Elizabeth Caroline Maria Agatha Felicitas Therese, Gräfin von Fürstenberg-Herdringen (August 16, 1931 – April 21, 2015), known as Betsy von Furstenberg, was a German-born American actress who starred in several Broadway plays, films and television series between 1950 and the early 1980s. In 1988, she published ''Mirror, Mirror'', a novel centered on an heiress pursuing love among Europe's elite social circles.

Early life

Elizabeth Caroline Maria Agatha Felicitas Therese, Gräfin von Fürstenberg-Herdringen was born in Arnsberg, Germany. Her parents were Franz-Egon,

Graf (; feminine: ) is a historical title of the German nobility and later also of the Russian nobility, usually translated as "count". Considered to be intermediate among noble ranks, the title is often treated as equivalent to the British title ...

(Count) von Fürstenberg-Herdringen (1896–1975) and his first wife, Elizabeth Foster Johnson (1899–1961), a native of

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in Shelby County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. Situated along the Mississippi River, it had a population of 633,104 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of municipalities in Tenne ...

."Countess Engaged to Peter S. Howard; Caroline E. von Furstenberg-Herdringen to Be Bride of Late Turfman's Grandson." ''The New York Times'', November 7, 1950. Her stepmothers were Gloria Rubio, Clara Ghyczy and Joan Siegel (not to be confused with Joanne Siegel). She had two half-siblings from her father's marriage to Gloria Rubio: Franz-Egon,

Freiherr (; male, abbreviated as ), (; his wife, abbreviated as , ) and (, his unmarried daughters and maiden aunts) are designations used as titles of nobility in the German-speaking areas of the Holy Roman Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire and in ...

von Fürstenberg-Herdringen (b. 1939), and Dolores Maria Agatha Wilhelmine Luise Freiin von Fürstenberg-Herdringen (1936–2012), who married Patrick Guinness. Von Furstenberg left Germany with her parents for New York. She was tutored in dance from the age of four years and by age seven she was already performing with the

American Ballet Theatre American Ballet Theatre (ABT) is a classical ballet company based in New York City. Founded in 1939 by Lucia Chase and Richard Pleasant. Through 2019, it had an annual eight-week season at the Metropolitan Opera House (Lincoln Center) in the spr ...

. When she was 14, she began working as a fashion model. Von Furstenberg received her early formal education at private schools in New York City, attending the Gardner School there and later graduating from the Hewitt School.

Career

Stage

Von Furstenberg, who studied acting in New York at the Neighborhood Playhouse under the renowned teacher Sanford Meisner, performed in a wide range of productions on Broadway for 25 years.Dagan, Carmel (2015).
"Betsy von Furstenberg, Actress and Aristocrat, Dies at 83"
''Variety'', April 30, 2015.

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, Los Angeles, California. Retrieved August 11, 2017. She debuted there in 1951 in Philip Barry's ''Second Threshold,'' a performance that resulted in her being featured on the cover of ''

Life Life, also known as biota, refers to matter that has biological processes, such as Cell signaling, signaling and self-sustaining processes. It is defined descriptively by the capacity for homeostasis, Structure#Biological, organisation, met ...

'' magazine and being publicized as "the most promising young actress of the year".Mulcahy Jr., Kevin (2015).
"Betsy von Furstenberg Dead at 83"
obituary on '' We Love Soaps'', April 30, 2015. Retrieved August 9, 2017. She went on to star or co-star in ''Oh, Men! Oh, Women!'' (1953)''; The Chalk Garden'' (1956); ''Child of Fortune'' (1956); ''Nature's Way'' (1957); ''The Making of Moo'' (1958); '' Say, Darling'' (1959); '' Mary, Mary'' (1961); ''Step on a Crack'' (1962); ''The Frog Pond'' (1965); ''The Paisley Convertible'' (1967); '' Avanti!'' (1968); '' The Gingerbread Lady'' (1970) and ''Does Anybody Here Do the Peabody?'' (1976).

Television

On American television, von Furstenberg appeared in more than two dozen weekly series and made-for-TV movies between 1951 and 1980. In 1958 she memorably starred opposite Robert Horton on the anthology series ''

Alfred Hitchcock Presents ''Alfred Hitchcock Presents'' is an American television anthology series created, hosted and produced by Alfred Hitchcock, airing on CBS and NBC, alternately, between 1955 and 1965. It features dramas, thrillers, and mysteries. Between 1962 ...

'', portraying a double-crossing young widow in "The Disappearing Trick", an episode directed by

Arthur Hiller Arthur Hiller, (November 22, 1923 – August 17, 2016) was a Canadian television and film director with over 33 films to his credit during a 50-year career. He began his career directing television in Canada and later in the U.S. By the late ...

. Earlier that same year, she also appeared in the '' Have Gun – Will Travel'' episode "Girl from Piccadilly". Much later, in 1983, von Furstenberg was cast in the role of Lisa Grimaldi on the popular

soap opera A soap opera (also called a daytime drama or soap) is a genre of a long-running radio or television Serial (radio and television), serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term ''soap opera'' originat ...

As the World Turns ''As the World Turns'' (often abbreviated as ''ATWT'') is an American television soap opera that aired on CBS for 54 years from April 2, 1956, to September 17, 2010. Irna Phillips created ''As the World Turns'' as a sister show to her other so ...

'', a part she played for a year as a replacement for actress

Eileen Fulton Eileen Fulton (born Margaret Elizabeth McLarty; September 13, 1933) is an American actress, singer, and author. She is known for her television role as Lisa Grimaldi on the CBS soap opera ''As the World Turns'', which she played almost continuo ...

, who had left the daytime drama reportedly due to illness. ''As the World Turns'' was not the only soap opera in which von Furstenberg appeared. She was also cast in the role of Niele Neeves on ''

The Secret Storm ''The Secret Storm'' is an American television soap opera that aired on CBS from February 1, 1954, to February 8, 1974. It was created by Roy Winsor, who also created the long-running soap operas '' Search for Tomorrow'' and '' Love of Life''. ...

'' and as "The Duchess of Essex" in '' Another World''.

Personal life and death

Nicky Hilton and Betsy von Furstenberg 1952

In September 1951, von Furstenberg announced her engagement to Conrad "Nicky" Hilton Jr., whose divorce from actress

Elizabeth Taylor Dame Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor (February 27, 1932 – March 23, 2011) was an English and American actress. She began her career as a child actress in the early 1940s and was one of the most popular stars of classical Hollywood cinema in the 19 ...

was finalized earlier that year in January. She did not, however, marry Hilton; instead, on June 16, 1954, she married Guy Vincent Chastenet de la Maisonneuve, a French-born mining engineer, who simplified and changed his name to Guy Vincent. Before their divorce in 1966, the couple had two children, a daughter and a son: * Gay Caroline Vincent, who married William Farish Gerry (b. 1955), the son of Martha F. Gerry (1918–2007) and a grandson of William Stamps Farish II (1881–1942), the president of

Standard Oil Standard Oil Company was a Trust (business), corporate trust in the petroleum industry that existed from 1882 to 1911. The origins of the trust lay in the operations of the Standard Oil of Ohio, Standard Oil Company (Ohio), which had been founde ...

from 1937 to 1942, in 1988.174 Years of Historic Houston: Who's Who – William Stamps Farish
/ref> * Glyn Douglas Vincent, who married Anastasia Cole Goodman, a leading authority on pre-Columbian art and the daughter of Dr. and Mrs. Edmund N. Goodman in 1989. The combination of being an actor and a parent proved to be frustrating at times for von Furstenberg, who believed that the two roles sometimes blended together in daily life and posed special challenges both in and outside the home. In 1972, six years after her divorce from Guy Vincent, she expressed her views on the subject in a personal essay titled "Actors Are Not the Only Ones Who Act", which was published in ''The New York Times'' on September 24, 1972.Von Fursten urg Betsy (1972).
"Actors Are Not the Only Ones Who Act"
''The New York Times'', September 24, 1972. ''New York Times'' Archives. Retrieved August 9, 2017. ''The New York Times'' in its archived copy credits von Furstenberg's essay to "Betsy von Furstenburg". In one portion of her essay she shares the following: After a prolonged period of being single, von Furstenberg finally married for the second time in 1984, then to New York real estate broker John J. Reynolds. They remained together until his death in 1994.Eric Pace, "John J. Reynolds, 61, New York Real-Estate Broker", ''The New York Times'', February 8, 1994 She lived another twenty-one years. On April 21, 2015, von Furstenberg died at her home in Manhattan at the age of 83 from complications attributed to

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Selected filmography

References and notes

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:von Furstenberg, Betsy 1931 births 2015 deaths American musical theatre actresses American television actresses American film actresses American radio actresses Countesses in Germany German musical theatre actresses German television actresses German film actresses German radio actresses Emigrants from Nazi Germany to the United States People from Arnsberg Deaths from Alzheimer's disease in New York (state) Deaths from dementia in New York (state) 20th-century American actresses 20th-century German musicians 20th-century American musicians 20th-century American women singers Hewitt School alumni 20th-century American singers 20th-century German women 21st-century American women Actresses from North Rhine-Westphalia