Two Famous Ladies...

Kara Kennedy Allen (February 27, 1960 – September 16, 2011) was an American professional board member and television producer. A member of the Kennedy family, she was the oldest of three children of U.S. Senator Edward M. "Ted" Kennedy from Massachusetts.

Born Kara Anne Kennedy to Virginia Joan (née Bennett) Kennedy and Edward Moore Kennedy, Sr. in Bronxville, New York, her siblings are Edward Moore Kennedy, Jr. (born 1961), and Patrick Joseph Kennedy II (born 1967). She attended Trinity College (Hartford, Connecticut) and graduated from Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts.

Kennedy was a producer for VSA arts, formerly known as Very Special Arts, a non-profit organization founded by her aunt Jean Kennedy Smith that supports arts opportunities for the disabled. Kennedy was on the National Advisory Board of the National Organization on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. She was also a director emerita and a national trustee of the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation, a non-profit organization that provides financial support, staffing, and creative resources for the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, the presidential library and museum of U.S. President John F. Kennedy in Boston, Massachusetts.

Kennedy was previously a producer for the television program Evening Magazine at station WBZ-TV in Boston.

In September 1990, Kennedy and Michael Allen, a professional sailor, were married at the Our Lady of Victory Church in Centerville, Massachusetts, a frequent site of Kennedy family events. When she married, Kennedy dropped her middle name "Anne" and replaced it with her maiden name "Kennedy" as her new middle name. They had two children: Grace Kennedy Allen (born September 19, 1994, in Washington, D.C.) and Max Greathouse Allen (born December 20, 1996, in Rockville, Maryland). The couple later divorced.

In 2002, at age 42, Kennedy was diagnosed with lung cancer. Initially told the disease was inoperable, she found — with her father's help — a surgeon at the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, who was willing to remove part of her right lung in an effort to save her life. The operation was successful, and she resumed an active life that included regular running and swimming.

On August 12, 2009, Kennedy accepted the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama on behalf of her father at a ceremony in Washington, D.C. Her father died thirteen days later; he had been diagnosed with brain cancer in May 2008.

On September 16, 2011, Kennedy suffered a heart attack and died in a Washington health club after her daily workout. She was 51.


Eleanor Jane Mondale Poling (January 19, 1960 – September 17, 2011) was an American radio personality television host, and actress.

Mondale was the only daughter of Joan Mondale and former Vice President Walter Mondale. Her older brother is former Minnesota State Senator Theodore A. "Ted" Mondale. Her younger brother is attorney William H. Mondale, the former assistant Minnesota attorney general. For her senior year of high school, Mondale attended St. Timothy's, a boarding school outside of Baltimore. After graduating from St. Lawrence University in Canton, New York, she moved to begin a career in Hollywood.

Mondale dropped out of college in 1981 to move to Hollywood. She worked briefly as an extra and had one speaking line in the TV series 240-Robert. She then returned to college, graduating in 1982. By January 1983, Mondale was back in Hollywood, where she had small roles on TV shows such as Three's Company, Dynasty, and Matt Houston.

After graduating from St. Lawrence University, Mondale quickly earned a reputation in the media for being a "wild-child," although she claims many of the rumors were unfounded. She reportedly dated Arnold Schwarzenegger in 1979 after they met on the set of The Villain (1979), for which she was a film production assistant.

Mondale was married three times. Her first marriage, to football player Keith Van Horne, lasted from April 9, 1988, until August 1989, when Van Horne filed for divorce. In 1990 she dated rock singer-songwriter Warren Zevon, traveling on tour with him to Australia.

Mondale's second marriage, from June 21, 1991 to November 1991, was to Greg Malban, a DJ known as Greg Thunder. In late 1992, Mondale began dating actor James Belushi. In 1997, she began dating Ronald Perelman.

In 1998, Mondale was named in the Starr Report as having met with President Clinton at the White House on December 6, 1997, while Monica Lewinsky, whom Clinton had been having an affair with, was kept waiting at the White House for 40 minutes. During Lewinsky's wait, a Secret Service officer reportedly told her that Clinton was meeting with Mondale, prompting Lewinsky to fly into a rage. The Washington Post reported: "Lewinsky 'stormed away, called and berated Mrs. Currie (Betty Currie) from a pay phone.' Currie, in turn, 'hands shaking and almost crying,' told the officers that Clinton was 'irate' that they had told Lewinsky about Mondale and warned a Secret Service supervisor that 'someone could be fired.'"

In 1996, several mainstream publications, including the Washington Post, had implied that Mondale was having a fling with Clinton—claims that she denied. "What's funny is every time I've seen the president there have been at least five other people in the room," she told the Chicago Sun-Times. "I don't think we would have carried on this so-called affair right in front of Barbra Streisand and people like that!"

In 1999, Mondale sold her house in Los Angeles to move to New York to be with her boyfriend at the time, New York plastic and reconstructive surgeon Joe DeBellis.

In June 2005 Mondale married Minneapolis rock musician Chan Poling of the group The Suburbs. Poling has three children with ex-wife Terri Paul: son Chandler Jr. and daughters Maddie and Olivia. Mondale and Poling lived on a small farm in Minnesota, where they raised miniature horses until her death.


Eleanor Mondale was a regular guest on Howard Stern's E! TV show during the late 1990s and early 2000s.

Mondale interviewed Fred Thompson at the 2007 Minnesota State Fair.Mondale began her journalism career while still in Los Angeles, taking a job at KABC-TV in 1985. She left the station in late 1985 and soon moved to Chicago, getting her first radio break as a helicopter reporter at WMAQ (AM). She continued taking fill-in radio news jobs at various Chicago radio stations, including WCKG-FM. She also was waiting for the pilot of a King World Productions show, "The Rock 'n Roll Evening News," to be sold. Within a few months the show began airing in national syndication, with Mondale working as its Midwest correspondent.

In 1986, Mondale signed a one-year contract with powerhouse Chicago radio station WGN (AM) to appear as a frequent contributor to programs. In early 1987, Mondale joined Chicago radio station WCKG-FM as a morning news anchor. In June 1987, Mondale shifted to being the co-host of WCKG's morning show alongside John Fisher. In early 1988, Mondale took a leave of absence from WCKG to collaborate with a Chicago writer on a book about the children of U.S. presidents.

In June 1989, Mondale took a job in Minneapolis as an entertainment reporter for WCCO-TV.[15] In March 1990, Mondale quit unexpectedly just a few days before a local magazine was to publish a feature on Mondale titled "Walter and Joan's Wild Child."

After leaving WCCO and spending some time in Australia, Mondale became a morning sidekick on WLOL-FM in Minneapolis, where she remained until the station was bought by Minnesota Public Radio in 1991. She also hosted "The Great American TV Poll" on the Lifetime cable channel.

In April 1991, Mondale returned to Chicago's airwaves as a morning sidekick at WKQX-FM, working alongside morning host Robert Murphy. Mondale and fellow sidekick Dan Walker were forced out of WKQX in January 1993.

After leaving WKQX, Mondale began working in television. In March 1993, Mondale and Robin Leach co-hosted a two-hour special on national television about Madonna titled "Madonna Exposed." In early 1994, Mondale began working as a correspondent for NBC's "Today" show.

In mid 1994, Mondale landed a job as anchor/host of "Q and E," a half-hour weekly celebrity show airing on E! Online cable channel. In 1996, Mondale was hired by CBS as a Los Angeles-based correspondent for "This Morning."

Mondale hosted the E! Online shows Wild On in 1997 and E! News Live. She worked on ESPN as a reporter on the horse racing events, which lasted two years (2002–2003). She covered for ESPN2 the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association. After ESPN, she did stories on auto shows around the world for the Speed Channel. She worked for the CBS Television show This Morning.

In 2006, after battling brain cancer for the first time, Mondale signed on as a host at WCCO-AM. She remained there until 2009, when she left the airwaves to go on disability because of her cancer's recurrence.

Mondale had five speaking lines in the opening minutes of the 1991 film Drop Dead Fred
Mondale narrated the feature documentary film Fritz: The Walter Mondale Story (200, which details the life of her father and aspects of her own childhood.
Mondale appeared in the short film Mirage (2004), directed by Sayer Frey and produced by Shelli Ainsworth.

After a bout of seizures, Mondale was diagnosed with brain cancer in June 2005. In the summer of 2006, the cancer was in remission, but she announced in February 2008 that a small tumor had returned and that she would seek treatment at the Mayo Clinic. Mondale was again diagnosed with brain cancer in August 2009 and was scheduled to undergo surgery later that same month. She died of brain cancer at her home in Minnesota on September 17, 2011, aged 51.