Who is Huguette Clark?

August 3, 2010 8:27 PM

Tracing the lives of William Andrews Clark and his daughter Huguette, we are left with mysteries. What does she remember of "Papa"? Is she well cared for? What will she leave to the world? "It's hard to find out what the real story was," said nephew Devine. "No one is alive — except for Huguette."
posted by amro (26 comments total)

Damn you amro - I'm going to spend too much of my time waiting to see what unfolds.
posted by Slack-a-gogo at 8:42 PM on August 3, 2010

I seem to recall coming across her story last year - it was so fascinating. Thanks for the extra links.
posted by Calzephyr at 8:57 PM on August 3, 2010

This was an interesting story. Good find! Though, a lot of elderly people withdraw from life, in a past job I often met old men and women who had little interaction with the world. It's not so unusual. The only reason this is considered newsworthy is the fact that she's incredibly wealthy.
posted by Kattullus at 9:10 PM on August 3, 2010

a lot of elderly people withdraw from life

Definitely, but she has been a recluse since she was 24.
posted by amro at 9:13 PM on August 3, 2010

I rather hope she lives to be 120 and leaves all her money to her dolls, who then reside forever unblinking in these perfectly kept houses and apartments that nouveau riche people want so badly and cannot have.

But if you are in Los Angeles, you can visit her big brother's library...
posted by Scram at 9:14 PM on August 3, 2010

The MSNBC report said something like, "She was born into a gilded age, but she's lived her life in a gilded cage."

Who do I complain to about this? Does the FCC have a bad puns division?
posted by mreleganza at 9:14 PM on August 3, 2010 [3 favorites]

Here's the house in Santa Barbara. If you zoom out or pan north, you'll see what is listed as the Andrea Clark Bird Refuge, what I'm assuming the article calls a "salt pond." And you can see the area over the years (WARNING: lots of large pictures to load), thanks to the California Coastal Records Project. I, um, I might have wandered in her yard. I assumed it was some private extension of the cemetery, so I hopped the wall, and walked through the maze, and past what I recall as being citrus trees.

The only reason this is considered newsworthy is the fact that she's incredibly wealthy.

And she has an interesting story in photos, both old and current.
posted by filthy light thief at 9:34 PM on August 3, 2010 [4 favorites]

Interesting! Senator Clark, Huguette's father, was a fellow worthy of a post himself, though probably not for flattering reasons. A strange, vain, man--clawed his way into fabulous wealth, bought himself a senate seat in the most vulgar manner, built one of the ugliest mansions you could imagine (which a decade after it was built a developer relative of mine bought, knocked down, and replaced with apartments--another interesting story). The whole family seems like a real life American morality tale or something.
posted by bepe at 9:48 PM on August 3, 2010 [1 favorite]

Wow. This is why we need much steeper inheritance taxes.

From Wikipedia, about her father: In a 1907 essay entitled "Senator Clark of Montana," Mark Twain portrayed Clark as the very embodiment of Gilded Age excess and corruption. Wrote Twain:

"He is as rotten a human being as can be found anywhere under the flag; he is a shame to the American nation, and no one has helped to send him to the Senate who did not know that his proper place was the penitentiary, with a ball and chain on his legs. To my mind he is the most disgusting creature that the republic has produced since Tweed's time."
posted by Kraftmatic Adjustable Cheese at 9:49 PM on August 3, 2010 [2 favorites]

Wow.
posted by rtha at 10:04 PM on August 3, 2010

Those photos are amazing, especially the portraits. Look at Clark's eyes in the ninth one - he's got crazy eyes, likes something is inside of him trying to burn its way out. And the picture from 1912 with the wife who looks like she just stepped off the canvas of a painting. And the one from 1917 with Clark and his daughters, Andrée posing slightly with her father, and Huguette just standing there like a lump, present but not participating. The story just tells itself when you look at the photographs.
posted by Kevin Street at 10:06 PM on August 3, 2010 [2 favorites]

Great story. I wonder if her half-siblings maintained their wealth.
posted by maxwelton at 11:45 PM on August 3, 2010

I may have missed something but is there actually any proof she is alive?
It seems that all we have is the word of her attorney, who may have some scheme of his own going...
posted by vacapinta at 4:08 AM on August 4, 2010

A contemporary wrote, "There is craft in his stereotyped smile and icicles in his handshake. He is about as magnetic as last year's bird's nest."

"[A]s magnetic as last year's bird's nest." Haven't heard that one before, but I think plenty of us have seen politicians and media people with "craft in [their] stereotyped smile."
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 5:05 AM on August 4, 2010

During the Great Depression, the rich recluse even tore down her home to give unemployed Californians jobs to rebuild it.

Where's your broken window now, eh? Eh?
posted by brokkr at 5:06 AM on August 4, 2010

After her mother died in 1963, Huguette stopped visiting Bellosguardo. Vintage cars remained in the garage. Paintings stayed on the walls, depicting her sister, Andrée, living well past her death at age 16, on into middle age. A caretaker's stepdaughter, Joan Pollard, recalls, "It was immaculate, as if someone had just left for the weekend."

In stories of the super elite it is sometimes shocking to read about 20 or 30 servants spending their lives in service to one family, but here we have X number of servants serving 0 number of family members. Think about the (wo)man hours that were wasted on keeping a house immaculate for no reason at all; the house could have been shut up and only maintenance work carried out to preserve it. I wonder what it was like for those people working at the house? After 30 years of polishing the floors would you feel bitter that your work was futile, appreciative that you had such an easy job, or fearful that one day everything might change?

Now 103, she may be in a nursing home or hospital. Relatives say they don't know, and fear that flowers and letters are discarded before they reach her. Her attorney, Wallace Bock, won't say. Devine said, "I think various family members have asked Mr. Bock for information, and he's always very respectful of his client and doesn't wish to reveal anything."


It seems like her relatives should be able to sue for proof of life.
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 5:34 AM on August 4, 2010 [4 favorites]

I really hope those relatives have been sending flowers and letters all along, and aren't just vying for her notice now.
posted by padraigin at 5:37 AM on August 4, 2010

I can imagine some have been vying for her attention all along. You don't need to be dead to give lavish gifts, I always say. Well, I'll be saying it from now on.
posted by filthy light thief at 6:47 AM on August 4, 2010

I finally watched the Today Show video ("mysterious" link) and they claim that a researcher for the show tracked her down and she is living in a dreary hospital in NYC. With her tremendous wealth it seems like she could be dieing at home with round-the-clock attendants or in a luxurious hospice (where do the super rich go to die?) Which makes me wonder who is making these decisions for her, lawyers, state-appointed trustee, family? Whoever it is, they seem to be more interested in preserving the estate rather than in providing her comfort.
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 7:10 AM on August 4, 2010

After 30 years of polishing the floors would you feel bitter that your work was futile, appreciative that you had such an easy job, or fearful that one day everything might change?

I'm always grateful when something reminds me of the short-lived, flirting-with-genius comic book series Beautiful Stories for Ugly Children; in this case, The Daffodils of Plague Town.
posted by Shepherd at 7:36 AM on August 4, 2010 [2 favorites]

Her father was born in 1839. It blows my mind that there is someone alive today who's father was in his 20s during the American Civil War.
posted by fings at 7:42 AM on August 4, 2010 [6 favorites]

Definitely, but she has been a recluse since she was 24.

Now it would really rock if she wrote poetry ...

I'm nobody, who are you?
Are you nobody too?
There's a pair of us, don't tell!
They'd banish us, you know!

How dreary to be somebody!
How public like a frog,
To tell your name the livelong day
To an admiring bog!
posted by infini at 2:46 PM on August 4, 2010

Fascinating post. The personalities and excesses of the Gilded Age have always interested me. This was a fun read, thanks!
posted by Coyote at the Dog Show at 5:02 PM on August 4, 2010

Reminds me of that Tom Rozum song, "Millionaire." Married his teenage ward -- what an old-fashioned villain! I wonder if he tied her to railroad tracks first. Huguette must have had a lot of memories to hide from.

Poor Huguette. I don't think I'll believe she's been alive until I hear that a hospital certified that she's only just died.
posted by Countess Elena at 6:56 PM on August 4, 2010

Her father was born in 1839. It blows my mind that there is someone alive today who's father was in his 20s during the American Civil War.

I was stunned by that too. I was wondering if it is some kind of generational record.
posted by pashdown at 7:15 AM on August 20, 2010

And the NYC DA is now investigating possible elder abuse in the case of Miss Clark, and looking hard at the creepy lawyer/accountant team that control all access to her.
posted by Scram at 8:32 PM on August 24, 2010