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| Ten Thousand Motels |
"Easy Rider" producer Bill Hayward dies of apparent suicide at 66
The Associated Press
Published: March 21, 2008
International Herald Tribune
LOS ANGELES: "Easy Rider" associate producer Bill Hayward, part of a Hollywood family whose talent and beauty was often overshadowed by its demons, has died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, authorities said Thursday. He was 66.
Hayward shot himself in the heart with a handgun in Castaic, California on March 9, county coroner's spokesman Craig Harvey said. The suicide occurred in a trailer where Hayward was living.
Hayward has already been cremated and a memorial service was planned for April, said his friend Toby Rafelson.
"He was a wonderful man and this is a great tragedy for our family," "Easy Rider" director and star Dennis Hopper said in a statement. Hopper was married and had a daughter with Hayward's sister Brooke in the 1960s.
Hayward was born March 27, 1941, the son of theatrical agent Leland Hayward and actress Margaret Sullavan, whose family is as famous for its tragedy and torment as its moviemaking.
Sullavan, who starred in the film "The Shop Around the Corner" and also had been married to Henry Fonda and director William Wyler, died of a drug overdose. Her daughter Bridget died of an overdose just eight months later.
Bill Hayward and his sister Brooke, a model and later an actress, both were sent to ritzy boarding schools and to equally pricey mental institutions in their teen years.
The family's troubles were chronicled in Brooke Hayward's best-selling 1977 memoir "Haywire," which became a 1980 TV movie that Bill Hayward produced.
The book discusses Bill and Brooke Hayward's belief that their mother and sister may have killed themselves, and Bill Hayward shared his thoughts on suicide.
"It would be more of a challenge not to do it," he said. "Since it seems to run in the family. It's like trying to beat the system. There must be something inherently weird. The family drops like flies."
Hayward collaborated with Peter Fonda and Hopper on "Easy Rider," the groundbreaking countercultural 1969 biker pic, and worked largely as an entertainment lawyer after that, with only occasional producing credits.
He was at one point married to the British-born actress Fiona Lewis.
"Easy Rider" led to a lifelong love of motorcycles for Hayward, who liked to ride his Harley Davidson around Hollywood in the 1970s. He had a serious motorcycle accident about five years ago that left him severely injured and mentally diminished.
In addition to sister Brooke, Bill Hayward is survived by a son, Leland Hayward of Los Angeles, and a daughter, Bridget Hayward of Washington, D.C.
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| fireontheplatter |
rip
i got a helmut. i got a real beauty
great great movie that was. |
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| Brainbell Jangler |
So, if Dennis Hopper was married to Bill Hayward's sister and if Bill Hayward's mom was once married to Henry Fonda, then Hopper was married to "Easy Rider" co-star Peter Fonda's stepsister.
A trgic family in the classic Hollywood style. |
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| glencar |
Another fun thread! |
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