Patricia was born on February 20, 1954. On the other side of the world, the Cold War is about to end in Vietnam, and closer, rock and roll is beginning to emerge for the masses: Elvis has just recorded his first album. Unlike him, Patty will already be born famous. She is famous by dynasty, by race. Not everyone has William Randolph Hearst as a grandfather.
William Randolph Hearst, American newspaper magnate
Orson Welles was inspired by Hearst for his film Citizen Kane
William Randolph Hearst, American newspaper magnate
Orson Welles was inspired by Hearst for his film Citizen Kane
William Randolph Hearst, American newspaper magnate
Orson Welles was inspired by Hearst for his film Citizen Kane
William Randolph Hearst, American newspaper magnate
Orson Welles was inspired by Hearst for his film Citizen Kane
Grandfather had died just three years earlier. He had built one of the most immense fortunes in the country, a mammoth wealth obtained mainly from the yellow press, in times when scruples and rectifications were scarce. And at the end of the 19th century, one of his newspapers—the New York Journal—propagated the exaggeration of the sinking of the USS Maine, which ended up sending the United States into war with Spain. They knew they were probably lying, but newspapers had to be sold (in his defense, he wasn't the only one). Hearst, as is well known, inspired Orson Welles to write the glorious Charles Foster Kane. Very angry, he made the cross for her forever.
Let's go back to the granddaughter. None of her story would have happened without coming from that family, but it must be recognized that she earned her own fame with the story she started on this day. One quiet evening, Patty in her bathrobe with her boyfriend at her California home, someone knocks on the door. After a very violent assault, some hooded men take their prey. Patty's millionaire parents considered that there was no need to provide private security for her: they were wrong. Gagged and scared to death, Patty travels in several trunks to a safe house.
Was 57 days locked in a closet
Was 57 days locked in a closet
Was 57 days locked in a closet
Was 57 days locked in a closet
From here on, the information is blurry, as it would be for any person who lived for 57 days locked in the dark in a closet, receiving constant visits from strangers who came to slam doors and shout harsh political slogans. And little by little, day by day, Patty adapts, transforms. It's worth trying to put yourself in her shoes. She learns that she is being held by the Symbionese Liberation Army, an “international group with dangerous tentacles all over the world.” Let's get to know these strangers better.
The Symbionese Liberation Army
A police commander only identified those mentioned. However, the group's leader was also Patricia Soltysik (Zoya) and Nancy Ling Perry (Fahizah) as second in command, Emily Harris (Yolanda) and Angela Atwood (Gelina).
The Symbionese Liberation Army
A police commander only identified those mentioned. However, the group's leader was also Patricia Soltysik (Zoya) and Nancy Ling Perry (Fahizah) as second in command, Emily Harris (Yolanda) and Angela Atwood (Gelina).
The Symbionese Liberation Army
A police commander only identified those mentioned. However, the group's leader was also Patricia Soltysik (Zoya) and Nancy Ling Perry (Fahizah) as second in command, Emily Harris (Yolanda) and Angela Atwood (Gelina).
The Symbionese Liberation Army
A police commander only identified those mentioned. However, the group's leader was also Patricia Soltysik (Zoya) and Nancy Ling Perry (Fahizah) as second in command, Emily Harris (Yolanda) and Angela Atwood (Gelina).
The ESL's mission was more difficult than achieving world peace: uniting all leftists. Better said, unite all the struggles of the left – hence the symbiosis of the title and the seven-headed hydra of the logo – in a revolutionary war. Of course, with little tolerance for the nuances and iron fist of Cinque, a messianic captain who had managed to escape from a prison in Soledad, California. The group had all the contradictions in the world, but it was quite special and unique: there are very few examples of left-wing terrorist groups of this style in recent US history. They didn't end up achieving even 1% of their goals, but let's not count the end yet.
Patty Hearst ends up joining the ESL and defends its emblem.
R.C.
Patty has been making tapes on a portable recorder. Tapes often dictated or read from a paper prepared by the ESL. In those tapes, the group blackmailed their parents asking for the moon: give their entire fortune so that the poor of the entire country can eat. Her parents responded, tried to help, but they convinced Patty that no one cared about her anymore. Some members of the band had it in their pockets. They played with her, getting closer and closer. And one day they asked her if she wanted to join them. She said yes. Patty became Tania—in homage to Che's companion—and starred in her iconic pose with a rifle. The band had a burst of sincerity and confessed that there were no tentacles all over the world, that it was just them and that more than a multinational they were a coworking.
It is difficult to know what happened during those times of coexistence. Whether Patty agreed to join out of fear or conviction, she was delighted with the utopian ideas of the ESL. What is quite clear is that, after all the psychological and physical abuse that she suffered in her closet, being already part of the band, she was also forced to agree to have sex with the men in the group.
Image of Patty Hearst with a rifle, captured by the security camera of the Hibernia bank in San Francisco. FBI
Image of Patty Hearst with a rifle, captured by the security camera of the Hibernia bank in San Francisco. FBI
Image of Patty Hearst with a rifle, captured by the security camera of the Hibernia bank in San Francisco. FBI
Image of Patty Hearst with a rifle, captured by the security camera of the Hibernia bank in San Francisco. FBI
And we come to the day, exactly fifty years ago. On April 15, 1974, they decided to rob the Hibernia bank in San Francisco. And Patty will be in charge of shouting the slogans while the others get the money. A security camera captures it. And then everything explodes: the tabloid magnate's granddaughter, the rich heiress, is now on all the covers, even those that still belong to her family.
How has such a blameless and innocent girl made such an enormous internal journey to now be the spokesperson for a group of guerrillas who rob banks? An irresistible and unique story that has it all. A textbook case of what they now call “pop-crime”, with radical politics involved and an inconceivable mix of social classes. A sensational bombshell, in memory of grandfather.
Police locate house where Symbionese Liberation Army is hiding
Police locate house where Symbionese Liberation Army is hiding
Police locate house where Symbionese Liberation Army is hiding
Police locate house where Symbionese Liberation Army is hiding
All this media expectation surrounded the band. A month later, on May 17, the police located the house where the ESL was hiding in Los Angeles and after an intense shootout, no one was left alive. More than 400 agents participate and more than 9,000 bullets are fired. All broadcast live on local TV. And Patty could see it. As fate would have it, she was not at home. What she saw on her screen made her convinced that the police were not out to save her. If she had been there, she would have died.
'Wanted' poster published by the FBI with three of the ESL members who “should be considered armed and very dangerous”
'Wanted' poster published by the FBI with three of the ESL members who “should be considered armed and very dangerous”
'Wanted' poster published by the FBI with three of the ESL members who “should be considered armed and very dangerous”
'Wanted' poster published by the FBI with three of the ESL members who “should be considered armed and very dangerous”
After the shooting, everything is desolation. What remains of the ESL tries to rebuild itself without success and they look increasingly ridiculous and exaggerated. Patty begins to lose faith. But it still takes them more than a year to find it. September 75: she runs, tries to escape from it, but they catch her. And as soon as she gets to prison they ask her her profession. She hesitates, but she says smiling, “urban guerrilla.” The trials will be prolonged, they will be terribly high-profile. An attempt will be made to demonstrate Stockholm syndrome or that she was fully aware of everything and she completely decided to do everything she did (including shooting—without harm—some security guards). On the recommendation of her lawyers, of course, she must convince him that she didn't really want to do it.
He is, little by little, readjusting to the “ordinary world.” Jimmy Carter and then Bill Clinton—on her last day in office—end up pardoning her. The 35 years that she had to serve ended in just two, in a cell a little more comfortable than that closet.
Patty is back in the fold. She's been to the other side and seen a lot. Nobody cares too much about her, because it's time for her to become a phenomenon. There are several films and documentaries about her case, in better and worse taste, most famously Paul Schrader's 'Patty Hearst' (1988), with a convincing Natasha Richardson in her role. Hearst actively participates in the promotion, shows her face and responds, although for many she remains a very childish woman who was deceived and did not know how to oppose, as if that had been easy. She ended up telling her story the way she wanted in the book 'Patty Hearst: her own story', with Alvin Moscow.
The story of the kidnapping of the Hearst heiress was brought to the big screen by film director Paul Schrader
The actress who gave life to Patty was Natasha Richardson
The story of the kidnapping of the Hearst heiress was brought to the big screen by film director Paul Schrader
The actress who gave life to Patty was Natasha Richardson
The story of the kidnapping of the Hearst heiress was brought to the big screen by film director Paul Schrader
The actress who gave life to Patty was Natasha Richardson
The story of the kidnapping of the Hearst heiress was brought to the big screen by film director Paul Schrader
The actress who gave life to Patty was Natasha Richardson
And in the middle of the crowd, a man with a different look knew how to notice her: John Waters. Waters, master of provocative and unpleasant cinema, creator of the incomparable 'Pink Flamingos' and 'Hairspray', became friends with Hearst out of fascination. And he gave her a new life. Although his films were on the margins, he turned her into a movie star, for example in 'Cry Baby' (1990), alongside Johnny Depp. Patty found someone who genuinely loved being with her, neither to laugh at nor to pity her. An unlikely turn of events that allowed him to reappropriate her image and her story.
A lot of time has passed. At 70 years old, Patricia Hearst lives in New York and is dedicated to breeding exclusive dogs. Although she wants to forget the past, her life, despite her regret, is an incredible true story and will continue to fascinate everyone who comes close to her. From the terror of the kidnapping to that bank robbery carried out by a very high class person, from the trials and biopics to the sense of humor and self-parody with John Waters. A legendary life.
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