Hunter Thompson

Hunter Thompson is the founder of gonzo journalism, author of the cult American novel Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. During his long life at 67, the writer has tasted all kinds of drugs, but has not lost his sobriety. Despite his own sins, in his journalistic materials, Thompson denounced everyone who deserved it and justified the innocent, for example, the Hell's Angels motorcycle gang, which is accused of trafficking in illegal substances, murder and racketeering.

Hunter Stockton Thompson, born July 18, 1937 in Louisville, Kentucky, became the first of three sons by Virginia Ray Davison and Jack Robert Thompson. Mother worked as a librarian, father, a veteran of the First World War, - a specialist in state insurance. The firstborn was named after the maternal grandparents of Prestley Stockton Ray and Lucille Hunter.

In 1952, when Hunter was 14, his father died. Keeping the children alone was not easy, so Virginia sought comfort in a glass. During his school years, Thompson was interested in sports and literature, was a member of the Association of the magazine "Athenaeum". Its members tended to be from the wealthy families of Louisville, including Porter Bibb, the first editor of Rolling Stone magazine.

In 1955, the Athenaeum editors expelled Thompson from their ranks. The reason was problems with the law: the guy was in the car with the man who robbed the store. He was sentenced to 60 days in prison as an accomplice to a criminal. The arrest fell on final exams, and the school authorities did not allow Hunter to take tests outside the institution. The future writer never received an education.

A week after his release from prison, Thompson was enlisted in the US Air Force. While serving at Eglin, Florida, the young man, as a sports correspondent for The Command Courier, released his first professional material. Since then, he has written many articles on sports topics, however, under a pseudonym - the soldiers were forbidden to disclose their names.

Thompson was dismissed from the United States Air Force in November 1957 as a First Class Pilot.

In his youth, Thompson was a brawler. He was fired from Time magazine for insubordination, from The Middletown Daily Record - because Hunter had a falling out with the owner of a local restaurant, who turned out to be an advertiser for the publication. Once in Big Sur, California, he published an unflattering review of the settlement, for which he was expelled from the city.

During this unsuccessful period in his biography, Hunter Thompson wrote Prince Jellyfish. The debut work has not been published to this day. The Guardian magazine claims that this

In the 60s, during Thompson's stay in Puerto Rico, The Rum Diary was born. The novel follows a journalist named Paul Kemp who moves from New York to San Juan to work for The Daily News. The Rum Diary would not have been published if one day Johnny Depp, a close friend of Thompson, had not found the manuscript among many other works. The novel was published in 1998. After the death of the writer, in 2011 the actor played the main role in the film adaptation of the work.

In 1965, Carey McWilliams, editor of The Nation magazine, hired Thompson to write the story of the world's largest motorcycle club, the Hells Angels. After the article was published, the journalist received an offer from bikers to go on a trip with them. After a year of wandering, the book Hell's Angels: The Strange and Terrible Saga of Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs (1966) was born. According to club members, "this is the only true thing" ever written about them.

The success of the novel allowed Thompson to easily hit the pages of The New York Times Magazine, Esquire, Harper's and, of course, become a famous American writer. So much so that in early 1968 he was asked to sign the Writers 'and Editors' War Tax Protest, which included tax waivers in protest against the Vietnam War.

Thompson planned to talk about the times of the "death of the American dream," that is, about the degeneration of the ideals of life in the United States, both materially and spiritually. The idea was later embodied in the most recognizable novel of the writer "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas".

In 1970, Scanlan's Monthly featured Thompson's article "The Kentucky Derby Is Decayed and Wicked." Although the material was commissioned for a sports magazine, it has the least focus on horse racing. The journalist focused on describing the audience. As the story progresses, people begin to look more like animals:

This article is considered the first text written in the style of gonzo (English gonzo - "crazy", "crazy"). Gonzo is a direction of journalism, which is characterized by subjectivity, narration from the first person, since the reporter is not a spectator, but a participant in the events. Sarcasm, the use of quotes, hyperbole, profanity are allowed. Almost all of Hunter Thompson's works are written in this style.

For the first time the word "gonzo" is used just in the novel "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. A Wild Journey to the Heart of the American Dream (1972). The story was born during the trip of Thompson and lawyer Oscar Zeta Acosta to Las Vegas to obtain information about the murder of a Los Angeles Times journalist.

The novel is written in first person by a journalist named Raoul Duke, who travels to Las Vegas with lawyer Dr. Gonzo to cover the Mint 400 race. In their search for the American Dream, they are helped by drugs and alcohol that clog the trunk. From the substances taken, the heroes experience hallucinations, delirium, even commit crimes.

The Gonzo novel became the benchmark for American literature in the 1970s. Its storyline served as the basis for the film Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, starring Johnny Depp and Benicio del Toro. Depp lived with Thompson for several months to adopt his habits, and during this time the men became close friends. The film, like the book, has become a cult.

Since the late 1970s, Thompson has published his pre-gonzo journalism and Rolling Stone articles. The series, titled "The Gonzo Papers", includes 4 volumes: "The Great Shark Hunt" (1991), "The Pig Generation" (1984), "Songs of the Doomed" (1990) and "Better Than Sex" (1995).

One of Thompson's final books was The Kingdom of Fear (2003), whose main theme is rebellion against power. Many of the stories are related to the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks. "The kingdom of fear" is called the writer's memoirs.

On May 19, 1963, Hunter Thompson's wife was his longtime girlfriend Sandra Dawn Conklin. The lovers have repeatedly tried to have children, but 3 pregnancies ended in miscarriages, two newborns died in infancy. Their only son, Juan Fitzgerald Thompson, was born on March 23, 1964.

In 1980, Hunter and Sandra divorced, but they have always remained close friends.

On April 23, 2003, the writer married his assistant Anita Beimuk. Their personal life was happy until the death of the writer.

On February 20, 2005, Hunter Thompson died from a gunshot wound to the head. The tragedy took place in Woody Creek, Colorado. The writer was talking to his wife Anita on the phone when he cocked the pistol.

The son Juan and his wife Jennifer, who were visiting Thompson, mistook the shot for the sound of a fallen book. Juan later found the body. In memory of his father, he shot three times into the sky with a shotgun. In the writer's typewriter was a sheet of paper with the date "February 22, 2005" and the only word - "advisor". Rolling Stone later published an alleged suicide note by Thompson under the headline "The Football Season Is Over":

Thompson's entourage told the press that recently the man was depressed due to his old age and health problems. In the will, the writer indicated how he should be buried. He wanted to be cremated, and the ashes were launched into the sky from a cannon, which would stand on a 45-meter pedestal right in the courtyard of his house.

Johnny Depp decided to fulfill the last will. By his order, a 50-meter cannon was built, judging by the photo - in the form of a gonzo symbol, a six-fingered fist clutching a peyote flower. The cannon fired on August 20, 2005.

Jack Nicholson, John Cusack, Bill Murray, Benicio del Toro, Sean Penn, US Senators John Kerry and George McGovern, musicians Lyle Lovett and David Amram came to say goodbye to Hunter Thompson. The funeral cost Johnny Depp $ 3 million.

1967 - "Hells Angels" 1971 - "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" 1973 - "Fear and Loathing of the Election Race - 72" 1979 - "Great Shark Hunt" 1983 - "The Curse of Hawaii" 1988 - "The Pig Generation" 1990 - "Songs of the Doomed" 1994 - "Better than Sex" 1998 - "The Rum Diary" 2003 - "The Kingdom of Fear"

Hunter Thompson 's estimated Net Worth, Salary, Income, Cars, Lifestyles & many more details have been updated below.

Let's check, How Rich is Hunter Thompson in 2021 ?

Hunter Thompson Net Worth 2022

Hunter Thompson 's revenue is $1.9M in 2022. It is an approximate forecast of how rich is Hunter Thompson and could vary in the range between $551.9K - $1.8M.

Hunter Thompson Net Worth 2021

Hunter Thompson 's revenue is $1.9M in 2021. It is an approximate forecast of how rich is Hunter Thompson and could vary in the range between $663K - $1.8M.

Hunter Thompson Net Worth 2020

Hunter Thompson 's revenue is $1.9M in 2020. It is an approximate forecast of how rich is Hunter Thompson and could vary in the range between $518K - $1.1M.

Hunter Thompson Net Worth 2019

Hunter Thompson 's revenue is $1.5M in 2019. It is an approximate forecast of how rich is Hunter Thompson and could vary in the range between $907.4K - $1.6M.

Hunter Thompson Net Worth 2018

Hunter Thompson 's revenue is $1.6M in 2018. It is an approximate forecast of how rich is Hunter Thompson and could vary in the range between $725.2K - $1.2M.

Hunter Thompson Net Worth 2017

Hunter Thompson 's revenue is $1.3M in 2017. It is an approximate forecast of how rich is Hunter Thompson and could vary in the range between $541.1K - $1.3M.

Hunter Thompson Net Worth 2016

Hunter Thompson 's revenue is $1.9M in 2016. It is an approximate forecast of how rich is Hunter Thompson and could vary in the range between $613.9K - $2M.

It is an overall forecast for the net worth of Hunter Thompson. The evaluation covers the latest 5 years and an approximation for next year. See above to learn how much money does Hunter Thompson makes a year.

The range above shows an estimation based on evaluation generated by public information about sponsorships or other sources found on the internet. It's summarized data from Hunter Thompson's projects existing in AidWiki's repository. It's an approximation of the revenue compiled by AidWiki and may not correspond with the real amount.