20 Facts About Frederick McEvoy

Frederick Joseph McEvoy was an Australian born British multi-discipline sportsman and socialite.

Frederick McEvoy had most sporting success as a bobsledder in the late 1930s, winning several medals including three golds at the FIBT World Championships.

Frederick McEvoy married three wealthy heiresses and was a close friend of Errol Flynn.

Frederick McEvoy usually shortened his name to Freddie McEvoy and was nicknamed "Suicide Freddie".

Frederick McEvoy was the first Australian to win a Winter Olympics medal.

Frederick McEvoy was part of the four-man bobsleigh team alongside James Cardno, Gary Dugdale, and Charles Green who won the bronze medal in the four-man event.

Frederick McEvoy finished fourth in the two-man event with Cardno.

Frederick McEvoy teamed up with Black, Olympic team-mate Charles Green, and David Looker in the four-man, again winning the gold medal.

Frederick McEvoy came sixth in the 1936 Vanderbilt Cup, racing a Maserati along the 300-mile course "considered by European road veterans to be probably the most severe test for man and car in the world".

In 1943, Frederick McEvoy lived in Hollywood and was able to make uncredited appearances in two films.

Frederick McEvoy is said to have sold the shirt off his back for $2000 to an Argentine millionaire, "launch[ing] the fashion of flowered shirts for men".

Frederick McEvoy was given the nickname of "Suicide Freddie" because of his love of danger both in life and in sport.

Frederick McEvoy was a rival of fellow racing driver and playboy Porfirio Rubirosa.

Frederick McEvoy was described by newspapers as an "internationally known Australian playboy" and a "popular, handsome, heiress hunter".

Frederick McEvoy was married several times, taking his first wife in 1940.

The union did not last, and in 1942 Cartwright accused Frederick McEvoy of being unfaithful with "three well-known society women".

In February 1943, McEvoy married Irene Margaret Wrightsman, the daughter of Charles B Wrightsman, the president of Standard Oil of Kansas.

Hutton married again in 1947 and she remained friends with Frederick McEvoy who went on to marry Claude Stephanie Filatre, a French fashion model, in 1949.

At the time Frederick McEvoy was said to have been living in Cannes aboard his schooner Black Joke.

Frederick McEvoy was unable to find any assistance and returned to his wife.