The Fifth Wife

Thyssen versus Thyssen is not only the greatest soap opera ever, but may also become the most costly case in legal history. Let's take it from the top.

In 1871 August Thyssen laid the basis for Germany's biggest coal and steel company. His son, Fritz, was one of Hitler's original backers, but turned against the Fuhrer because of Hitler's persecution of the Jews. In postwar Europe enter Heini Thyssen, August's grandson. Heini I have known for 40 years. Like many billionaires, he's somewhat strange, at times childlike and petulant. At a very young age, however, he managed to delegate authority with such acumen that Thyssen Industries recovered to become one of the world's greatest conglomerates. What Heini Thyssen managed all on his own was to acquire the world's greatest Old Masters collection, now housed in a special museum in Madrid.

Heini first married upward: Teresa von Fuerstenberg, a princess of impeccable breeding and behavior. They had one child, a son named Georg Heinrich, or Heini Junior. Four years after his birth Heini divorced Teresa and married Nina Dyer, an exotic-looking Anglo-Indian model, soon to be followed by Fiona Campbell, a beautiful Scottish lass. The latter union brought him two more children, Francesca and Lorne. That marriage, too, went awry, and after his divorce Heini went looking around for the next Baroness Thyssen. She came in the form of a blonde Brazilian, Denise Shorto, a childhood friend of mine, whom he married in a spectacular wedding in Brazil circa 1968. The latest union produced yet another son, Alexander.

Are you following? Teresa, Nina, Fiona and Denise in the space of, say, 30 years. Heini was not a playboy in the traditional meaning of the word, but he was no workaholic either, not by a long shot. A heavy drinker, he and his wives were seen in all the grand balls of the time, although Heini was known to fly out in his private plane on two hours' sleep to attend board meetings in Germany or cut a ribbon for a new plant in the Soviet Union. I saw quite a lot of him during the 60s and 70s, but could never figure him out. He was friendly and unassuming, but also cold and removed. The only time his eyes lit up was when discussing art and women, the former more than the latter. He was a Swiss citizen, but styled himself Baron Thyssen-Bornemisza. Titles are forbidden in Switzerland, yet Heini was always referred to as the Baron. This struck me as strange. Why invent a title when one is already among the world's richest and most powerful men, and its foremost art collector? The Thyssens were untitled, and only Heini's mother, the Hungarian Baroness Bornemisza, was of the Gotha. I once told Heini that if my son, John-Taki Theodoracopulos, styled himself Prince Theodoracopulos because his mother is a Serene Highness, he'd be laughed off the streets of Brooklyn, where he lives. Heini did not take it kindly. But back to Heini's wives.

By the beginning of the 80s Heini and Denise were running out of steam. She had taken a formal lover who threw himself out the window of an apartment on 58th St. Rumor had it that he was pushed. It was only a rumor: Franco Rappetti, a man I knew well, killed himself while very high on coke. Heini had the body transported back to Italy and went once again fishing for a wife. He found her in Carmen Cervera, known as Tita, a Miss Spain of 1961, and ex-wife of Lex Barker, the second-best movie Tarzan after Johnny Weissmuller. See what I mean about a soap opera? From the first Thyssen, Bismarck and the unification of Germany to Tarzan's ex-wife with Teresa, Nina, Fiona and Denise in between. Tita became the next Baroness Thyssen, endearing herself to the Spanish people when she coaxed a reluctant Heini to permanently house his art collection in Spain, where it will remain after his death.

So far so good, but then Tita got greedy. With the exception of Teresa von Fuerstenberg and Heini Jr., all of Heini's wives and children lived flamboyant lives that were duly chronicled in the gutter press. When Heini Jr. came of age he went directly to work for his father, and showed himself to have a cool business head. When his father decided to lessen his workload, Heini Jr. was a natural and deserving successor. The deal went as follows: The Thyssen-Bornemisza Group was wrapped up in a trust and based in Bermuda and Monaco. Heini Jr. would run the show, and under the terms of the handover, Heini Sr. would be entitled to 30 percent of the profits, the rest to be plowed back into the company. It was understood that this should produce $22 million per year for Heini's retirement. If there was a bad year, the shortfall would be paid back later.

By 1995, Heini Sr. claimed to be owed $69 million. After a series of strokes, Tita was in command. Heini Jr. had refused to damage the company by paying off the old man in toto, so Tita issued ultimatums and threats. Two armies of the highest paid lawyers in the world eventually faced each other in a Bermuda courtroom, one representing a husky-voiced former beauty queen and her handicapped husband, the other a dutiful son whose company no longer makes ammo and guns but is involved in oil trading and egg-sorting machines. So far the lawyers have made close to $115 million, with almost half a million greenbacks being added every week. The opening speech on behalf of Heini Sr. lasted 66 days. As one of his children told me recently, "My father got away with it during four marriages, but paid for all his sins when he met Tita."

All I can say is it's a pity. If Heini Jr. loses, it will all go to Tarzan's ex.