The Untold Story Of Armie Hammer (House of Hammer)
Building an Empire
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The controversy around the Hammers dates all the way back to Armie’s great-great-grandfather, physician Julius Hammer. In 1875, Julius immigrated from Odessa in modern-day Ukraine to the Bronx in New York. He used his company Allied Drug to smuggle goods between the US and Soviet Russia, which was under an embargo. His support for socialism and communism landed him under federal surveillance. In July 1919, he performed an abortion on the wife of a Russian diplomat, who died three days later, allegedly from influenza. Julius was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to three and a half years at Sing Sing Correctional Facility. Though he didn’t go on to practice medicine, Julius’ son Armand graduated from the Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons. When his father was sent to prison, the 22-year-old took over the family business at Allied Drug. In 1921, Armand moved to the Soviet Union, and in 1927, he married stage actress and singer Baroness Olga Vadimovna von Root. A year later, their son Julian was born. Armand and Olga divorced in 1943, and by the 1950s, Armand had already married and divorced his second wife, Angela Carey Zevely. In 1956, now living in Los Angeles, he met and married the wealthy Frances Barrett Tolman, using her money to invest in a then-struggling oil company called Occidental Petroleum. Armand established trade relations between the Soviet Union and the U.S., and kept close ties with Soviet leaders, rubbing elbows with the likes of Vladimir Lenin and Leonid Brezhnev. Armand had friends in high places, including presidents, senators, and royals like Prince Charles. In 1972, Armand made anonymous, illegal contributions to then-President Richard Nixon’s re-election campaign. Armand pleaded guilty to the illegal contributions, but was ultimately pardoned by President George H.W. Bush in 1989. He had several mistresses, and in the 1980s, he had his art advisor and mistress Martha Wade Kaufman wear disguises and legally change her name to Hilary Gibson, to hide the affair from his third wife. Kaufman would later describe Armand as controlling and his sexual demands as “extremely humiliating”. He allegedly forced her “to undergo surgical procedures to facilitate impregnation”. Armand died in December, 1990. The Hammer Museum in Los Angeles opened to the public one month before. He left Kaufman nothing in his will.
The Inheritance
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When Armand died, he left the business to his grandson Michael, Armie’s father, skipping over his own son Julian entirely. Julian was reportedly a troublemaker who didn’t adhere to his father’s idea of perceived perfection. In 1955, Julian shot and killed Bruce Whitlock over a gambling debt. Julian claimed self-defense, and the charges were dismissed, reportedly with the help of a sizable bribe to a lawyer. Within hours of Armand’s death, Michael was reportedly spotted by police trying to cart off belongings from the house, which had been left to Armand’s wife’s niece. At the reading of Armand’s will, his descendants realized that they had overestimated his fortune. He significantly shortchanged several family members, leaving some of them, including Julian, out altogether. The estate acquired at least 100 lawsuits from family, friends, and charities who were owed money. Like his father, Michael was known for his hard partying and sexual exploits. After becoming the head of the estate, he followed in the footsteps of the Hammer men before him, using company money to fund his luxurious life. He reportedly kept a sex throne, or “naughty chair”, at the Armand Hammer Foundation headquarters, which featured a hole in the seat and a cage beneath. A 2011 lawsuit and subsequent FBI investigation against the Hammer-owned Knoedler Gallery in New York found that from 1994 to 2009, over 60 paintings that sold for millions were fake. Armand’s art-dealing empire was built on counterfeit paintings. In 1985, Michael married devout Christian Dru Ann Mobley, and became a benefactor to evangelical organizations. Their son Armie was born a year after they married.
The Rise & Fall of Armie Hammer
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Growing up, Michael Hammer and his family spent five years living in the Cayman Islands. When they moved to Los Angeles, Armie developed an interest in acting, dropping out of school in 11th grade. Though he began landing small roles in 2005, the actor got his breakout role in 2010’s “The Social Network” playing as twins Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss. He continued acting, appearing in big movies like Clint Eastwood’s “J. Edgar” and the Snow White fantasy-comedy “Mirror Mirror.” He was the title character in 2013’s “The Lone Ranger” alongside Johnny Depp. But what he’s best known for is playing Oliver in Luca Guadagnino’s indie romance drama “Call Me By Your Name” in 2017. He and his co-star Timothée Chalamet received high praise for their performances, with Armie earning Best Supporting Actor nominations for a Critics’ Choice Award, Independent Spirit Award, and Golden Globe. Armie kept up a relatively steady career, starring in projects like 2015’s “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.” and 2018’s “On the Basis of Sex”, where he played Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s husband Martin. He was also the lead in the Netflix adaptation of “Rebecca” in 2020. In July 2020, Armie and TV personality Elizabeth Chambers announced they were divorcing after 10 years of marriage. Chambers had reportedly been aware of several infidelities. However, she was reportedly blindsided by what came out in the following year.
Allegations
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Throughout the month of January 2021, a string of shocking accusations were leveled at Armie Hammer. It started when an instagram account, @houseofeffie, leaked screenshots of texts allegedly sent from the actor to various women. The violent and sexually explicit messages included references to fantasies of cannibalism. On January 14, one of Armie’s exes, Courtney Vucekovich, gave Page Six a similar account of disturbing behavior and mistreatment during their time together in 2020. The relationship left her suffering from panic attacks. The day after Vucekovich went public with her story, Armie’s secret Instagram account was leaked online, showing unsettling photos and videos taken by the actor. The leaked screenshots on @houseofeffie prompted Paige Lorenze, who also dated Armie in 2020, to come forward about the trauma she suffered during and after their relationship. She said that she felt that Armie “enjoyed hurting women, but used BDSM as a mask for this”. On March 18, a woman named Effie, speculated to be behind @houseofeffie, held a press conference with women’s-rights attorney Gloria Allred. She alleged that Armie sexually assaulted her in April 24, 2017. In the wake of these allegations, Armie dropped out of “Shotgun Wedding,” a rom-com starring Jennifer Lopez. But this was just the first in a series of projects the actor would exit, including the Paramount Plus series “The Offer”, the thriller “Billion Dollar Spy”, and the Broadway play, “The Minutes”. In February, Armie was dropped by his agent WME and his publicist. A few months later, on May 31, Armie checked into rehab, where he remained for six months. Reportedly, Robert Downey Jr. paid for his stay. Fast-forward to early 2022, and the adaptation of Agatha Christie’s “Death on the Nile” went through a PR nightmare due to Armie’s role in the film. In July, rumors spread that Armie was now working as a Timeshare Salesman in the Cayman Islands since he was financially cut off by his family.
“House of Hammer”
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In 2015, Casey Hammer, Armie’s estranged aunt, published a memoir, “Surviving My Birthright,” which detailed years of sexual abuse from her father Julian. Casey played a key role in developing the three-part docuseries “House of Hammer,” slated to premiere September 2, 2022 on Discovery+. In the series she, along with some of Armie’s accusers, delve into the allegations against the actor, as well as the sordid family history.
