Tag Archives: Celebrity Stalkers

The Natural inspiration dies…

Didn’t realize that the character who (SPOILERS!) nearly kills the character of Roy Hobbs in both the book and the subsequent movie version of The Natural was based on one Ruth Steinhagen, who it was reported passed away last year:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/18/ruth-steinhagen-dead-_n_2900060.html

After reading this, the sequence in the movie (I haven’t read the book) takes on a more startling atmosphere.  One of the more troublesome aspects of fame is that one can become a target of a stalker, just as Chicago Cubs baseball player Eddie Waitkus was and, afterwards, others have been.  Luckily for Mr. Waitkus he survived the assault by Ms. Steinhagen and, in reading the article, one finds that the baseball player decided not to press charges against her following her psychiatric treatment.

Still, others, perhaps none as famous as John Lennon, weren’t so lucky.