Court annuls ‘marriage’

Press, 8 September 1989, Page 6

Court annuls ‘marriage’

NZPA-Reuter New York A judge yesterday annulled the stormy marriage of a former opera impresario, Sir Rudolf Bing, who has Alzheimer’s disease, and Carroll Douglass, who is undergoing psychiatric tests. The annulment came after a trial in the Supreme Court in Manhattan in which Sir Rudolf’s court-appointed guardian, iPaul Guth, said Sir Rudolf was unaware that he had married Miss Douglass, aged 50. The couple married on January 9, 1987. Sir Rudolf, aged 87, is being cared for at a nursing home. As general manager of the Metropolitan Opera from 1950 to 1972, Sir Rudolf was regarded as 'the world’s most powerful opera impresario and was knighted by the British in 1956.

Judge Ciparick refused to release her 25-page opinion, but Miss Douglass’ attorney, Harvey Sladkus, said the court denied any portion of Sir Rudolf’s assets to Miss Douglass, a one-time heiress now said to be destitute. But Miss Douglass was granted $NZ42,350 for her 40 days in hospital in 1988 for emotional problems, he said. Mr Sladkus said the judge refused Miss Douglass money because testimony showed that she had transferred assets from her own estate to her brother and sister. Miss Douglass, who has a history of psychological problems, was ordered out of their hotel suite at a fashionable Manhattan hotel in August. Found wandering, she was taken to a hospital, where she was undergoing psychiatric evaluation, he said.