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Linda Lee Thomas (November 17, 1883 – May 20, 1954) was an American socialite and the wife ofmusical theatre composerCole Porter.
She was born Linda Belle Lee to the prominentLee family of Virginia. Her father was Louisville banker William Paca Lee and her mother Lily Lee (née Hill). Friends introduced her toEdward Russell Thomas, a son ofUnion Army general Samuel Thomas and owner of theNew York Morning Telegraph (and who later became the firstAmerican to kill someone in acar accident)[citation needed]. They married on June 29, 1901, atNewport, Rhode Island. She was 17. They lived a life of luxury, with houses in Palm Beach, Manhattan, and Newport. It was said that her favorite "department store" wasVan Cleef & Arpels. They divorced on October 26, 1912,[1] reportedly due to his abuse.
Thomas andCole Porter met on January 30, 1918, at the wedding of Henry Potter Russell to heiressEthel Borden Harriman, daughter of railroad and investment banking tycoonJ. Borden Harriman and his wife, néeFlorence "Daisy" Hurst, at theHôtel Ritz Paris.
Linda and Cole were married on December 18, 1919, in the city hall of the8ème arrondissement ofParis.[2]
From 1930 to 1939, the Porters lived at 13 rue Monsieur, a house next door toPierre Teilhard de Chardin, and with a garden adjoining the future residence ofNancy Mitford. They were married 34 years, and although they had no children born of their marriage, Linda conceived and miscarried.[3][4]
Linda died fromemphysema in 1954, aged 70, in the couple's apartment in theWaldorf Towers. She left an estate of over $1.5 million (over $17.6 million today) in which Cole inherited a lifetime interest. Her jewelry collection included pieces byPaul Flato.[5] She was buried in the Porter family plot at Mount Hope Cemetery inPeru, Indiana.
Thomas is portrayed byAlexis Smith in the 1946 filmNight and Day and byAshley Judd in the 2004 filmDe-Lovely. A one-woman show about her life with Porter, titledLove, Linda: The Life of Mrs. Cole Porter, starring jazz vocalistStevie Holland, ranOff-Broadway at theYork Theatre in 2013.
Her only pregnancy ended in a miscarriage.
Sources close to Linda and Cole" [confirmed] "that she did indeed miscarry a child and they chose to keep it private.
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