Beldon Katleman
| Beldon Katleman | |
|---|---|
| Born |
July 14, 1914 Iowa, U.S. |
| Died |
September 28, 1988 Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Resting place | Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery |
| Residence | Beverly Hills, California, U.S. |
| Alma mater | University of California, Los Angeles |
| Occupation | Businessman |
| Spouse(s) | Leonore Cohn |
| Children | 1 daughter |
Beldon Katleman (1914–1988) was an American businessman. He was the owner of El Rancho Vegas, a casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, where he invented the buffet for guests. He was an investor in two other casinos, the Frontier Hotel and the Silver Slipper.
Early life
Beldon Katleman was born on July 14, 1914 in Iowa. He graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles.[1]
Career
From the late 1940s until it was destroyed by a fire in 1960, he owned and operated El Rancho Vegas in Las Vegas, Nevada.[2] In an effort to keep patrons in his casino, Katleman came up with the idea of the buffet in 1947.[3]
With Guy McAfee and Jake Kozloff, Katleman acquired the Frontier Hotel from Bill Moore for US$5.5 million in 1951.[4] He succeeded Kozloff as its manager in 1955.[1]
Katleman was an investor in the Silver Slipper, another casino in Las Vegas, alongside Jack Barenfeld, Norma Friedman, Irving Leff and T.W. Richardson.[5] After leasing it to Howard Hughes since 1968, they sued Hughes over a year's unpaid rents in 1974.[5]
In April 1988, the Senate Revenue and Taxation Committee Senate reviewed the "murky" settlement of taxes Katleman may have owed to the state of California in the 1960s.[6]
Personal life
Katleman married Leonore Cohn, the niece of Columbia Pictures founder Harry Cohn, circa 1942. They had a daughter named Diane Deshong.[7] They resided in Beverly Hills, California.[7] The couple divorced; he never remarried; she married Walter H. Annenberg in 1946.[7]
Death
Katleman died on September 28, 1988 in Los Angeles, California. He was buried at the Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery in Culver City, California.
References
- 1 2 Considine, Bob (January 30, 1955). "Gambling Enjoyed While Behind-Scenes Action Ignored. If Las Vegas Walks With Devil, Nobody Seems To Care". Lubbock Avalanche-Journal (Lubbock, Texas). p. 3. Retrieved March 5, 2016 – via Newspapers.com. (registration required (help)).
- ↑ Ryon, Ruth (October 24, 1993). "Hunk Falls for $2M Hacienda". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved March 4, 2016.
GARY COOPER'S Holmby Hills home when he died in 1961 has come on the market at $3.45 million. [...] The owner is the widow of Beldon Katleman, a pioneer Nevada hotel man who died in 1988. Katleman owned the El Rancho Vegas, a popular getaway for Hollywood stars until the hotel-casino, built in 1940, was razed by fire in 1960. (A hotel on another Las Vegas site later assumed the El Rancho name.)
- ↑ Rinella, Heidi Knapp (January 1, 2006). "Buffet Bonanza". The New York Times. Retrieved March 5, 2016.
- ↑ Wright, Frank (2005). Nevada Yesterdays: Short Looks at Las Vegas History. Las Vegas, Nevada: Stephens Press. p. 104. ISBN 9781932173277. OCLC 60708529.
- 1 2 "Suit Seeks Eviction of Hughes". The Times (San Mateo, California). May 17, 1974. p. 13. Retrieved March 5, 2016 – via Newspapers.com. (registration required (help)).
- ↑ Walters, Dan (April 4, 1988). "Murky tax case coming to light". Santa Cruz Sentinel (Santa Cruz, California). p. 11. Retrieved March 5, 2016 – via Newspapers.com. (registration required (help)).
- 1 2 3 "Howard Cooper Deshong Jr. Is Fiance of Diane Katleman". The New York Times. December 27, 1964. Retrieved March 6, 2016.