Geri McGee

Geri McGee
Born Geraldine McGee
(1936-05-16)May 16, 1936
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Died November 9, 1982(1982-11-09) (aged 46)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Cause of death Accidental drug overdose
Resting place Mount Sinai Memorial Park
Education Van Nuys High School
Spouse(s)
Frank Rosenthal
(m. 1969; div. 1981)
Children 3

Geraldine "Geri" McGee (May 16, 1936 – November 9, 1982) was an American model, socialite, and Las Vegas showgirl. Her involvement with criminal activity in Las Vegas, along with that of her husband Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal, was chronicled in Martin Scorsese's film Casino (1995). The screenplay for Casino was written by Nicholas Pileggi and Scorsese, based on Pileggi's biography about Geri and Rosenthal titled Casino: Love and Honor in Las Vegas. Sharon Stone portrayed McGee in the film, with the character's name changed to "Ginger McKenna", and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance.[1]

Personal life and career

Geraldine McGee was born in Los Angeles, the daughter of Leona "Alice" (née Pollock))[2] and Roy McGee. Her parents married in 1931 and later divorced.[3] She had a sister, Barbara.

McGee grew up in the Sherman Oaks area and graduated from Van Nuys High School in 1954. Her aunt, Naomi Ingram, inherited a large amount of money upon the death of her husband, O.W. Ingram, whose family owned land in Georgia. Ingram offered to send McGee to Woodbury Business School, where she had sent McGee's sister Barbara. McGee told her aunt she did not want to attend Woodbury but would rather attend a different school, and her aunt refused to pay for any other school but Woodbury. McGee instead began working in office jobs during the day, and would look for contests and modeling jobs on the side.[4]

In high school, McGee met a man named Lenny Marmor, and the two became inseparable. Marmor recognized McGee's talent, and he began entering her in swimsuit and dance contests, where she would often take home prizes. After they graduated from high school, the couple had a daughter, Robin Marmor, born in 1958.

Soon, Marmor convinced McGee to move to Las Vegas for more opportunities. Marmor stayed in Los Angeles, and McGee and her daughter moved to Vegas. McGee's mother Alice, now separated from Roy McGee, moved to Vegas to take care of Robin while McGee was working.

Around 1960, McGee started working as a cocktail waitress and Tropicana chorus showgirl, and continued through the 1960s, making enough money to buy a house for herself and her family. She worked her way up the Las Vegas social ladder, meeting various businessmen. One of the men she met was Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal. Her sister Barbara moved in with her after separating from her husband; Barbara had two small children and needed a place to stay.[5]

In 1969, McGee married Rosenthal and had two children with him: a son Steven, and later a daughter, Stephanie. Rosenthal expected McGee to be a stay-at-home mom while he was out at the casino working. She began to resent domestic life, and started going out at night and drinking. Rosenthal threatened to divorce McGee and take custody of the children, leaving her with little money.

The marriage went through a series of break ups and reconciliations through the 1970s. McGee's mother Alice died in 1977. McGee and Rosenthal both began seeing other people, and McGee secretly began seeing Anthony Spilotro, who was a mob enforcer and caporegime in Las Vegas, and a married friend of Rosenthal's. They would get in physical altercations, and Rosenthal would hire private detectives to track McGee's activities. McGee would often leave Las Vegas, taking trips with the children to Los Angeles, or shopping with wives of other Las Vegas businessmen. Her divorce from Rosenthal was finalized in 1981, when McGee was living in Los Angeles. After the divorce, on October 4, 1982, Rosenthal escaped serious injury when a bomb was placed under his car outside the Tony Roma's Restaurant on Sahara in Las Vegas.[6]

Death

McGee died on November 9, 1982 in Los Angeles, aged 46. She was found heavily drugged in the lobby of the Beverly Sunset Hotel, on Sunset Boulevard, on November 6, and died three days later. Her sister stated she believed McGee had been murdered by the people who had tried to kill Frank Rosenthal just weeks earlier, because perhaps she "knew too much" about the Las Vegas underworld. Another theory is that Rosenthal believed McGee was responsible for the bomb and in retaliation had her killed.

The Los Angeles coroner ruled McGee's cause of death was an accidental overdose. The coroner found a lethal combination of cocaine, valium, and whiskey in her system. She was interred at Mount Sinai Memorial Park, a Jewish cemetery.[7]

Casino

Nicholas Pileggi began working on the script for Casino, based on the Rosenthal family, with Martin Scorsese around 1990. Filming began in the fall of 1994, and the film was released a year later, in November 1995. Sharon Stone was cast to portray Geri McGee and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Lead Actress for her performance.

The script made changes to Geri McGee's story. In the film, the Rosenthals only have one daughter, Amy, while in real life Geri had three children. The film also implied that McGee was a part-time hustler (and perhaps a prostitute), and that her friend and lover Lester Diamond (played by James Woods) was her pimp and mentor since she was 14. In actuality, there is no evidence that McGee ever was a prostitute. The script also changed the couple's names from Geri McGee and Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal to Ginger McKenna and Sam "Ace" Rothstein (played by Robert De Niro), and Lenny Marmor to Lester Diamond.[8]

References

  1. ↑ "Real Life Mafia Moll Gave Star Her Oscar Role". Thefreelibrary. Retrieved April 5, 2015.
  2. ↑ "Alice McGee death record". Familysearch. Retrieved April 4, 2015.
  3. ↑ "McGee Marriage Record". Familysearch. Retrieved April 4, 2015.
  4. ↑ "Las Vegas couple inspired movie". Los Angeles Times. October 16, 2008. Retrieved April 4, 2015.
  5. ↑ "Frank's Life Story". FrankLeftyRosenthal.com. Retrieved April 5, 2015.
  6. ↑ "Gangster Saga gets put on the big screen". Sun Sentinel. December 29, 1994. Retrieved April 5, 2015.
  7. ↑ "Frank Rosenthal obituary". The New York Times. October 19, 2008. Retrieved April 5, 2015.
  8. ↑ The Films of Martin Scorsese and Robert Deniro. ISBN 978-0810874138.

Further reading

  • Pileggi, Nicholas. Casino: Love and Honor in Las Vegas. ISBN 0-684-80832-3.
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