Madeleine Astor
Encyclopedia
Madeleine Astor Dick (June 19, 1893 – March 27, 1940) was the second wife and widow
Widow
A widow is a woman whose spouse has died, while a widower is a man whose spouse has died. The state of having lost one's spouse to death is termed widowhood or occasionally viduity. The adjective form is widowed...

 of millionaire John Jacob Astor IV
John Jacob Astor IV
John Jacob Astor IV was an American businessman, real estate builder, investor, inventor, writer, lieutenant colonel in the Spanish-American War and a member of the prominent Astor family...

 and a survivor of RMS Titanic.

Early life

She was born as Madeleine Talmage Force on June 19, 1893, in Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...

, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

 to William Hurlbut Force and Katherine Arvilla Talmage (1863-c.1930). She had a sister, Katherine Emmons Force
Katherine Emmons Force
Katherine Emmons Force Spencer was a Christian missionary in the Philippines and was prominent in Newport, Rhode Island society.-Biography:...

.

She first met John Jacob Astor IV
John Jacob Astor IV
John Jacob Astor IV was an American businessman, real estate builder, investor, inventor, writer, lieutenant colonel in the Spanish-American War and a member of the prominent Astor family...

 in Bar Harbor, Maine
Bar Harbor, Maine
Bar Harbor is a town on Mount Desert Island in Hancock County, Maine, United States. As of the 2010 census, its population is 5,235. Bar Harbor is a famous summer colony in the Down East region of Maine. It is home to the College of the Atlantic, Jackson Laboratory and Mount Desert Island...

 the August after finishing Miss Spencer school. On September 9, 1911, the eighteen-year-old Madeleine married the forty-seven year old John Jacob Astor at the Beechwood
Beechwood (mansion)
Beechwood is a Gilded Age estate located on Bellevue Avenue in Newport, Rhode Island.-History:Built in 1851 for New York merchant Daniel Parrish by architects Andrew Jackson Downing and Calvert Vaux, it later became the summer estate of the Astor family, before moving in, Mrs Astor hired Architect...

, the Astor family
Astor family
The Astor family is a Anglo-American business family of German descent notable for their prominence in business, society, and politics.-Founding family members:...

's Newport, Rhode Island
Newport, Rhode Island
Newport is a city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island, United States, about south of Providence. Known as a New England summer resort and for the famous Newport Mansions, it is the home of Salve Regina University and Naval Station Newport which houses the United States Naval War...

 home.

Aboard the Titanic

Madeleine boarded the Titanic as a first class passenger in Cherbourg, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

, with her husband John Jacob Astor, her husband's valet Victor Robbins, her maid Rosalie Bidois and her nurse Caroline Endres. They also took Kitty, Astor's pet dog, and occupied one of the parlor suites.

On the night of April 14, 1912, Colonel Astor reported to Madeleine that the ship had hit an iceberg
Iceberg
An iceberg is a large piece of ice from freshwater that has broken off from a snow-formed glacier or ice shelf and is floating in open water. It may subsequently become frozen into pack ice...

. He reassured her that the damage did not appear serious though he helped her strap on her lifebelt. While they were waiting on the boat-deck, Mrs. Astor lent Leah Aks, a third class passenger, her fur shawl to keep her son, Filly, warm. At one point, the Astors retired to the gymnasium and sat on the mechanical horses in their lifebelts. Colonel Astor found another lifebelt which he reportedly cut with a pen knife to show Madeleine what it was made of. When it was time to board a life boat, Madeleine, her maid, and her nurse had to crawl through the first class promenade window into the tilting lifeboat
Lifeboat (shipboard)
A lifeboat is a small, rigid or inflatable watercraft carried for emergency evacuation in the event of a disaster aboard ship. In the military, a lifeboat may be referred to as a whaleboat, dinghy, or gig. The ship's tenders of cruise ships often double as lifeboats. Recreational sailors sometimes...

 4 (which had been lowered down to A deck to take on more passengers). Mr. Astor had helped Madeleine to climb through the window and asked if he could accompany her as she was 'in a delicate condition'. The request was denied and Mr. Astor stood back. Mrs. Astor would never see her husband again.

John Jacob Astor and his valet perished in the sinking. John Jacob Astor's body was recovered on April 22. Madeleine and the other survivors were rescued by the RMS Carpathia
RMS Carpathia
RMS Carpathia was a Cunard Line transatlantic passenger steamship built by Swan Hunter & Wigham Richardson. Carpathia made her maiden voyage in 1903 and became famous for rescuing the survivors of after the latter ship hit an iceberg and sank on 15 April 1912...

 and afterward Madeleine did not talk about the disaster except to mention her last memory of the sinking was seeing John Jacob Astor's pet Airedale
Airedale Terrier
The Airedale Terrier is a breed of the terrier type that originated in Airedale, a geographic area in Yorkshire, England. It is traditionally called the "King of Terriers" because it is the largest of the terrier breeds...

, Kitty, pacing on the deck
Deck (ship)
A deck is a permanent covering over a compartment or a hull of a ship. On a boat or ship, the primary deck is the horizontal structure which forms the 'roof' for the hull, which both strengthens the hull and serves as the primary working surface...

. Madeleine was only 19 years of age and had been married to Astor for only seven months.

Later life

Madeleine gave birth to John Jacob Astor VI
John Jacob Astor VI
John Jacob Astor VI , known familiarly as "Jakey", was a member of the Astor family. He was born four months after his father, John Jacob Astor IV, died in the sinking of RMS Titanic.-Early life:...

, named after his father, on August 14, 1912, exactly four months after she had become a widow. His half-brother, Vincent Astor
Vincent Astor
William Vincent Astor was a businessman and philanthropist and a member of the prominent Astor family.-Early life:...

, long maintained that his younger sibling was not a biological Astor. In an A&E Biography interview titled The Astors, a daughter of John Jacob VI states that her father was denied an ample part of John IV's inheritance because John IV had not yet altered his will to accommodate the new baby Madeleine was carrying. When John IV perished in the Titanic sinking, the will was still made out singularly to Vincent, even negating Madeleine as the legal spouse. Consequently, John IV's fortune was bequeathed solely to Vincent, though John VI did receive approximately three million dollars when he came of age.

According to John Jacob Astor's will
Will (law)
A will or testament is a legal declaration by which a person, the testator, names one or more persons to manage his/her estate and provides for the transfer of his/her property at death...

, Madeleine would have received an income from a $5,000,000 trust fund and have the uses of their New York City and Newport, Rhode Island mansions as long as she did not remarry.

Remarriages

Madeleine's first remarriage was on June 22, 1916, in Bar Harbor, Maine. She married her childhood friend and banker William Karl Dick (1888–1953), who at twenty-eight years old was vice president of the Manufacturers Trust Company of New York and a part owner and director of the Brooklyn Times. As stated in her late husband's will, Madeleine lost her stipend from the trust fund and the right to live in the Astor mansions. During the marriage she and Dick had two sons: William Karl Dick, Jr. and John Henry Dick. The marriage to Dick did not last and they divorced on July 21, 1933, in Reno, Nevada
Reno, Nevada
Reno is the county seat of Washoe County, Nevada, United States. The city has a population of about 220,500 and is the most populous Nevada city outside of the Las Vegas metropolitan area...

.

Four months later on November 27, 1933, Madeleine married twenty-six-year-old Italian
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 boxer
Boxing
Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...

 Enzo Fiermonte
Enzo Fiermonte
Enzo Fiermonte , sometimes credited as William Bird, was a boxer and actor. Fiermonte was born on July 17, 1908 in Bari, Puglia, Italy. He married Madeleine Astor on November 27, 1933 in New York City, but was divorced on June 11, 1938. In his early life he was a boxer, but later became a film actor...

 in a civil ceremony in New York City. They divorced five years later on June 11, 1938, in West Palm Beach, Florida
West Palm Beach, Florida
West Palm Beach, is a city located on the Atlantic coast in southeastern Florida and is the most populous city in and county seat of Palm Beach County, the third most populous county in Florida with a 2010 population of 1,320,134. The city is also the oldest incorporated municipality in South Florida...

 and Madeleine went back to using the surname Dick.

Death

Madeleine Astor died of a heart ailment in Palm Beach, Florida
Palm Beach, Florida
The Town of Palm Beach is an incorporated town in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. The Intracoastal Waterway separates it from the neighboring cities of West Palm Beach and Lake Worth...

, on March 27, 1940, at the age of 46. She was buried in Trinity Church Cemetery
Trinity Church Cemetery
Trinity Church Cemetery consists of three separate burial grounds associated with Trinity Church in Manhattan, New York, USA. The first was established in the Churchyard located at 74 Trinity Place at Wall Street and Broadway...

 in New York City.

Portrayals

  • Charlotte Thiele (1943) (Titanic
    Titanic (1943 film)
    Titanic was a 1943 Nazi propaganda film made during World War II in Berlin by Tobis Productions for UFA, which was later banned from Nazi Germany by Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels. The film used the sinking of the RMS Titanic as a setting for an attempt to discredit British and American...

    )
  • Frances Bergen
    Frances Bergen
    Frances Bergen was an American actress and fashion model. She was the wife of ventriloquist Edgar Bergen and the mother of actress Candice and film & television editor Kris Bergen....

     (1953) (Titanic
    Titanic (1953 film)
    Titanic is a 1953 American drama film directed by Jean Negulesco. Its plot centers on an estranged couple sailing on the maiden voyage of the , which took place in April 1912.-Plot:...

    )
  • Beverly Ross (1979) (S.O.S. Titanic
    S.O.S. Titanic
    S.O.S. Titanic is a 1979 television movie that depicts the doomed 1912 voyage from the perspective of three distinct groups of passengers in First, Second, and Third Class, and respectively in a historically accurate fashion...

    ) (TV movie)
  • Janne Mortil (1996) (Titanic
    Titanic (TV miniseries)
    Titanic is a made-for-TV movie that premièred on CBS in 1996. Titanic follows several characters on board the RMS Titanic when she sinks on her maiden voyage in 1912. The miniseries was directed by Robert Lieberman. The original music score was composed by Lennie Niehaus...

    ) (TV miniseries)
  • Charlotte Chatton
    Charlotte Chatton
    Charlotte Chatton is an English actress. She is best known for playing as Emma in Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman , Genevieve L'Merchant in the Sci-Fi/Action/Horror film Hellraiser: Bloodline, Madeleine Astor in Titanic , Peggy in Stand-ins , and as Jen Cross in Dakota Road .-Television:*Beyond Belief:...

     (1997) (Titanic
    Titanic (1997 film)
    Titanic is a 1997 American epic romance and disaster film directed, written, co-produced, and co-edited by James Cameron. A fictionalized account of the sinking of the RMS Titanic, it stars Leonardo DiCaprio as Jack Dawson, Kate Winslet as Rose DeWitt Bukater and Billy Zane as Rose's fiancé, Cal...

    )
  • Piper Gunnarson (2003) (Ghosts of the Abyss
    Ghosts of the Abyss
    Ghosts of the Abyss is a 2003 documentary film released by Walt Disney Pictures and Walden Media. It was Disney's first film produced in 3-D and was directed by Academy Award winning filmmaker James Cameron after his Oscar winning film Titanic...

    ) (Documentary)

External links

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