Background and career
Gloria Laura Vanderbilt (February 20, 1924 – June 17, 2019) was an American artist, author, actress, fashion designer, heiress, and socialite. In 1934, she was the subject of a high-profile child custody trial in which her mother Gloria Morgan Vanderbilt, and her paternal aunt, Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, each sought custody of her and control over her trust fund. Dubbed the "trial of the century", the seven-week court proceedings were the subject of wide and sensational media coverage, due to the wealth and prominence of the involved parties and the scandalous evidence presented to support the "oppressive" aunt's claim that the "neglectful" mother was an unfit parent to the 10-year-old, who became known as the "poor little rich girl." In the 1970s, Vanderbilt launched a line of fashions, perfumes, and household goods bearing her name. She was particularly noted as an early developer of designer blue jeans.
Vanderbilt was born on February 20, 1924, in Manhattan, New York City, the only child of railroad heir Reginald Claypoole Vanderbilt of the Vanderbilt family and his second wife, Gloria Morgan Vanderbilt. When Vanderbilt was born, her father was heard to exclaim in delight, "It is fantastic how Vanderbilt she looks! See the corners of her eyes, how they turn up?" She was baptized in the Episcopal Church by Bishop Herbert Shipman as Gloria Laura Vanderbilt. After her father's death, she was confirmed and raised in the Catholic Church, to which her mother belonged. From her father's first marriage to Cathleen Neilson, she had one elder half-sister, Cathleen Vanderbilt. Vanderbilt attended the Greenvale School on Long Island; Miss Porter's School in Farmington, Connecticut; and then the Wheeler School in Providence, Rhode Island, as well as the Art Students League in New York City, developing the artistic talent for which she would become increasingly known during her career. When Vanderbilt came of age and took control of her trust fund, she cut her mother off entirely, though they later were reconciled before her mother's death in Los Angeles, in 1965.
Upon their father's death from cirrhosis, when Vanderbilt was 18 months old, she and her half-sister became heiresses to a half share each in a $5 million trust fund, equivalent to $92 million in 2025 value. The control of Vanderbilt's share, while she was a minor, belonged to her mother, who, for years, traveled to and from Paris, taking her daughter with her. They were accompanied by a beloved nanny—Emma Sullivan Kieslich, whom young Gloria had named "Dodo"—who would play a tumultuous part in the child's life, and her mother's identical twin sister, Thelma, who was the lover of the Prince of Wales (later Edward VIII), during this time. As a result of her spending habits, her mother's use of finances was scrutinized by the child's paternal aunt, Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney. A sculptor and philanthropist, Whitney wanted custody of her niece, which resulted in a custody trial. The trial was so scandalous that at times, the judge would make everyone leave the room, so as to listen to what young Vanderbilt had to say without anyone influencing her. Some people heard weeping and wailing from inside the courtroom. Testimony was heard depicting Vanderbilt's mother as an unfit parent, including an allegation from Marie Caillot, her discharged French maid, of an affair with the Marchioness of Milford Haven, a relative of the British royal family, which Lady Milford Haven would subsequently deny in her own testimony. Vanderbilt's mother lost the battle, and Vanderbilt became the ward of her aunt Gertrude.
Litigation continued, however. Vanderbilt's mother was forced to live on a drastically reduced portion of her daughter's trust, which was worth more than $4 million, at the end of 1937, equivalent to $90 million in 2025 value. Visitation was also closely watched, to ensure that Vanderbilt's mother did not exert any undue influence upon her daughter with her supposedly "raucous" lifestyle. Vanderbilt was raised amidst luxury at her aunt Gertrude's mansion in Old Westbury, Long Island, surrounded by cousins her age who lived in houses circling the vast estate and in New York City. The story of the trial was told in the 1980 Barbara Goldsmith book, Little Gloria... Happy at Last, and a 1982 NBC miniseries of the same name based on it, which was nominated for six Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe Award. Actress Jennifer Dundas played Gloria.
From 1954 to 1963, Vanderbilt applied herself to acting. She studied acting at the Neighborhood Playhouse, with teacher Sanford Meisner, and debuted in 1954, in The Swan, staged at Pocono Playhouse in Mountainhome, Pennsylvania. In 1955, she appeared on Broadway, as Elsie, in a revival of William Saroyan's The Time of Your Life. Vanderbilt also appeared in a number of live and filmed television dramas, including Playhouse 90, Studio One in Hollywood, and The Dick Powell Show. She made an appearance in a two-part episode of The Love Boat, in 1981. Other TV programs on which she appeared include Person to Person, with Edward R. Murrow, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, The Oprah Winfrey Show, Live! with Kelly and Michael and CBS News Sunday Morning.
Vanderbilt began her career as a fashion model when she was 15 years old, appearing in Harper's Bazaar. During the 1970s, Vanderbilt ventured into the fashion business itself, first with Glentex, licensing her name and a collection of her paintings for a line of scarves. In 1976, Indian designer Mohan Murjani's Murjani Corporation proposed launching a line of designer jeans carrying Vanderbilt's signature embroidered on the back pocket, as well as her swan logo. Her jeans were more tightly fitted than other jeans of that time and were an immediate success with customers.
