Patty Hearst
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Patricia Campbell Hearst (born February 20, 1954), now known as Patricia Hearst Shaw, is an American newspaper heiress and occasional actress.
The granddaughter of publishing magnate William Randolph Hearst, she gained notoriety in 1974 when, following her kidnapping by the Symbionese Liberation Army, she ultimately joined her captors in furthering their cause. Apprehended after having taken part in a bank robbery with other SLA members, Hearst was imprisoned for almost two years before her sentence was commuted by President Jimmy Carter.
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[edit] Biography
Hearst was born in San Francisco, California, the third of five daughters of Randolph Apperson Hearst and Catherine Wood Campbell. She grew up primarily in the wealthy San Francisco suburb of Hillsborough. She attended Crystal Springs School for Girls in Hillsborough and the Santa Catalina School for Girls in Monterey. Among her few close friends she counted Patricia Tobin, whose family founded the Hibernia National Bank, a branch of which Hearst would later aid in robbing.
[edit] Kidnapping and her time with the SLA
On February 4, 1974, the 19-year-old Hearst was kidnapped from the Berkeley, California apartment that she shared with her fiancé Steven Weed, by an urban guerrilla group called the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA). When the attempt to swap Hearst for jailed SLA members failed, the SLA demanded that the captive's family distribute $70 worth of food to every needy Californian - an operation that would cost an estimated 400 million dollars. In response, Hearst's father arranged the immediate donation of $6 million worth of food to the poor of the Bay Area. After the distribution of food, the SLA refused to release Hearst because they deemed the food to have been of poor quality. (In a subsequent tape recording released to the press, Hearst commented that her father could have done better.)
On April 15, 1974, she was photographed wielding an assault rifle while robbing the Sunset District branch of the Hibernia Bank in San Francisco. Later communications from her were issued under the pseudonym Tania (from the nickname of famous guerilla Haydée Tamara Bunke Bider) and asserted that she was committed to the goals of the SLA. A warrant was issued for her arrest and in September 1975, she was arrested in a San Francisco apartment with other SLA members.
In her trial, which commenced on January 15, 1976, Hearst's attorney claimed that she had been blindfolded, imprisoned in a narrow closet, and physically and sexually abused. The claim that her actions were the result of a concerted brainwashing program was central to her defense. (Hearst's actions have also been attributed to Stockholm syndrome, in which hostages sympathize with the aims of their captors.) Hearst's attorney also argued that she had been coerced or intimidated into taking part in the bank robbery.
Attorney F. Lee Bailey defended Patty Hearst. Legal analysts and Hearst herself later said the famed attorney did a poor job defending her. He gave very short and weak closing arguments. Hearst was convicted of bank robbery on March 20, 1976. Her seven-year prison term was eventually commuted by President Jimmy Carter, and Hearst was released from prison on February 1, 1979, having served only twenty-two months. She was granted a full pardon by President Bill Clinton on January 20, 2001, the final day of his presidency.
[edit] Later life
After her release from prison, Hearst married her former bodyguard, Bernard Shaw. She now lives with her husband and two daughters in Wilton, Connecticut.
[edit] Documentaries about Hearst
- Hearst's 1982 autobiography Every Secret Thing was made into the biopic Patty Hearst by Paul Schrader in 1988, with Natasha Richardson portraying Hearst.
- Robert Stone in 2004 directed Guerrilla: The Taking of Patty Hearst, which focuses on the media frenzy surrounding the Symbionese Liberation Army, and includes new footage and interviews. (The film was released in some countries under the title Neverland: The Rise and Fall of the Symbionese Liberation Army.)
[edit] Acting roles
Hearst has cultivated a surprising career as an actress.
- Her notoriety intersected with the criminal obsessions and camp sensibilities of filmmaker John Waters, who has used Hearst in numerous small roles in films including Cry-Baby, Serial Mom, Pecker, Cecil B. DeMented, and A Dirty Shame.
- Hearst has also appeared in the films Bio-Dome and Second Best.
- Her voice was heard as ex-stripper "Haffa Dozen" on the October 19, 2005, episode of the Sci-Fi Channel's animated TV series Tripping the Rift [1]
- She appeared in an episode of The Adventures of Pete & Pete as Mrs. Krechmar, the nicest housewife in the world.
- Notably playing against type; Hearst played a crack-addicted prostitute on an episode of the comedic Son of the Beach.
- Hearst's voice was used as a caller in the Frasier episode, Frasier Crane's Day Off in 1994.
- She appeared as Anthony Clark's mother on the sitcom Boston Common.
- She appeared in an episode of Veronica Mars. Creator Rob Thomas said, "She is playing a character close to herself. She's playing the granddaughter of Hearst College's founder, who in our world is a railroad baron rather than a publishing baron. It'll be similar, but she is not literally playing Patty Hearst". By the time the episode aired, source of the fictional "Hearst" family's fortune had been changed again, to a chain of retail stores. Episode author Diane Ruggiero made several veiled references to Hearst in the episode: she asks Keith if he knows how it feels to be at the center of a national scandal; her character's husband is named Bud Rose, a reversal of the key phrase from Citizen Kane (based upon Hearst's grandfather); and her own character is named Selma.
[edit] Other work
- Dissatisfied with other documentaries made on the subject, Hearst produced a special for the Travel Channel entitled Secrets of San Simeon with Patricia Hearst in which she took viewers inside her grandfather's mansion, providing unprecedented access to the property. (A video and DVD were later released of the special.)
- In 1996 Hearst co-authored a novel titled Murder at San Simeon based upon the death of Thomas Ince on her grandfather's yacht.
[edit] Trivia
- Hearst's gun in the infamous SLA photo is a modified full auto M1 Carbine with sawed-off barrel, according to court testimony.
- Hearst's niece is model Amanda Hearst.
- Comedian Gilda Radner portrayed Patty Hearst in two sketches on Saturday Night Live, in 1975 and 1976.
- The media excesses surrounding the Hearst kidnapping were parodied in the 1976 film Network.
- On a 1996 episode of Seinfeld entitled "The Checks," a cult fronted by the Sunshine Carpet Cleaners lures in George Costanza's boss, Mr. Wilhelm. At the end of the episode, George walks in on Wilhelm in a Sunshine jumpsuit cleaning his office. "Mr. Wilhelm?" George asks. "No," replies Wilhelm, "my name is Tania."
- Singer Madonna arguably based the cover image for her 2003 album American Life on Hearst's famous photo; however, she instead called it a tribute to Che Guevara.
- On a 2005 episode of The Simpsons titled "Pranksta Rap," Bart pretends to have been kidnapped by Milhouse's father. After Chief Wiggum rescues Bart, he begs the Chief not to arrest Milhouse's dad. In response, Wiggum says, "There's no need for you to defend your captor, Bratty Hearst!" When Milhouse Van Houten and Bart Simpson look at comics from the 1970s in "Treehouse of Horror XIV" (2003), one of the comics is titled "Superman vs. Patty Hearst."
- On a 2005 episode of Will & Grace, Will Truman and Karen Walker are discussing things in their past that they have tried to forget. One of Karen's memories is "the horrible, muffled cries of Patty Hearst from behind that closet door," implying that Karen had been an SLA member. In another episode, Karen criticized Grace Adler for wearing a beret, advising her that "even Patty Hearst couldn't pull it off, and she had money and a gun!"
- Sarah Silverman's 2006 song, "I Love You More," compares Hearst's identification with her kidnappers to Jewish people driving German cars.
- The punk rock band Smoke or Fire' released a song in 2007 titled "The Patty Hearst Syndrome".
- In Frisky Dingo, Xander claims he has Patty Hearst syndrome in order to escape from being captured by a China town crime boss.
- Hall & Oates hit "Rich Girl (Hall & Oates song)" is mistakenly assumed to be about Patty Hearst. (Oates: It was actually "Rich Guy," but it sounded terrible to sing, so we changed it to "Rich Girl." It was a friend of Daryl's girlfriend, the heir to a fast-food fortune. Everyone at the time thought it was about Patty Hearst. (web site))
- The Law and Order season 6 episode "Hot Pursuit" is based on a case involving a kidnapped woman who is later discovered to have taken part in a bank robbery with her captor. At one point in the show Jack McCoy and Claire Kincaid are heard comparing the defendant to Patty Hearst.
- The famous shot of Patty in the SLA graces the cover of the Chainsaw Kittens' album Pop Heiress.
- Warren Zevon's song "Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner" explains the fictional origins of Hearst's gun, although it identifies it as an M1 Thompson. He also references her at the end of the song with "Patty Hearst heard the burst of Rolands Thompson gun and bought it".
- Patti Smith's debut single featured the monologue "Sixty Days," dedicated to Hearst. (It preceded her cover of rock classic "Hey Joe.") The monologue describes Smith's view of Hearst's behavior, then adopts an imagined, and somewhat romantic, first-person tone in which Smith declares "I am no pretty little rich girl, I am nobody's million dollar baby, I'm nobody's Patsy anymore and I feel so free."
- The song "Life During Wartime" by the band The Talking Heads makes many references to Hearst's kidnapping and time spent with the SLA in detail with images of mental breakdown, confusion, disillusionment in society and her mental state.
- The punk rock band The Misfits' song "She" is about Hearst.
- The 1980s rock band Oingo Boingo's debut single included the songs "Don't Blame Patty, She's just a Poor Misunderstood Teenager" and "You Got Your Baby Back."
- An early issue of National Lampoon included a photo of Randolph Hearst talking to the press outside a courthouse with the following (fake) caption: Reporter: "How did you get her to cop the plea, Randolph?" Hearst: "Keep her in a closet and give her LSD, and she'll do anything!"
- The ransom note from her kidnapping appears in Microserfs by Douglas Coupland, on pages 308 and 309. However page 308 contains only the consonants, and page 309 contains only the vowels.
- The plot of John Waters' film Cecil B. Demented, about an actress who is kidnapped by a terroristic independent movie production crew only to end up joining them, is an homage to the Hearst kidnapping. Hearst herself appears in a minor role in the film.
- The song "Tania" by Camper Van Beethoven from their album Our Beloved Revolutionary Sweetheart is about Hearst.
- In the episode "The Knight in White Satin Armor" of the HBO television series The Sopranos, FBI Agent Skip Lipari says that mobster Sal Bonpensiero’s enthusiastic cooperation with the FBI is “the worse case of Stockholm syndrome I've seen since Patty Hearst.” His supervisor responds, “That was sad.”
- In the episode "The Incredible Mr. Brisby" of the Adult Swim show The Venture Bros., the boys (Hank and Dean) are manipulated using mind-control devices. When the boys tear up, a dummy version of Busy Bee a henchman asks, "Those hats really work. What, did you turn them all the way up to Patty Hearst?" She is also referenced in the episode "¡Viva los Muertos!" with the character Patty, a parody of Daphne of Scooby Doo and Patty Hearst.
- The Claire Lynch song "Stranger Things Have Happened" includes the line, "Well, who'd at first thought that Patty Hearst would join the SLA?"
- Is mentioned in "Young Shields", a song by Casiotone for the Painfully Alone: "there's a shield around us/we're invincible & boundless/& we're on the run from I don't know/we're Patty Hearst & Squeaky Fromme/asleep on subways far from home/you'd think we'd never seen a comb"
- The cover of the Margaret Cho book "I Have Chosen to Stay and Fight", as well as posters from her tour "Assassin", mimic the famous gun-holding photo of Hearst; Cho holds a microphone instead of a gun.
- In Gilmore Girls episode 38, "Dead Uncles and Vegetables," Lorelai's mother Emily takes over the planning of Sookie's wedding. Lorelai calls Sookie Patricia Hearst and her mother Emily the SLA.
- In Gilmore Girls season 5, episode 7, entitled "You Jump, I Jump, Jack." Rory is blindfolded by Logan and other members of the Life and Death Brigade, a secrety society. Logan is leading Rory to a secret location when Rory, frustrated, says "Is the blindfold coming off or am I Patty Hearsting it the whole time?"
- Washington, DC area sandwich shop chain Booeymonger offers a sandwich named after Hearst. It consists of fresh turkey breast, bacon, melted provolone cheese with Russian dressing served on a French baguette.
[edit] References
- Boulton, David (1975). The Making of Tania Hearst. London: New English Library. ISBN 0-450-02351-6.
- Hearst, Patricia Campbell; with Alvin Moscow (1988). Patty Hearst: Her Own Story. New York: Avon. ISBN 0-380-70651-2. First published in 1982 as Every Secret Thing.
- McLellan, Vin; and Paul Avery (1977). The Voices of Guns: The Definitive and Dramatic Story of the Twenty-two-month Career of the Symbionese Liberation Army, One of the Most Bizarre Chapters in the History of the American Left. New York: Putnam. ISBN 0-399-11738-5.
- Weed, Steven; with Scott Swanton (1976). My Search for Patty Hearst. New York: Crown. ISBN 0-517-52579-8.
[edit] Fictional accounts
- Choi, Susan (2003). American Woman. New York: HarperCollins. ISBN 0-06-054221-7.
- Sorrentino, Christopher (2005). Trance. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. ISBN 0-374-27864-4.
