Norodom Sihanouk, 1922–2012

Norodom Sihanouk was a shape-shifter, both in politics and in life. The former king of Cambodia pursued wide interests as a gastronome, a jazz musician, a filmmaker, and a playboy who fathered at least 14 children with five women. But he was also a political chameleon who forged shifting alliances with the U.S., Japan, China, France, and—to his country’s tragic detriment—Pol Pot’s murderous Khmer Rouge.

French colonial authorities had Sihanouk crowned king in 1941, said The New York Times, not because he was next in line for the throne, but because they judged him “the most malleable candidate.” He did not prove as controllable as they had hoped. After siding with Japan during World War II, Sihanouk convinced the French to grant Cambodia its independence in 1953. He promptly gave up the throne to run in the country’s first democratic election and easily won, thanks to a peasant population that “considered him a god-king.” But instead of throwing himself into reforms, he set about becoming a filmmaker, directing, writing, and often starring in his own movies.

Sihanouk broke ties with the U.S. over the Vietnam War in 1965, said The Washington Post, and wrote and starred in a 1968 film, Shadow Over Angkor, that portrayed him “thwarting a U.S.-sponsored plot to topple his government.” However, when such a plot was launched, it worked. Sihanouk was ousted by a U.S.-backed coup in 1970 while he was traveling abroad, including to a weight-loss camp in France. In exile he joined forces with the Khmer Rouge, boosting the popularity of the Maoist guerrilla group before the war that delivered it to power in 1975. But upon his return to Cambodia, Sihanouk was placed under house arrest, and could only watch as the regime butchered at least 1 million citizens, including five of his children.

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A Vietnamese invasion toppled the Khmer Rouge in 1979, said The Wall Street Journal, and Sihanouk spent several years in exile in China. “Sihanouk was a survivor, though,” and when Cambodia shrugged off Vietnam’s rule in 1991, he was considered “one of the few figures capable of unifying the war-torn country.” He became king again in 1993, but was given no functional power, so he “looked for other outlets to express himself,” blogging food recipes and inviting diplomats for extended karaoke sessions. He gave up the throne for a second time in 2004, passing it to his son. Cambodia’s great tragedy, he once said, was the suffering imposed on it by terrible leaders. “I am not sure that I was much better myself,” he said. “But perhaps I was the least bad.”