Slim Keith was a socialite and fashion icon during the 1950s and 1960s. She is perhaps best known, along with her friend Babe Paley, as the thinly veiled inspiration for the characters in Truman Capote’s novel, Answered Prayers.
Slim launched the career of a young Lauren Bacall when she spotted Lauren on the cover of Bazaar, and suggested her for a part in To Have and Have Not, with Humphrey Bogart, directed by her then husband Howard Hawks. Her second husband was the theatrical producer, Leland Hayward. They were such a popular couple in the 1950’s, and she such a fashion icon, that they rated a mention in Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window. When Grace Kelly’s character in the film mentions meeting the couple for cocktails, Jimmy Stewart asks, “Now tell me, what was Mrs. Hayward wearing?”
Her final marriage was to Sir Kenneth Keith, Baron of Castleacre. Slim had become Lady Keith. "God blessed me with a happy spirit and many other gifts. What I was not blessed with I went out and got. Sometimes the price was too high, but I've never been much of a bargain hunter."
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