Gloria Laura Vanderbilt was an American artist, author, actress, fashion designer, heiress, and socialite.
35 Facts About Gloria Vanderbilt
2.
Gloria Vanderbilt was particularly noted as an early developer of designer blue jeans.
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The control of Gloria Vanderbilt's share while she was a minor belonged to her mother, who traveled to and from Paris for years, taking her daughter with her.
4.
The trial was so scandalous that at times the judge would make everyone leave the room so as to listen to what young Gloria Vanderbilt had to say without anyone influencing her.
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Gloria Vanderbilt's mother lost the battle and Gloria Vanderbilt became the ward of her aunt Gertrude.
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Visitation was closely watched to ensure that Gloria Vanderbilt's mother did not exert any undue influence upon her daughter with her supposedly "raucous" lifestyle.
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Gloria Vanderbilt was raised amidst luxury at her aunt Gertrude's mansion in Old Westbury, Long Island, surrounded by cousins her age who lived in houses circling the vast estate, and in New York City.
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Gloria Vanderbilt attended the Greenvale School on Long Island; Miss Porter's School in Farmington, Connecticut; and then the Wheeler School in Providence, Rhode Island, as well as the Art Students League in New York City, developing the artistic talent for which she would become increasingly known during her career.
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When Gloria Vanderbilt came of age and took control of her trust fund, she cut her mother off entirely, though they later were reconciled.
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Gloria Vanderbilt studied acting at the Neighborhood Playhouse with teacher Sanford Meisner and debuted in 1954 in The Swan, staged at Pocono Playhouse in Mountainhome, Pennsylvania.
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Gloria Vanderbilt made an appearance in a two-part episode of The Love Boat in 1981.
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Gloria Vanderbilt began her career as a fashion model when she was 15 years old, appearing in Harper's Bazaar.
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In 1976, Indian designer Mohan Murjani's Murjani Corporation proposed launching a line of designer jeans carrying Gloria Vanderbilt's signature embroidered on the back pocket, as well as her swan logo.
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Gloria Vanderbilt's jeans were more tightly fitted than other jeans of that time and were an immediate success with customers.
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In 1978, Gloria Vanderbilt sold the rights to her name to the Murjani Group and re-launched her own company, GV Ltd, which she had founded in 1976.
16.
Gloria Vanderbilt was awarded $300,000 by the New York City Bar Association.
17.
Gloria Vanderbilt owed millions of dollars in back taxes, since the lawyer had never paid the IRS, and she was forced to sell her Southampton, New York and Upper East Side homes.
18.
Gloria Vanderbilt studied art at the Art Students League of New York.
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Gloria Vanderbilt became known for her artwork, with one-woman exhibitions held of her oil paintings, watercolors, and pastels.
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In 2001, Gloria Vanderbilt returned to art and opened her first art exhibition, "Dream Boxes", at the Southern Vermont Arts Center in Manchester; it was a critical success.
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Gloria Vanderbilt launched another exhibition of 35 paintings at the Arts Center in 2007.
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Two years later, Gloria Vanderbilt returned to the Arts Center as a panelist at its Annual Fall Show Exhibition, signing copies of her latest novel, Obsession: An Erotic Tale.
23.
When Gloria Vanderbilt celebrated her 90th birthday on February 20,2014, a collection of her drawings, paintings and collages was placed on display in the 1stdibs Gallery at New York Design Center in New York City, in an exhibit called "The Left Hand Is The Dreamer".
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Gloria Vanderbilt wrote two books on art and home decor, four volumes of memoirs, three novels, and a singular collection of short stories The Things We Fear Most.
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Gloria Vanderbilt was a regular contributor to The New York Times, Vanity Fair and Elle.
26.
In November 2010, Vanderbilt was the subject of a new book chronicling her life, The World of Gloria Vanderbilt, written by Wendy Goodman, New York magazine's design editor.
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The book was described by its publisher as: "A touching and intimate correspondence between Anderson Cooper and his mother, Gloria Vanderbilt, offering timeless wisdom and a revealing glimpse into their lives".
28.
Gloria Vanderbilt was married four times, divorced three times, and gave birth to four sons, in all.
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In 1941, aged 17, Gloria Vanderbilt went to Hollywood, where she became the second wife of Pat DiCicco, an agent for actors and an alleged mobster.
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Gloria Vanderbilt later alleged that DiCicco was an abusive husband who called her "Fatsy Roo" and beat her.
31.
Gloria Vanderbilt maintained a romantic relationship with photographer and filmmaker Gordon Parks for many years until his death in 2006.
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Gloria Vanderbilt was very close friends with fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg.
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Gloria Vanderbilt was baptized into the Episcopal Church as an infant, but was raised a Roman Catholic and as a child was particularly fascinated with St Therese.
34.
Gloria Vanderbilt died at her home in Manhattan on June 17,2019, aged 95, of stomach cancer.
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Gloria Vanderbilt is buried next to her son Carter and late husband Wyatt in the Cooper plot in the Vanderbilt Family Cemetery on Staten Island, New York.