Sigourney Thayer
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Sigourney Thayer (24 March 1896 – 2 November 1944) was an American theatrical producer, World War I aviator and poet.
Contents |
[edit] Early life
Thayer was born in Southborough, Massachusetts, the son of Rev. William Greenough Thayer, headmaster of St. Mark's School from 1894–1930, and Violet Otis.
He was the brother of Robert H. Thayer, a lawyer, naval officer and diplomat.
After graduating from Amherst College in 1918, he served in World War I as a pilot.
[edit] World War I
Thayer was a 1st Lieutenant and pilot in the 1st Operations Group.
[edit] Poetry
He wrote regular poetry for the Atlantic Monthly, and his poem, "The Dead" has appeared in numerous World War I anthologies.
He travelled to Paris in 1921.
[edit] Theatrical producer
- Last Night of Don Juan: The Pilgrimage, 1925
- Beau-Strings, 1926
- Damn the Tears, 1927
- Bridal Wise, 1932
- Keeper of the Keys, 1933
[edit] Later life
He became an executive at Vultee Aircraft.
Thayer died in an automobile accident in Allentown, Pennsylvania, and is buried at Southborough Rural Cemetery, Southborough, Massachusetts.
[edit] Personal life
In December 1928, he married Mrs. Emily O'Niel Davies Vanderbilt of Manhattan, who in June 1927, in six minutes, divorced William Henry Vanderbilt III, son of Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt who perished on the RMS Lusitania, in Manhattan. After her divorce from Thayer in 1929, she married writer Raoul Whitfield (1896-1945) on 19 July 1933, filed for divorce in February 1935, and shot herself dead at the Dead Horse Ranch near Las Vegas, New Mexico on 24 May 1935.
In April 1931, he married Mary "Molly" Van Rensselaer Cogswell (16 June 1902 - 10 December 1983), daughter of Cullen Van Rensselaer Cogswell, a Manhattan socialite, and grand-daughter of General John Cullen Van Rensselaer. She was a society columnist for the New York Journal, and wrote under the house pseudonym "Madame Flutterby", covering the Lindbergh kidnapping. She wrote the first biography of Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy, published by Doubleday in 1961.
