Michael Romanoff

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Michael Romanoff (born Hershel Geguzin) was a Hollywood restaurateur and actor born 20 February 1890 in Lithuania. He died of a heart attack in Los Angeles, California on 1 September 1971.^[1] He is perhaps best known as the owner of Romanoff's, a Beverly Hills restaurant popular with Hollywood stars in the 40s and 50s. The restaurant closed in the 1960s.

According to U.S.A Confidential (Mortimer and Lait, 1952), while Romanoff pretended to be Russian royalty, he was actually a former Brooklyn pants presser once named Harry Gerguson.

His Internet Movie Database (IMDb.com) biography states:

Mike Romanoff, the former Harry F. Gerguson, was a successful "professional impostor." He accumulated an enormous fount of knowledge in his numerous travels and occupations around the world (and he attended, however briefly, several leading universities). When Hollywood filmmakers needed a technical adviser for a movie set in Europe, Romanoff claimed to be an expert and drew a comfortable salary. The genial Romanoff was a popular figure among the movie colony, and he opened a restaurant that was frequented by many film stars. Romanoff made few screen appearances, but he can be seen in all his fraudulent glory in Sing While You're Able (1937). David Niven was a close friend, and in his book Bring On the Empty Horses he devotes a chapter to the colorful Romanoff. ^[2]

IMDb.com also notes that Geguzin immigrated to New York City at age ten, changed his name to Harry F. Gerguson some time after 1900, and married Gloria Lister in 1948.^[3]

Finally, IMDb.com further explains that Romanoff "Claimed to have been born Prince Michael Dimitri Alexandrovich Obolensky-Romanoff, nephew of Tsar Nicholas II. Everyone in Hollywood knew he wasn't, but, in a town full of pretenders, it hardly mattered, and "Prince Michael" enjoyed great success as a restaurateur."^[4]

The New Yorker Magazine ran a series of four Profile articles starting Oct 29, 1932 that traces his history from birth until date of publication. He was deported to France to serve time for fraud.