Trying to fathom how any one person arrived at suicide as the best solution is unfortunately a waste of time.
Even if we know most of their circumstances, we don't know them all. We can't know their perceptions. We can't see the world as they did.
We can take everything we know about them, find another person with just about the same circumstances, and that other person moves through trouble and thrives.
It's that mysterious. You'd have to live behind the mental filters a suicide experiences life through.
While it's human to ask why, it's a mistake to imagine we can ever really know.

wow, that's sad. RIP.

Michelle Ann Fotheringham
Hi, I just now saw your sweet message to me. I would certainly
have responded sooner. I so appreciate support from people like you.
Thank you!!!!! Your words have helped me-I have tears in my eyes right
now. I plan to download your message and keep it during particularly
hard times. I hope you get this response. I know it has been a long
time-sorry, I didn't see it sooner. You seem like a loving, understanding
person. I wish you all the happiness in the wo5b4rld. God Bless You. Michelle

http://www.vanden-eykel.com/nimharchive/articles/hartman.jpg

mfotheringham: I rarely post on these boards but your message touched me and I hope you read this. I absolutely understand what you mean. I suffered from significant depression several times in my life. The last time I clearly remember that it was as if there was a gray veil covering my eyes, leading me into shadows. There was a physical despair that reached the very core of my body. And when it finally passed, I remember being outside in my garden and thanking God for creating a most beautiful world and for letting me have a piece of it.

I've heard of quite afew deaths of people that have been involved with things i have watched and they have died young.Such as :
Judith Barsi ( from the cartoon,all dog's go to heaven.She was murdered )
Heather o'rourke ( was in all three poltergeist films.she died from heart failure )
jonathan brandis ( was in neverending story 2 and committed suicide.He too had been depressed because he had been a child actor and couldnt find mucb68h acting work as an adult )
It's really shocking that it has happened to so many people.It's happened to alot in the music bussiness too

To ask why shows you are a sound and mentally healthy person-for all
those-including myself who have dealt with severe depression and a host
of other "mental illness you are literally a different person. I always
thought depression meant having a bad day, being nervous about a
temporary thing, or just having the doldrums. Let me tell you-it is hell!
Death sounds better than living. Some times you get so bad that you feel
like you will do ANYTHING to get out of your situation or life in general.
I had always been happy and confident until a few years ago. It literally
felt like a terrible enemy entered my body and wouldn't let go. I personally
could not go so far as to end it all-I hope! But I do NOT judge anyone
who does. They are some of the finest people to ever touch this earth.
I hope and believe God understands. I feel we need much more research
and help for any type of emotional or so to speak mental illness-we are
simply not there yet. Believe me I know-you feel like a walking victim-
turning to anyone for help when in reality they can do very little.
If you're spiritual-turn to God-it won't solve everything but helps.
If you're not-hang on, hang on, hang on with everything you have in you!!!
Elizabeth Hartman is my favorite actress-her problems break my heart
to this day. I know she is well and happy now-it's too bad she couldn't
have graced us longer with her talent and vulnerability-but thank heaven
for a "A Patch of Blue". The message and talent in that movie will live
on-Elizabeth you're ok now. God Bless!!!! MF
d

Interestingly enough, Inger Stevens also starred opposite of Poitier in The World, the Flesh, and the Devil, and both Hartman and Stevens appears in Rod Serling's anthologies.
Hagen also starred with Brenda Benet in Walking Tall. Brenda was married to Bill Bixby, they divorced after their son died of cardiac arrest, and Brenda committed suicide in the bathroom placing a pistol in her mouth.
Both tragic.

John Erik Hexum (It was a suicide and not horseplay with blanks as most commonly known.)
This is off topic and a years old message, but this "statement" is simply wrong, wrong, wrong. Jon-Erik Hexum's death was officially ruled
accidental
. His mother even received a settlement from Twentieth Century Fox Television due to negligence which would not be the case if his death were a suicide. You can debate all day long if you think he shot himself on purpose, but please don't state things as if they're official. Your opinion is not fact.
Sylvia Plath (cooked herself)
Wrong again (pathetically worded as well). Plath died of carbon monoxide poisoning due to gas inhalation. No fire was involved and her body was not "cooked".
Lupe Velez (Tried to photograph her own death.)
Lupe Velez did not try to photograph her own death. She did attempt to plan a beautifully staged suicide but no camera was involved.
Linda Darnell (Either a suicide or a final act of heroism when she ran back into that burning set.)
Geezyou should've really stopped with the other whoppers.
Ms. Darnell was staying at a friend's home. She was not on a set. She tried to get out of the home when the fire started but couldn't get out the door. She never went back into a burning house and she didn't intentionally burn herself alive.
You really shouldn't rely on gossip rags and unreliable books like Hollywood Babylon for your celebrity death information. Spouting nonsense like this as fact is a disservice to anyone who has the misfortune of stumbling upon your posts.

G13
Peace through strength.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtYnihTt3hg

This message has been deleted.

Other Hollywood suicides:
Lupe Velez (Tried to photograph her own death.)
Chyenne Brando (Six time's a charm)
John Erik Hexum (It was a suicide and not horseplay with blanks as most commonly known.)
Gig Young (Killed wife, then self)
Margaret Sullavan (O.D.ed like Marilyn)
Anissa Jones (Family Affair's Buffy-see Margaret Sullavan)
Sylvia Plath (cooked herself)
Ernest and Margaux Hemingway (Father and daughter suicides-separate times)
Linda Darnell (Either a suicide or a final act of heroism when she ran back into that burning set.)

Doubt his being "bored" was any major reason he did it though.

I'm watching the Beguiled and looking at the info here on imdb and was a bit surprised to see the Ms. Hartman took her life on June 10, 1987 and Geraldine Page who co-starred in this movie with her died on June 13, 1987just an interesting tidbit.

This message has been deleted.

Greetings people.
Now I don't claim to be the "Elizabeth Hartman" expert, but I vividly remember two big articles that came out within 10 months of her tragic death. For people wanting answers to "what made her do it", sorry, but the answer is simply elusive. Her family would get upset at the suggestion that it was her career that caused her to jump out her window - they emphasized that there was so much more to it then that.
For me, the saddest part of one of the articles I read is when the article started. It explained that homocide detectives were interviewing people who lived in the area - cause nobody was really sure who this woman was. The neighbors who knew anything THOUGHT she was an unemployed actress who had been in some movie with Sidney Portier many years ago. Hartman would have hated that - until the day she died, when people asked her what she did, she would say "I'm a film actress." Some therapists thought it was one of her delusions - they didn't know she really was.
Keep in mind that she would not be diagnosed with any mental illness until well into the 1970s - and even then, no doctor was really truly sure exactly what it was she suffered from. My only theory as to "why" was she simply had another anxiety attack and said "Enough". I only hope now she has found the peace that she never found here.
She will live on in her film work - and Thank God we have that.

Thanks
It's all about the corned beef sandwiches and pineapple juice

sugar-bear, I searched the web and couldn't find any more information about Ms. Hartman than what is on this website. All of the bios on her are very brief. The obituary was in the Dallas Times Herald which has been defunct for over 12 years. If I manage to discover anything, I'll let you know.
I don't kick people in the shins. I aim higher.

If you don't mind mcdoodad49, do u have a link or any proof of that obituary. Thank you!!
It's all about the corned beef sandwiches and pineapple juice

I read Ms. Hartman's obituary at the time of her death. It said that she was no longer able to secure work in the movie and entertainment business and was living on welfare. Her welfare stipend each month was only $350. This probably added to her depression and helped her make her final decision.
I don't kick people in the shins. I aim higher.

George Sanders committed suicide and left a note that basically said "I'm bored." There's a book about him that I've recently ordered that he cowrote with Brian Aherne.

If you want to add insult to injury, look up the IMDb biographies of these unfortunate souls (all gorgeous too):
Pier Angeli
Inger Stevens
Ona Munson (left a chilling note behind)
Capucine
Montgomery Clift (not a suicide technically, but)
Jean Seberg
Bridgette Andersen (Savannah Smiles)
Peg Entwistle
Outside the movie industry, look up cabaret singer Susannah McCorkle (
http://susannahmccorkle.home.mindspring.com/
), author Iris Chang, and punk rocker Wendy O. Williams.
Their stories are not as unbelievable to anyone who has dealt with depression or loved someone who has. I encourage everyone to get to know them and see how prevalent it is and how deep the problem can be.
KAKISTOCRACY (n.) - a society governed by its worst citizens.

I'm watching The Secret of NIMH right now, and I thought I'd look up the movie to see what NIMH stood for.
Then I clicked on Elizabeth Hartman's name to see what else she'd been in.
Imagine how shocked I am to hear she jumped to her death from a window! No wonder I hadn't heard more from her.
Poor woman! That's one of the saddest things I've ever heard!

-Amanda

Rest in Peace Ms. Hartman. I hope the fall didn't hurt much. Our prayers are with you