Vanderbilt, Amy (1908–1974)

US authority on etiquette Amy Vanderbilt's Complete Book of Etiquette (1952, frequently revised) established her as the leading American authority on good manners, a position maintained for two decades by her popular books and television and radio programmes and her syndicated etiquette column (1954–74), which reached 40 million readers. Vanderbilt was born in Staten Island, New York, the cousin of Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt. She studied journalism at New York University and worked in advertising, publicity, and journalism before being invited to write an etiquette manual.