Edie Sedgwick

~From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edie_Sedgwick

Edith Minturn "Edie" Sedgwick (April 20, 1943 – November 15, 1971) was an American socialite, debutante and heiress who starred in many of Andy Warhol's short films in the 1960s.

Edith Sedgwick was born at the Cottage Hospital in Santa Barbara, California to Francis Minturn Sedgwick (1904-1967), a sculptor, philanthropist and rancher, and Alice Delano de Forest. Edith was named after her father's sister, Edith Minturn Sedgwick, who died at birth. At St.Timothy's School in Stevenson, Maryland, she assumed the middle name of Minturn.

Family History:

Edie Sedgwick's family came from Stockbridge, Massachusetts where Edie's great-great-great grandfather Judge Theodore Sedgwick had settled after the American Revolution. Theodore Sedgwick was the first to plead and win a case for the freedom of a black woman, Elizabeth Freeman, Mum Bett, under the Massachusetts Bill of Rights that declared all men to be born free and equal. Edie's mother was the daughter of Henry Wheeler de Forest (President of the Southern Pacific Railroad, and direct descendant of Jesse de Forest whose Dutch West India Company helped to settled New Amsterdam).
Her paternal grandfather was Henry Dwight Sedgwick III, historian and acclaimed author. Sedgwick's family has been long established in Massachusetts history, with members having been painted by the artist John Singer Sargent. Her great-great-great grandfather, William Ellery, was a signatory of the Declaration of Independence.
She was a cousin of actress Kyra Sedgwick. Edie was preceded in death by the suicides of her brothers Mintie and Bobbie.

Modeling career:

Sedgwick pursued a brief career in modeling, appearing in Vogue on March 15, 1966. She also appeared in the September 1965 issue of LIFE and was featured in Vogue as a 'youthquaker" in 1965.
Although she appeared in magazines like Vogue, she never became an accepted part of the fashion industry. According to senior editor Gloria Schiff: "she was identified in the gossip columns with the drug scene, and back then there was a certain apprehension about being involved in that scene... people were really terrified by it... drugs had done so much damage to young, creative, brilliant people that we were just anti that scene as a policy". However, editor in chief of Vogue, Diana Vreeland, called her an exemplar of the era's youth culture.

The Warhol days:

In January 1965, Sedgwick met Andy Warhol at Lester Persky's apartment. She began going to the Factory regularly in March with Chuck Wein. During one of these visits, Warhol put her into Vinyl. She made short cameo appearances in Warhol's film, Horse, when she and Ondine entered the Factory toward the end of the film.
On April 30, 1965, Warhol took both Sedgwick and Wein (as well as Gerard Malanga) with him to the opening of his exhibit at the Sonnabend Gallery in Paris. Upon returning to New York City, Warhol told his scriptwriter, Ron Tavel, that he wanted to make Sedgwick the queen of the Factory and asked him to write a script for her: "Something in a kitchen. White and clean and plastic." The result was Kitchen, with Sedgwick, Rene Ricard and Roger Trudeau. It was shot at soundman Buddy Wirtschafter's studio apartment.
After Kitchen, Wein replaced Tavel, being credited as writer and assistant director for the filming of Beauty No. 2, in which Sedgwick appeared with "Gino [Piserchio], a hunk in jockey shorts". Beauty No. 2 premiered at the Cinematheque on July 17th and her onscreen appearance was compared to Marilyn Monroe's. During this time she became Warhol's Girl of the Year. The pair would often dress alike, and Sedgwick frequently called herself Miss Warhol. The friendship did not last beyond 1966 when Warhol and Sedgwick made an acrimonious public split. As a result of her popularity, she was getting a lot of advice from people to leave him and become a real actress.
Warhol filmed Sedgwick for The Chelsea Girls but when she left the Factory, he edited her out of the film, ostensibly at her request. Her footage was replaced with a shot of Nico with colored lights projected on her face with Velvet Underground music in the background.

Bob Dylan and Bob Neuwirth:

Following her departure from Warhol’s circle, Sedgwick began living at the Chelsea Hotel, where she became close to Bob Dylan. There is , however, no evidence that Segwick had a romantic relationship with Dylan, and he denies it. She is rumoured to be one of the inspirations behind Dylan's seminal 1966 opus Blonde on Blonde, in particular, the acidic put-down song "Just Like a Woman" and the raucous stomper "Leopardskin Pillbox Hat". It was also claimed that the phrase "your debutante" on the track "Stuck Inside of Mobile With the Memphis Blues Again" referred to her. Dylan’s friends eventually convinced Sedgwick to sign up with Albert Grossman, Dylan's manager.
Their relationship ended when Sedgwick found out that Dylan had married Sara Lowndes in a secret ceremony - something that she apparently found out from Warhol during an argument at the Gingerman Restaurant in February 1966.
Paul Morrissey: "She [Sedgwick] said, 'They're [Dylan's people] going to make a film and I'm supposed to star in it with Bobby [Dylan].' Suddenly it was Bobby this and Bobby that, and they realized that she had a crush on him. They thought he'd been leading her on, because just that day Andy had heard in his lawyer's office that Dylan had been secretly married for a few months - he married Sara Lowndes in November 1965... Andy couldn't resist asking, 'Did you know Edie that Bob Dylan has gotten married?' She was trembling. They realized that she really thought of herself as entering a relationship with Dylan, that maybe he hadn't been truthful."
In 1966, Sedgwick continued a tumultuous relationship with Dylan's "right hand man" Bob Neuwirth. During this period, she became dependent on heroin and barbiturates. Neuwirth eventually parted ways with Sedgwick in early 1967, unable to deal with her drug use and erratic behaviour.

Later Years:

Sedgwick auditioned for Norman Mailer's play The Deer Park, but Mailer thought she "wasn't very good... She used so much of herself with every line that we knew she'd be immolated after three performances".
In April 1967 she began shooting Ciao! Manhattan, an underground movie in which she starred. After initial footage was shot in New York, work on the film was abandoned due to budget and legal problems. Sedgwick’s rapidly degenerating health saw her return to her family in California and spend time in several different psychiatric institutions.
In August 1969, she was hospitalized in the psychiatric ward of Cottage Hospital after being busted for drug offenses by the local police. While in the hospital she met another patient, Michael Post, whom she would later marry on July 24, 1971. Sedgwick was in the hospital again in the summer of 1970 but was let out under the supervision of two nurses, and aimed to finish Ciao! Manhattan.

Her Death:

When she married Michael Post on July 24, 1971, she supposedly began drinking and taking pills until October when pain medication was given to her to treat a physical illness. She remained under the care of Dr. Wells who prescribed her barbiturates, but she would demand more pills or say she had lost them in order to get more, often combining them with alcohol.
On the night of November 15, 1971, Sedgwick went to a fashion show at the Santa Barbara Museum, a segment of which was filmed for the television show An American Family. After the fashion show, she attended a party and was supposedly attacked by a drunken guest who called her a heroin addict. She phoned Post, who arrived at the party and saw that she was unwell.
He eventually left the party and took her back to their apartment. Before they both fell asleep, he gave her the medication that had been prescribed for her. When he awoke the following morning at 7:30, she was dead, aged 28. The coroner registered her death as "Accident/Suicide" due to a Barbiturate overdose.
She was buried in the small Oak Hill Cemetery in Ballard, California. The family attended her memorial service.
[edit]In popular culture

Sedgwick has been referenced in popular music, numerous times in addition to the works of her contemporaries described above.
The Cult wrote a song about her life called "Edie (Ciao Baby)" which was on their Sonic Temple album released in 1989.
James Ray and the Performance wrote a song about her called "Edie Sedgwick" on the b-side of the 12" version of their first single, Mexico Sundown Blues. A remake was recorded on the James Rays Gangwar LP, Psychodalek, titled "Edie".
Edie Brickell & New Bohemians wrote a song about her called "Little Miss S" which was on their Shooting Rubberbands at the Stars album released in 1988.
The Velvet Underground song "Femme Fatale" (on the album The Velvet Underground and Nico) was written about her at Warhol's request.
Just as Dylan's "Just Like a Woman" and "Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat" were purportedly written about Sedgwick, some believe that the song "Like a Rolling Stone" was also inspired by her, with "Napoleon in Rags" or the "Diplomat" on his "Chrome Horse" being Andy Warhol.
English indie band The Long Blondes mention Edie Sedgwick in the chorus of their song Lust In the Movies.
Philadelphia's bard of South Street, Kenn Kweder, recorded an homage, Edie Sedgwick, on his 1995 self-titled release.
The alternative rock band Dramarama used a photograph of Sedgwick on their album Cinéma Vérité.
[edit]On Film
In the 1980s, Warren Beatty bought the rights to her life story and was planning to make a movie with Molly Ringwald starring as Sedgwick. In 1988, Vogue reported a film entitled The War at Home was set to be loosely based on her life during the factory years. Linda Fiorentino was to portray her. It was to be based on John Byrum's fictionalized account of a working-class man who becomes enamored with her. It was never produced.
Sienna Miller is to play Sedgwick in Factory Girl, along side Guy Pearce playing Andy Warhol and Hayden Christensen as Billy Quinn, a biopic about her life and times due out December 29, 2006.

Trivia:

Mystery Science Theater 3000 referenced her in their "Master Ninja 1" episode. Upon seeing a burning building, Joel Robinson and the robots comment: "Looks like Edie Sedgwick fell asleep again." This pertains to an instance in October 1966 where Sedgwick fell asleep with candles burning in her apartment on East 63rd Street, causing a fire. She was rushed to Lenox hospital with burns on her arms, legs and back.
The Andy Warhol Story is considered one of Warhol's lost films that has been mentioned in a few sources, but generally unknown and unseen. Although Lupe is usually credited as Sedgwick's final Warhol film, The Andy Warhol Story is actually the last film that she made for Andy Warhol - almost a year after Lupe.
Warhol was often blamed for Edie Sedgwick's descent into drug addiction and mental illness. However, before meeting Warhol, she had been in mental hospitals twice and came from a family with a history of mental illness (or more accurately, a history of solving emotional conflicts through institutionalization.) She was only close to Warhol for about a year, from approximately March 1965 to February 1966.

Filmography:

Kitchen (film) (1965)
Space (1965)
Screen Test #2 (1965)
Vinyl (1965)
Restaurant (film) (1965)
Poor Little Rich Girl (1965)
Beauty #2 (1965)
Outer and Inner Space (1965)
**** aka the Four Star Movie (1965)
Chelsea Girls (1966)
Diaries, Notes and Sketches (1970)
Ciao! Manhattan (1972)

External links:

Edie Sedgwick at the Internet Movie Database:
www.imdb.com/name/nm0781291/

Information about Edie Sedgwick:
www.warholstars.org/stars/edie.html

Edie Nation:
www.edienation.com/

Edie Sedgwick myspace:
www.myspace.com/ediemsedgwick

Edie: Girl on Fire:
www.myspace.com/ediegirlonfire


Bibliography:

Victor Bockris and Gerard Malanga: Uptight - The Velvet Underground Story
Victor Bockris: Andy Warhol
Michael Opray: Andy Warhol. Film Factory.
Jean Stein: Edie: an American Biography.
Andy Warhol: The Philosophy of Andy Warhol
Melissa Painter and David Weisman: Edie: Girl on Fire Book and Film.


CIAO! Edie,

oxo
~confetta