Geraldine McGee

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Geraldine "Gerri" McGee (*  16th May 1936 in Los Angeles , California ; † 9. November 1982 ) was an American model , showgirl and for several years the wife of the Casino - Manager Frank Rosenthal (* 1929, † 2008 ). In Martin Scorsese's film Casino (1995), Sharon Stone played her as Ginger McKenna / Rothstein .

life and career

Geraldine McGee was born in Los Angeles to Alice (née Pollock) and Roy McGee and had an older sister, Barbara († 2000). She grew up in the middle-class neighborhood of Sherman Oaks and graduated from Van Nuys High School in 1954. She made a living doing office work, doing modeling jobs on the side, and performing in beauty pageants .

During her high school days she had met her long-time friend Lenny Marmor, to whom she gave birth to her first child, her daughter Robin, in 1958. Gerri then moved to Las Vegas , Nevada with Robin and her now divorced mother , while Lenny stayed in Los Angeles. There she worked her way up from waitress to showgirl in the 1960s and had finally saved enough money to buy a house for herself and her family. While she was developing into one of the most respected and popular showgirls in town and accompanying numerous business people on their forays into the casinos , she met the casino manager Frank Rosenthal in the late 1960s .

The two married in 1969 and together they had two children, Stephanie and Steven. While Frank took care of the business, his wife would from now on raise the children. But Geraldine, who was still addicted to fun and parties, kept going out at night, getting drunk, and taking stimulants while housekeeping took care of the children. She often left the city for several days, sometimes accompanied by the children, which at times even led her husband to have her shadowed by a private detective . During the 1970s, the couple separated for a while to gain distance and also met people of the opposite sex - Geraldine kept in touch with her childhood sweetheart Lenny and at times had an affair with the mobster Anthony Spilotro , a friend and business partner of her husband.

After several incidents in which Gerri, who is now heavily dependent on alcohol and pills, threatened her husband with a gun, stole large amounts of cash and almost ran him over with her car, she fetched $ 250,000 and jewelry from a safe deposit box. that Frank had opened for her. Before she then largely disappeared from Rosenthal's life, Rosenthal finally filed for divorce on September 11, 1980.

death

Geraldine McGee died on November 9, 1982 in her hometown of Los Angeles at the age of 46. She was found in the lobby of the Beverly Sunset Hotel on Sunset Boulevard after a drug overdose . Her sister Barbara suggested that the same people who carried out the assassination attempt on Frank Rosenthal also killed Geraldine. This theory sounds plausible insofar as McGee could have had insight into the local organized crime through her years of intercourse with bullies and business people as well as her countless visits to casinos . The rumor that Frank could have commissioned a murder in retaliation for the bomb in his car in October 1982, which he suspected his ex-wife was behind, also circulated for a long time. According to forensic medicine , Geraldine died of an accidental overdose of cocaine , valium, and whiskey . The body was buried in the Mount Sinai Memorial Park Cemetery , a Jewish cemetery .

Adaptations

In the film Casino , the character based on Geraldine McGee was named Ginger McKenna / Rothstein . While the real Geraldine had three children, Ginger only gave birth to one, Amy . The work also implied that Gerri had worked temporarily as a prostitute , despite several allusions, including the character Sam Rothstein (Frank Rosenthal), Ginger was never seen in such situations; her childhood friend Lester Diamond (Lenny Marble) was also her pimp . However, there is no evidence that Geraldine ever worked as a prostitute.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Details on Alice McGee at familysearch.org
  2. ↑ Las Vegas casino operator inspired movie on latimes.com (English)
  3. ↑ Gambling-gangster Saga Puts Boca Man On Screen at sun-sentinel.com (English)
personal data
SURNAME McGee, Geraldine
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Rosenthal, Geraldine; McGee, Gerri (nickname)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American model and showgirl
DATE OF BIRTH May 16, 1936
PLACE OF BIRTH Los Angeles , California
DATE OF DEATH November 9, 1982
Place of death Los Angeles , California