Jean Pirie

Birthday: July 5, 1921 in Saint Paul, Minnesota

Jean Pirie was a Gold Coast socialite who once established a short-lived Chicago nightclub called "The Factory" with Sammy Davis Jr., Paul Newman and Peter Lawford.Ms. Pirie was a regular in ...Show More

Jean Pirie was a Gold Coast socialite who once established a short-lived Chicago nightclub called "The Factory" with Sammy Davis Jr., Paul Newman and Peter Lawford.Ms. Pirie was a regular in Chicago and Los Angeles society pages in the 1960s and 1970s. She took pride in entertaining and cut out all the articles that chronicled her social affairs, which were attended by people such as Peter Lawford, James Coburn, Candice Bergen, Bears players Gayle Sayers and Bobby Douglass and the White House press secretary Pierre Salinger."I remember seeing a clipping of her in a Pucci lounging outfit in the Los Angeles Tribune. The caption above read, 'The Hostess With The Mostest', " her caretaker Elyse Hahn said.Ms. Pirie's claim to fame, her friends said, was an attempt at opening a club called The Factory (sister club to LA's "Factory") in the old Chicago Historical Society building, 632 N. Dearborn, in 1970. Although, Davis, Newman and Lawford joined Pirie on the Factory's board of directors, the club that was to be based on the wildly popular Los Angeles hot spot of the same name opened only for a few days, longtime friend John Kuehn said.However, Ms. Pirie seemed to have the right idea. The site is now home to the Excalibur nightclub.She was an inventor, and entrepreneur, described in the papers as a "Chicago Heiress". As a budding film producer, she funded various movies in the 1970's, but only appeared as an actress herself in a couple. She studied drama for a time at Northwestern University.Ms. Pirie was born in St Paul, Minnesota, but moved to the Georgian Hotel in Evanston, Chicago as a little girl. She attended Smith College in Northampton, Mass., and Northwestern University as an undergraduate. Ms. Pirie also enrolled in medical school at the University of Chicago but did not go on to become a doctor.Except for a period of her life spent in Hollywood, renting Cary Grant's old home in Benedict Canyon (also famous for hosting The Beatles), and a time living at The Beverly Hills Hotel, Ms. Pirie always called Chicago home. That said, during her time in LA she made headlines for having one of the largest private yachts on the coast, converted from an old minesweeper. She famously boasted that "only John Wayne's [yacht] is bigger!".Although she was born into wealth (her father, John Pirie, co-owned the American Bakeries Co), Ms. Pirie's life wasn't always a party. The death of her daughter, Bonnie, with ex-husband, former BorgWarner President Alonzo Kight, would always haunt and sadden her.Nevertheless, Ms. Pirie always tried to remain cheerful and active. The avid tennis player once swam two miles out to the 68th Street crib and back. Even when she fell ill, Ms. Pirie would have her physical therapist help her dance."She would always say, 'I am as young as I have to be for whatever activity I'm taking part in,'" Kuehn said. "She was just an enthusiastic, lively person." Hide