MALVINA HOFFMAN, American sculptor, born (d: 1966); Hoffman was called “the American Rodin.” She traveled around the world to model the heads of every racial type, and is included here on the most tentative “evidence.” Since there is no modern biography, and we have only Hoffman’s not-too-candid 1930 autobiography to go on, the slender thread is the drippy Here Lies the Heart, Mercedes de Acosta’s account of her many loves, in which Hoffman is one of the players.

Since none of the cast of characters, including Garbo and Dietrich, uttered a public peep when the book was published, we can only assume that the book was either too silly to refute, or sillier still, true.   For images: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/