Jean Dorothy Seberg, November 13, 1938 – September 8, 1979, was an American actress. She starred in 34 films in Hollywood and in France. Seberg became even more of an icon after her roles in numerous French films and the tragedy of her turbulent life and eventual suicide.
Seberg was discovered by Otto Preminger, who directed her in her first two films. She made her film debut in 1957 in the title role of George Bernard Shaw's Saint Joan. She secured the role after being chosen from 18,000 actresses.
Though she had done nothing illegal, FBI director J. Edgar Hoover considered her a threat to the American state. Her telephone was tapped and her private life was closely observed. She knew about it and felt chased.
In 1970, when she was seven months pregnant, FBI created a false story leaked to the media that the child she was carrying was not fathered by her second husband, French author Romain Gary, but by a member of the Black Panthers Party. She gave birth to a girl on 23 August, but the infant died two days later.
In August 1979, she was missing and found dead 11 days later in the back seat of her car, which was parked around the corner from her Paris apartment in the 16th arrondissement.
