Henry de la Falaise
| Henry de La Falaise | |
|---|---|
de La Falaise at his New York office in 1927
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| Born |
James Henry Le Bailly de La Falaise February 11, 1898 Saint Cyr, France |
| Died | April 10, 1972 (aged 74) |
| Title | Marquis de La Coudraye |
| Spouse(s) |
Gloria Swanson (m. 1925; div. 1931) Constance Bennett (m. 1931; div. 1940) Emma Rodriguez Restrepo de Roeder |
| Parent(s) |
Georges de la Falaise Henriette Frédérique Hennessy |
| Awards |
Croix de Guerre (World War I) Croix de Guerre (World War II) |
Henry de La Falaise, Marquis de La Coudraye, born James Henry Le Bailly de La Falaise (Saint-Cyr-l'École, France, February 11, 1898 – April 10, 1972), was a French nobleman, translator, film director, film producer, sometime actor, and war hero who was best known for his high-profile marriages to two leading Hollywood actresses.
James Henry de La Falaise was born on February 11, 1898, the eldest son and second child of Louis Gabriel Venant Le Bailly de La Falaise, Ecuyer (1866–1910), a three time Olympics gold-medallist in fencing and former Army officer. His mother was the former Henriette Frédérique Hennessy (1873–1965), scion of the Cognac family. After his father died in 1910, his widowed mother married her second husband, Count Antoine Hocquart de Turtot (1872—1954), a cavalry officer and major French horse-racing figure, in 1912. His mother and father had four children together:
His mother had another child with her second husband, de La Falaise's half-sibling
The title held by the head of the family, Marquis de La Coudraye, dating from 1707, was granted, by an 1876 act of succession, to the younger son of Pacôme-François Le Bailly, Seigneur de La Falaise, and his wife, Pauline-Louise-Victoire de Loynes, daughter of the Marquis de La Coudraye. La Falaise inherited the title of Marquis de La Coudraye from his paternal grandfather, Gabriel-César-Henri Le Bailly de La Falaise, who, like his father, died in 1910 (the father died on April 4, the grandfather on August 6).
Since La Falaise had no children, the title of Marquis de La Coudraye was inherited by his younger brother, Alain de La Falaise (died 1977). It then passed to his nephew, Alexis de La Falaise (died 2004). It is now held by his grand-nephew (grandson of Alain), Daniel de La Falaise, a professional chef and food writer.
His actual surname was Le Bailly, though he and other members of his family used Le Bailly de La Falaise, referring to an ancestral estate; it is typically abbreviated to de La Falaise. As the marquis told The New York Times (October 7, 1925), "My patronymic name is Le Bailly, but ... I use the name de la Falaise because it is one of the great-grandfather branches of the Le Bailly family. De La Falaise is the only existing branch of that family today. So this should be my entire name: James Henry Le Bailly de La Falaise, Marquis de La Coudraye".
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