Lady Jeanne Campbell
Mailer's third wife (1962). Daughter of the eleventh Duke of Argyll and granddaughter of the press baron Lord Beaverbrook; a London-trained journalist (and former companion of Henry Luce and Randolph Churchill) when she met Mailer at Gore Vidal's New York apartment in March 1961. Dedicatee of Deaths for the Ladies (and Other Disasters) — "To Jean (sic) Campbell" — and mother of Kate Cailean Mailer (b. 18 August 1962).
Lady Jeanne Campbell met Mailer at Gore Vidal‘s New York apartment in March 1961 (per Lennon’s Days revised RTF and the published Days, p. 13), shortly after Mailer separated from Adele. She is the dedicatee of Deaths for the Ladies (and Other Disasters) (62.3, 30 March 1962) — the inscription “To Jean (sic) Campbell” preserves an editorial slip (Lennon notes the rendering of her name as “Jean”).
1962 — third marriage
3 April 1962 — Mailer’s poem “Last Word on Love: Ode to Lady J.” (62.6) is published in Queen (London). New York gossip columnists pick up on it: Cholly Knickerbocker in the Journal-American (29 April) and Suzy in the Mirror (30 April) identify “Lady J” as Lady Jeanne and report — accurately — that Mailer has married her.
26 April — In the New York Post, Mailer plays the question coy: “There’s a theory that Jeanne and I both love a mystery, and that’s why we’re keeping a firm secret on the little matter — whether we’re married or not” (62.9).
4 May — Mailer and Campbell secretly marry, per the published Lennon Days (p. 13). It is Mailer’s third marriage. The date coincidentally falls on the one-year anniversary of his 4 May 1961 guilty plea to the Adele assault — a coincidence the project has flagged for backlog.
18 May — A New York Times article (62.10) — eighteen days into the gossip-column furor — has Mailer confirm the marriage at last: “for some time.”
Late spring — Mailer and Lady Jeanne move into 142 Columbia Heights, Brooklyn — the four-story brownstone Mailer had purchased in 1960. The house will be Mailer’s principal residence for the rest of his life.
18 August — Their daughter Kate Cailean Mailer is born to Jeanne.
20–24 August — Lady Jeanne travels with Mailer to Edinburgh for the International Writers’ Conference.
Late fall — Mailer and Lady Jeanne separate, per the JML Days revised RTF and the published Days (p. 13).
1963 — divorce
16 December 1963 — Mailer divorces Lady Jeanne in Juarez, Mexico (per the published Days, p. 354). Two months earlier, she has appeared as the second-named dedicatee of The Presidential Papers (63.37, 8 November) — “Jean Louise Slugger Campbell” — alongside Mailer’s two daughters by her circle (Kate and her sister Jeanne H.W. Johnson, “my adopted daughter”). Thirteen days after the divorce, Mailer marries Beverly Bentley at his Brooklyn apartment (29 December 1963).
After the marriage
Lady Jeanne Campbell returned to journalism, contributing to London Evening Standard, Town & Country, and other British and American venues. She maintained a friendship with Mailer through her death in 2007.
Related pages
- 1961 | 1962 | Gore Vidal | Adele Morales | Kate Cailean Mailer | 142 Columbia Heights, Brooklyn
- Deaths for the Ladies (and Other Disasters) (62.3) | Last Word on Love: Ode to Lady J. (62.6) | The Presidential Papers (63.37)