Sylvia Ashley: Meaning (information, definition, explanation, facts)

Sylvia Ashley (April 1, 1904 – June 29, 1977) was an English model, actress and society beauty.

She was born Edith Louisa Hawkes in Paddington, London, England, the daughter of Arthur Hawkes and Edith Florence Hyde. Her sister was Lillian Vera Hawkes (March 6, 1910-January 1, 1997).

Although she preferred to give her birth year as 1906, the England and Wales Civil Registration Index: 1837-1983 shows that the birth of Edith Louisa Hawkes was recorded during the June quarter of 1904 in the District of Paddington, County of London, Volume 1a, Page 26.

Taking the name Sylvia, she worked as a lingerie model and became a Cochran Dancer, the British equivalent of a Ziegfeld Follies Girl. After this brief career in the chorus line of musical comedy, she went on to appear in a number of West End plays. She made her debut in Midnight Follies. In 1925, Sylvia acted in Tell me More at London's Winter Garden Theatre, and in The Whole Town's Talking.

Her first marriage gave her the title Lady Ashley, which a lot of people continued to call her. But she went on to marry two actors, another Lord and finally a Prince from the Russian province of Georgia, making her a Princess.

Sylvia had five husbands, Anthony Ashley-Cooper (Lord Ashley, eldest son of the 9th Earl of Shaftsbury) (married February 3, 1927-divorced November 28, 1934); actor Douglas Fairbanks (married March 7, 1936-his death December 12, 1939); Edward John Stanley (Lord Stanley of Alderly; 6th Barron Sheffield) (married January 18, 1944-divorced 1948); actor Clark Gable (married December 20, 1949-divorced April 21, 1952); and Prince Dimitri Djordjadze (married 1954).

She discovered the death of Fairbanks when responding to the baleful moans of his Mastif bulldog named Marco Polo. She collapsed and was placed under the care of a doctor. Soon her sister, Vera, wife of English movie producer Basil Bleck, arrived to stay with her. Fairbanks was at first in a crypt in the Great Mausoleum at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Glendale. Sylvia then commissioned an elaborate monument for him, at a cost of $40,000, and had him entombed in the cemetery in Hollywood.

Sylvia stated in a letter to the designer, Howard Seidell, "The memorial is indeed exquisite, with all the classic dignity and perfect symmetry that my husband loved so well."

On March 1, 1941, Sylvia, her sister, Vera Bleck, Constance Bennett and Virginia Zanuck, as directors, filed articles of incorporation for an organization known as the British Distressed Areas Fund, with headquarters in Los Angeles, with the purpose of soliciting funds for food, clothing and medical aid for refugees of World War II.

She lived with her last husband, Prince Dimitri Djordjadze, in New York. Eventually, she moved back to London. In 1964, she bought a home at Sunset Boulevard and Amalfi Drive in the Pacific Palisades area of Los Angeles and sold her home in London.

In his autobiography, David Niven described her as "a ravishing blond [sic] beauty, outspoken and impeccable sense of humour. She was a selfish woman. She was a man's woman. She was devoted to the great indoors, to her milky white skin, her flawless complexion, loathed the thought of animals being slaughtered, was happiest among the chattering chic of café society and owned a Chihuahua the size of a mouse called Minnie. She adored spending money."

Sylvia Ashley died at the age of seventy-eight in Los Angeles and was buried under her last title and married name, Princess Sylvia Djordjadze. She is interred in Hollywood Forever Cemetery, Hollywood, California.