Career
Pati Behrs Eristoff was a prima ballerina and a grandniece of Leo Tolstoy. She may be best known as the first of John Derek"s wives. Born in Russia, her family fled to Paris after her father refused to partake in pogroms.
She survived World World War II and Occupied France by dancing in Parisian nightclubs, while at the same time doing all she could to hide Russian Jews and gypsies from the Nazis.
She died on July 4, 2004, aged 82.