{"id":754,"date":"2017-06-25T06:13:00","date_gmt":"2017-06-25T06:13:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/drmirkin.com\/2017\/06\/25\/dina-merrill-and-dementia\/"},"modified":"2017-06-25T06:13:00","modified_gmt":"2017-06-25T06:13:00","slug":"dina-merrill-and-dementia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/drmirkin.com\/?p=754","title":{"rendered":"Dina Merrill and Dementia"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t
\n\t\"dinaDina Merrill was an American actress and philanthropist who was the only child of Marjorie Merriweather Post, the Post Cereals heiress who became the richest woman in America, and her second husband, E.F. Hutton, the fabulously-wealthy founder of the financial company that bore his name.   Known throughout her life for her high intelligence, drive, fashion and elegance, Dina died on May 22, 2017 at age 93 of heart failure caused by Lewy Body Dementia.  At the time of her death, she was worth an estimated five billion dollars.<\/div>\n
\n\t <\/div>\n
\n\tA Life of Privilege<\/strong><\/div>\n
\n\tAs a child, she spent up to six months a year on the family yacht with gilded fireplaces, marble bathrooms, a barber shop and a wine cellar, and guests such as the Duke and Duchess of Windsor.  Her family’s Manhattan apartment had 66 rooms and their summer home on the North Shore of Long Island had 59 rooms.  Their Florida home, Mar-a-Lago, had 115 rooms including 58 bedrooms and 33 bathrooms.  In 1985, Donald Trump purchased the house for $8.0 million and his daughter, Ivanka, slept in the same children’s suite that Dina Merrill had used.  When the Huttons entertained, they hired the cast of Broadway shows and members of the Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey Circus.  Barbara Hutton, the famous Woolworth heiress, was her cousin.  However, having so much money is no guarantee of happiness; her mother divorced her father because she was convinced that he had an affair with a maid. <\/div>\n
\n\t <\/div>\n
\n\tDina was a successful student, played on her high school field hockey team and was president of the dramatic club, but she complained that she wanted to take the bus to school instead of being driven by their chauffeur.  Her father wanted her to be a lawyer and run for Congress.  Her mother felt that a woman's place was in the home and wanted her to be a wife and mother, but  Dina had other ideas.  She attended George Washington University in Washington, D.C., for one term and then dropped out to study at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City.  She made her stage debut at age 22 in 1945.  She did some modeling and in 1957, at age 34, she appeared in her first movie. She made dozens of Hollywood films including Operation Petticoat <\/em>(1959) with Cary Grant, who had married her cousin Barbara Hutton. Merrill also appeared in many television series and was in several Broadway plays. <\/div>\n
\n\t <\/div>\n

\n\t