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Patricia Campbell Hearst (born February 20, 1956), better known as Patty Hearst, now known as Patricia Hearst Shaw, is an American newspaper heiress and occasional actress. She is the granddaughter of publishing magnate William Randolph Hearst. She became famous in 1974 when she was kidnapped, but soon afterwards joined her kidnappers in robbing a bank. She spent time in prison before her sentence was commuted by President Jimmy Carter.
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Biography
Hearst was born in San Francisco, California, the third of five daughters of Randolph Apperson Hearst and Catherine Wood Campbell. She grew up primarily in the wealthy San Francisco suburb of Hillsborough. She attended Crystal Springs School for Girls in Hillsborough and the Santa Catalina School for Girls in Monterey. Among her few close friends she counted Patricia Tobin, whose family founded the Hibernia National Bank, a branch of which Hearst would later aid in robbing.
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Kidnapping and her time with the SLA
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On February 4, 1974, the 19-year-old Hearst was kidnapped from the Berkeley, California apartment that she shared with her fiancé Steven Weed, by an urban guerrilla group called the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA). When the attempt to swap Hearst for jailed SLA members failed, the SLA made ransom demands which resulted in the donation by the Hearst family of $6 million worth of food to the poor of the Bay Area. After the distribution of food, Hearst was still not released.
On April 15, 1974, she was photographed wielding an assault rifle while robbing the Sunset District branch of the Hibernia Bank in San Francisco. Later communications from her were issued under the pseudonym Tania (from the nickname of famous guerilla Haydée Tamara Bunke Bider) and revealed that she was committed to the goals of the SLA. A warrant was issued for her arrest and in September 1975, she was arrested in an apartment with other SLA members.
In her trial, which started on January 15, 1976, Hearst claimed she had been locked blindfolded in a closet and physically and sexually abused, which caused her to join the SLA. Her defense was largely based around the claim that her actions could be attributed to being brainwashed. Others see it as a severe case of the "Stockholm syndrome," in which captives become sympathetic with their captors. Hearst further argued she was coerced or intimidated into her part in the bank robbery.
Attorney F. Lee Bailey defended Patty Hearst. Legal analysts and Hearst herself later said the famed attorney did a poor job defending her. He gave very short and weak closing arguments. Hearst was convicted of bank robbery on March 20,1976. Her seven-year prison term was eventually commuted by President Jimmy Carter, and Hearst was released from prison on February 1, 1979, having served only twenty-two months. She was granted a full pardon by President Bill Clinton on January 20, 2001, the final day of his presidency.
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Later life
After her release from prison, Hearst married her former bodyguard, Bernard Shaw. She now lives with her husband and two daughters, Gillian and Lydia Hearst-Shaw, in Connecticut.
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Documentaries about Hearst
Robert Stone in 2004 directed Guerrilla: The Taking of Patty Hearst, which focuses on the media frenzy surrounding the Symbionese Liberation Army, and includes new footage and interviews. (The film was released in the UK under the title Neverland: The Rise and Fall of the Symbionese Liberation Army.)
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Acting roles
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Hearst has cultivated a surprising part-time career as an actress.
Hearst has also appeared in the films Bio-Dome and Second Best.
Notably playing against type; Hearst played a crack-addicted prostitute on an episode of Son of the Beach.
She is slated to appear in an upcoming episode of Veronica Mars. Creator Rob Thomas said, "She is playing a character close to herself. She's playing the granddaughter of Hearst College's founder, who in our world is a railroad baron rather than a publishing baron. It'll be similar, but she is not literally playing Patty Hearst."
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Other Work
Disatisfied with other documentaries made on the subject, Hearst presented and produced a special for the Travel Channel entitled 'Secrets of San Simeon with Patricia Hearst' where she took viewers inside her grandfather's famous mansion; giving access to parts of the property never before seen . A video and DVD was later released of the special.
In 1996 Hearst co-authored 'Murder at San Simeon' - a novel based upon the death of Thomas Ince on her grandfather's yacht.
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Trivia
Hearst's gun in the infamous SLA photo is a modified full auto M1 Carbine with sawed-off barrel, according to court testimony.
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Fictional accounts
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