Officially, this was an unlucky accident. Yesterday we had Sam and Frances Goldwyn and Romy Schneider along., Hjrdis claimed that in her earliest days in Pacific Palisades, Grace had been one of very few stars to openly welcome her into the Hollywood community. 'I hope that David Niven Jnr might actually read my book rather than judge it on what he has presumably read in the newspapers. But by August 15, 1973, 95% of American troops had left Vietnam. In 1973, on January 28th, the Paris Peace Accord was signed - supposedly ending the Vietnam War. And now the great day had finally arrived and I was here with David, cuddling a sturdy little blue-eyed, fair-haired creature whom we had named Kristina., I looked into the sparkling blue eyes in the tiny oval face and thought: Shes mine. Maybe it should be the touching message attached to the largest wreath at his funeral, sent by the porters at Heathrow Airport. 1 She was adopted by James David Graham Niven and Hjrdis Paulina Genberg in 1960. 'In The Moon's a Balloon, he even alluded to the fact that he felt like killing himself,' says Munn. James was born on June 22 1882, in Dundee. I had difficulty swallowing and I had champagne in my knees.. But Niven's popularity with so many other ordinary people was staggering. Join Facebook to connect with Kristina Niven and others you may know. The new family were photographed enjoying the gardens and swimming pool at Lo Scoglietto during the hot summer of 1964. They were married six weeks later at South Kensington register office, on January 14, 1948. When 2 or more people share their unique perspectives, She and Hjrdis always got along very well together.. She said sneeringly: Arent we a clever boy., Roger Moore observed: She was a bitch to him. ', The debonair actor then apparently said to Munn, who had been an elder in the Mormon Church for two years: 'You're exactly what I need - a friend, an author and a priest.'. Kristina married James Smith Niven. Niven's son David Jnr, the former head of Paramount Pictures and producer of the movie The Eagle Has Landed, and his younger brother Jamie, 64, chairman of the auctioneers Sotheby's in New York, could not be more baffled. I think it was my only way of deadening the pain. I also can't imagine what my. He couldnt be monogamous. 'Towards the end he needed care 24 hours a day, and he had this wonderful Irish nurse, Katherine Mathewson, who he adored,' says David Jnr. Share highlights of Kristina's life. But Roddy was left with the strong impression that she might suffer a nasty accident.. More at IMDbProContact Info:View agent, publicist, legal on IMDbPro Quick Links Biography Awards Photo Gallery Filmography (by Job) Trailers and Videos Filmography byYear byJob byRatings ", 'But it was very hard for him. But now that Kristina has come into our lives she has given our marriage a new lustre and it can never happen again., Now I had my baby girl, I could watch David and his boys swimming, sailing or just kicking a ball about the lawn and feel closer to them than ever before.. But these were the survivors. Hereinafter cited as The Times. That said, Hjrdis was already happy to postulate that she had inherited a title through David. Shop the best selection of deals on Beauty now. Two-and-a-half years later, the Nivens adopted a second Swedish orphan, whom they named Fiona. Free delivery for many products! She was 28 and had been in Hollywood for just six weeks. She is completely secure and she is a very important part of my life. 'I think during the time I knew David, from 1970, both sons were living away from their father, so maybe it just never came up when they were together.'. Join Facebook to connect with Kristina Niven and others you may know. What schools or universities did Kristina attend? David Jnr, has clearly inherited his father's famously urbane sense of humour and easy charm. Cap Ferrat and Kristina, 1961; Lo Scoglietto - The little rock; The pitfalls of skiing, 1962; Narrow escapes and JFK, 1962-63; Breakfast in bed, 1963; A well kept secret, 1964; Pia and Mia Genberg. Out of every 20 words he said, only one could be understood, which was very frustrating for him because his mind was unaffected and had been such a marvellous storyteller. 'Anyone who knew Hjordis, would also know that she would never have accepted a love child of David's - never in a million years.'. Hjrdis agreed to adopt Kristina, Niven's love-child by an 18-year-old girl in Switzerland, who was presented to the world as a Swedish orphan. She was actually half-French, born in Wales. Hover to zoom. Grand-daughters Fernanda and Eugenie, by son Jamie. Princess Margaret chats to 'The Bishop's Wife' star Loretta Young at the Leicester Square Odeon, November 25 1947, before watching a stage show featuring, among other stars, David Niven, David Niven in a scene from A Matter of Life and Death (1946), and (right) with his wife Mrs Hjordis Niven. Jamie explained to Graham Lord that his father was worried about the prospect and approached him to beg approval: I know you want to say no because shes been a terrible mother to you, but you mustnt do that to me. I thought she would drown. Few of his fans know that he is a French marquis, but it is true. Now at last we are a complete family, I told myself happily., In 1964 she told Woman magazine: There was a time during our marriage when I was dissatisfied. But whether Nessie granted him her favours or not, another youthful escapade one that was missed by all his biographers was authentic. At the same time, Hjrdis spoke to Woman magazine about Kristina and Fiona and their effect on her life. Such was his unsettled lifestyle that David later looked back on it as a time when he actually had time to spend with his family: The Rogues allowed me to live in one spot longer but, like all good things, it ended and I was travelling again.. Save up to 50% on Pets when you shop now. She arrived at Chteau dOex paralytic with drink in front of journalists. Even though he adored her, he was again incapable of monogamy. In 1948 the Niven boys got a new stepmother, a Swedish model called Hjordis Tersmeden. Speaking this week from his office atSothebys in New York, her stepson, Jamie Niven, said: I always sensed a great deal of anger in her. David is certainly a man of parts. 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At the end of the war, she had married an extremely rich yacht-owning Swedish businessman, Carl Tersmeden, but had divorced him after only 18 months. Looking for Kristin Nivens? Resentful: As well as Niven's successful career, Hjordis was unhappy that he had chosen to adopt a child that may have been as a result of infidelity. David would never dream of using his title. According to Munn (who has also written biographies on Lord Olivier, Kirk Douglas and John Wayne), Niven told him that his mother, Henriette Degacher, was married to William Niven, a wealthy landowner killed fighting the Turks in the World War I when the young David was five. During an interview at Londons Connaught Hotel, she repeatedly interrupted and corrected his version of events, adding:Ive heard all these stories a thousand times and they bore me todeath., Niven, plainly furious, replied: Then please go away and die, darling., In 1980, after 32 years of marriage, Niven said of Hjrdis: She isnt good company and she cant do anything. David avoided tension at home by taking up cross-country skiing in Gstaad. He made a porter feel like aKing.. She had left instructions that she wasnt to be buried inthe grave beside Niven at Chteau dOex, so she was cremated and her ashes scattered in the Mediterranean. These revelations, serialised recently by a broadsheet newspaper, include how Niven was haunted his whole life by the taint of illegitimacy, that he tried to blow his brains out after his first wife died in a freak accident, aged 28, and that Niven's second wife Hjordis was persuaded to adopt a love-child of Niven's. Niven - a notorious ladies' man - seduced her while filming Bonnie Prince Charlie. David and Hjrdis flew to Rome in March 1961, for David to start work on a largely forgottenstringof war movies. I met a very nice girl in New York on my first trip there called Maureen Brennan, a fitness therapist with a very nice line in acrobatic sex, he recalled. The average age of 'One enormous arrangement arrived with a card signed by 50 or 60 porters at Heathrow Airport who'd had a whip round because they adored my father and the way he remembered each and every one of them by name and even the names of their children. David's younger brother Jamie is more forthright, adding: 'I find it totally bizarre that this author should bring out this book now, when my father's been dead for 26 years. ', Part of the Daily Mail, The Mail on Sunday & Metro Media Group. Kristina Niven was born in 1960 in Switzerland to. For it seems that Mann suggests in the play that Nivens life with Hjrdis, a chronic and abusive alcoholic, became so miserable that he even thought of having her murdered. Change), You are commenting using your Twitter account. We will never say how we adopted them. We also present annual summer . The owner of the property, a man whose debonair charm had made him Hollywoods idea of the quintessential English gentleman, shuffled painfully from the pool to the house. The actor passed away in July 1983 following an agonising battle with motor neurone disease. Select the pencil to add details. 'Once, I changed the grades on one of my school reports, not realising that the ink I used was not the same as that on the report. MAUREEN CALLAHAN: Thick as a plank. Another actress told Munn: Infidelity seems to be an occupational hazard with many actors. She wanted to be someone in her ownright, and not merely Mrs David Niven. But this is the first time David Jnr has ever heard of his father openly admitting to anyone that he was illegitimate. 'Sometimes, if you told him an amusing story, you would later hear him retelling it as if it had happened to him, only this time it was far more amusing. And just when I was beginning to worry that there wasnt much more to say about her. 'I knew about guns, but I couldn't think why it hadn't fired. (As a note: Carlos Madrid has looked in to Hjrdis claim, and found nothing. If only Primmie could know that and that she will be waiting for me., To order a copy of David Niven: The Man Behind The Balloon by Michael Munn (JR Books, 17.99) with free UK delivery, please send a cheque or PO made payable to the Daily Express Bookshop to: David Niven Offer, PO Box 200, Falmouth TR11 4WJ, or telephone 0871 988 8367 (calls cost 10p/min from BT landlines) with credit/debit card details or order online at www.expressbookshop.com. Arent we both lucky? She smiled and hugged me., I feel too, that there is no point in hiding her any more. 1 Citations [ S203] Announcements, The Times, London, U.K., 30 July 1983. The Biography piece is collaborative, where we work together to present the facts. But, above all, for the first time I felt a real mother, happy and fulfilled by the tiny blonde angel who had come into our lives., On the first day of Kristinas homecoming I picked her up in my arms and held her close. It began during his school holidays at 14, when he fell in love with a 17-year-old prostitute hed picked up at Piccadilly Circus. As he emerged from the pool on that July day in 1983 with the help of his Irish nurse, his 63-year-old Swedish-born second wife Hjrdis (pronounced Yer-diss) suddenly appeared. 'It was absolutely heartbreaking for me to see him like that, so very frail and skinny, and I remember thinking as I drove away: "My God, this could be the last time I ever see him," ' says David, 67. In 1960, in the year that Kristina Niven was born, on September 26th, the first televised debate for a Presidential campaign in the United States - Kennedy vs Nixon - was held. David kept a family tree which showed that she was was decended from an 18th century lord of Chateau de Caumont, a castle now used as a wedding venue with views of the Pyrenees. Close friend: Roger Moore described Niven's wife as showing him nothing but disdain. But these were the survivors. The image of his once strong, powerfully built, handsome father looking so pitifully weak and thin as he inched towards the window to wave goodbye to his son is one which will stay with David Jnr for ever. But the wheelchair wasnt for him, it was for her. As a father, Niven was, according to his eldest son, very 'strict', drilling into his children the importance of telling the truth. Munn says, the tapes of his interview with Niven unfortunately no longer exist as they were 'chewed up' in the machine long ago, but that he transcribed them in full before they were lost. Or at least I hope so. Regarding the girls being told that they were adopted, it was a subject that Hjrdis held strong views about: From the time she was able to understand, I have explained to Kristina that she is adopted, for I dont believe in hiding facts from children and building up illusions which may be cruelly shattered by someone else., I am not your real mother Kristina, I told her. We talked a lot about what was going on and how she felt. Personally, I dont see any issue. Its a terrible flaw in me. It was never a very rigidly enforced secret, and followed Davids desire to keep the boys early lives under the public radar. David Niven Junior last saw his father a few months before his death at the movie star's spectacular villa overlooking the sea at Cap Ferrat in the South of France. a That and getting drunk but I preferred sex. 'My father was incredibly attractive to other women. AbeBooks.com: Pour Toi (9780855030841) by Kristina-niven and a great selection of similar New, Used and Collectible Books available now at great prices. Then, six weeks later, tragedy struck. To them, Hollywood greats Fred Astaire, Cary Grant and Laurence Olivier were merely 'Uncle Fred', 'Uncle Cary', and 'Uncle Larry'. Share memories and family stories, photos, or ask questions. Kristina's average age compared to other Niven family members is unknown because she is alive. Relaxing with his Swedish born wife Hjordis. while playing the hideand-seek game Sardines, for which the lights had been switched off, Primmie opened a door she thought was the powder room and fell head-first down a steep flight of steps into the cellar. What was special was his renowned talent for spinning fabulously entertaining yarns, which, in the early 1970s, were showcased magnificently in his two bestselling autobiographies charting his film success in the golden era of Hollywood - The Moon's a Balloon and Bring On the Empty Horses. I draw a veil over that. They were Swedish and we adopted them within the first four months of their lives. Kristine Niven Director +Add or change photo on IMDbPro Kristine Niven is known for Uncle Buzzy's House(2016) and Summer Salt(2017). In November 1977, while David Niven was in Egypt filming 'Death On The Nile', he heard that his daughter Kristina had been seriously injured in a car accident in Switzerland. Shop the best selection of deals on Fitness now. In 1961, Hjrdis and David Niven began to settle into their Swiss winter routine. Her input into my fathers fading health was zero. He thinks nothing of trudging along for fifteen or twenty miles. David eventually formeda ski club called DNO (David Nivens Own Ski Club) with a membership of one, himself. Above all, I saw it as a haven for the whole family a retreat where we could all spend our summers together, surrounded by the Mediterranean.. We decided to spend more money than we should and rent something in the south of France, Hjrdis remembered. Intransigent as a toddler. I dont mind showing that off. Even more salacious was the story that Hjordis, who died from a stroke in 1997 aged 78, contracted a sexually transmitted disease after having a fling with priapic U.S. President Jack Kennedy, while Niven's affairs reportedly included former Hollywood actress Grace Kelly and, sensationally, Princess Margaret. becomes full I had some bizarre illness. What is Kristina's ethnicity and where did her parents, grandparents & great-grandparents come from? But our friends dont need to worry, it wont go beyond a joke.. He grew close to actress Rita Hayworth, who wanted to marry him, but he chose to wed Swedish model Hjrdis Tersmeden after a whirlwind courtship in 1948. Kristina's immediate relatives including parents, siblings, partnerships and children in the Niven family tree. The war ended in 1975 with the fall of Saigon. The actress Alexandra Bastedo, a close friend of Manns widow Anastasia, describes the play as explosive stuff. Another of the stars close friends, my former Fleet Street colleague, the international showbusiness writer Roderick Mann, who died last year, left behind him a play entitled Chalet soon to be staged in London. In October 1951, while pheasant shooting with friends in New England, Hjrdis had been shot in the face, neck and chest by two of Nivens companions. Spindle marks may be present. As he admitted later: I had never seen anything so beautiful in my life tall, slim, auburn hair, uptilted nose, lovely mouth and the most enormous grey eyes I had ever seenI goggled.
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