The Intimate Sex Lives of Famous People (109 page)

Wright designed a home called Taliesin in Spring Green, Wis., in which he and Mamah lived. On Aug. 4, 1914, their romance ended tragically when an insane servant set fire to the house and then chopped Cheney, her two children, and four neighbors to death with an ax as they tried to escape the inferno.

On the verge of a nervous breakdown, Wright rebuilt Taliesin as a memorial to Mamah. In 1915 he installed another mistress, Miriam Noel, an unstable sculptor who had fallen in love with his picture. He was finally able to secure a divorce from Catherine in November, 1922, 13 years after their initial separation. One year later Miriam, distinguished-looking with her reddish-brown hair and monocle, married Wright. But Wright often felt lonely despite Miriam’s companionship, and instead of strengthening their “luckless love affair,” their marriage destroyed it. Growing increasingly neurotic and unbalanced, Miriam left him in April, 1924, five months after they were wed.

The 57-year-old architect almost immediately became involved with the beautiful 26-year-old Olga Milanoff Hinzenberg. The press called her “the Montenegrin dancer,” thus giving rise to rumors that she was an immoral, flighty chorus girl. Jealous of Wright’s newfound love, Miriam harassed him with an outpouring of legal actions and appalling statements aimed at aborting his affair with Olga (known as Olgivanna). At one point Miriam even tried to move back into Taliesin by force. Wright’s loyal employees were able to rebuff her, but she did succeed in forcing Olgivanna into temporary hiding.

Nevertheless, divorcée Olgivanna solidly occupied Wright’s heart and home, and they both ignored the fact that he was legally married to another.

By the end of 1925 she had given birth to Wright’s daughter, whom they named Iovanna. Wright finally secured a divorce, and he and Olgivanna exchanged wedding vows in August, 1928. During the last 30 years of his life they remained devoted to each other, and after his death Olgivanna took over as director of Taliesin West, Wright’s school for apprentice architects.

—A.K.

Sexual Characteristics

HANGING ON: LATE VIRGINITY LOSERS

Catherine II

Victor Hugo

Mark Twain

Isadora Duncan

D. H. Lawrence

H. G. Wells

Havelock Ellis

Bertrand Russell

Mary Wollstonecraft

Johann Wolfgang

Marie Stopes

Virginia Woolf

von Goethe

Mao Tse-tung

EARLY TO BED: PRECOCIOUS SEX AND LOSS OF VIRGINITY

Pope Alexander VI

Mahatma Gandhi

La Belle Otero

Gabriele D’Annunzio

Jean Harlow

Cora Pearl

Josephine Baker

Jimi Hendrix

Eva Perón

Natalie Barney

Ninon de Lenclos

Édith Piaf

John Barrymore

Louis XIV

Rainer Maria Rilke

Lord Byron

Amedeo Modigliani

Jean Jacques Rousseau

Cleopatra

Marilyn Monroe

Thomas Wolfe

Kurt Cobain

Aristotle Onassis

MEN WHO ENJOYED GIRLS 16 YEARS OR YOUNGER

John Barrymore

Errol Flynn

Samuel Pepys

Lewis Carroll (platonic)

Paul Gauguin

Elvis Presley

Casanova

Johann Wolfgang

Marquis de Sade

Charlie Chaplin

von Goethe

Mark Twain (platonic)

Kurt Cobain

Howard Hughes

OUTSIZE ORGANS

Milton Berle

Gary Cooper

Grigori Rasputin

Wilt Chamberlain

Jimi Hendrix

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

Charlie Chaplin

Guy de Maupassant

Charles I

Aristotle Onassis

MINUTE MEMBERS

Napoleon Bonaparte

Farouk I

Waslaw Nijinsky

Frédéric Chopin

F. Scott Fitzgerald

Rainer Maria Rilke

Edward VIII

Ernest Hemingway

WEIRD QUIRKS AND FETISHES

Natalie Barney (men’s

Jean Harlow (dyed pubic Marilyn Monroe

clothes)

hair)

(dyed pubic hair)

James Boswell

Adolf Hitler (coprophilia) Adelina Patti

(arborophilia)

Howard Hughes

(liked a midget)

Carlos Castaneda (said that

(cleanliness,

Jean Jacques Rousseau

sperm was poisonous)

body hair)

(exhibitionist,

Colette (men’s clothes)

Victor Hugo (feet)

inanimate objects)

Aleister Crowley (hunch-Michael Hutchence (auto-Algernon Swinburne backs, dwarves)

erotic asphyxiation)

(babies, corporal

Havelock Ellis

James Joyce (graphomania,

punishment)

(urination voyeur)

underwear)

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

Clark Gable (cleanliness) Martin Luther

(unexpected erogenous

Mahatma Gandhi

(coprophilia)

zones)

(sleeping naked)

Yukio Mishima (white

André Gide (deformity

gloves, armpit hair,

fetish)

sweat)

TROILISM AND MÉNAGES À TROIS

Honoré de Balzac

Jack Johnson

Grigori Rasputin

Natalie Barney

Janis Joplin

Jean Jacques Rousseau

Casanova

John F. Kennedy

Bertrand Russell

Aleister Crowley

Guy de Maupassant

Marquis de Sade

Paul Gauguin

Edna St. Vincent Millay

Mary Wollstonecraft

George Gershwin

Elvis Presley

Brigham Young

BIGAMISTS, POLYGAMISTS

Honoré de Balzac

Errol Flynn

Ezra Pound

James Boswell

Paul Gauguin

Bertrand Russell

Sir Richard Burton

Henry VIII

Lillian Russell

Claude Debussy

Victor Hugo

Leopold Stokowski

Aleister Crowley

Lillie Langtry

Rudolph Valentino

Alexandre Dumas
père

Jack London

H. G. Wells

Farouk I

W. Somerset Maugham

Alma Mahler Werfel

William Faulkner

King Mongkut

Brigham Young

W. C. Fields

Benito Mussolini

Émile Zola

W. Scott Fitzgerald

Pablo Picasso

OPEN MARRIAGES

Colette

Carl Gustav Jung

Grigori Rasputin

Aleister Crowley

Lillie Langtry

Bertrand Russell

Havelock Ellis

Charles Laughton

Jean-Paul Sartre

William Faulkner

Edna St. Vincent Millay

Anna Nicole Smith

Errol Flynn

Pablo Picasso

Marie Stopes

Victor Hugo

Ezra Pound

H. G. Wells

ORGIASTS

Pope Alexander VI

Cleopatra

Jimi Hendrix

Gabriele D’Annunzio

Gary Cooper

Victor Hugo

Honoré de Balzac

Joan Crawford

Janis Joplin

Natalie Barney

Aleister Crowley

John F. Kennedy

John Barrymore

Fëdor Dostoevski

Lillie Langtry

Sarah Bernhardt

Alexandre Dumas
père

Guy de Maupassant

James Boswell

Isadora Duncan

Amedeo Modigliani

Clara Bow

Farouk I

Elvis Presley

Sir Richard Burton

Errol Flynn

Grigori Rasputin

Lord Byron

Clark Gable

Babe Ruth

Casanova

Paul Gauguin

Marquis de Sade

Catherine II

Johann Wolfgang

Stendhal

Charlie Chaplin

von Goethe

Leo Tolstoi

HOMOSEXUALS

André Gide

W. Somerset Maugham

Paul Verlaine

Christopher Isherwood

Waslaw Nijinsky

Oscar Wilde

Charles Laughton

Pëtr Ilich Tchaikovsky

T. E. Lawrence

William Tilden Jr.

LESBIANS

Natalie Barney

Emily Dickinson

Gertrude Stein

Sexual Characteristics
/
BISEXUALS

Aleister Crowley

André Gide

Anna Nicole Smith

Gabriele D’Annunzio

Billie Holiday

Bessie Smith

Napoleon Bonaparte

Janis Joplin

Algernon Swinburne

Sir Richard Burton

D. H. Lawrence

Vincent Van Gogh

Lord Byron

W. Somerset Maugham

Malcolm X

Casanova

Edna St. Vincent Millay

Paul Verlaine

Colette

Yukio Mishima

Oscar Wilde

James Dean

Waslaw Nijinsky

Mary Wollstonecraft

Frederick II

Marquis de Sade

Virginia Woolf

Sigmund Freud

George Sand

Voltaire

MOTHER-FIXATED

Honoré de Balzac

J. Edgar Hoover

Stendhal

J. M. Barrie

D. H. Lawrence

August Strindberg

Johannes Brahms

Yukio Mishima

Pëtr Ilich Tchaikovsky

James Dean

Jim Morrison

Paul Verlaine

Sigmund Freud

Sir Isaac Newton

William Tilden

INTERFERED WITH WHEN YOUNG

John Barrymore

D. H. Lawrence

Virginia Woolf

Lord Byron

La Belle Otero

Émile Zola

Billie Holiday

Anna Nicole Smith

Carl Gustav Jung

Leo Tolstoi

SEX TRIALS AND FAMOUS SCANDALS

Alexander II

Errol Flynn

Lola Montez

Gabrielle D’Annunzio

André Gide

Lillian Russell

J. M. Barrie

Maxim Gorki

Babe Ruth

John Barrymore

Jean Harlow

Marquis de Sade

Clara Bow

Howard Hughes

George Sand

Lord Byron

Lillie Langtry

Marie Stopes

Enrico Caruso

D. H. Lawrence

William Tilden Jr.

Charlie Chaplin

Jack London

Paul Verlaine

Joan Crawford

Louis XIV

H. G. Wells

Aleister Crowley

General Douglas

Oscar Wilde

Father Divine

MacArthur

Brigham Young

Alexandre Dumas
père

Mata Hari

Émile Zola

Edward VII

W. Somerset Maugham

Edward VIII

Aimee Semple McPherson

VENEREAL DISEASE

Cesare Borgia

Henry VIII

Arthur Schopenhauer

James Boswell

James Joyce

Stendhal

Lord Byron

Edmund Kean

Mao Tse-Tung

Casanova

W. Somerset Maugham

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

Frédéric Chopin

Guy de Maupassant

Vincent Van Gogh

Alexandre Dumas
père

Lola Montez

Paul Verlaine

Paul Gauguin

Benito Mussolini

Oscar Wilde

Francisco de Goya

Marquis de Sade

PRODIGIOUS PROGENITORS

Pope Alexander VI

Victor Hugo

Napoleon III

James Boswell

Carl Gustav Jung

Franklin D. Roosevelt

Charlie Chaplin

Louis XIV

Jean Jacques Rousseau

Charles II

Louis XV

August Strindberg

Charles Dickens

Martin Luther

Leo Tolstoi

Alexandre Dumas
père

Maria Luisa

Mao Tse-tung

Sigmund Freud

Karl Marx

Queen Victoria

Mahatma Gandhi

King Mongkut

Brigham Young

Paul Gauguin

Wolfgang Amadeus

Francsico de Goya

Mozart

GREAT LOVERS AND SATYRS

Pope Alexander VI

Errol Flynn

Marilyn Monroe

Gabriele D’Annunzio

Paul Gauguin

Napoleon III

Honoré de Balzac

George Gershwin

Aristotle Onassis

Natalie Barney

Jimi Hendrix

La Belle Otero

John Barrymore

Howard Hughes

Cora Pearl

Sarah Bernhardt

Victor Hugo

Edith Piaf

Napoleon Bonaparte

Janis Joplin

Pablo Picasso

James Boswell

John F. Kennedy

Elvis Presley

Clara Bow

Aly Kahn

Ayn Rand

Lord Byron

Lillie Langtry

Grigori Rasputin

Casanova

Ninon de Lenclos

Bertrand Russell

Catherine II

Franz Liszt

Babe Ruth

Wilt Chamberlain

Jack London

Marquis de Sade

Charlie Chaplin

Louis XIV

Leopold Stokowski

Charles II

Louis XV

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

Aleister Crowley

Guy de Maupassant

H. G. Wells

Alexandre Dumas
père

Edna St. Vincent Millay

Alma Mahler Werfel

Edward VII

Amedeo Modigliani

Thomas Wolfe

Duke Ellington

King Mongkut

Sexual Characteristics
/
SEX WITH PARTNERS 20 YEARS (OR MORE) OLDER

Honoré de Balzac

Henry VIII

Eva Perón

Clara Bow

Ninon de Lenclos

Marquis de Sade

Maria Callas

Mata Hari

Anna Nicole Smith

Casanova

Marilyn Monroe

Thomas Wolfe

Edward VII

Waslaw Nijinsky

Jean Harlow

La Belle Otero

SEX WITH PARTNERS 20 YEARS (OR MORE) YOUNGER