Jean Seberg

Infobox actor
name = Jean Seberg


imagesize =
caption =
birthname = Jean Dorothy Seberg
birthdate = birth date|1938|11|13|mf=y
birthplace = Marshalltown, Iowa
deathdate = death date and age|1979|09|8|1938|11|13
deathplace = Paris, France
spouse = François Moreuil
Romain Gary
Dennis Charles Berry
Ahmed Hasni

Jean Dorothy Seberg [ [http://www.filmreference.com/Actors-and-Actresses-Sc-St/Seberg-Jean.html Jean Seberg - Films as actress:, Film as director: ] ] (November 13, 1938 – September 8, 1979) was an American actress. She starred in 34 films in Hollywood and in France. Seberg became even more of an icon after her roles in numerous French films and the tragedy of her turbulent life and eventual suicide.

Biography

Early life & career

Seberg was born in Marshalltown, Iowa, the daughter of Dorothy (née Benson), a substitute teacher, and Edward Seberg, who was a druggist. [ [http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F50E1EFA345C12728DDDA00894D1405B898BF1D3 Jean Seberg Found Dead in Paris; Actress Was Missing for 10 Days; A Li... - Free Preview - The New York Times ] ] [ [http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F40A13FE3F5512728DDDA90B94D9415B8084F1D3 THE SEBERG TRAGEDY; JEAN SEBERG - Free Preview - The New York Times ] ] Her family was Lutheran and had Swedish ancestry. [ [http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F60A17FD345A137A93C5A9178FD85F438585F9 Evolution of a New Saint Joan; Jean Seberg, 18, unknown and barely tri... - Free Preview - The New York Times ] ] [ [http://www.alice-miller.com/articles_en.php?lang=en&nid=55&grp=11 Alice Miller ] ]

Seberg was discovered by Otto Preminger, who directed her in her first two films. She made her film debut in 1957 in the title role of George Bernard Shaw's "Saint Joan". She secured the role after being chosen from 18,000 actresses. The young Seberg was then thrust into the glaring spotlight and subject of countless Cinderellastories. Expectations were high. Reviews of the film were generally mediocre, praised Seberg's beauty, and found her in over her head playing Joan. Preminger never came to her defense. Seberg also appeared in the 1959 Peter Sellers comedy, "The Mouse that Roared", made in the UK.

However, her iconic statusvague comes from her role as Patricia in Jean-Luc Godard's classic work of New Wave cinema, "Breathless" (original French title: "A bout de souffle"), in which she co-starred with Jean-Paul Belmondo. In 1969, she appeared in her first and only musical film, "Paint Your Wagon", based on Lerner and Loewe's stage musical, but her singing voice was dubbed. She was one of the many stars in the 1970 disaster film, "Airport".

Personal life

During the latter part of the 1960s, Seberg used her high-profile image to voice support for the NAACP and supported Native American school groups such as the Mesquaki Bucks at the Tama settlement near her home town of Marshalltown, for whom she purchased $500 worth of basketball uniforms. She also supported the Black Panther Party. [Richards, p.204] Though she had done nothing illegal, FBI director J. Edgar Hoover considered her a threat to the American state. Her telephone was tapped and her private life was closely observed. She knew about it and felt chased. In 1970, when she was seven months pregnant, FBI created a false story [ [http://www.saintjean.co.uk/politics.htm JEAN SEBERG: Politics ] ] leaked to the media that the child she was carrying was not fathered by her second husband, French author Romain Gary, but by a member of the Black Panthers Party. The story was reported by gossip columnist Joyce Haber of the "Los Angeles Times", [Richards, p.239] and "Newsweek" magazine [Richards, p.247] She gave birth to a girl on 23 August, but the infant died two days later. [Richards, p.253]

In a press conference she presented the press with a picture of her fetus to demonstrate that the child did not have a father of African heritage. Seberg stated that the trauma of this event brought on premature labor and her child was stillborn. The child was named Nina Gary; the baby was actually fathered by Carlos Navarra. [Richards, p.234] According to her husband, after the loss of their child she suffered from a deep depression and became suicidal. She also became dependent on alcohol and prescription drugs. She made several attempts to take her own life including throwing herself under a train on the Paris Métro.

Seberg's problems were compounded when she went through a form of marriage to an Algerian playboy, Ahmed Hasni, on May 31, 1979. The brief ceremony had no legal force because she had taken film director Dennis Charles Berry [Dennis Berry is now married to Anna Karina.] as her third husband in 1972 and the marriage was still valid. [Richards, p.367] In July, Hasni persuaded her to sell her opulent apartment on the Rue du Bac, and he kept the proceeds (reportedly 11 million francs in cash), announcing that he would use the money to open a Barcelona restaurant. [Richards, p.368] The couple departed for Spain but she was soon back in Paris alone, and went into hiding from Hasni, whom she said had grievously abused her. [Richards, p.369]

In August 1979, she was missing and found dead 11 days later in the back seat of her car, which was parked around the corner from her Paris apartment in the 16th arrondissement. The police report stated that she had taken a massive overdose of barbiturates and alcohol (8g per litre). A suicide note ("Forgive me. I can no longer live with my nerves.") was found in her hand, and suicide was ultimately ruled the official cause of death. However, it is often questioned how she could have operated a car with that amount of alcohol in her body, and without the distance glasses she always maintained she absolutely needed for driving. [Richards, p.377] She was not yet 41 years old when she died. Her second husband, Romain Gary, with whom she had a son, Alexandre Diego Gary, also committed suicide a year after her death.

Seberg was interred in the Cimetière du Montparnasse, Paris, France.

Legacy

Mexican author Carlos Fuentes' novel "Diana, The Goddess Who Hunts Alone" (1994) is a fictionalized account of an alleged affair with Seberg, although it has not been proven whether the claims of the adulterous liaison — as both were married to others at the supposed time — is fact or just a flight of fancy.

In 1995, a documentary of her life was made by Mark Rappaport, titled "From the Journals of Jean Seberg". Mary Beth Hurt played Seberg in a voice-over. Appropriately, Hurt was also born in Marshalltown, Iowa, in 1946, and attended the same high school as Seberg. Seberg was for a short time Hurt's babysitter. A musical, "Jean Seberg", by librettist Julian Barry, composer Marvin Hamlisch, and lyricist Christopher Adler, based on Seberg's life, was presented in 1983 at the National Theatre in London.

The short 2000 film "Je t'aime John Wayne" is a tribute parody of "Breathless", with Camilla Rutherford playing Seberg's role. Actress Kirsten Dunst has proposed making a film about Seberg's life. The Irish band, The Divine Comedy, make reference to 'Little Jean Seberg' in their song titled "Absent Friends".

In 2004, the French author Alain Absire published "Jean S.", a fictionalised biography. Seberg's son Alexandre Diego Gary brought a lawsuit unsuccessfully attempting to stop publication.

Filmography

* "Saint Joan" (1957)
* "Bonjour tristesse" (1958)
* "The Mouse That Roared" (1959)
* "Breathless" ("A bout de souffle") (1959)
* "Five Day Lover" (1961)
* "In the French Style" (1962)
* "Lilith" (1964)
* "The Beautiful Swindlers" (1964)
* "Échappement libre" ("Backfire") (1964)
* "Moment to Moment" (1965)
* "A Fine Madness" (1966)
* "Line of Demarcation" (1966)
* "The Road to Corinth" (1968)
* "Birds in Peru" (1968)
* "Pendulum" (1968)
* "Paint Your Wagon" (1969)
* "Airport" (1970)
* "L'attentat" (1972)
* "Kill!" (1972)
* "Camorra" (1972)
* "The Corruption of Chris Miller" (1973)
* "Les Hautes solitudes" (1974)
* "Große Ekstase" (1975)
* "White Horses of Summer" (1975)
* "The Wild Duck" (1976)

Further reading

*cite book | author=Richards, David | title=Played Out: The Jean Seberg Story | publisher=Random House | year=1981 | id=ISBN 0-394-51132-8

References

External links

*imdb name|id=0781029|name=Jean Seberg
* [http://www.johngilmore.com/Celebrities/jean_seberg.html Spotlight on Jean Seberg - In Dreams I Walk with You, in Dreams I Talk With You...]
* [http://www.saintjean.co.uk/ Website dedicated to Jean Seberg]
* [http://www.hrc.utexas.edu/multimedia/video/2008/wallace/seberg_jean.html 1958 Mike Wallace interview]
*

Persondata
NAME=Seberg, Jean
ALTERNATIVE NAMES= Seberg, Jean Dorothy
SHORT DESCRIPTION=Actress
DATE OF BIRTH=November 13, 1938
PLACE OF BIRTH=Marshalltown, Iowa
DATE OF DEATH=September 8, 1979
PLACE OF DEATH=Paris, France