Emilie deMun "Mimi" Smith Kilgore (November 13, 1935 – November 24, 2022) was an American arts patron and heiress. She was the co-founder of the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize.
Early life and education
Emilie deMun Smith was born November 13, 1935, in Houston, Texas. She was one of three children. Her father C. Cabanne Smith was a banker and veteran of World War II (Third Army). Her mother Lucy (Thompson) Smith was an arts patron.[1]
She grew up in the neighborhood of River Oaks. She attended The Kinkaid School and then went on to Smith College, graduating magna cum laude in 1957 after studying in France for a year.[1]
Career
Kilgore moved to New York City after college to work in the art world. She worked as an art librarian at the Frick Collection.[1]
In 1970, she moved back to Houston with her husband and two sons after her father started an oil royalty business in Texas.[1]
In the summer of 1970, Kilgore met the painter Willem de Kooning at a party.[3] She became his muse and lover.[1][4] A few weeks after meeting, they went on a public tour of houses in the Hamptons. While they were at one house, Kilgore found a frog that was run over and flattened by a car tire. The shape of the frog reminded her of one of de Kooning’s paintings, so she gave it to de Kooning as a gift.[1] He kept the flattened frog for the rest of his life.[1]
Kilgore’s sister, Susan Smith Blackburn, an actress and writer, died of breast cancer in 1977. Kilgore and the husband of her sister Bill Blackburn, created a prize in her honor that would be given to female playwrights.[1][5]
In 1958, Kilgore married William S. Gilbreath III. Together they had a son. They divorced in 1963. In 1965, she married John E. Kilgore Jr. Together they had a son. They divorced in 1985.[1]
