{{Short description|American actress}} {{Use American English|date=April 2026}} {{Use mdy dates|date=April 2026}} {{Infobox person | name = Bobo Rockefeller | image = Bobo Rockefeller (cropped).webp | caption = Bobo Rockefeller in 1954 | birth_name = Jievutė Paulekiūtė | birth_date = {{birth date|1916|9|16}} | birth_place = Noblestown, Pennsylvania, U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|2008|05|19|1916|06|16}} | death_place = Little Rock, Arkansas, U.S. | alma_mater = Northwestern University | spouse = {{plainlist| * {{Marriage|Richard Sears|1941|end=divorced}} * {{Marriage|Winthrop Rockefeller|1948|1954|end=divorced}} }} | partner = Charles W. Mapes (1962) | children = Winthrop Paul Rockefeller }}
'''Barbara "Bobo" Sears Rockefeller''' (née '''Jievutė Paulekiūtė'''; September 6, 1916 – May 19, 2008), also known professionally as '''Eva Paul''', was an American actress. She was married to Winthrop Rockefeller of the Rockefeller family from 1948 to 1954.<ref name="Fox">{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/21/nyregion/21rockefeller.html | title=Barbara Sears Rockefeller, Actress with a Famous Divorce Settlement, Dies at 91 | newspaper=The New York Times | date=May 21, 2008 | last1=Fox | first1=Margalit }}</ref><ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.smh.com.au/national/she-went-from-winthrop-to-windfall-in-divorce-settlement-20080526-gdsf5q.html | title=She went from Winthrop to windfall in divorce settlement |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald | date=May 26, 2008 }}</ref> They were the parents of Winthrop Paul Rockefeller.
==Early life and career== Rockefeller was born on 6 September 1916 as Jievute Paulekiute (Lithuanian: Jievutė Paulekiūtė) in Noblestown, Pennsylvania to Julius Paulekas, a coal miner, and Jieva (née Ivanavicius), both destitute Lithuanian immigrants.<ref name="Fox"/><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nysun.com/article/obituaries-bobo-rockefeller-91-married-well-divorced-better |title=Bobo Rockefeller, 91, Married Well, Divorced Better |first=Stephen |last=Miller |date=May 20, 2008 |newspaper=The New York Sun}}</ref> Her parents divorced shortly after her birth.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/148164707/ |newspaper=Buffalo Courier Express |title=Bobo's Father Dies |page=5 |date=December 22, 1955 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>
After the divorce, Rockefeller moved with her mother and sister to Chicago. It was there, while attending grammar school, that she began going by Eva. In high school, she shortened her surname to Paul. At the age of 17, Rockefeller was crowned Miss Lithuania in a contest held by the Lithuanian Daily News. Her mother and stepfather moved the family to Indiana not long afterwards.<ref name="Fox" /><ref name=":0">{{Cite web |date=23 February 1948 |title=Manners & Morals: The Bride Wore Pink |url=https://time.com/archive/6600572/manners-morals-the-bride-wore-pink/ |url-status=live |access-date=8 April 2026 |website=Time}}</ref>
Rockefeller graduated high school in 1935 and attended Northwestern University for a year and a half before dropping out to become a model.<ref name=":0" />
She also held the position of third secretary at the U.S. embassy in Paris.<ref name="Fox"/> She was also featured on ''Time'''s cover.<ref name="LATimes">{{cite web | url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2008-may-23-me-rockefeller23-story.html | title=Actress married heir to Standard Oil fortune | website=Los Angeles Times | date=23 May 2008 }}</ref>
==Personal Life== Rockefeller married the wealthy Richard Sears Jr. in 1941. They divorced seven years later.<ref name=":0" />
She married Winthrop Rockefeller on February 14, 1948<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/116127245 |title=Daughter of poor immigrants weds Winthrop Rockefeller |newspaper=The News-Review |page=1 |date=February 14, 1948}}</ref> in a small, private ceremony attended by fewer than 10 people, including best man Laurance Rockefeller and Bobo’s sister, Isabel Paul, as the maid of honor.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/116127423 |title=Whipping Cream of Society at Wedding |newspaper=The Kane Republican |page=1 |date=February 14, 1948}}</ref><ref name=":0" /> She and Rockefeller split in a highly publicized divorce in 1954, reporting they had already been separated for four years. Following what newspapers described as a "fierce legal battle", she won custody of her son and a $5.5 million settlement. She later had a brief engagement to hotelier Charles W. Mapes in 1962.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2008/may/21/barbara-bobo-sears-rockefeller-former-wif-20080521/ | title=Barbara 'Bobo' Sears Rockefeller: Former wife of late Arkansas governor | date=21 May 2008 }}</ref> Her son, Winthrop Paul Rockefeller, a former lieutenant governor of Arkansas, died in 2006.<ref name="Fox" />
She died on May 19, 2008, in Little Rock, Arkansas.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/18408601:7545 |title=Barbara Rockefeller Jr. in the U.S., Obituary Collection, 1930-Current |publisher=U.S. Obituary Collection |via=Ancestry.com |url-access=subscription |date=May 25, 2008 |access-date=January 9, 2023}}</ref>
==Filmography== * ''Tobacco Road'' (1941)<ref name="Fox"/> * ''That Night with You'' (1945)<ref name="Fox"/> * ''Bad Men of the Border'' (1945)<ref name="LATimes"/> * ''Code of the Lawless'' (1945)<ref name="LATimes"/> * ''The Road to Total War'' (1983) * ''Goodbye War'' (1983) * ''The Relationship'' (1988)
==References== {{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rockefeller, Bobo}} Category:1916 births Category:2008 deaths Category:American actresses Category:Northwestern University alumni Category:People from Little Rock, Arkansas