In life, he was accused of fraud and wheeler-dealing and enjoyed a scandalous affair with opera diva Maria Callas before ditching her for the widow of American president JKF.
So it is hard to imagine what allegations about the Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis could offend his friends, 35 years after his death. Yet a new play in London starring Robert Lindsay as the tycoon has so aggrieved the Onassis Foundation, it has issued a statement in protest.
Adultery, high finance and fraud may be one thing, it seems, but allegations or murder are quite another — even when the stage production is based on a book by Dulwich author Peter Evans which was published five years ago.
The book and the play turn on the thesis that Onassis had Robert Kennedy killed because his opposition was the one thing that stood in the way of Onassis marrying Jacqueline Kennedy.
The foundation, which is run by close colleagues of the late magnate since both his children died young, insists the show is based on "rumours". In a statement, it asks the Greek and international press not to "reproduce uncritically as facts' things that affect Aristotle Onassis's memory".
The foundation adds: "It is forced to underline, however, that Evans's book is not a biography and not even written with the permission of Aristotle Onassis. It is not based on serious research, but on rumours flying about Aristotle Onassis."
Evans said he was "rather surprised" it had taken so long to respond as his book, Nemesis, was published in 2005. He defended the central claim which he made after years of research.
He first met Onassis when the magnate himself got in touch with a plan for them to work together on writing his life story. That biography was eventually published more than a decade after Onassis's death in 1975. "It was done with the cooperation, permission and encouragement of him," Evans said. But despite widespread acclaim, one of Onassis's closest confidants, an Athens lawyer, told Evans that he had "missed the real story".
Christina Onassis, the tycoon's daughter, then goaded the author further by expressing fears that people would believe her father was responsible for Robert Kennedy's death.
"It was the first I had heard of it," he said.
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But it prompted him to do "the most serious research I had ever undertaken in my life", concluding in Nemesis and now the play. Evans said Robert Lindsay's performance was "sensational, like walking into the room with Onassis all over again". The play continues at the Novello Theatre.
