Thelma Furness, Viscountess Furness

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Thelma Furness (left, 1932)

Thelma Furness, Viscountess Furness (actually Thelma Morgan ; born August 23, 1904 in Lucerne , Switzerland , † January 29, 1970 in New York City ) was an American high-society lady , actress and mistress of the Prince of Wales and later King Edward VIII of Great Britain .

Life

Thelma was the daughter of Harry Hays Morgan and his wife Laura Delphine Kilpatrick. Her father was a diplomat in Buenos Aires and Brussels . Her maternal grandparents were the General of the Union Army and US diplomat in Chile , Hugh Judson Kilpatrick , and Luisa Fernandez de Valdivieso. She was a niece of the Archbishop of Santiago de Chile and is said to have been a descendant of the House of Navarre . Together with her siblings Harry Hays Jr. (1898–1983), twin sister Gloria (1904–1965) and Consuelo (1906–1973), she grew up in South America and Europe, among others .

On February 16, 1922, Thelma Morgan married James Vail Converse (* 1894), a grandson of Theodore Newton Vail, President of American Telephone & Telegraph, in Washington . The marriage was divorced on April 10, 1925 in Los Angeles . The marriage remained childless. After the divorce, she went into a liaison with the then famous stage star Richard Bennett ; Father of Constance , Joan and Barbara , a.

On June 27, 1926, she married the English businessman Marmaduke Furness, 1st Viscount Furness (1883-1940) in London . The marriage resulted in a son, William Anthony (1929–1995). During this second marriage, Thelma met the British heir to the throne Eduard , called David (1894–1972), whose relationship with her soon seemed to become an obsession. Their marriage failed and they divorced in 1933. She was already considered Edward's future wife until Wallis Simpson (1896–1986) won his favor and he renounced the British throne because of this (1936).

In 1923, 19-year-old Thelma Morgan founded Thelma Morgan Pictures, Inc. , where she was a producer and actress rolled into one. She has appeared in four films: Aphrodite (1923), Enemies of Women (1923), Any Woman (1925) and So This Is Marriage? (1924).

Together with her twin sister, Thelma wrote the autobiography Double Exposure . Thelma Furness died on January 29, 1970 in New York City. She was buried next to her sister in the Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City , California .

Web links

Commons : Thelma Furness, Viscountess Furness  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Harry Hayes Morgan in the Internet Movie Database
  2. ^ The Times
  3. ↑ Lady Furness Dies , Eugene Register-Guard. January 30, 1970. Retrieved March 15, 2011. 
  4. ↑ Graves of Gloria Morgan Vanderbilt and Thelma Morgan Furness . Find a grave. Retrieved August 13, 2010.
personal data
SURNAME Furness, Thelma, Viscountess Furness
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Morgan, Thelma (maiden name); Converse, Thelma (married name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American actress, high society lady and mistress of King Edward VIII of Great Britain
DATE OF BIRTH August 23, 1904
PLACE OF BIRTH Lucerne , Switzerland
DATE OF DEATH January 29, 1970
Place of death Culver City , California