Elaine Lorillard

Elaine Guthrie Lorillard (October 11, 1914 – November 26, 2007) was an American socialite who founded the Newport Jazz Festival with her husband, Louis Lorillard.

With the guidance of John Hammond and George Avakian, two record producers and executives at Columbia Records, they came up with a list of performers. With a $20,000 grant from the Lorillards, the first Newport Jazz Festival took place in July 1954, attracting 11,000 fans. The Lorillards supported the festival until 1961. The Lorillards said that the festival was founded as a nonprofit organization.

Biopic The movie High Society (1956), with a storyline by family friend Cleveland Amory, adapted The Philadelphia Story (film) as a musical set in Newport during the jazz festival. Grace Kelly was rumored to have been cast for her resemblance to Elaine Lorillard. The movie was filmed in Newport with scenes from the Lorillards' life, from a convertible passing their house, "Quatrel" on Bellevue Avenue, to their daughter sitting at their piano with Louis Armstrong.

Personal life In 1946, she married Louis Livingston Lorillard (1919–1986). Louis was a descendant of Robert Livingston, first Lord of Livingston Manor, and Pierre Lorillard, who founded the P. Lorillard Company in 1760. Before their 1962 divorce, they had two children:

Edith Pray Lorillard, Pierre Livingston Lorillard