Steve Bing - the playboy with a seedy side
The only things Steve Bing really cared about were movies and sex, an old friend of his once remarked. In dating Liz Hurley - a film actress and one of the most desirable women in the world - both his dreams might have appeared to come true. What Hurley should have taken heed of, however, is that by the time he hit his 30s, Bing was moaning that all his friends were settling down, marrying and, as he saw it, becoming 'boring'. For the Californian playboy set to inherit an estimated £400 million, boring was never an option. Instead, life revolved around liaisons with Hollywood megastars such as Farrah Fawcett, Sharon Stone and Uma Thurman. Or visiting Hugh Hefner's Playboy mansion. Or using his fabulous inheritance to finance films - whether bad remakes of classics or more sordid erotic thrillers.
Known in the gossip columns as the 'serial playboy with deep pockets', Stephen Leo Bing was born on March 31, 1965, to real estate heir Dr Peter Bing and his wife Helen. Peter Bing had inherited a fortune from his property magnate father Leo, and donated millions to universities such as Stanford in California, which has its own 'Bing Wing'. Steve received the best education money could buy at the prestigious Harvard School in Los Angeles. On graduating from high school, he enrolled at Stanford University in Palo Alto, like his father before him, but dropped out after only 16 months. With more money than he could ever need, he quickly learned how to enjoy himself in Hollywood. He was soon part of the in-crowd, counting the wild Brat Pack actors Rob Lowe, Charlie Sheen and Kiefer Sutherland among his friends. But unlike many of his friends who got involved in drugs, Bing was never seen to touch as much as a cigarette. He stuck to wine, vodka and his favourite tipple - saké. He dabbled in screenwriting, acting and producing, but in truth was often just a financier for the talented, beautiful crowd he immersed himself in.
At this time, he was reluctant to flaunt his wealth. Tracy Richman, a choreographer who partied with the same set, recalled a man who 'drove a beat-up station wagon and always dressed in jeans and ripped T-shirts'. But even if his sartorial elegance left something to be desired, the man who would later court some of the world's most famous women had already conquered a string of the most beautiful. Bing was a regular visitor to Hugh Hefner's Playboy mansion. 'He was a sexual predator,' recalled Tracy. 'He liked sexual women, not prissy ones. Once, I had a threesome with him and one of my girlfriends.' He remained entranced by the film business, though even his friends would concede that his bank balance was bigger than his talent. A recent remake of the British gangster hit Get Carter, which Bing produced and in which Sylvester Stallone starred, was savagely panned by the critics. It was the mid-Nineties when Bing complained to Tracy Richman that all his acquaintances were becoming 'boring'. Instead, he sought excitement by flashing his extreme wealth.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-83477/Steve-Bing–playboy-seedy-side.html