The Loveliest Woman in America: A Tragic Actress, Her Lost Diaries, and Her Granddaughter's Search for Home

By Bibi Gaston

Her name was Rosamond Pinchot: hailed as "The Loveliest Woman in America," she was a niece of Pennsylvania governor Gifford Pinchot; cousin to Edie Sedgwick; half sister of Mary Pinchot Meyer, JFK's lover; friend to Eleanor Roosevelt and Elizabeth Arden. At nineteen she was discovered aboard a cruise ship, at twenty-three she married the playboy scion of a political Boston family, but by thirty-three she was dead by her own hand.

Seventy years later, her granddaughter, a noted landscape architect, received Rosamond's diaries and embarked on a search to discover the real Rosamond Pinchot.

Unearthing what appeared to be a glamorous fairy-tale existence, Bibi Gaston discovers the roots of the ties that bind and break a family, and uncovers the legacy of two great American dynasties torn apart by her grandmother's untimely death. This is a tale of three lives and five generations, mothers and grandmothers, longing, holding on and letting go, men, beauty, diets, and letting beauty slip. This is the story of how we make the most of our brief, beautiful lives.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Release date: Oct 13, 2009
• ISBN: 9780061871252

Reviews for The Loveliest Woman in America

[dark_phoenix54 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The sobriquet of loveliest woman in America was bestowed by the press on Rosamund Pinchot, grandmother of the author. A member of a wealthy family, she was discovered by a Broadway producer onboard a luxury liner when she was 19 and became a star in 1923. Pretty, outgoing, with plenty of money, she seemed to have it all. But in 1938 she went into her garage, ran a hose from the tailpipe of her car in through the window, started the car and lay down in the back seat to await death. Bibi Gaston is Rosamund’s granddaughter. Gaston never met her grandmother and really knew nothing of her; her father, only 9 when his mother died, did not wish to speak of her. Gaston didn’t really begin to find out things about Rosamund until after her father died and she got hold of Rosamund’s diaries. This is not just the story of Rosamund; it’s the story of Rosamund’s family, her marriage, her sons, and Gaston herself. The actions of one family member can affect the other members for years, and this is an examination of that. Rosamund married a man who was constantly sleeping around and was emotionally abusive and controlling. While she separated from him, she never divorced him and continued to try and get him back all her life. Her older son grew up to be equally unable to commit to a woman- he left Gaston’s mother because she put on weight and he couldn’t abide that. He didn’t like his father; his children (with the exception of Bibi, who didn’t like the things he did but forgave him) didn’t like him. I expected a simple biography and was disappointed in how little of the book is actually about Rosamund. While her suicide greatly affected the family, I feel that her husband, William Gaston senior was more influential in forming their son’s personalities. His narcissism was handed straight down to William Jr, Bibi’s father. William Jr. in turn produced children who refused to help their sister Bibi care for him as he died, yet when she was out of town right after the death, came in and ransacked the house, helping themselves to whatever they wanted. One can only hope that they haven’t had children. William Jr’s brother managed to gain sole control of the property and money that was their mother’s. That branch of the family seems to be marked by greed and self centeredness. The book is uneven and slow. I almost gave up on it a couple of times, both because of this slowness and because so many of the people were so unpleasant. Rosamund herself was interesting, as was her uncle Gifford Pinchot (the first chief of the US Forest Service). But most of the rest are pretty pathetic.

[madamepince · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

A sad story for all the participants in her life, but is it biography fodder? I don't think so.

[elizajane_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This is the story of Rosamond Pinchot told through the eyes of her granddaughter and Rosamond's own diaries which she kept for many years. Rosamond was a stage actress in the 1920's who garnered great fame and later tried to get into film, and while she did appear in a few movies, she never reached any fame or satisfaction through that venue. She killed herself at age 33 leaving behind two sons from a very rocky marriage to Big Bill Gaston. Not only is this the story of Rosamond, it is also the story of the two Manhattan society families the Pinchots and the Gastons. It also is the story of Rosamond's descendants, her first born son William (Billy) and his youngest daughter Bibi (the author). Part memoir and part biography the book presents how suicide affects future generations and how feuding within a family creates a rift in one generation that continues on through the ages. I enjoyed this book on some levels but not very much on others. I loved the story of the 20's and 30's. The tale of Manhattan, the theatre and Hollywood in this era was enjoyable as was the tale of Rosamond's sad life. The personal diary entries brought this all to life and the woman led both a fairy tale and traumatic life. The story of her son, William, held no interest for me. He was a man who felt he was cheated by his brother and devoted his life to legal endeavours against both his ex-wife and brother. As well, the author's own story is implanted into the biographies and the biography within a memoir doesn't do the trick for me personally. The author tries to relate how her life was affected by Rosamond's suicide and how family patterns continue through the generations. She succeeds on this point but I, personally, am not interested in that type of memoir. A non-biased portrait of Rosamond's life or the publication of her diaries themselves would have made a more interesting and enjoyable read for me.