Replies

Tuesday is the 40th anniversary of the attempted assassination of Any Warhol. On June 3, 1968, Valerie Solanas strode into the Factory, in Manhattan, and shot Warhol three times in the chest and belly with a 32-caliber pistol. Thirty minutes later, Warhol arrived by ambulance at the emergency room of Columbus Hospital.

Interestingly, at the hospital, Warhol was pronounced "clinically dead." Not until minutes later, allegedly after providers were apprised of the identity of their patient, did they resuscitate him.

According to Victor Bockris' 1989 biography (301-02), after examining Warhol's wounds, the physicians muttered "Forget it" and "No chance." But Mario Amaya, who had also been shot by Solanas at the Factory (but less seriously injured), was on a nearby operating table. Amaya shouted, "Don't you know who this is? It's Andy Warhol. He's famous. And he's rich. He can afford to pay for an operation. For Christ's sake, do something!" "Spurred on" by Amaya, lead physician Guiseppe Rossi massaged Warhol's heart and saved him.

Warhol lived another 19 years, until February 1987, when he died apparently as a result of nurse malpractice after gallbladder surgery at New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center.