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She was discovered by Otto Preminger, who directed her in her first two motion pictures. She would go on to star in thirty-four films in Hollywood and in France where she lived in Paris with her first husband, attorney Francois Moreuil. She became even more of an icon from her roles in numerous French films and the tragedy of her turbulent life. Among her roles, she co-starred with Jean-Paul Belmondo in Jean-Luc Godard's classic work of New Wave cinema, Breathless (original French title: A bout de souffle).
During the latter part of the 1960sCenturies: 19th century 20th century 21st century Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s Years: 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 Events and trends The 1960s was a turbulent decade of change around, Miss Seberg used her high-profile image to voice support for the NAACPThe National Association for the Advancement of Colored People or NAACP is one of the oldest and most influential civil rights organizations in the United States. It was founded in 1909, to work on behalf of black people. Members of the NAACP have referre and supported native American school groups such as the Mesquakie Bucks at the Tama settlement near her home town of Marshalltown, for whom she purchased $500 worth of basketball uniforms. She supported the Black Panther PartyThe Black Panther Party (originally called the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense was a revolutionary Black nationalist organization in the United States that formed in the late 1960s and grew to national prominence before falling apart due to factional. Then FBI director, J. Edgar HooverJohn Edgar Hoover ( January 1, 1895 May 2, 1972) was appointed Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on May 10, 1924 and remained so until his death in 1972. To date, he is the longest-serving leader of an executive branch agency in the Un, since proven to have illegally kept large files on private citizens, considered her a threat and in 1970Events January events January 1 Construction begins on Arcosanti, by Paolo Soleri, in Mayer, Arizona, located 65, miles north of Phoenix, Arizona. January 1 Unix epoch at 00:00:00 UTC. January 12 Biafra capitulates, ending the Nigerian civil war. January, when she was seven months pregnant, created a story to leak to the media that the child she was carrying was not fathered by her second husband, Romain GaryRomain Gary ( May 8, 1914 December 2, 1980) was a novelist, a film director and a diplomat. Born Romain Kacew in Moscow, Romain Gary grew up in Wilno (now Vilnius, Lithuania) and later in Warsaw, Poland. He never knew his father, a Russian actor, and was, but by a black civil rights activist. Before Hoover's plan to disgrace her could be implemented, the story was reported by the Los Angeles Times newspaper and Newsweek magazine. In a press conference after the miscarriage she presented the press with a viewing of her fetus to demonstrate that the child did not have a father of African heritage and to expose the malevolent falsehood of the claim used by the FBI in its illegal COINTELPRO effort to discredit her and violate her exercise of her constitutionally protected rights. Miss Seberg stated that the trauma of this event brought on premature labor and her child was stillborn. According to Miss Seberg's husband, after the loss of their child she suffered from a deep depression and became suicidal.
She made several attempts to take her own life, including throwing herself under a train on the Paris Métro. Miraculously, she survived the incident, but less than a year later, in August 1979, she went missing and was found dead eleven days later in the back seat of her car in a Paris suburb. The police report stated that she had taken a massive overdose of barbiturates and alcohol (8g per litre).
Jean Seberg was interred in the Cimetière du Montparnasse, Paris, France.
In 1995 a documentary of her life was made titled: Jean Seberg: American Actress.
The short film Je T'aime John Wayne 2000, is a tribute parody of Breathless, with Camilla Rutherford playing Seberg's role.
Actress Kirsten Dunst has proposed making a film about Seberg's life.
Her second husband, Romain Gary, with whom she had a son, Alexandre Diego Gary, also committed suicide a year after her death.
Some of Jean Seberg's films were: