The Last Playboy: The High Life of Porfirio Rubirosa

(Paperback)

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A scandalous story of money, drugs, fast cars, high politics, lowly crime, hundreds of beautiful woman and one man, Porfirio Rubirosa from the celebrated author of RAT PACK CONFIDENTIAL.
The Dominican playboy Porfirio Rubirosa died at 8:00 am on July 5, 1965, when he smashed his Ferrari into a tree in Paris. He was 56 years old and on his way home to his 28-year-old fifth wife, Odile Rodin, after a night's debauch in celebration of a victorious polo match.

In the previous four decades, Rubirosa had on four separate occasions married one of the wealthiest women in the world, and had slept with hundreds of other women including Marilyn Monroe, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Ava Gardner, and Eva Peron. He had worked as aide-de-camp to one of the most vicious fascists the century ever knew. He had served as an ambassador to France, Germany, Belgium, Italy, Argentina and Vichy. He had been a jewel thief, a forger, a shipping magnate, a treasure hunter. He had held his own with the world's most powerful and notorious men including John F. Kennedy, Josef Goebbels and Juan Peron. He ran comfortably celebrity circles, counting among his friends Frank Sinatra, Ted Kennedy, David Niven, Sammy Davis Jr., and fellow playboy Aly Khan.

He lived for the moment and, at his death, faded without a legacy: no children, no fortune, no entity financial, cultural, even architectural that bore his name. There will never be anyone else like Porfiro Rubirosa. Indeed, the really amazing thing is that there ever was. Shawn Levy celebrated author of RAT PACK CONFIDENTIAL, and READY, STEADY, GO has been given unique access to primary material including FBI and CIA files in his search for the last playboy.

Reviews

'An excellent, gossipy study!Levy has a kinetic prose style!Levy's luscious, shimmering and titillating portrait is there for the world' Sunday Times '[Shawn Levy] has a fascinating story to tell!This is undoubtedly a page turner' Mail on Sunday 'Shawn Levy has brought all his customary energies to this study of Porfirio Rubirosa's life' Daily Telegraph 'A swish, always interesting collection of barroom tales' Night and Day, Mail on Sunday 'Levy is very thorough!This is a tale told with with great relish and style' GQ 'The story of Rubirosa is lovingly investigated in every titillating detail in The Last Playboy' Scotsman 'A superbly written account of the high life of a dead breed ! Levy's swinging narrative offers up a sharp portrait of a smooth man, an extinct species and a bygone world' The List Praise for READY, STEADY, GO / 'Definitive ! a remarkable book. Levy succeeds in pinning down a volatile movement, constantly reinventing itself.' George Melly, Guardian / 'A strikingly accurate portrait of an astonishing few years when the world suddenly went from grey to technicolor.' Ray Connolly, Daily Mail Praise for RAT PACK CONFIDENTIAL / 'Scotch-on-the-rocks cool' Loaded / 'A compulsive account of five men with America in their pockets -- and the money, power and sense to bleed every last moment of fun out of it. An immense book.' FHM

Author Bio

Shawn Levy is the author of King of Comedy: The Life and Art of Jerry Lewis, Ready, Steady, Go! and Rat Pack Confidential. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Movieline, Film Comment and Pulse!. He is a former senior editor of American Film.