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Georgia Durante—from super model to mob wife to Hollywood stunt driver

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Georgia Durante's book The Company She keeps
Courtesy Georgia Durante
Georgia Durante's book The Company She keeps

Georgia Durante talks about her journey from mob wife to Hollywood stunt driver

Correspondent Tom Wilmer met up with Georgia Durante at a summer camp for kids run by St. Vincent de Paul in the hills above Santa Barbara, California where she talks about her best selling book, The Company She Keeps chronicling her incredible life journey.

Durante grew up in Rochester, New York, and her modeling career commenced when she was just 13 years old. Before long her stunning looks propelled her to cover-girl stardom as the most photographed young woman in America.

Georgia Durante— kodak Girl 1965
Courtesy Georgia Durante
Georgia Durante— kodak Girl 1965

If you’re old enough, you might remember her as “The Kodak Girl”. All too soon, by happenstance, she became involved with the mob, and taken under the wings by legendary mobsters like Carlos Gambino and Sammy Giancana.

Married to a mobster, her life took an ugly turn when she realized too late her husband was a brutally abusive person. Durante eventually escaped her life as a mobster’s wife and started a new life as a Hollywood stunt driver.

Georgia Durante in her kitchen today
Courtesy Georgia Durante
Georgia Durante in her kitchen today

This show was originally broadcast January 4, 2018 and is reposted as a “best-of-the-best” podcast in celebration of Journeys of Discovery’s 35th anniversary producing on-air and digital media podcasts featured on KCBX, the NPR Podcast Directory and more than 20 podcast hosting sites.

Journeys of Discovery with Tom Wilmer featured on the NPR Podcast Directory
NPR
Journeys of Discovery with Tom Wilmer featured on the NPR Podcast Directory

You are invited to subscribe to the seven-time Lowell Thomas Award-winning travel podcast, Journeys of Discovery with Tom Wilmer, featured on the NPR Podcast DirectoryApple Podcastand more than twenty other podcast hosting sites including iHeartRadio and Spotify

Journeys of Discovery with Tom Wilmer—winner of the Gold Lowell Thomas Award—Society of American Travel Writers
SATW Foundation
Journeys of Discovery with Tom Wilmer—winner of the Gold Lowell Thomas Award—Society of American Travel Writers

Tom Wilmer produces on-air content for Issues & Ideas airing over KCBX and is producer and host of the six-time Lowell Thomas Award-winning podcast Journeys of Discovery with Tom Wilmer. Recorded live on-location across America and around the world, the podcast features the arts, culture, music, nature, history, science, wine & spirits, brewpubs, and the culinary arts — everything from baseball to exploring South Pacific atolls to interviewing the real Santa Claus in the Arctic.
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