Patty Hearst
|
Hearst posing for an SLA picture |
Patricia Campbell Hearst (born
February 20,
1954), better known as
Patty Hearst, now known as
Patricia Hearst Shaw, is an
American newspaper
heiress and occasional
actress. She is the granddaughter of publishing magnate
William Randolph Hearst. She became famous in
1974 when she was
kidnapped, but soon afterwards joined her kidnappers by
robbing a bank. She spent time in
prison before receiving a
presidential pardon.
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.
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 fiancee
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 made ransom demands which resulted in the donation by the Hearst family of $6 million worth of food to the poor of the
Bay Area. After the distribution of food, Hearst was still not released.
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
Haydée Tamara Bunke Bider) and revealed 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 an apartment with other SLA members.
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Patty Hearst's mugshot, taken by the San Mateo Police on September 19, 1975. |
In her trial, which started on
January 15,
1976, Hearst claimed she had been locked blindfolded in a closet and physically and sexually abused, which caused her to join the SLA. Her defense was largely based around the claim that her actions could be attributed to being brainwashed. Others see it as a severe case of the "
Stockholm syndrome," in which captives become sympathetic with their captors. Hearst further argued she was coerced or intimidated into her 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 and many speculated that he was intoxicated. Hearst was convicted of bank robbery on
March 20. Her sentence was eventually commuted by
President Jimmy Carter, and Hearst was released from prison on
February 1,
1979. She was granted a full
pardon by President
Bill Clinton on
January 20,
2001, the final day of his presidency.
Later life
After her release from prison, Hearst married her former bodyguard, Bernard Shaw. She now lives with her husband and two daughters, Gillian and
Lydia Hearst-Shaw, in
Connecticut.
* 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 directed
Guerrilla: The Taking of Patty Hearst (2004), which focuses on the media frenzy surrounding the Symbionese Liberation Army, and includes new footage and interviews. (The film was released in the UK under the title
Neverland: The Rise and Fall of the Symbionese Liberation Army.)
Hearst has cultivated a surprising part-time 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.
*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.
* She is slated to appear in an upcoming episode of
Veronica Mars.
* Singer
Madonna based her image for the 2003 album
American Life on Hearst's famous photo with the gun but called it a tribute to
Che Guevara instead.
* Comedian
Gilda Radner portrayed Patty Hearst in two sketches on
Saturday Night Live in 1975 and 1976.
*
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*
Patti Smith's infamous debut single featured the monologue "Sixty Days", dedicated to Hearst which preluded her cover of rock classic
Hey Joe. The monologue first describes Smith's view of Hearst's behavior then seems to adapt an imagined and somewhat romantic first-person tone where 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 punk rock band
The Misfits wrote their song 'She' about Hearst.
* Hearst was parodied in the
1976 film
Network.
* On the
2005 episode of
The Simpsons entitled "
Pranksta Rap," Bart pretends to have been kidnapped by Milhouse's father. Chief Wiggum rescues Bart, who begs Wiggum not to arrest Milhouse's dad. In response, Wiggum says, "There's no need for you to defend your captor, Bratty 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 (likely facetiously) that Karen had been an SLA member.
* 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.
* Boulton, David.
The Making Of Tania Hearst. Bergenfield, N.J., and London: New American Library, 1975.
* Hearst, Patty, with Alvin Moscow,
Patty Hearst: Her Own Story. New York: Avon, 1982. ISBN 0380706512. (Original title:
Every Secret Thing.)
* McLellan, Vin, and Paul Avery.
The Voices of Guns: The Definitive and Dramatic Story of the Twenty-two-month Career of the Symbionese Liberation Army. New York: Putnam, 1977.
* Weed, Steven, with Scott Swanton.
My Search for Patty Hearst. New York: Warner, 1976.
* Choi, Susan.
American Woman. New York: Harper Collins, 2003.
* Sorrentino, Christopher.
Trance: A Novel. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2005.
*
CNN Patty Hearst Interview Transcript*
Who2? Bio*
The story of Patty Hearst on Crime Library*
Guerrilla: The Taking of Patty Hearst official website
*
Super70s.com page on the Hearst Kidnapping
