The beautiful Linda Lee Porter, with whom he shared an affectionate marriage of convenience for 35 years, was no doubt pleased that the script was misleading, for she had always been desperately keen that his homosexuality remain hidden. Cole was the only person who had a special table reserved for him—at all times—at Bricktop’s. On display at the grand opening were jewels he had designed for Linda Lee Thomas (wife of Cole Porter), Elsa Schiaparelli, Elizabeth Arden, and actor Marion Davies, among others. Linda Lee Thomas Porter 1920 Linda Lee Thomas married Cole Porter Dec 18, 1919 . Cole and Linda Porter. In attendance were socialites, movie stars, and royalty. Join Facebook to connect with Linda Lee Porter Merritt and others you may know. On March 4, 1938, Flato opened a boutique on Sunset Boulevard. Cole Porter’s brilliance as a composer and songwriter, in particular for Broadway musicals, made an indelible impression in the history of American popular music. Linda Lee Porter gifted this Cartier set to Natalie Paley. Between World Wars he and his wife, the former Linda Lee of Louisville, Ky., were active in a gay international set that gathered at Paris, the Riviera and Venice. The glossy opulence of the scores Mr. Porter wrote for Broadway and Hollywood was a valid reflection of his own manner of living. Photo from the album of Princess Natalie Paley now at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University. He is most remembered for I've Got You Under My Skin. Whether you think of Linda Lee Thomas Porter as Alexis Smith (in 1946's Night and Day) or as Ashley Judd (in 2004's DeLovely), your impression of her is one of great, classic beauty. A descendant of the Lee family of Virginia, daughter of Louisville banker William Paca Lee and his wife, née Lily Hill, Linda Belle Lee was, in her youth, a noted beauty. His zodiac sign is Gemini. It was there that he met his wife Linda Lee Thomas and received his first commission for music. Help us build our profile of Cole … Contribute. [December 18 Composer and songwriter Cole Porter weds socialite Linda Lee Thomas on December 18 1919 in the city hall of the arrondissement of Paris. Linda Lee Thomas and Cole Porter were married for 34 years before Linda Lee Thomas died aged 70.. About. Linda Lee Porter Merritt is on Facebook. Indeed, many aspects of Porter's life simply could not be discussed in great detail during the 1940s and 1950s, such as his 35-year marriage to socialite Linda Lee Thomas. Linda Lee Thomas (at the time) in a passport photo in 1919. In the new Off-Broadway/Cabaret musical Love, Linda, she is portrayed by another beautiful woman, Stevie Holland. A photo from a costume ball featuring Cole Porter (left), Fuclo di Verdura (center), and Linda Lee Porter (second from right). Born Linda Belle Lee in Louisville in 1884, she married early (at age 17), to a wealthy man, Edward Russel Thomas, who would later abuse her mentally and physically. Linda Lee Porter did. They were married for 34 years before Thomas died in Linda Lee Porter, Cole Porter's famously stylish wife, was still a beard, considering the fact that Cole Porter was gay. Linda Lee Porter and Cole Porter - in one of the few photos taken together, said author (and fellow Peru, Indiana native) Cathy Day on her blog in 2011. American Composer Cole Porter was born Cole Albert Porter on 9th June, 1891 in Peru, Indiana and passed away on 15th Oct 1964 Santa Monica, California, U.S. aged 73.