Background Slioor was born to a
Persian father, a fruit shopkeeper, and a
Finnish mother, a homemaker, in Helsinki, Finland in 1926, and had three older brothers. After her parents divorced, Slioor was raised in an orphanage for girls, seeing her parents sometimes. Her father died in 1936, and her mother lived in a hospital for mental issues. In 1947,
The Salvation Army's Family Tracing Service found out that Slioor's paternal grandfather was still living in
Iran and carried the title of
Prince.
Life and career in Finland Slioor married her first husband Sigurd Laesvirta, a Finnish painter, in 1944, and they had a daughter named Aulikki. Through the marriage, Slioor was involved in Finnish art circles and soon started to work as a model. After divorcing her first husband in 1948, Slioor became a single parent and continued working as a model and also appeared in the Finnish film
Tanssi yli hautojen (
Dancing on Graves), which was directed by
Toivo Särkkä and written by
Mika Waltari. The film was released in 1950. In 1953, Slioor met both
Prince Bertil of Sweden and
Erik von Frenckell, a nobleman and married Mayor of Helsinki, at a society event in Finland. While she reportedly befriended with Prince Bertil and kept in touch with him over the years, Slioor and Von Frenckell became lovers, and several newspaper articles were written about them at the time. Slioor and von Frenckell openly attended various events in Finland, and they also travelled together around Europe, including Austria, Switzerland, and France. At
Brussels World's Fair, they attended a ball held to honour
Princess Margaret of England, and Slioor played
piano four hands with her. They also explored the fair in the same group with the Princess. In 1957, Slioor organized a major modeling and textile fair with great success in
Saint Petersburg with the
Soviet Union Chamber of Commerce. Mayor
Nikolay Smirnov served as the patron of the fair, which attracted thousands of visitors every day. By the time, Slioor had also held her own fashion show on Finnish television, which origin is in the mid-1950s. From 1955 to 1965, Slioor lived in a grand apartment in
Ullanlinna, a wealthy district of Helsinki, and hosted various social events for artists, including actors, writers and poets, as well as diplomats, professors, royals, and other celebrities. She was good friends with
Pentti Saarikoski,
George de Godzinsky and others. From 1960 to 1962, Slioor was married to Kalevi Nietosvaara, a Finnish jurist and longtime friend. In 1962, she starred in
Se alkoi omenasta (
It Started with an Apple), a
Teuvo Tulio short film about Slioor herself.
Years in the United States Slioor moved to the United States in the mid-1960s and married Matti Kosonen, a
Finnish American pilot and
Vietnam veteran. The marriage lasted from 1965 to 1968. During the years in the States, Slioor worked as a reporter and photographer, living in
San Francisco. She met, interviewed, and photographed various public figures, including
Ronald Reagan,
Robert F. Kennedy,
Henry Miller,
Bing Crosby,
Harry Belafonte, and
Rita Hayworth, and sent numerous reportages from the States to be published in
Jallu magazine in Finland, appearing on the
Jallu covers with the likes of
Tom McCall,
Nelson Rockefeller, and
Spiro Agnew. Slioor also reported from
San Quentin Prison, being the first reporter allowed to photograph the prison freely, and made work trips to other parts of the States, including
Chicago. and
The San Francisco Examiner as well as TV and radio stations like
KTVU. The case was also followed by the Finnish press. Eventually, Slioor had to return most of the works as The Bufano Society was the legal owner of all of Bufano's art. Bufano had no right to give away any of his works to anyone as he did not own those personally, like stated in the
San Francisco Chronicle on February 11, 1969. In the court, Slioor was represented by the law firm of
Melvin Belli, who had also handled her third divorce. Furthermore, Slioor had been working on Bufano's autobiography for months, but it was never finished as Bufano died in 1970. While living in San Francisco, Slioor got married for the last time. Her fourth husband was photographer William Douglas Ganslen. The couple, however, divorced in 1976. As for Slioor's daughter Aulikki, she started to work in the music business, working in sound engineering for
Herbie Hancock,
Lydia Pense and
Cold Blood,
Santana,
The Pointer Sisters, and others, as well as jamming with
Jorma Kaukonen of
Jefferson Airplane and
Jerry Garcia of the
Grateful Dead at Kaukonen's. Aulikki also worked as a cowgirl in
Tennessee Ernie Ford's ranch in
Nevada. Later on, she moved to
Alaska, became a private pilot, got married, had a daughter, and worked as an artist and a writer. She also had her own art studio and gallery, and hosted her own radio shows on
KBBI and
KDLL. Nowadays, Aulikki Slioor Knight works for her husband's business, Commercial & Recreational Marine Services LLC.. In September 2010, she and her husband ended a long, successful journey as they sailed 2455 miles in three months, bringing their new boat, a 1959 wooden yacht, from
Sausalito, California, to
Homer, Alaska.
Later life in Finland After 16 years in the United States, Slioor moved back to Finland and disappeared from the public spotlight. In 1997,
WSOY published her autobiography
Tabe, and she gave interviews for Finnish TV, radio, and print media about her life. After the launch of the book, she disappeared again. Slioor spent most of her later life in
Turku, where she lived in a small apartment with her cat. During the years, she kept in touch with her family and friends, including daughter Aulikki and granddaughter Sativa. In spring 2006, it was widely reported that Slioor had died. In 2007, Slioor's life was portrayed in a play in a Helsinki theatre, and she was also named as one of Finland's 90 dignitaries since its independence in 1917 by authors of
The National Biography of Finland. Slioor also made front-page headlines in 2009, when it was revealed that
Urho Kekkonen, the longest-serving President of Finland, had used the
Finnish Security Police to keep an eye on her. In 2010, Slioor became a media subject again as her life was portrayed in a new play at the
Alexander Theatre in Helsinki. She also became one of the central figures in researcher Laura Saarenmaa's doctoral thesis
Intiimit äänet (
Voices of Intimacy). Also in 2012, Slioor's famed 1964
Corvette Sting Ray Coupe was showcased at the annual American Car Show in Finland. The car has been prominently featured in the Finnish press over the years, including the original stories and pictures in
Jallu magazine and more recent ones in the automobile magazine
Mobilisti and the second largest newspaper in the country
Ilta-Sanomat. In 2014, Finnish women's magazine
Eeva published a front-page article on Slioor and
Erik von Frenckell's romance. ==References==