Gamble Benedict

American heiress to the Remington Typewriter fortune. She eloped with Andre Porumbeannu, the family chauffeur on 4/07/1960, the night of her debutante ball. They had met the previous summer at Southampton. The 35-year-old Romanian was handsome, dashing and genteel. Unfortunately, he also had a wife and daughter in Austria. In January 1961 they sailed for Antwerp, Belgium, and later returned to the U.S. to marry. They had two sons, in 1961 and 1962. Benedict had their marriage annulled in 1964 as it had been contracted while he was still wed. She had a tale of beatings, threats and infidelity. Benedict came from a helter-skelter childhood; her mom had committed suicide in 1946 after a row with her dad. She and her brother Douglas went into the custody of her grandmother. She inherited a half million dollars in 1961 when granny died, but her romantic husband disposed of that. For some years, the estate was a source of legal battles. With Andre out of her life and with sole custody of her sons, on 7/01/1965 she was married for the second time to a police investigator, Tom Gallagher.