30 Facts About Kirk Kerkorian

1.

Kirk Kerkorian was an Armenian-American businessman, investor, and philanthropist.

2.

Kirk Kerkorian was the president and CEO of Tracinda Corporation, his private holding company based in Beverly Hills, California.

3.

Kirk Kerkorian built the world's largest hotel in Las Vegas three times: the International Hotel, the MGM Grand Hotel and the MGM Grand.

4.

Kirk Kerkorian provided money to ensure that a film based on the history of the Armenian genocide would be made.

5.

Kirk Kerkorian was bestowed the title of National Hero of Armenia, the highest state award.

6.

Kerkor Kirk Kerkorian was born on June 6,1917 in Fresno, California, to Armenian parents who escaped present-day Turkey via cattle boat during the Armenian Genocide.

7.

On gaining his commercial pilot's certificate in six months, Kirk Kerkorian learned that the British Royal Air Force was ferrying Canadian-built de Havilland Mosquitos over the North Atlantic to Scotland.

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8.

Kirk Kerkorian worked as a general aviation pilot and made his first visit to Las Vegas in 1944.

9.

In 1962, Kirk Kerkorian bought 80 acres in Las Vegas, across the Las Vegas Strip from the Flamingo, for $960,000.

10.

Kirk Kerkorian sold MGM's distribution system in 1973, and gradually distanced himself from the daily operation of the studio.

11.

Kirk Kerkorian owned minority interest in Columbia Pictures but his holdings were thwarted by the Justice Department who filed an antitrust suit due to his owning stock in two studios.

12.

Kirk Kerkorian racked up huge debts and Turner simply could not afford to keep the studio under those circumstances.

13.

Kirk Kerkorian soon expanded the company, purchasing Orion Pictures, The Samuel Goldwyn Company and Motion Picture Corporation of America from John Kluge's Metromedia in 1997, and bought the pre-1996 PolyGram Filmed Entertainment library in 1999 from its parent Philips, which was in process to sell PolyGram to Seagram.

14.

In 2005, Kirk Kerkorian sold MGM once more to a consortium led by Sony.

15.

Kirk Kerkorian's involvement began in 1995 when with the assistance of retired Chrysler chairman and CEO Lee Iacocca, Kerkorian staged a takeover attempt of the Chrysler Corporation.

16.

Chrysler's management treated the takeover as hostile, and after a lengthy battle, Kirk Kerkorian canceled his plans and sold his Chrysler stake in 1996.

17.

Kirk Kerkorian always drove an American vehicle, including a Ford Taurus and Jeep Cherokee.

18.

Kirk Kerkorian sold his remaining stake in Ford on December 29,2008.

19.

Kirk Kerkorian was an avid tennis player, played in tournaments, associated with other players like Lornie Kuhle, and routinely played with Alex Yemenidjian, a former MGM executive, and former owner of the Tropicana Las Vegas resort.

20.

Kirk Kerkorian had a penchant for expensive clothes, but drove relatively low cost vehicles, such as a Pontiac Firebird, Jeep Grand Cherokee and a Ford Taurus.

21.

Kirk Kerkorian died in Beverly Hills, California on June 15,2015, nine days after his 98th birthday.

22.

Kirk Kerkorian is buried at Inglewood Park Cemetery in Inglewood, California near Los Angeles.

23.

Kirk Kerkorian was married four times, first to Hilda Schmidt from 1942 to 1952.

24.

Kirk Kerkorian subsequently was involved in a breach of privacy suit filed against him by Steve Bing.

25.

Kirk Kerkorian claimed Bing was the father of Bonder's daughter, an allegation which was later confirmed by DNA paternity testing.

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26.

Bonder's attorney alleged that Kirk Kerkorian's lawyers hired Pellicano to wiretap telephone calls between him and Kirk Kerkorian's ex-wife in order to gain a tactical advantage in the divorce proceedings, an allegation that was later proven true.

27.

Pellicano took a strand of Bing's used dental floss and used it to prove that it was Bing and not Kirk Kerkorian who fathered Bonder's daughter.

28.

Kirk Kerkorian's short-lived fourth marriage was to Una Davis, born in 1966.

29.

The marriage lasted only 57 days and divorce proceedings were underway when Kirk Kerkorian died in June 2015.

30.

Kirk Kerkorian was active in philanthropy through his charitable foundation, The Lincy Foundation, named after his daughters, Linda and Tracy.