Odile Rodin

Who is Odile Rodin?

Odile Rodin, born Odile Marie-Josèphe Léonie Bérard in Lyon in 1937, was a French actress and covergirl before she became the fifth and last wife of Porfirio Rubirosa. She adopted the artistic name of Odile Rodin due to the beauty of her body, an analogy to the famous French sculptor Auguste Rodin.

Rodin came from a family where her father and grandfather were physicians. She came to Paris to study at the Conservatoire National d'Art Dramatique. Her career as an actress was promising but brief, she acted in two movies: Futures vedettes by Marc Allégret in 1955 and Si Paris nous était conté by Sacha Guitry in 1956. In 1956 she took the theater role of Marinette in Marcel Pagnol's play Fabien in Paris.

After her cover on Paris Match in 1955 she met Rubirosa, and their marriage on October 27, 1956 put an end to her acting career. Rodin accompanied Rubirosa during his social and diplomatic activities, was in Havana during the Cuban revolution, and hung out with the Kennedys. Kroth lists her as one of many mistresses of John F. Kennedy. After the death of her husband in 1965 she had an affair with the 16 year-old Alexander Onassis. Eventually she remarried and moved to New England, fading from public view. As of 2006 she was reported to be living with her third husband, an American, in New Hampshire.