “The most charming off-stage as much he was on stage,” she recalled, adding, “Unlike (Maria) Callas, who was so charming on stage, but off-stage, nothing...” Then she added an afterthought: “She was the only person I knew who died of a broken heart.” “A broken heart?” I asked, adding, “because of Ari?”
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38 QUEST
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