Search - Biography - Conrad Hilton: Innkeeper to the World on DVD

Great-Grandfather of Paris Hilton

Jeffery Mingo | Homewood, IL USA | 09/03/2006

(2 out of 5 stars)

"A&E Biography has several episodes that deal with "B-list" famous people. It's a bit harder to watch them than say works about Abe Lincoln, Gandhi, or Marie Antoinette. Still, if you want to learn about the life of an incredibly rich and successful person, then here you go. This man seemed like a pre-Donald Trump. He looked far younger than he was, as did his sons, and he seemed to have worked long after most Americans have retired.

This work does not just talk about the positives. One learns that he failed at many ventures before putting up his hotels. He was divorced twice during an era when that was taboo. I loved learning that, like Robert Redford and Billy Bean, he grew up around Latinos and was thus bilingual. This documentary has a political edge as his hotel was taken over by Castro after he seized power in Cuba.

I am constantly lambasting "Biography" for watering down the progressive leanings of famous people. However, here they show Mr. Hilton with Nixon and Ike but never once label him a Republican. Maybe they avoid the right as well as the left.

FOR MODERN VIEWERS, PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS IS PARIS HILTON'S GREAT-GRANDFATHER. This work was made in 1996, before she stuck her face, and other body parts, all over the media and specializing in being a hot mess. On the one hand, her great-grandfather advocated prayer and was a dedicated Catholic, but on the other, he liked to be seen with beautiful ladies. So it is unclear what he would have thought about Paris and her shenanigans. Further, he had a son who lived the fast life before he prematurely died. Paris' grandfather is interviewed, but he just praises his father, rather than speaking of himself or his progeny."