Dr. Gonzo

Hunter S. Thompson AKA Hunter Stockton ThompsonBorn: 18-Jul-1937 Birthplace: Louisville, KY Died: 20-Feb-2005 Location of death: Woody Creek, CO Cause of death: Suicide Remains: CrematedGender: Male Ethnicity: White Sexual orientation: Straight Occupation: Journalist, AuthorNationality: United States Executive summary: Gonzo journalist and authorMilitary service: USAFGrowing up in Louisville, Hunter Thompson was comfortable with the athletes' clique in high school, as well as the hoods and the rich kids. His family wasn't well off, but the dashing Hunter was always welcome at swanky debutante parties, with open bars and no age checks. Thompson and friends also stole a lot of beer, every weekend. If the legends can be believed, he was a heavy drinker by 14. Jailed for shoplifting at 18, Thompson says he has since given up crimes of property.As an Airman Second Class, he wrote a sports column for The Command Courier, official paper of Eglin Air Force Base. Even then he was known for exaggerated or fabricated -- but fascinating -- accounts. He later worked as a copy boy for Time, wrote for National Observer and El Sportivo (a Caribbean tabloid about bowling), was fired from a string of small-town papers, and trashed his home town's most famous sports event in an article titled "The Kentucky Derby is Decadent and Depraved."A friend wrote to Thompson that his writing had gone "totally gonzo," which may trace back to the Spanish slang gonzagas (loosely translated, "fooled you"). "Gonzo" has since entered English-language dictionaries as a synonym for "bizarre," but for Thompson it seemed to mean "literary cubism" -- journalism with only the loosest rules.In the 1960's he spent several months riding, drinking, drugging, and partying with the Hell's Angels motorcycle gang, and turned in an article on the topic for National Observer. It became the book, Hell's Angels. Then came Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, a drug-running road trip across the American Southwest, first serialized in Rolling Stone.Thompson was among the many beaten by police outside Chicago's 1968 Democratic Convention, an event which only made him more politically active.In his last years, he wrote a column for ESPN called Hey, Rube, where his bio always said he lived "in a fortified compound near Aspen, Colo." His book Kingdom of Fear was a pessimistic look at America in the aftermath of Sept. 11.Thompson was a lifetime member of the National Rifle Association, active in local politics, and on good terms with his neighbors. One of them, Wayne Ewing, filmed the 2003 documentary Breakfast with Hunter. Another neighbor, Don Johnson, says Thompson wrote scripts for Nash Bridges, but the show used only occasional bits of Thompson's dialogue.Bill Murray played Hunter Thompson in the movie Where the Buffalo Roam (1980). Johnny Depp was Thompson in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998) and played Thompson's fictionalized protagonist in The Rum Diaries (2004). Depp was a good friend of Thompson's. So was Pat Buchanan. Go figure.In 2005, Thompson committed suicide. His son discovered the body.Father: Jack Robert Thompson (insurance salesman; died 1954) Mother: Virginia Davidson Ray Thompson (d. 1999) Brother: James Garnett "Jim" Thompson (disc jockey; b. 2-Feb-1949; d. 1994, AIDS) Wife: Sandra Dawn Conklin (m. 19-May-1963; five miscarriages; div. 1980) Son: Juan Fitzgerald Thompson (b. 23-Mar-1964) Wife: Anita Thompson (Thompson's personal assistant, b. 1972, m. 24-Apr-2003)University: Florida State University University: Columbia UniversityThe National Observer 1961-3 The Nation 1964-6 Rolling Stone Staff Writer 1970-84 High Times 1977-82 The San Francisco Examiner 1985-90 The New York Times copyboy Esquire 1991 National Rifle Association Life Member National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws Shot Woody Creek, CO (20-Feb-2005) Robbery Jun-1956 Underage Drinking Vandalism Sexual Assault Aspen, CO 6-Apr-1990, charges dropped Drug Possession Aspen, CO 6-Apr-1990, charges dropped Driving While Intoxicated Aspen, CO 7-Nov-1995 Shoplifting Assault Boulder, CO 17-Apr-1997 Esalen Groundskeeper Hip Replacement Surgery Risk Factors: Smoking, Marijuana, LSDRotten Library Page: Hunter S. ThompsonAuthor of books: Hell's Angels (1966, nonfiction) Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1972, novel) Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail '72 (1974, nonfiction) The Great Shark Hunt (1977, essays) Generation of Swine (1988, essays) Songs of the Doomed (1990, essays) Better Than Sex (1994, essays) The Proud Highway (1997, letters) The Rum Diary (1998, novel, written 1959) Fear and Loathing in America (2000, letters)