1977 Obituary
-
Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — Freddie Prinze
LesterFester — 12 years ago(January 01, 2014 02:44 PM)
The New York Times, January 29, 1977
FREDDY PRINZE WOUNDED IN HEAD; POLICE SAY TV STAR SHOT HIMSELF
by Jon Nordheimer (special to New York Times)
LOS ANGELES, January 28 Freddy Prinze, co-star of the television comedy series "Chico and the Man," was gravely wounded today by a gunshot in the head that the police said had been self-inflicted.
The 22-year-old New Yorker, who soared to stardom with comedy material drawn from his childhood in a Puerto Rican neighborhood of Manhattan, shot himself once in the temple, according to the police, after friends tried to ease the depression that gripped him in recent weeks.
The bullet inflicted an extensive brain damage, said a spokesman at the medical center of the University of California, Los Angeles, when Mr. Prinze was taken at 4:06 this morning.
A team of neurosurgeons worked on the wound for two hours this afternoon, and the first medical bulletin after the operation gave no indication of Mr. Prinze's chances of survival. However, other medical experts said that the chances of full or even partial recovery from a traumatic head wound such as the one suffered by Mr. Prinze were dim.
The young, engaging comedian, who became an overnight star after appearing on the Johnny Carson "Tonight" show three years ago, a show for which he was recently a substitute host, had seemed to face a full and rewarding professional life. His "Chico" series was in its third year and still going strong.
He was invited to perform at the pre-inauguration festivities held in Washington for Pres. Carter two weeks ago. The Pres. and VP Mondale arrived early for the concert and called upon Mr. Prinze to do his part of the act for them, according to Paul Wasserman, the actor's press agent.
"It was a great thrill for Freddie," Mr. Wasserman said today. "It symbolized that he had made it. Professionally, he was at his peak."
But Mr. Prinze's friends said that he had been under great emotional stress recently. His marriage in the fall of 1975 to Catherine Cochran, a travel agency employee he met that year in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, broke up less than a year later when he moved into a $48 a night apartment in West Los Angeles. Mrs. Prinze, 26 years old, who bore the actor a son, Fred James Prinze, filed for divorce on December 13.
About a month before, Mr. Prinze was arrested by Los Angeles police on a charge of driving while under the influence of drugs.
Donald Wager, the lawyer who represented him on the charge said today that Mr. Prinze had taken a "prescribed tranquilizer" to help him sleep.
Mr. Wasserman said that Mr. Prinze lost more than 15 pounds in recent months, looked very drawn and had been seeing a psychiatrist.
The psychiatrist said that Mr. Prinze's personal secretary spent much of last evening with him in his apartment in the Beverly Comstock Hotel trying to cheer him up, according to the police. His business agent, Marvin Snyder, arrived and was with Mr. Prinze when the actor placed a telephone call to his estranged wife about 3:30 AM.
"Freddie was talking to his wife," a police lieutenant, Dan Cooke, said today, according to the version reported by Mr. Snyder. "He hung up, reached down into the sofa, grabbed the gun and put it to his temple and fired."
NBC replaced the episode of "Chico and the Man" scheduled for airing tonight with an episode that was supposed to run three weeks from now. The show that had been taped for broadcast tonight contained a reference to death that would have been "tasteless" in view of today's events, a spokesman for the network said.
Jack Albertson, co-star of the series, said that taping at the studio yesterday was hectic, and that both men left the set exhausted. He described Mr. Prinze as a "strange boy" for whom he felt strong affection. "A real good kid, but at 22 he may have run into problems he just couldn't handle," he said.
A spokesman for NBC said that six future shows had been completed and four other episodes planned.
' Fighting A Never Ending Battle For Truth, Justice & The American Way '