The Hemingways and the Haywards

Some families, it seems, are touched by madness and despair in measures unequal to the general population.

On July 2, 1961, Ernest Hemingway committed suicide at his home in Ketchum, Idaho. It was reported at the time that the renowned author “rested the gun butt of the double-barreled shotgun on the floor of a hallway in his home, leaned over it to put the twin muzzles to his forehead just above the eyes, and pulled both triggers.” Hemingway’s father, Clarence, also committed suicide, as did his siblings Ursula and Leicester.

On July 1, 1996, one day before the 35th anniversary of her grandfather’s death, actress and super-model Margaux Hemingway was found dead in her studio apartment in Santa Monica, California. She was 41. The official cause of death was an overdose of phenobarbital and was ruled a suicide.

From today’s AP wire:

Bill Hayward, the associate producer of “Easy Rider,” has died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. He was 66.

The Los Angeles County coroner’s office said Hayward shot himself in the heart with a handgun on March 9 in Castaic. The suicide occurred in the trailer where he was living.

Hayward was the son of agent Leland Hayward and actress Margaret Sullavan, all part of a Hollywood family whose talent and beauty was often outshone by its demons.

Sullavan and her daughter Bridget Hayward both died of drug overdoses in 1960.

Bill Hayward’s other sister, Brooke, was once married to “Easy Rider” star Dennis Hopper, who said Thursday that Hayward “was a wonderful man and this is a great tragedy for our family.”

Hayward also produced “Haywire” (1980) for CBS, an account of his mother’s suicide based on a memoir by his sister Brooke.

RIP.