Paris , Regine Zilberberg, the nightlife powerhouse who ran a club empire spanning from Rio de Janeiro to Kuala Lumpur, has died at the age of 92, French media have reported.
The redhead, long known for the international jet set by her maiden name, died “peacefully” near Paris on Sunday, her granddaughter Daphne Rotkej told AFP news agency.
Comedian Pierre Palmade wrote in a tribute released at the family’s request, “The queen of nightlife is gone: shut down due to a long and storied career.” Although he and Regin were about 40 years apart in age, they were close friends and also collaborated on stage.
In addition to running a nightclub, Regin was a singer, performing tunes written by such luminaries as Serge Gainsbourg and Charles Aznavour, and appeared at Carnegie Hall in 1969.
Nicknamed “La Grande Zoa” after one of her songs, Regin often performed wearing a feather boa – although she was also known to walk around her clubs with a live boa constrictor.
A Jewish survivor of World War II, the Belgian-born entertainer opened his first nightclub in Paris in 1957, drawing an eclectic crowd.
“There is no nightclub owner in the history of France who was as famous as him,” said journalist Bertrand Dikel on France Info radio. “She was the first to open a venue where people come to dance to fashionable records. She was one of the first to decide that everyone was welcome and that it would be not one clan, one family, but everyone.
Model Pat Cleveland in costume with Halston, Martin Snarik and Marina Schiano at Regin’s Rio Carnival party on March 3, 1980 in New York.
Dustin Pittman / WWD
Singer Rekha Renaud, Prime Minister Jean Casteux, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo and Culture Minister Rosaline Bachelot were among those who paid tribute to the entertainer on Sunday.
“Goodbye Regin, you brightened up nightlife with humor and panache, and made a mark on French music with songs that have become classics,” Bachelot wrote on Twitter.
Born Regina Zilberberg in Etterbeck, Belgium, to Polish Jewish parents, Regina grew up with an absent mother and a gambler father, who was learning to draw from her own intelligence.
Hiding in France during the war, she helped with the resistance effort. “I’m not a medium, but I have an instinct,” she told WWD in 2015. “During the war, I used to go out at night. Curfew, German – I was not scared. I will deliver the message.”
But this period ended in tragedy for Resene when her boyfriend, Claude Heymann, was exiled in 1944. “That was my first love, and I think, for me, my only love – voila,” she recalled in a factual tone.
With steely resolve, Rezin hoisted himself from hat-check girl to the top of the social pyramid, rubbing shoulders with the likes of Aristotle Onassis, François Sagan and Yves Saint Laurent along the way. at one point He oversaw 23 clubs on three continents.
“I think people have a destiny,” she said. “I got divorced at 19 and a half because I wanted to do what I wanted. It was something I had set my heart on. It wasn’t about being famous, but I wanted to be loved around the world. ,
Regine Zilberberg with Diane von Furstenberg in 1979.
Sonia Moskowitz
His 2015 book “Mes Nuts, Mes Raincontres”, which translates as “People and Places”, has earned him collaborations with luminaries including Oscar de la Renta, Diana Vreeland, Michael Jackson, Liza Minnelli, Jack Nicholson, Sylvester Stallone Shown in the city. Shirley MacLaine, Julio Iglesias, Sammy Davis Jr., Charles Aznavour and Pele.
It also highlighted her career as an actress, having had parts in films including “The Seven-Per-Saint Solution” and “The Last Train”. Fashion designers were with him from the very beginning. She had known Karl Lagerfeld since the age of 18 and wore designs by everyone from Madame Grace to Dior, Saint Laurent, Valentino and Guy Laroche.
As might be expected, Regin was a treasure trove of juicy anecdotes.
There was a time when Mick Jagger was turned away from the opening of Regin’s New York City outpost because he was wearing a jacket and sneakers—the notoriously strict door policy specified men had to be in a dark suit.
Or her longstanding feud with Frank Sinatra over a stampede in Monte Carlo, which she wrongly believed had leaked to the press. When Regin appeared at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas to sing with Paul Anka, a depressed Sinatra refused to introduce him on stage.
“I sent him flowers. He wasn’t happy—he sent them back,” he recalled. “Not that I care. Frankly, I never wasted my life even though I was part of his inner circle. I mean, that was really a pain in the ass.”
Regine Zilberberg at her 10th wedding anniversary party at her self-named nightclub in Paris on December 20, 1979.
Mark Bulka
Regin’s sharp tongue and ability to hold grudges—he referred to former friends as “the living dead”—were as renowned as his hospitality. She gleefully told a story of sending a cactus to a New York Times food critic who had dismantled Regin’s restaurant, then run by famed chef Michel Gerrard.
Then she had famous lovers, including Gene Kelly, with whom she had a three-month affair. “We remained very, very close friends,” she said, recalling the grief of seeing her go blind in old age.
Among his deepest personal tragedies was the death of his only child, Lionel Rotkage, who died in 2006 at the age of 58. Regin said of his heyday.
Her solution was to continue working well after retirement, usually getting four hours of sleep a night.
“I don’t want people to feel sorry for me. I’m not interested in it. I want them to laugh and be happy with me. Boring people – I have nothing to do with them. So I remove boredom from my existence.” I do, and I feel like I don’t have time to get bored,” she said.
Originally published at Pen 18
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