Background

Margaux Hemingway was born Margot Louise Hemingway on February 16, 1954, in Portland, Oregon, United States. She was the daughter of Byra Louise Whittlesey and Jack Hemingway, a fly fisherman, conservationist, and writer. Ernest Hemingway, a renowned novelist, short-story writer, journalist, and sportsman, was Margaux's paternal grandfather.

Margaux had two sisters - Mariel and Joan.

Education

When Margaux was a child, her family lived in different places. Some time after her birth, they settled down in Cuba and then relocated first to San Francisco and later to Idaho. While in Idaho, the family lived on Margaux's famous grandfather's farm in Ketchum, adjacent to Sun Valley.

As for Margaux's education, she studied at the Catlin Gabel School in Portland, Oregon.

Career

After finishing school, Margaux worked at a small public relations firm. She once asked her father to take her with him on a business trip to New York. There, namely at the Plaza Hotel, she got acquainted with Errol Wetanson, an entrepreneur, restaurant chain heir and her future husband. Within four months, 19-year-old Margaux relocated to New York, moved in with Wetanson and began working in modeling.

It was in the early 1970s, that Margaux signed a million-dollar contract with Fabergé, becoming the spokesmodel for Babe perfume. During that time, she also appeared on dozens of fashion magazine covers, including those of Cosmopolitan, Elle, Harper's Bazaar, and Vogue. On June 16, 1975, she appeared on the cover of TIME, which dubbed her one of the "new beauties."

Hemingway's work for the Fabergé fragrance Babe led to nationwide recognition, so it was no surprise that Hollywood came next. The first movie Margaux appeared in was Lipstick (1976), directed by Lamont Johnson. Margaux had the starring role, and at her suggestion, her younger sister Mariel Hemingway was cast in a supporting role. Though the film had its merits, it found no favor among Hollywood critics, who were quick to slam Margaux's performance. Mariel, however, won praise and went on to appear in a number of high profile film projects in the late '70s and early '80s.

In spite of her downfall, Margaux continued to work as a model and occasional actress, appearing in the low-budget horror Killer Fish (1979) opposite Lee Majors and Karen Black. Margaux began attracting more attention for her turbulent social life, frequenting Studio 54 in New York and attending numerous glamorous parties and events. It was in this period, that alcoholism began to come into play, a fact she later put down to her nervousness amongst the high profile celebrity crowd of New York.

Later, Margaux appeared in the comedy They Call Me Bruce? (1982) and had a supporting role in Over the Brooklyn Bridge (1984), a movie that she later mentioned as her favorite.

During her lifetime, Hemingway spent much time traveling. In 1984, Margaux was spending much time in Miami, Florida, and embarked upon the making of Hemingway: Winner Take Nothing (1998) in Cuba. The documentary chronicled the work of her famous grandfather Ernest Hemingway and involved her traveling around Europe and the United States.

It was also in 1984, that Margaux had a skiing accident. It took her almost a year to recover. During that period of time, she gained 75 pounds (34 kg), ending up at nearly 200 lbs, and became increasingly depressed. In 1987, she checked herself into the Betty Ford Center for rehabilitation.

In 1988, Margaux emerged from the clinic with positive energy. She attempted to make a comeback and appeared on the cover of Playboy magazine in May 1990. During that period of time, Hemingway appeared in La Messe en si Mineur (1990) with her in a leading role. In the years that followed, Margaux was cast in a series of small roles in Bad Love (1992), Deadly Rivals (1993), and had a lead in Joe D'Amato's A Woman's Secret (1992).

Other movies Margaux appeared in during the last years of her life were Double Obsession (1992), Inner Sanctum II (1994), Vicious Kiss (1995), Backroads to Vegas (1996), among others. Shortly before her death, she was set to host the outdoor adventure series Wild Guide on the Discovery Channel. She also endorsed a psychic telephone hotline, owned by her cousin, Adiel Hemingway.

Achievements

• 

  Margaux Hemingway was a well-known fashion model and actress, once described as the face of a generation. She was a granddaughter of writer Ernest Hemingway.
  
  Tall, blond and glamorous, Margaux Hemingway achieved nearly instant renown in the 1970s as a supermodel. She began her career at the urging of a former husband, Errol Wetanson, a film producer and founder and former owner of the Wetson hamburger chain. In 1975, she signed what The New Yorker called "the largest single advertising contract ever, involving a female personality." The $1 million contract made her the spokeswoman for Babe, a fragrance line, developed by Fabergé.
  
  Despite receiving early and rapid success, Margaux had an insignificant film career. She appeared in such movies, as Lipstick (1976), Killer Fish (1979), They Call Me Bruce? (1982), Woman's Secret (1992), Inner Sanctum (1991) and Inner Sanctum II (1994), Deadly Rivals (1992), Double Obsession (1994), Vicious Kiss (1995) and others.
  
  The highest-paid woman in her business, Margaux Hemingway was the face of several fashion magazines' covers across the world.

Works

More photos

• movie

  • Over the Brooklyn Bridge

    (A Jewish man who owns a Brooklyn deli asks his domineerin...)

    1984
  • Double Obsession

    (A disturbed lesbian librarian kidnaps a beautiful young w...)

    1992
  • Vicious Kiss

    (A struggling artist is stalked and pursued by an emotiona...)

    1995
  • They Call Me Bruce

    (A goofy Korean finds his life hopelessly complicated with...)

    1982
  • Lipstick

    (A top fashion model seeks justice after she is brutally r...)

    1976
  • Deadly Rivals

    (A physicist involved in classified military research meet...)

    1993
  • Dangerous Cargo

    (A Russian gangster kidnaps a woman and her friend, an agi...)

    1996
  • Bad Love

    (A loving couple struggles to fend for themselves in moder...)

    1992
  • Killer Fish

    (Jewel thieves attempt to recover treasure from piranha-in...)

    1979
  • Killing Machine (aka Goma-2)

    (A former terrorist has started a lawful career, being a t...)

    1984

Views

Margaux practiced yoga and followed the Solar Kundalini "Codex Relaxatia" paradigm, to which she was introduced by her close friend, Zachary Selig. For her, these were the tools for success and to overcome some of her debilitating mental disorders. Margaux resorted to these relaxation skills for the rest of her life.

Margaux was an avid environmentalist.

Quotations: "I loved to dance and went to Studio 54 at least twice a week. But I always felt nervous around the people there. I was in awe of that whole Halston-Liza Minnelli crowd. To me, they were the real celebrities, and I was just a girl from Idaho."

"My name? Of course, it helps. If you've got it, use it. I'm proud of it, for sure."

"I am not a Hemingway aficionado."

"If you are at one with your body, then you are at one with yourself."

"I love France. The French respect your privacy."

"For me, becoming a celebrity was like being in the eye of a hurricane. Suddenly, I was an international cover girl. Everybody was lapping up my Hemingwayness. They wanted to rub elbows with me or brush up against me."

"I remember being really poor until I got my first $250,000 check from Fabergé. That was pretty nice; I put it in the bank, and from that moment on, there seemed to be a lot of champagne and limousines in my life."

Personality

Margaux was known as a party girl. She was a regular attendee of New York City's exclusive discothèque Studio 54. There, she hung out with such well-known personalities, as Halston, Bianca Jagger, Liza Minnelli, Grace Jones, and Andy Warhol.

Maryam d'Abo, Margaux Hemingway's friend, described her as a sweet, vulnerable and caring friend, a woman, who might have been injured by a too early brush with the limelight but was not destroyed by it, someone who struggled to overcome her disappointment and find meaning in the ordinary events of her life.

Physical Characteristics: Margaux was 1,83 meters tall.

Beginning from her teenage years, she fought a number of disorders, including alcoholism, depression, bulimia, and epilepsy. She also suffered from dyslexia.

Beginning from the 1970s, Margaux did drugs.

According to Los Angeles County coroner's toxicology report, Margaux Hemingway killed herself by taking an overdose of a sedative. She was the fifth person in her family to commit suicide.

Quotes from others about the person

• Joe Eula, an American fashion illustrator: "[Hemingway] had the face of a generation, as recognizable and memorable as Lisa Fonssagrives and Jean Shrimpton."

Interests

• dancing, traveling, yoga and meditation

Connections

In 1975, Margaux married Errol Wetanson, whom she had met in New York City, when she was 19. The couple divorced three years later, in 1978. The following year, Hemingway married Bernard Faucher, a French filmmaker. It was in 1985, that they divorced.

Father:

Jack Hemingway

(born October 10, 1923 - died December 1, 2000)

Jack Hemingway, also known as John Hadley Nicanor Hemingway, was a Canadian-American fly fisherman, conservationist, and writer.

Mother:

Byra Louise (Whittlesey) Hemingway

(born January 5, 1922 - died June 24, 1988)

Margaux's relationship with her mother, Byra, was fraught with tension, but they did reconcile prior to Byra's death from cancer in 1988.

Ex-husband:

Bernard Faucher

Grandfather:

Ernest Hemingway

(born July 21, 1899 - died July 2, 1961)

Ernest Hemingway, in full Ernest Miller Hemingway, was a notable American novelist, short-story writer, journalist, and sportsman.

Sister:

Mariel Hemingway

(born November 22, 1961)

Mariel Hemingway, in full Mariel Hadley Hemingway, is an American actress. She appeared in Woody Allen's Manhattan (1979) and received Academy and BAFTA Award nominations for her performance in the movie.

Sister:

Joan Hemingway

(born 1950)

Joan Hemingway, nicknamed Muffet, appeared in such tv-series, as Champion House (1967) and Going Out (1981). She also performed in the movie, titled Rosebud (1975).

Ex-husband:

Errol Wetanson

(born September 13, 1940 - died June 6, 2019)

Errol Wetanson was a film producer and founder and former owner of the Wetson hamburger chain.

Friend:

Zachary Selig

(born November 24, 1949 - died June 30, 2016)

Zachary Selig was an American artist, author, interior designer and celebrity spiritist.

Friend:

Valerie Wildman

(born August 6, 1953)

Valerie Wildman is an American actress and humanitarian. Hemingway and Wildman co-starred in the thriller Inner Sanctum (1991).

Friend:

Maryam d'Abo

(born December 27, 1960)

Maryam d'Abo is an English film and television actress, perhaps best known as Bond girl Kara Milovy in the 1987 James Bond film The Living Daylights. Hemingway and d'Abo became friends when they acted together in Double Obsession (1992).

Maryam d'Abo believes that Hemingway's death was accidental, not suicide.

Acquaintance:

Halston

(born April 23, 1932 - died March 26, 1990)

Halston, in full Roy Halston Frowick, was an American fashion designer, who rose to international fame in the 1970s.

Acquaintance:

Bianca Jagger

(born May 2, 1945)

Bianca Jagger is a Nicaraguan social and human rights advocate and a former actress.

Acquaintance:

Liza Minnelli

(born March 12, 1946)

Liza Minnelli, in full Liza May Minnelli, is an American actress and singer.

Acquaintance:

Grace Jones

(born May 19, 1948)

Grace Jones, in full Grace Beverly Jones, is a Jamaican model, singer, songwriter, record producer and actress.

Acquaintance:

Andy Warhol

Andy Warhol was a Slovak-born American artist, designer, film director, author and producer. He was a leading exponent of the Pop Art movement of the 1960's, whose mass-produced art apotheosized the supposed banality of the commercial culture of the United States. He explored the relationship between artistic expression, advertising and celebrity culture, working in a variety of media, including painting, silkscreening, photography and sculpture.