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Jean Seberg's Death
- Jean Seberg
- Actress
- November 13, 1938
- August 30, 1979
- Suicide, Drug Overdose
Her acting career was torpedoed by the FBI in retaliation for her support of civil rights causes.
Jean Seberg was born in Iowa and her beauty …
…led her to Hollywood, with a breakthrough role at the age of 17 in Otto Preminger's "St. Joan. "
She also scored this role in the original "Breathless", appearing with co-star Jean-Paul Belmondo.
She also appeared in "Airport"…
….with Dean Martin and Burt Lancaster and "Paint Your Wagon",
…with Clint Eastwood and Lee Marvin.
But as her career was peaking, the best roles seemed to dry up. She complained that some of what was offered to work on bordered on pornography.
It was later revealed that the FBI COINTELPRO project was trying to neutralize her because of her involvement in the civil rights movement, which included more than $10,000 in cash contributions to the Black Panther party.
(Jane Fonda was also blacklisted for a time, even though there's no hard evidence of a "list.")
It got even worse for Seberg when a rumor was floated that the baby she was carrying was fathered by a member of the Panthers. She miscarried and claimed the rumors were the cause, because they upset her greatly. She even called a news conference, displaying the infant to prove the baby was white.
She died of a barbiturate overdose at age 40. It was ruled a suicide.
Jean Seberg's buried in the Montparnasse cemetery in Paris.
