Born on February 20, 1924, to railroad heir Reginald Claypoole Vanderbilt and his second wife, Gloria Laura Mercedes Morgan, Gloria was to be their only child. At just seventeen months of age the baby Gloria became the heiress to a four million dollar inheritance following the death of her father.
Her mother, also named Gloria, had the rights to control the trust fund and her frequent spending and her finances were scrutinized by young Gloria's aunt Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney. Gloria’s Aunt Gertrude wanted custody of the young heiress Gloria, following numerous excursions to and from Paris with her young widowed mother and her mother's twin sister, Thelma, who, during the period was the mistress of The Prince of Wales.
Very soon, in 1934, a famous and scandalous trial would became the lead story in all the New York tabloids. Testimony was heard depicting the mother as an unfit parent, much of which was conjecture and hearsay, but as the widow Vanderbilt was mostly concerned about her use of the trust and not the particular care of her daughter, the court battle was easily lost with the shocking revelation that she had a female lover which resulted in little Gloria becoming the ward of her Aunt Gertrude.
The loss of her mother was traumatic for the ten-year-old and in interviews Gloria has stated that it sent her on a life long search for love. Once Gloria Vanderbilt became of age and took over the management of her own trust fund she completely cut her mother off and eventually severed all contact. Her mother died in obscurity in 1965.
Gloria Vanderbilt grew up in the 1940s, at a time when the wealthy set of New York mingled with the glittering stars of Hollywood, and Gloria was no exception. She had an affair with the dashing Howard Hughes when she was still a teenager and Gloria later went on to have romantic involvements with the charming Frank Sinatra and with actor Marlon Brando. A close friend of Gloria’s was the film producer Truman Capote.
Gloria Vanderbilt went on to have four husbands. Her first husband was Pasquale DiCicco, whom she married when she was just seventeen years of age and which lasted from 1941 until 1945, when they divorced. Her second marriage, to conductor Leopold Stokowski in 1945 produced two sons; they divorced in 1955.
In 1956 she married director Sidney Lumet and they divorced in 1963. Her fourth and, to date, final and happiest marriage was to husband and author Wyatt Emory Cooper in 1964. Their marriage produced two sons, Carter Vanderbilt Cooper and Anderson Cooper, the CNN night time anchor of Anderson Cooper 360.
However, two of the most tragic times of her life were yet to occur. In 1978 Wyatt Cooper died during open heart surgery in New York City. Then on July 22, 1988, her youngest son Carter Cooper committed suicide by jumping from the family's fourteenth floor apartment as his mother stood and watched, helplessly.
Ask anyone today if they have heard of Gloria Vanderbilt and it is likely that none of the above will spring to mind; the fact that she was a wealthy railroad heiress, a four times married socialite, the girlfriend of Frank Sinatra, or the mother of CNN News Night Anchorman Anderson Cooper. It seems more likely that Gloria is still best known for her jeans, linens, and perfume.
YUDDY
