Jean Seberg

Jean Dorothy Seberg (November 13, 1938 – August 30, 1979) was an American actress. She starred in 34 films in Hollywood and in Europe, including Saint Joan, "Bonjour Tristesse", Breathless, Lilith, Moment to Moment, A Fine Madness, Paint Your Wagon, Airport, Macho Callahan, and Gang War in Naples.

Seberg is also one of the best-known targets of the FBI COINTELPRO project. Her victimization was rendered as a well-documented retaliation for her support of the Black Panther Party in the 1960s.

Jean Seberg died at the age of 40 of a barbiturate overdose in Paris. Her death was ruled a suicide.

Early life

Jean Seberg was born in Marshalltown, Iowa, the daughter of Dorothy Arline (née Benson), a substitute teacher, and Edward Waldemar Seberg, a pharmacist. Her family was Lutheran and of Swedish, English, and German ancestry. Her paternal grandfather, Edward Carlson, arrived in the U.S. in 1882 and observed, "there are too many Carlsons in the New World". He decided to change the family's last name to Seberg in memory of the water and mountains of Sweden. Jean had a sister Mary-Ann, a brother Kurt, and a brother David, who was killed in a car accident in 1968.

Jean Seberg (musical)

Jean Seberg is a musical biography with a book by Julian Barry, lyrics by Christopher Adler, and music by Marvin Hamlisch. It is based on the life of the late American actress and was first performed at the National Theatre in London December 1, 1983.

The plot covers her life and career from her first screen appearance in the 1957 Otto Preminger film Saint Joan to her acclaim in France prompted by her appearance in Breathless to her support of the Black Panthers to her mysterious 1979 death in Paris at the age of forty.

The production underwent major problems and faced criticism during its developmental and rehearsal stages. The original choreographer was fired and two of the stars suffered ankle injuries. One of them was replaced, resulting in the opening being delayed. Supporters of the National Theatre were dismayed that it was staging the premiere of what was primarily an American musical, and rumors that it was a disaster spread through London.

In an interview with Stephen Holden of The New York Times, Hamlisch said, "A project like Jean seems awfully risky to a producer. . . . I have to keep reminding myself that A Chorus Line was initially considered weird and off the wall. It was A Chorus Line that convinced me that if you give an audience a theatrical moment, whether it's funny or mean or satiric, they'll accept it as long as it's theatrical. You mustn't underestimate an audience's intelligence."