In 1955 her son, Robert Schlesinger (who was described in contemporary news accounts as a “playboy”), fell in love with actress Linda Christian who had been discovered by dashing actor Errol Flynn and featured in the 1946 movie, “Holiday in Mexico.” In 1949 she married equally-handsome actor Tyrone Power by whom she had two daughters (one of whom, Taryn Power, followed her parents into acting and was in “Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger” in 1977). Linda Christian and Tyrone Power divorced in 1956 and she received an unprecedented one million dollar settlement. She would become the first “Bond girl” in the screen adaptation of Ian Fleming’s “Casino Royale.” When Linda Christian first became involved with Mona’s son, she was still married to Tyrone Power.
Schlesinger began sending Linda very expensive jewelry eventually exceeding $132,500 in value. When his $100,000 check to Van Cleef & Arpels bounced, the tony jeweler sued Linda seeking return of the gifts. Mona’s son was then indicted on eight counts of using his mother’s name and reputation to swindle three prominent businessmen in an elaborate oil scheme. Schlesinger had even pretended in a telephone conversation to be his mother’s official financial advisor as the noose began tightening around his neck. In the end, Robert Schlesinger didn’t get the money or the girl. Linda Christian married British actor Edmund Purdom