Whatever Happened to the Marrying Mdivani's?
The Mdivani's were a Georgian family. In the West, the best known bearers of this name were the children of General Zakhari Mdivani and his wife Elizabeth. The five siblings fled to Paris after the Soviet invasion of Georgia in 1921, and became known as the "Marrying Mdivanis", as they all married into wealth and fame. The 3 Male Mdivani's were the most famous for Marrying wealthy famous women two of the women were among the biggest actresses of the time and one was The richest girl in the world. Not Too Shabby!
The Mdivani siblings were:
Nina Mdivani (1901–1987), who was married to Charles Henry Huberich, a Stanford professor and lawyer, from 15 July 1925 until their divorce on 19 May 1936. On 18 August 1936 she married Denis Conan Doyle, a son of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes. After Denis's death on 9 March 1955, she married Anthony Harwood, a secretary to Denis Conan Doyle.
Serge Mdivani (1903–1936), came to Massachusetts in 1921 with his brother David and was supported by Marshall Crane of the Crane paper empire. By 1923, the brothers moved out and ended up working in the Oklahoma oil fields owned by Edward L. Doheny. Serge then moved to Los Angeles, met, and married actress Pola Negri in 1927, but when she lost her fortune in the Stock Market Crash of 1929, he abandoned her and took up with opera singer Mary McCormic, who divorced him in a highly publicized trial. He then married his former sister-in-law, Louise Astor Van Alen Mdivani, in 1936, but died later that year in a polo accident. He is buried in the church yard of St. Columba's Episcopal Chapel in Middletown, Rhode Island, under a massive marble tombstone.
David Mdivani (1904–1984), was the first Mdivani to marry "well". He came to the US with his brother Serge under the support of Marshall Crane. When the two brothers fell out of favor with Marshall Crane, they moved to New York where David was working for a radio repair shop owned by a fellow Georgian refuge on Vesey Street in New York City. David also dabbled in acting, but failed. The brothers moved to Oklahoma where David and Serge worked in the Edward L. Doheny oil fields earning $25 per week up until 1926, just months before David married actress Mae Murray; they had a son, Koran David (1926-2018). After he bankrupted her, she divorced him in 1933 and they became involved in a fierce custody battle over their child. He was involved with French actress Arletty. David then married Sinclair Oil heiress Virginia Sinclair (daughter of Harry Ford Sinclair) in 1944, and they had a son, Michael (1945–1990).
I stumbled upon David's crypt at Calvary Cemetery in 2013. He's very close to where Lou Costello is buried in a private room he, his last wife and their child together Michael are all interred there and I took photos at an angle because the room is open but it has a locked gate you can't just go in like Jean Harlow's Crypt at Forest Lawn. His son Dan Born (Koran) with Mae Murray died in 2018 and he's buried in Bonita Springs FL. Koran never knew his parents because he was little when they they separated neither could take care of him, David and The Stock Market Bankrupted Mae she could barely take care of herself and I think David was more interested in finding his next meal ticket, which he found, than being a father to Koran so he was adopted into the Cunning family. reading about Dan he had a wonderful long life was a loving father. He was 92 when he died. David was the only Mdivani Male to live long enough to have children.
Alexis Mdivani (1905–1935), who married Louise Astor Van Alen (a member of the Astor family) in 1931, but divorced her to marry Woolworth heiress Barbara Hutton, one of the world's richest women at the time. He died in an automobile accident in Albons, Catalonia (Spain). He was traveling with Baroness Maud Thyssen, a beautiful, married, twenty-three year old German.
Alexis and Barbara Hutton the Woolworth Heiress her third Husband was Actor Cary Grant
Taken from Barbara Hutton's Wikipedia Page...
Alexis was already married to Louise Van Alen, a friend Barbara met at Bailey's Beach in Rhode Island and a member of the Astor family, when he met Barbara in Biarritz, France. Their meeting was engineered by Alexis' manipulative sister Roussie who was always propelling her family into wealthy marriages even if a divorce was required. Roussie and Alexis devised a plan that would enable Alexis to divorce Louise, seduce Barbara, and force her into marriage all at once when Alexis, Louise, Barbara, Roussie, and others were visiting San Sebastien, Spain. Roussie timed Louise and other witnesses to a visit a guest cottage while Alexis seduced Barbara. The group caught the couple, prompting Barbara to flee to Paris to avoid facing the scandal, but Roussie threatened Barbara with negative publicity if she did not marry her brother. Alexis and Barbara were married on June 22, 1933, in the Russian Orthodox Church in Paris, France. Barbara's father provided a $1 million dowry. After spending millions of Barbara's inheritance on a home, polo ponies, clothes and men's jewelry, Alexis and Barbara divorced in March, 1935.
Isabelle Roussadana Mdivani (1906–1938), aka Roussie or Roussy. A sculptor, she married the Spanish painter Jose Maria Sert in 1928.
The word "Mdivani" in Georgian means member of the Divan "Secretary". according to Barbara Hutton's biography Roussie was a drug addict which was in the Movie Poor Little Rich Girl Starring Farrah Fawcett She also died young most likely from affects of Drug Abuse.
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