Part of Kirk Kerkorian's mystique is that he simply doesn't do interviews. But that doesn't mean his friends and business associates don't. WSJ's Monica Langley uses the occasion of Kerkorian selling off his GM shares to get behind the mystique - and providing a bunch of juicy tidbits in the process. The closest she gets to a Kerkorian interview is picking up Kirk quotes from others. When the Beverly Hills billionaire decided to fold his cards on GM, for example, he told his adviser Terry Christensen "I like to gamble. But I stop gambling when there's no chance to win." Other morsels come from unattributed sources.

The story says that Kerkorian turned down a meeting with GM Chairman Rick Wagoner, who was in town this week for the auto show. Last summer, Wagoner asked Kerkorian to join him for dinner, but Kirk took off after the appetizers. Apparently, there's no love lost between Kerkorian and certain members of GM's board. From the WSJ:

"Who does this guy from Las Vegas think he is, telling us what to do," asked director Armando Codina at one board debate, according to people familiar with the situation, referring to Mr. Kerkorian.

Actually, Kerkorian spends most of his time in his home, just a few blocks from the Beverly Hills Hotel. From the WSJ:

Every day, he drives himself in his Jeep Cherokee to his Beverly Hills office, a nondescript suite where he runs $10 billion in assets with a few longtime aides. He uses no bodyguards. Among his favorite lunch spots is the Boulevard, where he nibbles salmon ("Not too big of a piece") and sips green tea. He doesn't use credit cards and buys clothes only about once a year.

After each business day, he runs two miles on a treadmill in the home he shares with his much-younger girlfriend, Una Davis, whom he met on the tennis courts. The home, across the street from Madonna's, is furnished with pieces an employee picked up at a local furniture store. On its walls hang a few paintings by the wife of a friend, Univision Communications Inc. Chairman and Chief Executive Jerry Perenchio, and by actor Tony Curtis. For many years, he lived in a guesthouse on a nearby property, leasing the main home to actor Sylvester Stallone.

On weekends, he strolls alone through his Beverly Hills neighborhood. He often attends dinner or charity events with Ms. Davis or sees movies with daughters or friends. Occasionally he spends time at his Las Vegas home.

And yes, even billionaires have their heartaches. He's been nursing back to health one of his dogs, a husky named Tiger who broke his neck and underwent risky surgery. Also, one of his closest friends, Bear Stearns exec George Mason, died of cancer earlier this year. Steve Wynn said that Kerkorian sobbed "terribly" at Mason's funeral.

Mr. Kerkorian laments that most of his friends have died. A boyhood friend, who was sent to reform school with him, is now in an assisted-living home. "I can't get him to go out to lunch," Mr. Kerkorian confided to a friend. In recent months, Mr. Kerkorian suffered degeneration in his left eye, impairing his ability to see directly in front of him. Just a year after he and a partner placed in a national tennis tournament in the 85-and-older category, he has trouble now hitting balls. "He loved to compete -- and win," says Irving Converse, his partner. "It really killed him that he had to drop out because of his vision." Mr. Kerkorian is hoping that stem-cell surgery will be available in a couple of years that could improve his vision. "I'm going to play again," he recently vowed to a friend.