Jorge Guinle, 88, the Brazilian bon vivant who was often described as the last of the global playboys and who romanced such screen stars as Marilyn Monroe, Rita Hayworth and Jayne Mansfield, died March 5 at the Copacabana Palace hotel in Rio de Janeiro.
The Guinles built the lavish, beach-side Copacabana Palace in the 1920s, and Mr. Guinle kept some privileges there after the property was sold in 1989. The day before his death, he left a Rio hospital, refusing surgery for an aortic aneurysm and instead checking into the hotel for one last culinary spree.
"He was treated as a prince. He died as he wished to," a hotel spokeswoman said.
For decades, Mr. Guinle said he never wanted for money. He had only to ask his father, who obliged his son as he set out to become a man of extreme leisure.
"The secret to living well is to die without a cent in your pocket," he told the New York Times in 2002. "But I seem to have miscalculated."
In person, Mr. Guinle was unimposing; standing about 5-foot-5, he had the nickname "Jorginho," or Little George. But his social influence was vast, thanks to tanned good looks, impeccable tailoring, a habit of giving away jewelry to adoring women and a "ridiculously charming" manner, as one reporter observed.
He came to public attention in the early 1940s, when oil heir Nelson A. Rockefeller, carrying a diplomatic portfolio for inter-American affairs during World War II, tapped Mr. Guinle as his chief contact in Brazil. When Mr. Guinle visited the United States, he met such Hollywood executives as Jack Warner, Louis B. Mayer and Darryl Zanuck. They provided him with a nominal job: vetting movie scripts set in Brazil for accuracy. They also provided entree to a world of starlets, including then-unknown Monroe, as well as Ava Gardner, Veronica Lake and Hedy Lamarr.
He roomed with actor and ladies' man Errol Flynn and caroused at nightclubs with glamorous women, whom he routinely invited on his international travels.
In 1962, he flew to California to present Monroe with jewelry and to accompany her to the Venice Film Festival. Startled to see news accounts of her suicide, he flipped through his address book and called up Mansfield.
"I wasn't able to give the jewels to Marilyn, so I gave them to Jayne," he told the London Daily Telegraph last year. "She was delighted. We spent the next two years together."
He spilled generous details of his liaisons, but he also knew that self-deprecation and wistfulness helped win over an audience that might otherwise find him a boor.
"In those days, it was much easier," he told the Telegraph. "You danced cheek to cheek, or body to body. You had a few drinks, you told her she was beautiful. Sometimes they were game, sometimes not. The thing was to go out, dance, drink, say nice things. That's all there was to it."
He chided later generations of playboys for two traits he could not abide: indiscretion about the living and having jobs.
His family's money dated to the early 1890s, when Mr. Guinle's grandfather won a 90-year concession to build and operate the bustling port of Santos, south of Rio.
Mr. Guinle's wealth brought him into the company of prominent businessmen, such as Alfred Bloomingdale. Mr. Guinle shunned many business deals, including a reputed chance to back the Diners Club credit card.
With the loss of the port concession and the family's sale of the Copacabana, he found himself pressed for income. He said he had squandered a lot on bad investments.
In his final years, he lived off a government pension and the generosity of friends. For a large fee, he took rich Brazilians on tours of his favorite spots around the world, including France's Loire Valley.
He liked meeting reporters poolside or against some beachy backdrop, even though by the 1990s he was living in a shabby apartment he once shared with his third wife.
In interviews, he spoke almost shyly about his interest in the great philosophers, preferring to play up his interest in bebop jazz and his memories of beautiful women.
"I have no regrets," he said. "I had a much better life than I could have imagined. I met the A to Z of Hollywood and had a great time. I might not have any money left, but, when I sleep, I dream of Marilyn."
Guinle romanced Marilyn Monroe and Jayne Mansfield before outliving his once-vast wealth. He died at 88.
