Gonzo’s back!
A new movie celebrates the maverick life and messy death of Hunter S Thompson. Welsh artist Ralph Steadman was the rogue writer’s partner in crime. ‘I hit the bullseye!’ he tells Damon Wise
Irascible genius … still from Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr Hunter S Thompson
For Ralph Steadman, the end of an era came with a phone call three years ago. “Take your phone off the hook,” said his friend Joe Petro, “Hunter’s just shot himself.” Steadman was, if it’s possible, shocked but not surprised. Hunter S Thompson, 67, his longtime collaborator, was an irascible genius of letters whose life had been every bit as violent as his demise. His literary stardom began when he rode with scary bikers in the mid-60s, endured when a journalistic assignment in Las Vegas turned into drug-addled chaos and went supernova when he covered the US election in 1972.”When he shot himself,” says Steadman, “he was on the phone to his wife, Anita, who was down at the gym. He was talking to her and suddenly she heard the click-click as he pulled the hammer back. And then she heard the bang. Juan, his son, was in the next room, and he thought he heard a book drop. Now, if you’ve ever known what that sounds like … Well, it’s worth doing it to see what it sounds like …”
Steadman strides across the floor of his study, picks out a big, square hardback and drops it. BANG! “It sounds like that,” he notes. “Now, what a perfect analogy. ‘Like a book dropping …’ And it bloody well is, isn’t it?”