1. Porfirio Rubirosa Ariza was a Dominican diplomat, race car driver, soldier and polo player.
20 Facts About Porfirio Rubirosa
1. 2.
Porfirio Rubirosa was a supporter of dictator Rafael Trujillo, and was rumored to be a political assassin under his regime.
3.
Porfirio Rubirosa Ariza was born in 1909 in San Francisco de Macoris, the third and youngest child of an upper-middle-class Criollo family.
4.
Porfirio Rubirosa's parents were Pedro Maria Rubirosa and Ana Ariza Almanzar.
5.
Porfirio Rubirosa thus grew up in Paris, France, and returned to the Dominican Republic at the age of 17 to study law.
6.
In 1931, Porfirio Rubirosa met Rafael Trujillo at a country club.
7.
Porfirio Rubirosa was a frequent visitor to New York, Washington, Florida, and California.
8.
Porfirio Rubirosa, who defined himself a Trujillista, moved freely among the rich and famous, made the connections, and kept the secrets.
9.
When Ramfis and his family fled the Dominican Republic, Porfirio Rubirosa's career came to an end.
10.
Porfirio Rubirosa was linked romantically to Dolores del Rio, Eartha Kitt, Marilyn Monroe, Ava Gardner, Maria Montez, Rita Hayworth, Dorothy Dandridge, Lupe Velez, Soraya Esfandiary, Peggy Hopkins Joyce, Joan Crawford, Veronica Lake, Kim Novak, Judy Garland, Eva Peron and Amalia Rodrigues.
11.
Porfirio Rubirosa dallied with his ex-wife Flor de Oro Trujillo Ledesma during his marriage to Doris Duke.
12.
When she would not marry him, although George was divorcing her, Porfirio Rubirosa married Barbara Hutton.
13.
Porfirio Rubirosa was named a co-respondent in George Sanders' divorce suit from Gabor.
14.
Porfirio Rubirosa was married five times, but he never had any children.
15.
Porfirio Rubirosa organized and led his own polo team Cibao-La Pampa that was an often successful contender for the Coupe de France.
16.
Porfirio Rubirosa participated in a number of races at Sebring, all but once as a private entry.
17.
Porfirio Rubirosa entered one Formula One race, in 1955, the Grand Prix de Bordeaux on April 25.
18.
Porfirio Rubirosa planned to drive his own Ferrari 500, identical to the one which brought Alberto Ascari the 1952 and 1953 Drivers' World Championship.
19.
Porfirio Rubirosa died in the early morning of July 5,1965, at the age of 56, when he crashed his silver Ferrari 250 GT cabriolet into a horse chestnut tree in the Bois de Boulogne after an all-night celebration at the Paris nightclub "Jimmy's" in honor of winning the polo Coupe de France.
20.
Porfirio Rubirosa is buried in Cimetiere de Marnes la Coquette, in Paris.