Pati Behrs

Pati Behrs Eristoff (February 13, 1922 – July 4, 2004) was a Russian American prima ballerina and actress.

Biography

Pati Behrs Eristoff was a prima ballerina and a grandniece of Leo Tolstoy.

She is perhaps best known as the first of John Derek's wives.

She was born in Turkey to Russian émigré parents. Her family fled to Paris after her father refused to partake in pogroms. She survived World War II and Occupied France by dancing in Parisian nightclubs, while at the same time doing all she could to hide Russian Jews and gypsies from the Nazis.

Receiving a Hollywood contract after the war, she emigrated to the United States. Behrs had a brief first marriage to George 'Gogi' Tchitchinadze (1917–1970), a host at the Bel-Air Hotel.

In December 1947 she met John Derek in an acting class, and they married on October 9, 1948. The couple had two children: son Russell Derek (1950–1999) and daughter Sean Catherine Derek (born 1953), who became a screenwriter. Behrs and Derek separated in September 1955 and divorced in April 1956.

In 1975, she married pediatrician Dr. Lucius Lindley (1919–1986), who predeceased her.

She became a grandmother in 1969, and a great-grandmother in 1996. She died on July 4, 2004, aged 82.

Philosophical and/or political views

An animal-rights advocate, she presented Actors and Others with her 1926 Steinway baby grand piano. Her daughter, Sean, requested it be sold to help as many animals in need as possible.