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Phyllis McGuire of the 1950s singer trio, the McGuire Sisters, died Tuesday at the age of 89 in her sprawling Las Vegas mansion.
She was the youngest and last surviving member of the group, dying exactly two years and one day after her sister Christine.
The Palm Eastern Mortuary confirmed his death to the New York Times on New Year’s Eve without giving a specific cause.
Dear Missing: Phyllis McGuire of the 1950s vocal trio, The McGuire Sisters, died Tuesday at age 89 at her Las Vegas home; photographed in 2007
Back in 1955: she was the youngest and last surviving member of the group; she is pictured between her sisters Christine (left) and Dorothy (right)
She and her sisters caused a sensation in showbiz – but their all-American image was tarnished by Phyllis’ affair with notorious mobster Sam Giancana.
Phyllis was born on Valentine’s Day 1931 and was only four years old when she started singing with her sisters Dorothy and Christine while growing up in a small town in Ohio.
They performed at the church where their mother Lillie served as a minister, and then broke into places such as military bases during WWII.
However, the year they became stars was 1952 – they signed a recording deal with Coral and got an enthusiastic public response to their photo on Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts.
The McGuire Sisters ‘flawless and perfectly American image has been tarnished by Phyllis’ affair with notorious mobster Sam Giancana; they are pictured in London in 1961
That year, Phyllis married a radio personality called Neal Van Ells, but the marriage fell apart in 1956.
The McGuire Sisters’ biggest hit recordings were Sugartime, Sincerely and Picnic, all released in the mid-1950s.
With their coordinated costumes and choreography, they have become regular favorites on the variety television circuit, including The Ed Sullivan Show.
Her troubles began one night in 1959 when she was at the Desert Inn in Las Vegas for a singing engagement with her sisters.
Seen around New York: Their biggest hits were Sugartime, Sincerely, and Picnic, all dating from the mid-1950s; they are photographed at the El Morocco nightclub in Manhattan in 1956
Sam Giancana saw her on stage and fell in love with her, ordering the pit boss to “ eat the marker ” on the thousands of dollars in debt she owed at the blackjack tables.
Their searing romance became a matter of infamy, throwing roadblocks into the careers of the McGuire sisters in the 1960s.
“When I met him I didn’t know who he was, and he wasn’t married and I was a single woman, and depending on how I was brought up, there was nothing wrong. to that. And I didn’t find out until some time later who he really was, and I was already in love, ”Phyllis insisted to Barbara Walters decades later.
She tried to leave him “ several times’ ‘because “ it really hurt the career and it really broke my parents’ hearts, and I also had an ultimatum from my sister’s husband that if it didn’t didn’t stop, the trio would. to be finished. So it was very painful for me to think about it, so I tried twice but it didn’t work.
Later life: After the trio broke up in 1968, Dorothy and Christine became housewives and Phyllis embarked on a solo career; they are pictured on television in 1966
At one point, she and Sam disembarked from a plane in Chicago, the site of her mob operation, and were ambushed by the FBI.
To avoid facing a subpoena, Phyllis agreed to be questioned on the spot, and as she was removed separately, Sam was trapped in her purse, much to the amusement of the officers standing by. side.
“ I know all about the Kennedys and Phyllis knows a lot more about the Kennedys and one of these days we’re going to tell it all, ” he thundered according to the FBI report.
During the Kennedy administration, Sam was part of a CIA plot to assassinate Fidel Castro. Sam and the US President also had a common mistress, Judith Exner.
Split: “Oh, we’ve lost our confidence at different times – me less than Dorothy and Christine,” Phyllis told Dominick Dunne; she is pictured at the Joey Bishop Show in 1968
In 1963, Phyllis played a small role in the movie Come Blow Your Horn, directed by Kennedy’s former pal Frank Sinatra.
“He’s the most talented person but the most contradictory. He surrounded himself with an entourage who had him yes to death. How can you develop yourself surrounded by yes-men? she told Dominick Dunne of Vanity Fair in the late 1980s.
“I stayed in his house and he annoyed me to death. He tells the stories of his soul that he has been telling for years, and all I have heard are his records, which he has played over and over again, ”she recalls.
By the late 1960s, the McGuire sisters were kaput, giving a farewell performance on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1968, then going their separate ways.
Looks like the good old days: she reunited onstage with Dorothy and Christine in 1986 for a series of sporadic public appearances; photographed in 1989
Dorothy and Christine retired from public life entirely to become housewives, but Phyllis pursued a solo career as a live singer.
“Oh, we’ve lost our confidence at different times – me less than Dorothy and Christine. Dorothy got married. Christine got married. They’ve had guilt trips thinking they should be home with their kids, ”she told Dominick.
A year before the group broke up, she had bought her 55,000 square foot estate in Las Vegas with money she attributed to her oil and gas investments.
Its embellishments included gold bathroom accessories in the shape of a swan, a 19th-century chandelier, a swan ditch, and a replica of the Eiffel Tower that reached 45 feet tall.
Only the best: In 1963, Phyllis also played a small role in the movie Come Blow Your Horn, directed by Kennedy’s ex-pal Frank Sinatra.
Phyllis had long been involved with “Tiger Mike” Davis, who had gone from driver to oil and gas mogul and was known as “the world’s crankiest boss.”
She was still running with Sam Giancana when she first caught Tiger Mike’s attention in the 1960s.
The situation was so alarming to her that she once said to Mike, ‘You better stay away from me. Do you want to end up at the bottom of Lake Mead?
Phyllis, who was friends with Mike’s first wife, Helen Bonfils, had a long love affair with him but they never married and she never had children.
It was all gone: Dorothy finally died in 2012 at the age of 84 and Christine, who was the eldest of the trio, followed six years later at the age of 92; the three sisters are pictured in 1997
She reunited onstage with Dorothy and Christine in 1986 for a series of sporadic public appearances at the turn of the 21st century.
Dorothy eventually died in 2012 at the age of 84 and Christine, who was the eldest of the trio, followed six years later at the age of 92.
Phyllis told Vanity Fair in the 1980s, “ I’m not afraid to live and I’m not afraid to die. You only live once, and I will live it fully, until I go.
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