Diane Linkletter
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Diane Linkletter (October 31, 1948 – October 4, 1969) was the daughter and youngest child of popular American media personality Art Linkletter and his wife, Lois Foerster. In 1969, she died by suicide at the age of 20.


Background

Not widely known to the public before her death, Diane Linkletter was the youngest of five children born to Art Linkletter and Lois Foerster. In 1965, 17-year-old Linkletter married 19-year-old Grant Conroy. Although Conroy had previously signed up for the Navy's NavCad program, the brief marriage offered a deferment from his draft notice for the
Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...
; the marriage was quickly annulled and was not publicized, as both Linkletter's and Conroy's families wanted to keep the marriage quiet. Linkletter pursued a career in acting. She performed in
summer stock In American theater, summer stock theater is a theater that presents stage productions only in the summer. The name combines the season with the tradition of staging shows by a resident company, reusing stock scenery and costumes. Summer stock ...
, and in 1968 she appeared in a sketch on ''
The Red Skelton Show ''The Red Skelton Show'' is an American television comedy/variety show that aired from 1951 to 1971. In the decade prior to hosting the show, Richard "Red" Skelton had a successful career as a radio and motion pictures star. Although his tele ...
'', then traveled with her father to
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to entertain servicemen's families.


Death

At 9 a.m. on October 4, 1969, Linkletter jumped out of a window of her sixth-floor apartment at the Shoreham Towers in
West Hollywood, California West Hollywood is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Incorporated in 1984, it is home to the Sunset Strip. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. Census, its population was 35,757. History Most historical writing ...
. She was first taken to Hollywood Receiving Hospital, then to
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where she died of injuries she sustained in the fall. Her father blamed her death, which the media widely reported at the time, on drug use, specifically LSD. Edward Durston, the last person known to have seen Linkletter alive, said that he had attempted to grab her, but she had jumped over the balcony. Durston was also the last person to see the actress Carol Wayne alive 16 years later, who disappeared after an argument with him. The day after Linkletter's death, Art Linkletter held a press conference where he stated that his daughter's death "wasn't a suicide. She was not herself. She was murdered by the people who manufacture and distribute LSD." He also stated that Linkletter had used LSD in the six months prior to her death and the two discussed a " bum trip" she had experienced. Although Linkletter had not spoken to Diane in the last twenty-four hours of her life, he believed that she had taken LSD the night before her death and had experienced another bad trip which caused her to leap to her death. A police investigation was launched to determine the events surrounding Linkletter's death. Police questioned Edward Durston, who said that Linkletter had phoned him the night before her death and "was very upset" and asked him to come over. He went to Linkletter's apartment at around 3 a.m., and the two stayed up all night talking. He said that Linkletter's behavior was "extremely emotional, extremely despondent and very irrational at times, in fact most of the time."


Aftermath

In 1970, Art and Diane Linkletter won the 1970
Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...
for Best Spoken Word Recording for their record "We Love You, Call Collect". The record, which was released in November 1969—just a few weeks after her death—sold 275,000 copies in eight weeks, peaking at #42 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. According to Art Linkletter, royalties from the sales went "to combat problems arising from drug abuse."


In popular culture

*
John Waters John Samuel Waters Jr. (born April 22, 1946) is an American filmmaker, actor, writer, and artist. He rose to fame in the early 1970s for his transgressive cult films, including '' Multiple Maniacs'' (1970), '' Pink Flamingos'' (1972) and '' Fe ...
' 1970 short film '' The Diane Linkletter Story'' is a fictionalized account of the suicide. * In
David Foster Wallace David Foster Wallace (February 21, 1962 – September 12, 2008) was an American writer and professor who published novels, short stories, and essays. He is best known for his 1996 novel ''Infinite Jest'', which ''Time (magazine), Time'' magazine ...
's 2011 posthumous novel '' The Pale King'', an
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officer recounting his recreational drug use in the 1970s before joining the Service states that "personally psychedelics frightened me, mostly because of what I remembered happening to Art Linkletter's daughter—my parents had been very into watching Art Linkletter in my childhood."D.F. Wallace, ''The Pale King: An Unfinished Novel'' (Little, Brown 2011), p. 179.


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Linkletter, Diane 1948 births 1969 deaths 1969 suicides Youth suicides 20th-century American actresses actresses from Los Angeles American stage actresses American television actresses Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills) Grammy Award winners People from West Hollywood, California suicides by jumping in California American people of Canadian descent