Zina Rachevsky Profile

Zina Rachevsky

	(Zénaide Rachevsky)
1 September 30	is born at the Hotel Ambassador in New York, the daughter of Vladimir Serguéiévitch Rachevsky, whose sister is married to Russian Grand Duke Boris, and Harriet Strauss, granddaughter of money-man Simon W. Strauss. She is named after her aunt, the Grand Duchess Boris of Russia, sister of Mr. de Rachevsky.
21 June 40	arrives aboard the George Washington in New York from Le Verdon, France
4 November 48	marries Count Bernard d’Harcourt. He’s about 23; she’s 18.
13 July 50	divorces d’Harcourt in Paris. He will marry Yvonne de Contades in 1951 and die at age 33 in 1958.
April 52	the press tells: “Marlon Brando’s constant flame around Paris these days is blonde, volatile Zina Rachevsky, who called herself Princess d’Harcourt in Hollywood last year. She has a bit part as one of the beauties from Maxim’s in The Merry Widow.”
March 53	the press lets it be known: “Miss Kay Horkan, who has been residing in New York for some time, will sail for Europe on Thursday, April 1, aboard the SS Ile de France. She will be accompanied by the Countess d’Harcourt, formerly Princess Zina Rachevsky."
September 53	columnist Walter Winchell knows: “Buxom Zina Rachevsky, international glamour gal de luxe (who traces her ancestry to czars, but don’t they all?) has finally found her forte in Italian films where what passes for avoirdupois here makes a babe into a busty, lusty siren…”
24 December 53	flies to New York from Geneva, Switzerland
February 54	columnist Louis Sobol describes: “A crowded night at Little Club finds Franchot Tone with Mona Knox, Dolores Grey with Milton Rachmill, Nancy Berg with Bill Mauldin and Pietro Mele with Zina Rachevsky…”
May 55	Confidential magazine accuses Burt Lancaster of having physically abused a number of women including her, the daughter of the head of the Strauss banking concern, and Francesca de Scaffa, the ex of actor Bruce Cabot, when she came to his Santa Monica studio to test for a role in Vera Cruz
15 May 56	arrives in New York from Paris
June 56	Winchell knows: “Aviation tycoon Sherman Fairchild’s new excitement is heiress Zina Rachevsky…”
July 56	columnist Lee Mortimer reveals: “Zina Rachevsky, a wealthy heiress is no longer a heiress. The family cut her allowance…"
September 56	columnist Hal Boys discloses: “Zina Rachevsky (the Strauss heiress) is suing a scandal mag for half-a-mill…”
February 57	narcotics detectives allegedly find marijuana and barbiturates in her Greenwich Village flat
	is reported writing her autobiography
?	her son by director Conrad Rooks, Alex, is born. He will become a filmmaker.
?	believes she is reincarnation of Madame Blavatsky, the founder of the Theosophical Society
?	is good friends with poet Allen Ginsberg
January 66	her daughter, Rhea, is born
February 67	her father dies at age 74 in Paris, France
April 67	arrives in Darjeeling, India, from Sri Lanka with her daughter looking for a Tibetan lama, wanting to meet Dromo Geshe Rinpoche
?	meets Dromo Rinpoche at the monastery of Samten Chöling (Dzogchen Rudam Orgyen) in Eastern Tibet, China
?	has the monks move in with her at the Villa Altomont in Darjeeling
Christmas 67	confronting the local police, she gets intro trouble with her Indian visa and has to return to Sri Lanka before returning to Calcutta again
31 July 68	becomes Anila Thubten Chang Chub Palmo, receiving the novice vows from Trijang Rinpoche in Dharamsala in the Punjab region of north-west India
?	meets Serkong Dorje Chang at Ganden Monastery in Nepal
69	together with Lama Thubten Yeshe and Lama Thubten Zopa Rinpoche, she founds Nepal Mahayana Gompa Centre, a retreat center at Kopan Monastery on the outskirts of Kathmandu, Nepal
?	returns to the States to proliferate Buddism and to celebrate Thanksgiving at the house of wealthy Maryjane “Max” Mathews, an African American woman. She will help her sponsor the monks.
?	brings a French film crew to Tibet to film the Lawudo Cave in Khumbu
March 71	has Jamyang Wangmo teach a first meditation course at Kopan. 15 western students attend.
72	goes to Thubten Choeling for a long retreat
c. late July 73	as a Buddhist nun, she dies at age 42 after an illness of three days in a simple room at a monastery in Nepal. Her daughter holds her hands. There are rumors she had mistakenly eaten a poisonous plant or suffered peritonitis. Her body is cremated after three days.
?	her mother raises Rhea
May 93	her mother dies at age 89 in Los Angeles

Sources: Zina Rachevsky - Jewish Princess - and the Tibet Connection by Liza Cowan, The Tough Guys by James Robert Parish, The New York Times, The Leavenworth Times, Nevada State Journal, The Progress-Index, Syracuse Herald-Journal, People Today, Burlington Daily Times-News, www.Ancestry.com
Recommended Books:
Links: Filmography