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Evalyn Walsh McLean

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Socialite

The Resume

    (August 1, 1886-April 26, 1947)
    Born in Leadville, Colorado
    Birth name was Evalyn Walsh
    Mining heiress and socialite
    Married publishing heir Ned McLean (1908)
    Wrote the memoir 'Father Struck It Rich'
    Owned the Hope Diamond (1911-47)

Why she might be annoying:

    She and her husband left for a European honeymoon with $200,000 and spent it so lavishly that they ended up in Paris without enough money to pay their hotel bill.
    When her father arranged a line of credit to bail them out, she immediately went shopping for jewelry at Cartier's.
    The legend of the Hope Diamond Curse may have been invented by jeweler Pierre Cartier to pique her interest in buying it.
    She spent $1 million on a birthday party for her dog, who attended wearing the Hope Diamond.
    At parties, she would deliberately 'lose' the Hope Diamond and make a party game out of finding it.
    She said, 'I cannot help it if I have a passion for jewels. When I forget to wear them, astute members of my family call in doctors.'

Why she might not be annoying:

    She was one of the most popular hostesses in Washington, DC.
    She was mentioned in Cole Porter's 'Anything Goes.'
    She spent $100,000 to try and ransom the Lindbergh baby. (Unfortunately, she was ripped off by a con man who had no clue where the kid was.)
    Her son Vinson was killed in an automobile accident at age nine and her daughter Emily died of an overdose at 25.
    Despite people claiming the Hope Diamond Curse was responsible, she said, 'What tragedies have befallen me might have occurred had I never seen or touched the Hope Diamond. My observations have persuaded me that tragedies, for anyone who lives, are not escapable.'
    A biographer noted, 'She's obviously a person who was a little bit eccentric, but she enjoyed her eccentricity. She used it in a very positive way.'

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 1 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 2 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 13 Votes: 92.31% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 5 Votes: 60.0% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 6 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 9 Votes: 33.33% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 3 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 2 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 6 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2014, Out of 19 Votes: 57.89% Annoying
    In 2013, Out of 11 Votes: 54.55% Annoying
    In 2012, Out of 9 Votes: 77.78% Annoying
    In 2011, Out of 10 Votes: 70.0% Annoying