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Victor D'Arc (May 27, 1924 - 1995) was a child psychiatrist with offices at 135 East 83d Street, New York, where he also lived. He was the second husband of Mary Lea Johnson. Both were previously married and divorced. He had two children from Stephanie Scourby (1921-2013), a Broadway performer. They met while D'Arc was professionally treating one of Johnson's sons, Seward Ryan. At the time D'Arc was on the staff of the St Luke's Hospital. They dated, lived together approximately one year and then married on June 15, 1972.
Johnson, heiress to the Johnson & Johnson pharmaceutical fortune, said she was the target of a murder plot allegedly planned by her husband, Dr. Victor D'Arc. However, D'Arc said that the charge was “ridiculous” and that his wife had toad him that she would make such an allegation unless he agreed to divorce her on her terms. The alleged plot was disclosed by assistant Bronx district attorney, Donald Levin, in his opening statement at the trial of John "Teddy" Fino, an actor at the time 32 years old, charged by a grand jury with contempt for refusing to testify about the murder threat. Victor D'Arc was said to have tried to hire Fino to kill his wife to obtain the $20 million she’d bequeathed to him in a will. However Fino was said to have gone to Mrs. D'Arc, a friend whom he served as chauffeur and handyman at her Manhattan apartment and at her estate in Far Hills, N.J., and told her of the plot. After her talk with Fino, she hired a private detective who questioned Fino and recorded his talk. Levin said D'Arc had paid Fino $100,000 not to testify about the alleged plot and had offered an additional $100,000 for the second tape, not yet heard by Judge Tyler. Fino's defense attorney, Stephen Weiss, told the court that his client had been afraid to talk with the Bronx grand jury for fear that D'Arc “wouldn't hesitate to snuff out two lives for his own gain.” D'Arc said: “My wife is very naive; ‘he said. “She has so much money she's like a Howard Hughes, and those around her will tell her anything she wants to hear. All they want is her money.” D'Arc said that his own life had been threatened. “I keep getting these threatening phone calls,” he said, “and once I received a voodoo doll stuck with pins.” D'Arc said that his wife inherited around $75 million, but that she lost several million dollars while operating an art business, the M. L. D'Arc Gallery, at 340 West 72d Street. Although the Bronx district attorney opened an investigation, no charges were ultimately brought, and the pair separated in 1976 and divorced in 1978. Fino spent 26 months in jail for contempt of court.
Mary Lea Johnson's first marriage was to William Ryan, a press agent turned farmer. Before they divorced, the pair had six children. She married Dr. Victor D'Arc, in 1972. Dr. Victor D'Arc filed suit for divorce on September 24, 1976 on the grounds of extreme cruelty. Due to difficulty in serving the divorce papers, it was not until March 30, 1977 that Mary Lea Johnson filed an answer and counterclaim for divorce on the grounds of deviant sexual conduct and extreme cruelty. On April 20, 1977 the husband amended his complaint to include a count of adultery. Martin Richards met Mary Lea Johnson and her second husband, who were interested in investing in theater and movie projects. The meeting was arranged by John Fino, a bit actor who was working as the couple’s chauffeur and hoped to jump-start his own theatrical career. Despite being gay, Martin Richards became the third husband of Mary Lea Johnson; reportedly, the couple "adored each other".
Victor D'Arc died of AIDS related complication in 1995.
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