Bill Graham (promoter)

==Personal life==

=== Family ===
Bill Graham had five sisters, Rita Rose; Evelyn (or "Echa") Udray; Sonja (or "Sonia") Szobel; Ester Chichinsky; and Tanya (or "Tolla") Grajonca, however his youngest sister Tolla died of pneumonia while fleeing the Holocaust.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":2" /><ref>{{Cite web|last1=Selvin|first1=Joel|date=April 6, 1995|title=Fallout From Estate Finally Settles / After disputes, heirs resigned, company strong|url=https://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/article/Fallout-From-Estate-Finally-Settles-After-3037961.php|website=SFGate}}</ref> Rita and Ester moved to the United States and were close to Graham in his later life. Evelyn and Sonja escaped the Holocaust, first to [[Shanghai]], and later, after the war, to Europe.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Bill Graham and the Rock & Roll Revolution |url=https://www.thefhm.org/exhibits/billgrahamrockrollrevolution/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230928041406/https://www.thefhm.org/exhibits/billgrahamrockrollrevolution/ |archive-date=September 28, 2023 |access-date=2024-03-11 |website=The Florida Holocaust Museum |language=en-US}}</ref> Graham's nephew and Sonia Szobel's son is musician [[Hermann Szobel]].<ref>{{Cite web|date=July 2016|title=37. Hermann Szobel, 'Szobel' (1976)|url=https://au.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/-22108/37-hermann-szobel-szobel-1976-22113/|url-status=live|access-date=2021-04-19|website=Rolling Stone Australia|language=en-AU|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210419143011/https://au.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/-22108/37-hermann-szobel-szobel-1976-22113/ |archive-date=April 19, 2021 }}</ref>

Graham married [[Bonnie MacLean]] on June 11, 1967, and they had one child, David (born 1968); after many years of not living together the couple divorced in 1975.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2020-02-26|title=Bonnie MacLean|url=https://art.famsf.org/bonnie-maclean|access-date=2021-04-19|website=FAMSF Search the Collections|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/article/Dividing-a-Lifetime-s-Bounty-Long-painful-3038231.php|title=Dividing a Lifetime's Bounty / Long, painful negotiations over fate of promoter's estate|first1=Joel|last1=Selvin|date=April 5, 1995|website=SFGate}}</ref> With Marcia Sult Godinez, Graham had another son; Alex Graham-Sult and a stepson, Thomas Sult.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/BILL-GRAHAM-S-TANGLED-LEGACY-Battle-Over-Rock-3038566.php|title=BILL GRAHAM'S TANGLED LEGACY / Battle Over Rock Impressario's [sic&#93; Riches|first1=Joel|last1=Selvin|date=April 4, 1995|website=SFGate}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=2016-04-03|title=Bill Graham Retrospective Headlines At The Contemporary Jewish Museum|url=https://hoodline.com/2016/04/bill-graham-retrospective-headlines-at-the-contemporary-jewish-museum/|access-date=2021-04-19|website=hoodline.com|language=en}}</ref>

=== Home estate ===
For many years Graham lived in [[Mill Valley, California|Mill Valley]], [[California]], on an 11-acre estate with a [[ranch-style house]] he named "Masada"<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite web|date=2015-06-16|title=Interview: DJ Alex Graham|url=https://coolhunting.com/culture/interview-dj-alex-graham-bill-graham/|access-date=2021-04-19|website=COOL HUNTING®|language=en-US}}</ref> which he named after the ancient mountain fort in [[Israel]] with the same name, [[Masada]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Marc |date=2015-12-18 |title=Bill Graham's Last Home In Corte Madera, California |url=https://rockandrollroadmap.com/places/homes-of-rock-and-roll-stars/san-francisco-area-homes-of-rock-and-roll-stars/bill-grahams-home/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231206200804/https://rockandrollroadmap.com/places/homes-of-rock-and-roll-stars/san-francisco-area-homes-of-rock-and-roll-stars/bill-grahams-home/ |archive-date=December 6, 2023 |access-date=2024-03-11 |website=History Of Rock Music |language=en-US}}</ref> The house was replaced in the early 2000s, and later occupied by WeWork CEO, [[Adam Neumann]].<ref>{{Cite web|date=2020-08-04|title=Photos: Marin property once owned by Bill Graham selling for $27.5 million|url=https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/08/04/photos-marin-mansion-owned-by-bill-graham-and-former-wework-ceo-selling-for-27-5m-2|access-date=2021-04-19|website=Marin Independent Journal|language=en-US}}{{Dead link|date=September 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Erwert|first=Anna Marie|date=2020-09-21|title=$9M Mill Valley compound with a Bill Graham connection is for sale|url=https://www.sfgate.com/realestate/slideshow/9M-Mill-Valley-compound-for-sale-bill-graham-208889.php|access-date=2021-04-19|website=SFGATE|language=en-US}}</ref>

=== Bitburg controversy ===
{{Main|Bitburg controversy}}
Graham's status as a [[Holocaust]] survivor came into play in 1985, during the presidency of [[Ronald Reagan]].<ref name=":2" /> When Graham learned that Reagan intended to lay a wreath at [[Bitburg|Bitburg's World War II cemetery]] where [[SS]] soldiers were also buried, he took out a full-page ad in the San Francisco Chronicle newspaper in protest.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Meline|first=Gabe|date=March 16, 2016|title=Bill Graham: The Personality No Museum Could Possibly Contain|url=https://www.kqed.org/arts/11409279/bill-graham-the-personality-no-museum-could-possibly-contain|url-status=live|access-date=2021-04-19|website=KQED|language=en-us|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190728171624/https://www.kqed.org/arts/11409279/bill-graham-the-personality-no-museum-could-possibly-contain |archive-date=July 28, 2019 }}</ref> During the same month that Reagan visited the cemetery, Graham's San Francisco office was firebombed by [[Neo-Nazi]]s.<ref name=":2" /> Graham was in France at the time, meeting with [[Bob Geldof]] to organize the first [[Live Aid]] concert. Graham eventually led an effort to build a large [[Menorah (Hanukkah)|menorah]] which is lit during every [[Hanukkah]] in downtown San Francisco.

=== Acting ===
Graham had long dreamed of being a [[character actor]]. He appeared in ''[[Apocalypse Now]]'' in a small role as a promoter. In 1990, he was cast as [[Lucky Luciano|Charles "Lucky" Luciano]] in the film ''[[Bugsy]]''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0101516/|title=Bugsy|website=IMDb.com|access-date=October 11, 2019}}</ref> During one scene, he is shown in a Latin dance number, a style of dancing Graham had embraced as a teenager in New York. He also appears as a promoter in the 1991 [[Oliver Stone]] film ''[[The Doors (film)|The Doors]]'', which he also co-produced.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0101761/|title=The Doors|website=IMDb.com|access-date=October 11, 2019}}</ref> He had a small part in ''[[Gardens of Stone]]'' as Don Brubaker, a hippie anti-war protester.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093073/|title=Gardens of Stone|website=IMDb.com|access-date=October 11, 2019}}</ref>