JudgeMathis Posted February 21, 2005 Share Posted February 21, 2005 RIP Hunter S. Thompson. Author Hunter S. Thompson Kills Himself DENVER - Hunter S. Thompson, the acerbic counterculture writer who popularized a new form of fictional journalism in books like "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas," fatally shot himself Sunday night at his Aspen-area home, his son said. He was 67. "Hunter prized his privacy and we ask that his friends and admirers respect that privacy as well as that of his family," Juan Thompson said in a statement released to the Aspen Daily News. Pitkin County Sheriff officials confirmed to The Associated Press that Thompson had died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. Thompson's wife, Anita, was not home at the time. Besides the 1972 drug-hazed classic about Thompson's visit to Las Vegas, he also wrote "Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail '72." The central character in those wild, sprawling satires was "Dr. Thompson," a snarling, drug- and alcohol-crazed observer and participant. Thompson is credited with pioneering New Journalism — or, as he dubbed it, "gonzo journalism" — in which the writer made himself an essential component of the story. Much of his earliest work appeared in Rolling Stone magazine. "Fiction is based on reality unless you're a fairy-tale artist," Thompson told the AP in 2003. "You have to get your knowledge of life from somewhere. You have to know the material you're writing about before you alter it." An acute observer of the decadence and depravity in American life, Thompson also wrote such collections "Generation of Swine" and "Songs of the Doomed." His first ever novel, "The Rum Diary," written in 1959, was first published in 1998. Thompson was a counterculture icon at the height of the Watergate era, and once said Richard Nixon represented "that dark, venal, and incurably violent side of the American character." Thompson also was the model for Garry Trudeau's balding "Uncle Duke" in the comic strip "Doonesbury" and was portrayed on screen by Johnny Depp in a film adaptation of "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas." Other books include "The Great Shark Hunt," "Hell's Angels" and "The Proud Highway." His most recent effort was "Hey Rube: Blood Sport, the Bush Doctrine, and the Downward Spiral of Dumbness." "He may have died relatively young but he made up for it in quality if not quantity of years," Paul Krassner, the veteran radical journalist and one of Thompson's former editors, told The Associated Press by phone from his Southern California home. "It was hard to say sometimes whether he was being provocative for its own sake or if he was just being drunk and stoned and irresponsible," quipped Krassner, founder of the leftist publication The Realist and co-founder of the Youth International (YIPPIE) party. "But every editor that I know, myself included, was willing to accept a certain prima donna journalism in the demands he would make to cover a particular story," he said. "They were willing to risk all of his irresponsible behavior in order to share his talent with their readers." The writer's compound in Woody Creek, not far from Aspen, was almost as legendary as Thompson. He prized peacocks and weapons; in 2000, he accidentally shot and slightly wounded his assistant, Deborah Fuller, trying to chase a bear off his property. Born July 18, 1937, in Kentucky, Hunter Stocton Thompson served two years in the Air Force, where he was a newspaper sports editor. He later became a proud member of the National Rifle Association and almost was elected sheriff in Aspen in 1970 under the Freak Power Party banner. Thompson's heyday came in the 1970s, when his larger-than-life persona was gobbled up by magazines. His pieces were of legendary length and so was his appetite for adventure and trouble; his purported fights with Rolling Stone editor Jann Wenner were rumored in many cases to hinge on expense accounts for stories that didn't materialize. It was the content that raised eyebrows and tempers. His book on the 1972 presidential campaign involving, among others, Edmund Muskie, Hubert Humphrey and Nixon was famous for its scathing opinion. Working for Muskie, Thompson wrote, "was something like being locked in a rolling box car with a vicious 200-pound water rat." Nixon and his "Barbie doll" family were "America's answer to the monstrous Mr. Hyde. He speaks for the werewolf in us." Humphrey? Of him, Thompson wrote: "There is no way to grasp what a shallow, contemptible and hopelessly dishonest old hack Hubert Humphrey is until you've followed him around for a while." The approach won him praise among the masses as well as critical acclaim. Writing in The New York Times in 1973, Christopher Lehmann-Haupt worried Thompson might someday "lapse into good taste." "That would be a shame, for while he doesn't see America as Grandma Moses depicted it, or the way they painted it for us in civics class, he does in his own mad way betray a profound democratic concern for the polity," he wrote. "And in its own mad way, it's damned refreshing." rip. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
p@ntyr@ider Posted February 21, 2005 Share Posted February 21, 2005 if this is true,,,this really sucks... R.I.P. :( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Picky P. Posted February 21, 2005 Share Posted February 21, 2005 R.I.P. Hunter...we'll miss ya. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GremlinJet. Posted February 21, 2005 Share Posted February 21, 2005 :( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sin SDR Posted February 21, 2005 Share Posted February 21, 2005 R.I.P bro. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ragtime Posted February 21, 2005 Share Posted February 21, 2005 Hell's Angels great book. RIP Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest westy Posted February 22, 2005 Share Posted February 22, 2005 This was a huge and devastating surprise to me. -"Pigfucker!" still cracks me up; rest in peace Mr. Thompson. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Peanut Posted February 22, 2005 Share Posted February 22, 2005 guess he isn't immortal after all. rest in peace. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MANOWAR Posted February 22, 2005 Share Posted February 22, 2005 good guy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dark funeral Posted February 22, 2005 Share Posted February 22, 2005 every news site has a different story... one way or another RIP. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
estrogen Posted February 22, 2005 Share Posted February 22, 2005 heres another R.I.P Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gunm Posted February 23, 2005 Share Posted February 23, 2005 RIP an inspiration to me since high school and I really wanted the chance to meet him one day. I was at the liquor store and dropped my bottle of vodka when i heard about it. fuck.... RIP Mr Thompson, you'll be missed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StarzAbove Posted February 23, 2005 Share Posted February 23, 2005 R.I.P truley a sad way to go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeser Posted March 6, 2005 Share Posted March 6, 2005 Just red Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and the Rum Dairys, just before his death and i was really loving his work its a shame he took his life, Rest In Peace. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoD5eNt Posted March 6, 2005 Share Posted March 6, 2005 I remember thinking when I heard the news that I was sure that Hunter would have gone out in a different way. The news sucked either way, what a loss. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CACashRefund Posted April 7, 2005 Share Posted April 7, 2005 Taken off artcrimes: RIP Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hatetown Posted May 2, 2005 Share Posted May 2, 2005 RIP HST. Although this post a little late being that I forgot about 12oz, from all the gonzo-artists around the globe, may you truly rest in peace. You inspired me to see life the way it really is/was ( with the help of an assortment of psychadelic drugs ) none the less, having met you in person was an honor and I will never forget it. Hows the trips up in heaven? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KRON KING Posted May 13, 2005 Share Posted May 13, 2005 ^^that is 1 sick ass prodo. RIP Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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