Meshulam Riklis, aka ‘Mr. Pia Zadora,’ owned Riviera in Las Vegas

Somehow, the marriage of starlet Pia Zadora and billionaire businessman Meshulam Riklis was favorable to both parties.

“He would go lecture at Yale or Duke, speaking as a successful businessman — he was a brilliant businessman, who knew how to make money — and he had a great sense of humor,” Zadora said while seated in a darkened booth Friday night after a performance of her “Pia’s Place” show at Piero’s Italian Restaurant. “He’d say, ‘Do you know who I am? And they would go, ‘Noooo!’ And he’d say, ‘Do you know who Pia Zadora is? I’m Mr. Pia Zadora!’ And everyone cheered.”

The billionaire who was a fixture on the Strip while owner of the Riviera died Friday at a Tel Aviv hospital. He was 95. The man known as “Rik” by his closest friends was famous as Zadora’s first husband (the two were married from 1977-‘93) and as the owner of the Riv in during its heyday in the 1980s through the early ’90s.

Riklis turned the Riv into one of the most successful — and for a time, the largest — hotels on the Strip. He brought the groundbreaking production shows “Splash,” “Crazy Girls” and “Evening at La Cage” to the Strip. He also bankrolled “G.L.O.W.: Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling,” a syndicated TV show starring female pro wrestlers. The show became the inspiration for the Netflix scripted series, “GLOW.”

Riklis is largely credited with creating a golden path for Zadora to win her Golden Globes award for New Star of the Year for her 1982 role in “Butterfly,” which he had co-produced. The billionaire financed a junket for members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association two months before the awards at the Riviera. Zadora wound up winning the prize, beating out Kathleen Turner and Elizabeth McGovern.

Zadora had already embarked on a busy stage career by the time she met Riklis, when she was age 19. He tracked her down backstage during a touring production of “Applause.” He was 49 at the time. The couple would have two children, Kady and Kristofer.

Kady was the inspiration for the name of Kady’s Coffee Shop, the Riv’s 24-hour cafe.

Zadora said looking back on her time with Riklis is “a surreal experience.” The couple’s opulent lifestyle became something of a fable. During their marriage, Riklis bought the Beverly Hills mansion Pickfair Manor in January 1988 from Los Angeles Lakers owner Jerry Buss for nearly $7 million (Robin Leach featured the manse on an episode of “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous”).

“I really didn’t know myself back then, it was a very crazy time and I was (sighs) all over the place,” she said. “I didn’t have time to assess or breathe or evaluate. It just doesn’t seem real. It’s like waking up from a dream.

“Maybe I’m in denial, for the right reasons.”

Riklis showcased the young Zadora onstage and on the marquee at the Riv. The two were the focus of continual tabloid coverage for their May-December romance.

“I came from a very skewed childhood, where my father was not very present and I had a mother who was a Momma Rose type. I was always onstage, traveling,” said Zadora, who lives in Las Vegas with her current husband, retired Las Vegas Metro detective Mike Jeffries. “It was a frenzy. He made me feel grown up. He was a father, a husband, and he just embraced me and I trusted him.”

Riklis assembled an effective business model for Las Vegas production shows at his Riviera fiefdom. “Splash” ran for 22 years ending in 2006. “An Evening At La Cage,” which brought long-running headliner Frank Marino to the Strip, ran for 24 years ending in 2009.

“We were the first hotel to have two shows running at the same time,” said Marino, who was discovered by Riklis at Sunrise Musical Theater in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. during a “La Cage” performance when he was just 17. “What was funny was, we would visit family in Las Vegas on occasion. It was honestly a dream come true to headline in Las Vegas, with all the glitz and glamour. I’m very lucky to say it did happen, and he made it possible..”

In 1986, Marino was sued by Joan Rivers for his copyright infringement for his portrayal of the comedy star. At the time, Zadora was opening for Rivers at Caesars Palace’s Circus Maximus showroom — with a 40-piece orchestra. Marino, of course, was headlining for Riklis at the Riv.

During the Zadora-Rivers run at Caesars, Marino, Rivers, Riklis and assorted attorneys met at the Riviera for an arbitration hearing.

“Riklis was absolutely fearless,” Marino recalled Saturday. “We walked by Joan, who was suing me for $5 million at the time, in the hallway. He says, ‘Joan, you know Frank, right?’ She didn’t reply … I thought, ‘I want to be him when I grow up!”

“This lawsuit was all over the news, too. He really knew how to get the publicity going.”

At a time when hotels were embracing star policy and booking individual headliners, Riklis took a shot with “Splash” and its Vegas-sized, 20,000-gallon water tank.

“Riklis was a man of vision willing to back what he believed in - and he believed in me - during a time when a hotel owner’s decision ruled,” Jeff Kutash, the producer of “Splash,” said in a text message Friday. ” We changed the Las Vegas entertainment landscape with Splash. He was legendary. I learned a lot from him.”

Riklis’ death has thrust Zadora back into the international spotlight. She says two most recently spoke about 4-5 years ago.

“When I Google him now, he’s better known as Mr. Pia Zadora,” Zadora said. It’s weird how the whole thing happened. It was like I was his face, his front. A lot of people thought I was exploiting him, but he had me out there, too, for himself.”

John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. His PodKats podcast can be found at reviewjournal.com/podcasts. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats on Twitter, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.