If you were looking for a long story involving an Oscar-winning actress and her husband, who happens to be 46 years younger and puts her feeding tube in her stomach, and their fight against her sons, one of whom is an Internet pioneer who coined the term "hypertext," over her money and Central Park West apartment, then definitely check out the NY Times' feature on Celeste Holm's bitter "family feud."
Holm, who won an Oscar for her role in Gentleman's Agreement and was nominated for her work in All About Eve (apparently when she greeted Bette Davis on set, Davis said, "Shit! Manners!"), married her fourth husband, Frank, a waiter/aspiring opera singer, in 2004, on her 87th birthday, but they had been together since late 1999. Basile says he was never a fortune hunter, but claims that they were forced to marry because Holm's sons insisted he had no rights to any money in the case of her death. Basile said, "My job for the last six years has been to get my wife through cataract surgery, two bouts of skin cancer, bleeding ulcers, a collapsed lung, hip replacements, pacemakers, and provide a quality of life."
One of Holm's sons, Daniel Dunning, took control of his mother's money in 2002 and ultimately put all of it—her apartment, investments, everything—into an irrevocable trust. "The trust would pay Ms. Holm’s expenses, about $300,000 a year, according to Mr. Dunning’s deposition. Mr. Dunning and his children borrowed $533,000 from Ms. Holm, and [her elder son Theodor Holm] Nelson borrowed money as well."
The parties squabbled over a settlement for years, toting up millions in legal bills, along the way: "When the trust ran out of money because it was paying both parties’ legal bills plus other costs, it stopped paying Ms. Holm’s expenses, including the co-op maintenance bill, which is close to $6,000 a month," prompting the co-op to sue. But don't worry: The co-op now tells the Times that if Holm, who gets $12,000 in pension and Social Security, won't be evicted if she falls behind again.
