Beldon Katleman
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.
Beldon Katleman | |
|---|---|
| Born | July 14, 1914 Iowa, U.S. |
| Died | September 28, 1988 Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Resting place | Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery |
| Alma mater | University of California, Los Angeles |
| Occupation | Businessman |
| Spouse(s) | Leonore Cohn |
| Children | 1 |
Early life
Beldon Katleman was born to an affluent Jewish family[1] on July 14, 1914 in Iowa. He graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles.[2] His parents owned the Circle K national chain of parking lots and owned real estate in Los Angeles.[3] During World War II, Katleman served as a lieutenant in the motion picture division of the Signal Corps in the U.S. Army.[3]
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.[4] In an effort to keep patrons in his casino, Katleman came up with the idea of the buffet in 1947.[5]
With Guy McAfee and Jake Kozloff, Katleman acquired the Frontier Hotel from Bill Moore for US$5.5 million in 1951.[6] He succeeded Kozloff as its manager in 1955.[2]
Katleman was an investor in the Silver Slipper, another casino in Las Vegas, alongside Jack Barenfeld, Norma Friedman, Irving Leff and T.W. Richardson.[7] After leasing it to Howard Hughes since 1968, they sued Hughes over a year's unpaid rents in 1974.[7]
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.[8]
Personal life
In January 1941, Katleman married Leonore Cohn, whom he had met at the Hillcrest Country Club, the Jewish golf club in Los Angeles; Leonore was the niece of Columbia Pictures founder Harry Cohn.[3] In 1942,[3] They had a daughter named Diane Katleman Deshong.[9] They resided in Beverly Hills, California.[9] The couple separated in 1944 and divorced soon after;[3]she married Walter H. Annenberg in 1946.[9]
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
- Burgess, Muriel (August 31, 2013). Shirley. Cornerstone Digital. ISBN 978-1448185429.
- 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.
- Ogden, Christopher (November 29, 2009). Legacy: A Biography of Moses and Walter Annenberg. Little, Brown and Company. p. 308. ISBN 9780316092449.
- 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.
- "Suit Seeks Eviction of Hughes". The Times. San Mateo, California. May 17, 1974. p. 13. Retrieved March 5, 2016 – via Newspapers.com.
- 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.
- "Howard Cooper Deshong Jr. Is Fiance of Diane Katleman". The New York Times. December 27, 1964. Retrieved March 6, 2016.