Zina d'Harcourt(1930-1973)

Zina Rachevsky, born 1930 in New York City, the daughter of Vladimir Serguéiévitch Rachevsky and Harriet Kathleen Straus, a Russian-born French-American socialite, film actress, and from 1968 a Gelug Tibetan Buddhist nun. She was brought in France, arrived in NYC in the summer of 1940. At 18 she marries the five year older Count Bernard d'Harcourt. The couple divorce two years later. While in Hollywood, Zina Rachevsky takes a course in drama/theater as well as acting lessons. She make her film debut in "Maya" (1949), appears in 10 feature films and television productions, belongs to the in-crowd in Paris, Geneva, NYC and other places, and also have time for a brief marriage with Willam Jay Barker. In 1957 she meets Conrad Rooks who through the riches of his father, Russel Rooks, takes care of her extravagant needs. Zina Rachevsky gives birth to their son Alexander in 1958. Her deep rooted ethereal interest makes her believe that she is the reincarnation of Madame Blavatsky, the founder of the Theosophical Society. In 1966 her daughter Rhea is born, followed by the death of her father's death the next year, Zina Rachevsky and her baby daughter travels to India, arriving in Darjeeling, from Sri Lanka, looking for a Tibetan lama, Dromo Geshe Rinpoche. In 1968 she becomes Anila Thubten Chang Chub Palmo, receiving the novice vows from Trijang Rinpoche in Dharamsala in the Punjab region of north-west India. After being to a long retreat at Thubten Choeling as a Buddhist nun, she dies at age 42 after an illness of three days in a simple room at a monastery in Nepal. Her seven year old daughter holding her hands. There are rumors she had mistakenly eaten a poisonous plant or suffered peritonitis. Her body is cremated after three days at the Thubten Choling Monastery and her ashes scattered.