Gerda hood-winked nearly everyone

Some will remember the titillating tale of Gerda Munsinger, the German femme fatale who ensnared a Canadian cabinet minister, Pierre Sevigny, in a sex scandal in the early 60s. The death yesterday of Bob Reguly recalls how Gerda hood-winked all of Canada into thinking she was dead. Everyone, it seems, except Bob Reguly. As her affairs were being revealed in Canada Munsinger slipped out of the country and landed in Munich. There she and friends constructed an elaborate hoax that she was dead. Much better play dead than face the press, she thought. There were even stories of trips to her grave. But Reguly some how go wind of her deception and tracked her down. His world exclusive for the Toronto Star is legendary. She was born in East Germany and married for a short period to American soldier Michael Munsinger. Gerda came to Canada in 1955, when she was in her mid 20s. She worked in Montreal as a maid, a waitress and as a hostess at the “Chez Paree” nightclub.

(Story courtesy The South Bayview Bulldog)