Bangkok, 1983

Meet Mrs. Mudd

“Mr. Mudd was a gentleman who was John’s driver during the shooting of The Killing Fields,” said Francesco Rulli, referring to his business partner, the actor John Malkovich. “He was apparently a murder convict and had just come out of prison. And one day they were driving very fast down this dirt road—almost hitting women and monks—and teetering about. John asked if it was true if he had just come out of prison for killing someone. Mr. Mudd looked at him and said, ‘Sometimes Mr. Mudd kills. Sometimes Mr. Mudd not kill.’ John really liked that.”

Mr. Malkovich’s film-production company is named Mr. Mudd in honor of that driver. His fashion business, which he co-owns with the handsome and Italian-born Mr. Rulli, is named Mrs. Mudd. Mrs. Mudd produces a line of clothing named Uncle Kimono. Their offices are on Fifth Avenue, in the Flatiron district.

The name Uncle Kimono also came courtesy of a friend of Mr. Malkovich, one who had seen a box of photographs that had been sent to the Malkovich home. They contained negatives of a Japanese gentleman in California.

“John thought they were attracting,” said Mr. Rulli. “He showed it to his friend, who was gay and died of AIDS a few years ago, and who said, ‘Oh, those people are Uncle Kimono.’ When you have a lover, a gay lover, in the 40’s, you wouldn’t go around and tell everyone that he’s your boyfriend. You might call him your uncle. This guy, this guy was like … his posture was interesting. And he was wearing a kimono. So our line is called Uncle Kimono.”

Mr. Malkovich has other business concerns as well. For instance, he co-owns a disco in Portugal.

The hot-pink business card for Mrs. Mudd has a few quotes imprinted on them in Mr. Malkovich’s elegant hand, including the hopefully rhetorical Aren’t track-suits illegal? and At an airport I once took by accident the suitcase of a Russian woman. When I opened it I thought, ‘these dresses aren’t mine.’

http://www.observer.com/20060213/20060213___thecity_thetransom.asp