Edie Sedgwick

Edith Minturn Sedgwick (April 20, 1943 - November
15 1971) was a delicately beautiful American
socialite best known as a star of underground
films made by Andy Warhol in the 1960s.


In 1964, Sedgwick moved to New York to pursue a
career in modelling. She appeared in Time, LIFE
and Vogue magazine|Vogue between 1963 and 1965.
The editor in chief of Vogue, Diana Vreeland,called her an exemplar of the era's youth culture.In 1965 Sedgwick met Andy Warhol and quickly became his favourite "Warhol superstar", featuring in many of his underground films including Poor Little Rich Girl, Vinyl, Beauty No.2|Beauty No.2,and Chelsea Girls. It was during this period that Sedgwick began using drugs, particularly amphetamines.

She became Warhol's Girl of the Year during 1965 when she accompanied him everywhere in the New York social scene. During this period the pair would often dress alike, and Sedgwick frequently called herself Mrs. Warhol. The friendship did not last beyond 1966 when Warhol and Sedgwick made an acrimonious public split.

Following her departure from Warhol's circles,Sedgwick began living at Hotel Chelsea where she became involved with Bob Dylan. Dylan's friends convinced Sedgwick to sign up with Albert Grossman, Dylan's manager. While involved with Dylan, Sedgwick was introduced to LSD.She is rumoured to be one of the main inspirations behind Dylan's seminal 1966 opus Blonde on Blonde and songs as famous and diverse as the tender ballad "Just Like a Woman" and the raucous stomper"Leopardskin Pillbox Hat." She also inspired "Lay Lady Lay."

In 1966, Sedgwick began a tumultuous relationship with Dylan's longtime sidekick Bob Neuwirth.During this relationship she became dependent on heroin and barbituates. The relationship ended in 1967. In April 1967 Sedgwick began shooting on Ciao! Manhattan an underground movie in which she was to star. After some footage was shot in New
York, work on the film was abandoned due to budget and legal problems.

Sedgwick's rapidly degenerating health saw her return to her family in California and spend time in several different psychiatric institutions.In August 1969, she was admitted to the Cottage Hospital in Santa Barbara, California.Santa
Barbara, where she met Michael Post, whom she married on July 24, 1971. Electro convulsive therapy treatments were administered extensively and several efforts at drug rehabilitation were made.

Shooting resumed on Ciao! Manhattan in 1970 and was completed in 1971.

Sedgwick died in November 1971 from barbiturate poisoning; her husband of four months woke to find her dead in bed beside him. Her death was ruled a suicide/ drug overdose. A young woman with an undoubted talent for inspiring the talents in others, Sedgwick has been immortalized in a number of rock songs and continues to be an icon far beyond what her actual achievements might suggest.