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Lance Reventlow was the son of Danish nobleman Cort Haugwitz Reventlow and American socialite Barbara Hutton who almost died giving birth to her son. Born at Winfield House, built by his mother and named for her father, Frank Winfield Woolworth, his parent's marriage was a tumultuous one, filled with his mother's growing alcohol and drug addiction. She had inherited the Woolworth department store fortune and was then one of the wealthiest women in the world. The marriage, Barbara Hutton's second of seven, did not last and the child became the subject of a bitter custody battle.
Left to be raised by nannies and boarding schools, Lance Reventlow was six years old when his mother married actor Cary Grant who took the already troubled boy under his wing. Reventlow's mother and Grant divorced on July 11, 1945 and two days later the then nine-year-old was abducted by his biological father and taken to Canada but later returned. Grant, who had no children, remained close to Reventlow who spent a great deal of time in the Los AngelesThis article is about the city in California. For other uses of 'Los Angeles' see Los Angeles (disambiguation The City of Los Angeles widely known by its abbreviation L. is a large coastal metropolis in Southern California in the western United States. area.
In 1948, at age 12, Reventlow was introduced to the world of Grand Prix motor racingGrand Prix motor racing has its roots in organized automobile racing that began in France as far back as 1894. It quickly evolved from a simple road race from one town to the next, to endurance tests for car and driver. Innovation and the drive of competi when his mother married Prince Igor Troubetzkoy who won the Targa FlorioThe Targa Florio was an open road endurance automobile race held near Palermo, Sicily. The race was created in 1906 by the wealthy pioneer race driver and automobile enthusiast, Vincenzo Florio, who had started the "Coppa Florio" race in Brescia, Lombardy that year. As a teenager, Reventlow's money afforded him the latest in exotic cars that led to his involvement in motor racing.
In Hollywood, Reventlow became friends with fellow auto enthusiast James DeanThis article is about the actor James Dean . You might also be looking for Jimmy Dean. James Byron Dean ( February 8, 1931 September 30, 1955) was an American film actor. Epitomizing youthful angst and charisma, Dean's screen persona is probably best embo and competed in club events around California. On September 30, 1955 Lance Reventlow was one of the last people to speak to Dean when they met on their way to an auto race in Salinas, CaliforniaSalinas is the county seat of Monterey County, California. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 151,060. The city developed in the 19th century as an Anglo response to the predominantly Mexican Monterey, California. Salinas was the bi. Dean was killed a few hours later in his racing Porsche 550 SpyderThe Porsche 550 Spyder was an automobile produced by Porsche in the 1950s. It was the first Porsche designed for auto racing. It was built on a ladder type frame (unlike the latter 550A which had a space frame) and was a mid-engined car with its gearbox l.
Reventlow eventually decided to go to EuropeFor the band of the same name, see Europe (band . Europe is a continent forming the westermost part of the Eurasian supercontinent. Europe is bounded to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the west by the Atlantic Ocean, to the south by the Mediterranean Se to race cars and spent a season driving Cooper Formula 2 cars. He then returned to the United States and set up his own company in Venice, California to construct Chevrolet-powered race cars he named Scarab . Along with hired driver Chuck Daigh , the two were initially successful in racing. Daigh won the 1958 Riverside Grand Prix in California and Carroll Shelby drove a Scarab to first place at Continental Divide Raceways in Castle Rock, Colorado, breaking a course record.
In 1959, Lance Reventlow visited the mother he barely knew at her new mansion in Cuernavaca, Mexico . Having just divorced her sixth husband, Reventlow confronted his mother over his upbringing and after a heated argument the two parted company. Already in the media spotlight because of his mother and the family wealth, shortly after the confrontation with his mother, Reventlow married actress Jill St. John. The glamorous couple were the focus of much media attention and his racing team was much talked about for having built the first Formula One racecar in America. Shifting operations overseas to Britain, Reventlow's team raced the Scarab cars in Formula One with little success and in 1962 he shut down the operation, leased the California facilities to Carroll Shelby, and quit auto racing altogether.
Reventlow's marriage to Jill St. John ended in divorce in 1963. In 1964, he married ex- Mouseketeer Cheryl Holdridge, and mostly remained out of the glare of publicity for several years. An avid Alpine skier, hiker, and pilot, Reventlow maintained a home in Aspen, Colorado. It was there in 1972 that according to the NTSB report, Reventlow was a passenger in a Cessna 206 piloted by an inexperienced 27-year-old student who flew into a blind canyon and stalled the aircraft while trying to turn around. The small plane plunged to the ground, killing Lance Reventlow and the others aboard.
Reventlow, Lance Reventlow, Lance Reventlow, Lance| Politics | Business | Finance |
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