# Beldon Katleman > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Beldon_Katleman > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Beldon_Katleman.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beldon_Katleman > Source revision: 1353573875 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|American businessman}} {{Infobox person | name = Beldon Katleman | image = | caption = | birth_name = | birth_date = July 14, 1914 | birth_place = [Sioux City, Iowa](/source/Sioux_City%2C_Iowa), U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|1988|9|28|1914|7|14}} | death_place = [Bel Air, Los Angeles, California](/source/Bel_Air%2C_Los_Angeles%2C_California), U.S. | death_cause = | resting_place = [Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery](/source/Hillside_Memorial_Park_Cemetery) | resting_place_coordinates = | nationality = | other_names = | known_for = | education = | employer = | alma_mater = [University of California, Los Angeles](/source/University_of_California%2C_Los_Angeles) | occupation = Businessman | title = | term = | predecessor = | successor = | political_party = | boards = | spouse = [Leonore Cohn](/source/Leonore_Annenberg) | children = 1 | parents = | relatives = }} '''Beldon Katleman''' (July 14, 1914 – September 28, 1988) was an American businessman. Katleman bought into a partnership in [El Rancho Vegas](/source/El_Rancho_Vegas), a hotel casino in [Las Vegas, Nevada](/source/Las_Vegas%2C_Nevada) and became president of the hotel.{{cite web |url=https://vintagelasvegas.com/strip |title=Las Vegas Strip: hotels, motels, casinos, race books |author= |access-date=July 21, 2023 |quote="Beldon Katleman is president of the hotel (RJ 2/22/51) some time after inheriting El Ranco Inc. stock from J Katleman."}} Katleman was an investor in two other Las Vegas casinos, the [Hotel Last Frontier](/source/New_Frontier_Hotel_and_Casino) and the [Silver Slipper](/source/Silver_Slipper_(Las_Vegas)). ==Early life== Beldon Katleman was born to an affluent [Jewish](/source/American_Jews) family{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EtBe7a_WtlgC&q=beldon+katleman+jewish&pg=PT113|first=Muriel|last=Burgess|title=Shirley|publisher=Cornerstone Digital|date=August 31, 2013|isbn=978-1448185429}} on July 14, 1914, in [Sioux City, Iowa](/source/Sioux_City%2C_Iowa). The family moved to Southern California in the 1930s and he graduated from the [University of California, Los Angeles](/source/University_of_California%2C_Los_Angeles).{{cite news|last1=Considine|first1=Bob|title=Gambling Enjoyed While Behind-Scenes Action Ignored. If Las Vegas Walks With Devil, Nobody Seems To Care|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/48354869/?terms=%22Jake%2BKozloff%22|access-date=March 5, 2016|work=Lubbock Avalanche-Journal|via=Newspapers.com|url-access=registration |page=3|date=January 30, 1955|location=Lubbock, Texas}} His parents owned the Circle K national chain of parking lots and owned real estate in [Los Angeles](/source/Los_Angeles).{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n0SujCRdh4gC&q=Beldon+Katleman&pg=PA308|first=Christopher|last=Ogden|title=Legacy: A Biography of Moses and Walter Annenberg|pages=308|publisher=Little, Brown and Company|date=November 29, 2009|isbn=9780316092449}} During [World War II](/source/World_War_II), Katleman served as a lieutenant in the motion picture division of the [Signal Corps](/source/Signal_Corps) in the [U.S. Army](/source/U.S._Army). ==Career== In 1949, he moved to [Las Vegas, Nevada](/source/Las_Vegas%2C_Nevada), where his uncle Jake had an interest in the [El Rancho Vegas](/source/El_Rancho_Vegas), and he became a junior partner in the hotel. When his uncle died, Katleman bought out the other partners and became sole owner in 1953, becoming the youngest gaming entrepreneur at the time.{{cite magazine|magazine=[Variety](/source/Variety_(magazine))|page=70|date=October 26, 1988|title=Obituaries}} {{cite news|last1=Ryon|first1=Ruth|title=Hunk Falls for $2M Hacienda|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-10-24-re-49340-story.html|access-date=March 4, 2016|work=The Los Angeles Times|date=October 24, 1993|quote=GARY COOPER'S Holmby Hills home when he died in 1961 has come on the market at $3.45 million. [...] The owner is the widow of Beldon Katleman, a pioneer Nevada hotel man who died in 1988. Katleman owned the El Rancho Vegas, a popular getaway for Hollywood stars until the hotel-casino, built in 1940, was razed by fire in 1960. (A hotel on another Las Vegas site later assumed the El Rancho name.)}} thumb|right|The Last Frontier Hotel and Casino. With [Guy McAfee](/source/Guy_McAfee) and [Jake Kozloff](/source/Jake_Kozloff), Katleman acquired the [Hotel Last Frontier](/source/New_Frontier_Hotel_and_Casino) from Bill Moore for US$5.5 million in 1951.{{cite book|last1=Wright|first1=Frank|title=Nevada Yesterdays: Short Looks at Las Vegas History|date=2005|publisher=Stephens Press|location=Las Vegas, Nevada|isbn=9781932173277|oclc=60708529|page=104|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VD0e59nXb6MC&q=Jake+Kozloff&pg=PA104}} He succeeded Kozloff as its manager in 1955. He ceased to be a co-owner in 1957. In June 1960, El Rancho Vegas was destroyed by a fire and Katleman immedialtely left Las Vegas. He planned to build a highrise on the site but the plans did not materialise and [Howard Hughes](/source/Howard_Hughes) bought the property in 1968. Katleman was an investor in the [Silver Slipper](/source/Silver_Slipper_(Las_Vegas)), another casino in Las Vegas, alongside Jack Barenfeld, Norma Friedman, Irving Leff and T.W. Richardson.{{cite news|title=Suit Seeks Eviction of Hughes|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/39053100/?terms=%22Beldon%2BKatleman%22|access-date=March 5, 2016|work=The Times|date=May 17, 1974|via=Newspapers.com|url-access=registration |page=13|location=San Mateo, California}} After leasing it to [Howard Hughes](/source/Howard_Hughes) since 1968, they sued Hughes over a year's unpaid rents in 1974. In April 1988, the Senate Revenue and Taxation Committee Senate reviewed the "murky" settlement of taxes Katleman may have owed to the state of California in the 1960s.{{cite news|last1=Walters|first1=Dan|title=Murky tax case coming to light|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/70144198/?terms=%22Beldon%2BKatleman%22|access-date=March 5, 2016|work=Santa Cruz Sentinel|date=April 4, 1988|via=Newspapers.com|url-access=registration |page=11|location=Santa Cruz, California}} ==Personal life== In January 1941, Katleman married [Leonore Cohn](/source/Leonore_Annenberg), whom he had met at the [Hillcrest Country Club](/source/Hillcrest_Country_Club_(Los_Angeles)), the Jewish golf club in Los Angeles; Leonore was the niece of [Columbia Pictures](/source/Columbia_Pictures) founder [Harry Cohn](/source/Harry_Cohn). In 1942, They had a daughter named Diane Katleman Deshong.{{cite news|title=Howard Cooper Deshong Jr. Is Fiance of Diane Katleman|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1964/12/27/howard-cooper-deshong-jr-is-fiance-of-diane-katleman.html?_r=0|access-date=March 6, 2016|work=The New York Times|date=December 27, 1964}} They resided in [Beverly Hills, California](/source/Beverly_Hills%2C_California). The couple separated in 1944 and divorced soon after; she married [Lewis Rosenstiel](/source/Lewis_Rosenstiel) in 1946. ==Death== Katleman died on September 28, 1988, in [Bel Air, Los Angeles](/source/Bel_Air%2C_Los_Angeles), California. He was buried at the [Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery](/source/Hillside_Memorial_Park_Cemetery) in [Culver City, California](/source/Culver_City%2C_California). ==References== {{Reflist}} ==External links== *{{Find a Grave|120222338}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Katleman, Beldon}} Category:1914 births Category:1988 deaths Category:Businesspeople from Beverly Hills, California Category:Businesspeople from Las Vegas Category:University of California, Los Angeles alumni Category:American businesspeople in the casino industry Category:American hoteliers Category:20th-century American Jews Category:20th-century American businesspeople Category:Annenberg family --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Beldon Katleman](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beldon_Katleman) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beldon_Katleman?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.