Doris Lilly

Doris Lilly (c.1922/26 December 1926 – 9 October 1991) was an American newspaper columnist and writer.[1] Lilly wrote newspaper columns on high society for the New York Post between 1968 and 1978, and the New York Daily Mirror.[2]

Life

Lilly was born in South Pasadena in California and she was schooled in Santa Monica.[1] Lilly was a contract player for film producer Cecil B. DeMille in her youth, before dating actor Ronald Reagan in the 1950s after his divorce from Jane Wyman.[1] Two letters that Reagan sent her during their relationship were auctioned at Sotheby's by Lilly in 1988 while Reagan was serving as President of the United States; the letters were bought by Malcolm Forbes and given to Reagan's wife, Nancy.[1][3]

Lilly was a socialite and wrote several books about people of great wealth including Glamor Girl (1977; with co-author Robin Moore) and Those Fabulous Greeks: Onassis, Niarchos and Livanos (1970).[1][2] Lilly has been cited as, and claimed herself, that she was an inspiration for Holly Golightly, the lead character in Truman Capote's novella Breakfast at Tiffany's.[1][4]

The title of Lilly's first book, How to Marry a Millionaire was adapted for a film of the same name starring Marilyn Monroe and Lauren Bacall.[5] Lilly published an updated version of the book in 1984 as How to Marry a Billionaire, commenting that "A million dollars isn't much money these days. You can't even get a decent house for that."[1] The New York Post columnist Cindy Adams said that Lilly was "never fond of poverty", and Lilly herself said that the people she wrote about as a gossip columnist were sometimes "shallow" but were "pleasant and they smell good and they eat well and drink good wines, and that's all right."[1]

Lilly wrote for several publications, including as a contributor to Avenue, Cosmopolitan, Ladies' Home Journal, McCall's magazines, as beauty editor of Town and Country.[1] On television Lilly was a commentator on WPIX and a guest on panel shows and The Merv Griffin Show.[1]

Bibliography

  • How to Marry a Millionaire (1951)
  • How to Make Love in Five Languages (1965)
  • Those Fabulous Greeks: Onassis, Niarchos and Livanos (1970)
  • Glamor Girl (1977, with Robin Moore)
  • How to Marry a Billionaire (1984)

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Bruce Lambert (11 October 1991). "Doris Lilly, 69, Gossip Columnist Who Wrote of Millionaires, Dies". The New York Times. p. 13.
  2. 1 2 Sam G. Riley (1 January 1995). Biographical Dictionary of American Newspaper Columnists. Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 183–. ISBN 978-0-313-29192-0.
  3. ↑ Bernard F. Dick (14 March 2014). The President’s Ladies: Jane Wyman and Nancy Davis. Univ. Press of Mississippi. pp. 93–. ISBN 978-1-61703-980-5.
  4. ↑ Andrew O'Hagan (22 January 2013). The Atlantic Ocean: Reports from Britain and America. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. pp. 79–. ISBN 0-547-72789-5.
  5. ↑ John Reid (1 February 2005). CinemaScope Two: 20th Century-Fox. Lulu.com. pp. 98–. ISBN 978-1-4116-2248-7.
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