She
was born February 19th 1955 in Portland Oregon and was
named for the famous Bordeaux
vineyard Chateau Margaux that
supposedly inspired her
conception. (Later in life after
suffering from alcohol dependence
she changed the spelling of her
name to Margot.) She was the
granddaughter of writer Ernest
Hemingway who killed himself (via
shotgun) on July 2, 1961. Shortly
after the suicide of her
grandfather, Margaux suffered her
first epileptic fit at age 7.
Growing up she spent most of her
youth on a ranch in Ketchum
Idaho, which greatly appealed to
tomboy Margaux who was a skilled
outdoorswoman who could
hunt, shoot, ride, ski, fish and
absolutely loved adventure. She
was not much for school. In fact,
she never finished high school;
dyslexia had made math and
reading especially difficult for
her.
High school
didnt seem essential,
especially when the six-foot tall
17 year old was awarded the first
ever million-dollar contract for
a model by endorsing Faberge and
Babe perfume. In addition to her
height and bone structure, her
predominant feature were her
exceptionally full eyebrows. It
was sudden stardom. She was even
featured on the cover of Time
magazine. Seemingly overnight she
was one of those Studio 54
celebrities (she went at least
once a week) though she claims
that she always felt awkward
amongst the Halston-Liza crowd --
like I was just this
girl from
Idaho
drinking helped
ease her awkwardness. In true
Hemingway fashion she prided
herself on her ability to hold
her liquor. Initially used as a
social lubricant, her drinking
would eventually become a serious
problem.
Gorgeous
and famous the next step seemed
only natural. She parlayed her
modeling celebrity into a movie
career. Her high profile film
debut was a starring role in the
rape revenge flick Lipstick
in 1976 with Anne Bancroft, Chris
Sarandon, and Perry King. The
film was declared
wretched and was torn
apart by critics who seem to take
special glee in targeting her
unskilled performance.
Ironically, the critics praised
the natural acting ability of her
younger sibling Mariel, who
played her kid sister in the
film. Margaux Hemingway earned
her racksandrazors members
card for her next film
her work in the
deliciously bad Piranha clone
Killer Fish
(1979) with a cast that includes
Lee Majors, Karen Black, Marisa
Berenson, James Franciscus, and
Gary Collins. Then she filmed
kung fu parody They
Call Me Bruce? in
1982 with Johnny Yune. In 1988
she entered The Betty Ford Clinic
to overcome her alcohol
addiction. As her career
continued its rapid downward
slide she did a Playboy
spread in an effort to revive her
career. The roles that followed
in the 90s were primarily adult
thrillers. In 1991 she
starred in Inner
Sanctum
(costarring Joseph Bottoms and
Tanya Roberts and in which
Hemingway was body doubled by
Michelle Bauer), Double
Obsession (1992)
in which she plays a psychotic
killer, she was a spy in
Deadly Rivals (1993)
with adult thriller guru Andrew
Stevens as well as Joseph Bologna
and Richard Roundtree. Her final
film Dangerous
Cargo (1996)
featured Joey Travolta and Robert
Zdar in supporting roles.
The body
was found on Monday when friends
grew concerned about her and a
building superintendent gained
entry to the apartment.
The windows
were closed tight and it was
intensely hot and odorous in the
apartment. The intensely
spiritual (always
searching say her friends)
Hemingway had constructed an
altar in her bedroom with
flowers, white candles inside a
white ribboned circle, a toppled
chessman (knight), several
pendants, etc
and a note
with the words Love,
healing, protection for Margot
forever. (She used the
sober spelling of her
name yet in her unplugged
refrigerator were 8 bottles of
Becks Beer and an open bottle of
champagne.) She was lying on her
back on her queen-sized bed with
blankets up to her chin. She wore
only a white T-shirt, which was
stained with post-mortem
fluid. At the time of
discovery the body had already
begun the first stages of
decomposition skin
discoloration and slippage as
well as gas distention.
Initially
the death was thought perhaps to
be accidental. Friends could not
understand her passing.
However, the coroner subsequently
ruled suicide when the autopsy
revealed there was 10 times the
recommended dosage of
Phenobarbital in her system. She
left no note. She was cremated at
Forest Lawn in Glendale and her
ashes were shipped back to
Ketchum Cemetery for burial. She
was the 5th Hemingway
(Ernest, his father Clarence, and
the writers siblings Ursula
and Leicaster) in 4 generations
to take her own life. A sad
farewell indeed. |