Duke Doris

American heiress, No. 18 on Forbes magazine list of the 400 wealthiest people in the U.S. in 1993. She had three marriages and divorces with one baby daughter who died shortly after birth in 1940. Blonde, 6 ft (1.83 m) tall, she had the nickname of "DeeDee," and played a cool jazz piano. Though she was given little credit for brains or business savvy, Duke knew where every penny was and did not appreciate her fortune to $1.2 billion without working at it. At age 25, Duke inherited an estimated $100 million in trusts from her dad, James Buchanan Duke, a coarse but brilliant self-made man who founded the American Tobacco Company and the Duke Power Company. He had endowed Trinity College in North Carolina with millions, reportedly in exchange for them changing their name to Duke University. "Buck" Duke was obsessed with his only child. He built the most expensive house of its day to house her nursery, and he surrounded her with bodyguards. She was tutored at home until she was ten, then she started at the Brearley School. In turn, she wrote him love notes, which he treasured. He also instilled in her his own complete distrust of anyone. She was instructed from childhood that no one would ever love her for anything but her money. Her mother was 42 when Doris was born, and always preferred her son from a prior marriage to her tall, awkward, studious daughter. When Doris was 14, she sued her mother to keep her from selling her beloved Duke Farms in New Jersey. The suit gave Doris title to the estate which became her primary residence for most of her life. When Doris turned 21, she came into her first $10 million in trust. Two years later, in 1935, she married 16-year-older James Cromwell against her mothers wishes. During their two-year honeymoon, they bought a spectacular piece of property near Diamond Head in Honolulu on which they built a fortress they called Shangri La. Like all her houses, it was guarded by fierce dogs. According to the Mansfield biography, Cromwell asked her on their sexless wedding night what might be his annual income. Before long, he was having extramarital affairs, and she herself had a few flings, with Errol Flynn, a Hawaiian swimming champion and a British Member of Parliament. She became pregnant and gave birth to a premature daughter at 3pm on 12 July 1940 in Honolulu, Hawaii, who lived just 24 hours. Cromwell assumed that it was not his child, which she confirmed, saying that it had been the result of a casual dalliance. Cromwell asked for $7 million in a settlement but it was five years before she agreed to give him the divorce. She married again in 1947, but this time with a prenuptial agreement. He was the legendary Latin lover Porfirio Rubirosa. She gave him a house in Paris as a wedding gift. They divorced a year later. She continued giving him money and friends say that their sexual relationship never did end. When he died in a car crash in 1965, she took to her bed for two days. She never married again. From then on, the men in Dukes life were much younger and came from the creative world as she had always had a passion for the creative arts. Her longest relationship was with Joey Castro, a Mexican-born jazz pianist whom she met in 1950 when he was 23 and she, 38. Two years later she bought Falcons Lair, Vanentinos former home. On the first day of 1964, she ordered Castro out. In 1966, when she shut down the record company shed started for him, he broke her jaw. She fled Read less