Edie Sedgwick

Edie Sedgwick
Sedgwick (center) in the 1972 film Ciao! Manhattan
Born	Edith Minturn Sedgwick (1943-04-20)April 20, 1943 Santa Barbara, California, U.S.
Died	November 16, 1971(1971-11-16) (aged 28) Santa Barbara, California, U.S.
Cause of death	Barbiturate overdose
Resting place	Oak Hill Cemetery
Nationality	American
Other names	Mazda Isphahan Edith Sedgwick Post
Education	The Branson School St. Timothy's School
Occupation	Artist, socialite, model, actress
Years active	1965–1971
Spouse(s)	Michael Post (m. July 24, 1971 – November 16, 1971; her death)
Relatives	Henry Dwight Sedgwick (grandfather)
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Edith Minturn "Edie" Sedgwick (April 20, 1943 – November 16, 1971) was an American heiress, socialite, actress, and fashion model. She is best known for being one of Andy Warhol's superstars. Sedgwick became known as "The Girl of the Year" in 1965 after starring in several of Warhol's short films in the 1960s. She was dubbed an "It Girl", while Vogue magazine also named her a "Youthquaker".

Sedgwick's family was long established in Massachusetts history. Her seventh-great grandfather, English-born Robert Sedgwick, was the first Major General of the Massachusetts Bay Colony settling in Charlestown, Massachusetts in 1635. Sedgwick's family later moved to where her great-great-great grandfather Judge Theodore Sedgwick had settled after the American Revolution. Theodore married Pamela Dwight of the New England Dwight family who was the daughter of Abigail (née Williams) Dwight. Ephraim Williams, the founder of Williams College, was Sedgwick's fifth-great grandfather. Judge Theodore Sedgwick was the first to plead and win a case for the freedom of a black woman, Elizabeth Freeman, under the Massachusetts Bill of Rights that declared all men to be born free and equal. Her great-great-great paternal grandfather, William Ellery, was a signatory of the United States Declaration of Independence.

Sedgwick's mother, Alice, was the daughter of Henry Wheeler de Forest, the President and Chairman of the Board of the Southern Pacific Railroad, and a direct descendant of Jessé de Forest, whose Dutch West India Company helped to settle New Amsterdam. Jessé de Forest was also Edie's seventh-great grandfather. Her paternal grandfather was the historian and acclaimed author Henry Dwight Sedgwick III; her great-grandmother, Susanna Shaw, was the sister of Robert Gould Shaw, the American Civil War Colonel; and her great-great-grandfather, Robert Bowne Minturn, was a part owner of the Flying Cloud clipper ship and is credited with creating and promoting Central Park in New York City. She was the first cousin, once removed, of actress Kyra Sedgwick. Kyra is the daughter of Henry Dwight Sedgwick V (Edie's first cousin), the son of Robert Minturn Sedgwick, who was the older brother of Francis Minturn Sedgwick.