Like most people, I didn't know a lot about Doris Duke, except for her friendship with those vipers, Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos. Then, after watching the mini, I came across stuff about her on the web. To say it took liberties is being kind.
While it established Duke's need to do something meaningful with her life, she helped care for soldiers in Egypt, not England. And, it completely ignored her philanthropy, how she gave nearly $400 million, often anonymously and her deep involvement with Duke University. There wasn't even so much as a coda about The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, created by Duke in her Will, to support the arts, the environment, fund cures for diseases and help abused and neglected children.
Although, as the mini shows, Duke had a torrid affair with Duke Kahanamoku, he did not father her child, Arden, who died 24 hours after she was born; she was fathered by her first husband, James H.R. Cromwell. She also had flings with George S. Patton and Errol Flynn (who didn't?), neither of whom were portrayed.
How she took a $30 million inheritance and parlayed it into a $1.2 billion fortune would've been a great primer for all us would-be moguls, but the mini ignored this completely, too.
It also ignored an incident that should have landed her in jail for at least 20 years. On 7 October 1966, Duke and her interior decorator, Eduardo Tirella, were leaving her estate, Rough Point. As Tirella opened its gates, Duke "accidentally" gunned the car, dragged him across the street, then crushed him against a tree. A week later, the police ruled it an "unfortunate accident." The Chief of Police resigned in disgrace amid the furor in the wake of the investigation, and Duke paid Tirella's family a hefty sum after they filed suit.
It seemed all the film makers were interested in was the power struggle to control a now-dying Duke and her money, and the rumor that she was fathered by a Swedish butler. Fine, but at least get the facts straight.
While it established Duke's need to do something meaningful with her life, she helped care for soldiers in Egypt, not England. And, it completely ignored her philanthropy, how she gave nearly $400 million, often anonymously and her deep involvement with Duke University. There wasn't even so much as a coda about The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, created by Duke in her Will, to support the arts, the environment, fund cures for diseases and help abused and neglected children.
Although, as the mini shows, Duke had a torrid affair with Duke Kahanamoku, he did not father her child, Arden, who died 24 hours after she was born; she was fathered by her first husband, James H.R. Cromwell. She also had flings with George S. Patton and Errol Flynn (who didn't?), neither of whom were portrayed.
How she took a $30 million inheritance and parlayed it into a $1.2 billion fortune would've been a great primer for all us would-be moguls, but the mini ignored this completely, too.
It also ignored an incident that should have landed her in jail for at least 20 years. On 7 October 1966, Duke and her interior decorator, Eduardo Tirella, were leaving her estate, Rough Point. As Tirella opened its gates, Duke "accidentally" gunned the car, dragged him across the street, then crushed him against a tree. A week later, the police ruled it an "unfortunate accident." The Chief of Police resigned in disgrace amid the furor in the wake of the investigation, and Duke paid Tirella's family a hefty sum after they filed suit.
It seemed all the film makers were interested in was the power struggle to control a now-dying Duke and her money, and the rumor that she was fathered by a Swedish butler. Fine, but at least get the facts straight.