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Elga Andersen Profile
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| (Elga Hymmen / Hymen) |
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| 2 / 10 February 35 | is born in Dortmund, Germany |
| 54? | goes to Paris, France |
| 12 January 57 | as Elga Hymmen, she flies into Mexico from Orly Airport, Paris, France |
| December 57 | is pictured boarding an American Airlines plane for Los Angeles, where she is to have a screen test. “Miss Andersen had just arrived in New York from Paris where she appeared with David Niven in Bonjour Tristesse.” |
| January 58 | the press tells she is often dated by Aly Khan |
| is escorted to the Mocambo by the King of Morocco |
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| July 59 | columnist Dorothy Kilgallen reveals: “Ali Khan’s date book continues to feature new names. The latest beauty is a German starlet, Elga Andersen, who was briefly linked with the Shah of Iran after he divorced Soraya. Elga’s European chums report that Ali has showered her with pretty presents as well as his gallant attentions...” |
| Late 50s | has an affair with Shah Reza Pahlevi |
| July 60 | columnist Charles Ventura writes: “Cover girl Sheila Winston might like to know that when Miguel Aleman, Jr., son of the former Mexican president, spent twenty minutes in a telephone booth during their date at the Hob Nob restaurant, he was having a transatlantic chat with Swedish actress Elga Andersen in Paris...” |
| c. 61 | a friend introduces her to director Marcel Camus, who casts her for his Os Bandeirantes |
| c. 62 | buys Matisse’s studio in Montmartre, Paris, and meets French architect Christian Girard |
| ? | marries Girard |
| October 65 | reveals to the press: “The turning point in my life occurred on my 21st birthday when my mother took me on a vacation to Spain as a birthday present. On the way back we stopped off in Paris and I fell in love with the city. When it was time to leave, mother couldn’t budge me. She finally went back to Germany, but I stayed on in the apartment of a girlfriend." Her girlfriend was a photographer’s model, so Elga decided to try modeling, too. Director Otto Preminger saw her on a cover and called her for an interview for his upcoming Bonjour Tristesse. |
| July 69 | is featured in Lui |
| 70s | divorces Girard |
| March 76 | she and department store heir Peter Gimbel present a TV show called “The Mystery of the Andrea Doria” |
| August 76 | is among the guests of NBC’s "Big Event" show saluting John Wayne |
| 78 | marries Peter Robin Gimbel. He is 51; she’s about 43. Gimbel was married before to socialites Mary Bailey and Virginia Taylor. He is a millionaire sportsman and entrepreneur raptured with the lore of the Andrea Doria, the Italian liner that sunk 55 miles off the shore of Nantucket, Massachusetts, on July 28, 1956. |
| 30 July 81 | the Gimbels and their crew board the Sea Level and depart Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to launch the "Doria Project" in an attempt to recover the first class safe from the Andrea Doria. They don’t locate the safe but locate the first class bank safe and recover it. For years the safe is stored at the New York Aquarium’s shark tank. |
| 16 August 84 | arrives with her husband in Montauk, New York, to open the safe in front of a live television audience. Inside are thousands of lire and Silver Certificates. |
| 16 July 87 | becomes the widow of Gimbel, who dies of cancer at age 59 |
| 7 December 94 | dies at age 58 / 59 in New York City after a long battle against cancer. Her and her husband’s ashes are placed on the Andrea Doria during one of the diving expeditions. |
| Sources: The New York Times, The Charleroi Mail, The Dominton News, The Coshocton Tribune, Oakland Tribune, Syracuse Herald-Journal, Sex Lives of the Great Dictators, www.Ancestry.com, www.IMDb.com | |
| Recommended Books: | |
| Links: Filmography | |