When Paris Hilton’s mother, Kathy, was quoted in the New York Post as telling people not to cooperate with me, it had exactly the opposite effect: it actually brought credible sources who had worked directly or indirectly in the Hilton organization to my attention. One of them was Neal Schwartz. Like others interviewed, he shared his memories and helped open previously locked doors.
Nothing of substance existed in the public domain when I began looking into Paris Hilton’s important and colorful maternal roots, which became a key part of this book.
For helping me piece together the story of Kathleen Dugan Avanzino Richards Catain Fenton and her daughters, Kathy Hilton and Kim and Kyle Richards, I am forever grateful to Jane Hallaren, Mickey Catain and her brother Michael, Ken Avanzino and his sister Adele, Sylvia Richards, Diane Richards, Barbara Frank, Judy Goldstone, Kay Rozario, Lynda Bannister, Monty Brinson, John Jackson, and Pierce Jensen. I owe an extreme debt of gratitude to the many who helped fill in missing pieces. They include: Mary Ellen Akerson, Ellis Amburn, Tim Applegate, Jarred Barron, Martha Barone, Marcel Becker, John Blanchette, Josephine and Diane Campisi, Jeanne Carmen, Marlene Catain, George Christy, John Cohan, David Patrick Columbia, Bob Conkey, Pat Cox, Arthur Crowley, John Donaldson, Digby Diehl, Jean Dmytryk, Donna Dugan, Tom Fioretti, Rudy Florentine, Chet Frangipane, Joe Franklin, Mona Freeman, Melanie Gelb, Maynard Haddad, Nikki Haskell, Ken Heineman, C. David Heymann, Bibi Hilton, Francesca Hilton, Dave Johnson, Richard Johnson, Carol Kane, Bob Kelly, Keith Kelly, Bob and Janice Melvin Keller, Sally Kirkland, Gavin Lambert, Wendy Leigh, Rob Levin, Larry Linderer, Perry Lopez, Skip E. Lowe, Joan Luther, Peter Mansfield, Jeanne Martin, John and Linda McCusker, Ailene Mehle, Barry Minkow, Elliott Mitchell, Hank Moonjean, Terry Moore, Brian O’Riordan, James Robert Parrish, Tom Parris, Bill Pawley, Grant Richards, Marjorie Roth, Milton Saxon, Phyllis Sherwood, Robert Siegel, Sam Staggs, Jackie Stallone, Barbara Sternig, Bob Suddarth, Les Sutorius, Gini Tangalakis, Donald Trump, Ralph Vanderpool, Frederick von Anhalt, Betsy von Furstenberg, Mamie Van Doren, Olga Viripaeff, Gerry Visco, Carol Wakeman, Christina Wolfe, Peggy Yakovlev. If I missed anyone, please know your help was deeply appreciated. There are those, not many, who asked for anonymity. You know who you are, and many thanks for your assistance.
A book like this cannot be written without the help of a strong team of inspired and experienced researchers who know where to look and how to interview—in this case, several of them published authors and journalists. My sincere thanks for due diligence and deep digging to Caroline Walton Howe, Judy Oppenheimer, Tom Lisanti, and Val Holley.
My agent, Elyse Cheney, did a masterful job by taking my idea to the perfect house. Steve Ross, vice president and publisher of Crown, got what I was trying to do from the moment he read my proposal. Luke Dempsey, my editor, is a rarity; his cuts and changes were inspired. His assistant, Lindsey Moore, helped smooth the process along. And for his eagle eye, many thanks to Random House attorney Matthew Martin.
ALSO BY JERRY OPPENHEIMER
FRONT ROW: ANNA WINTOUR
The Cool Life and Hot Times of Vogue’s Editor in Chief
JUST DESSERTS: MARTHA STEWART
The Unauthorized Biography
THE OTHER MRS. KENNEDY
An Intimate and Revealing Look at the Hidden Life of Ethel Skakel Kennedy
SEINFELD
The Making of an American Icon
BARBARA WALTERS
An Unauthorized Biography
STATE OF A UNION
Inside the Complex Marriage of Bill and Hillary Clinton
IDOL: ROCK HUDSON
The True Story of an American Film Hero
Copyright © 2006 by Jerry Oppenheimer
All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Crown Publishers, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
www.crownpublishing.com
Crown is a trademark and the Crown colophon is a registered trademark of Random House, Inc.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Oppenheimer, Jerry.
House of Hilton : from Conrad to Paris: a drama of wealth, power, and privilege / Jerry Oppenheimer.
1. Hilton, Conrad N. (Conrad Nicholson), 1887–1979. 2. Hotelkeepers—United States—Biography. I. Title.
TX910.5.H5O67 2006
647.94092—dc22 2006020926
eISBN: 978-0-307-35195-1
v3.0
House of Hilton Page 30