Nina van Pallandt

Nina, Baroness van Pallandt
Nina van Pallandt in 1979
Born
Nina Magdelena Møller

(1932-07-15) 15 July 1932 (age 92)
Denmark
Occupation(s)Actress, singer
Years active1958–1988
Spouse(s)Hugo Wessel
(m. 1955; div. 19??)
​
​
(m. 1960; div. 1976)​

Robert Kirby
(m. 197?; div. 197?)
Children3

Nina, Baroness van Pallandt (born Nina Magdelena Møller; 15 July 1932) is a Danish retired singer and actress.

Acting

Van Pallandt acted on television and in films. From 1969 to the early 1970s, she appeared as a guest on several episodes of the BBC comedy sketch series The Morecambe & Wise Show. In 1975, she appeared in the Ellery Queen episode "The Adventure of Colonel Nivin's Memoirs", and in 1988 she appeared in the Tales of the Unexpected episode "A Time to Die". In 1982, she appeared in the Taxi episode "Elegant Iggy".

Van Pallandt appeared in several Robert Altman films during the 1970s, including The Long Goodbye (1973), A Wedding (1978), and Quintet (1979). She had mild sex scenes with Richard Gere in American Gigolo (1980) and Jeff Bridges in Cutter's Way (1981).

In 1969, van Pallandt sang John Barry and Hal David's song "Do You Know How Christmas Trees Are Grown?" in the James Bond movie On Her Majesty's Secret Service.

Personal life

Nina and Frederik van Pallandt in Amsterdam (1967)

On 11 August 1955, she married Hugo Wessel, the son of English music hall singer Denise Orme and Danish diplomat Theodore W. "Tito" Wessel.

On 21 September 1960, she married Frederik, Baron van Pallandt. They formed a singing duo, Nina & Frederik, and achieved popularity, including top-40 hits in the United Kingdom, with their calypso-style songs.[1] They had three children:[2]

  • Floris Nicolas Ali, Baron van Pallandt (1961–2006),[3] a film writer, director and painter.
  • Kirsa Eleonore Clara, Baroness van Pallandt (born 1963)
  • Ana Maria Else, Baroness van Pallandt (born 1965)

The couple parted in 1969 and divorced in 1976.[4]

In the early 1970s, van Pallandt was romantically linked to Clifford Irving.[5][6] She helped federal investigators prove that Irving had not secretly met Howard Hughes in South America.[7] In the 2006 film The Hoax, about Irving's fake autobiography of Howard Hughes, van Pallandt is portrayed by Julie Delpy.

She was also married briefly to South African satirist Robert Kirby in the 1970s.[8]

References

  1. ^ Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 395. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
  2. ^ "Descendants of Baron Jacob Adolph van Pallandt (4 generations)". Archived from the original on 20 August 2008. Retrieved 28 December 2008.. Worldroots.com. Retrieved on 28 October 2013.
  3. ^ (in Dutch) Nicolas van Pallandt. Bdnwiki.nl. Retrieved on 28 October 2013.
  4. ^ Karl Dallas (23 May 1994). "Obituary: Frederik van Pallandt". The Independent. Archived from the original on 21 June 2022. Retrieved 17 August 2020.
  5. ^ "Enter the Baroness Nina". Life. No. 11 February 1972. 11 February 1972. pp. 30–39. ISSN 0024-3019.
  6. ^ Reed, Christopher (21 December 2017). "Clifford Irving obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 9 December 2020.
  7. ^ "Clifford Irving, famous hoaxer – obituary". The Daily Telegraph. 22 December 2017. Retrieved 9 December 2020.
  8. ^ Obituary: Robert Kirby. Guardian. 27 March 2007.
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