What happened to Jerry Rubin, Tom Hayden, and more?

Netflix’s The Trial of the Chicago 7 repeats one of the most infamous American trials of the 20th century, as recounted by The Social Network and Aaron Sorkin of the West Wing. With an outstanding cast of the ensemble, we said in our test “The Trial of the Chicago 7”: “Aaron Sorkin produced a thoughtful meditation on a truly nightmarish event, a Kafka-like distortion of due process.”

But while the drama records the lives of the defendants during their litigation, Sorkin’s film doesn’t deal with the traditional “Where are they now / what happened to them afterwards?” Coda that we expect from such a true story coda “films. There are only passing mentions of the fate of some of the people portrayed in the film.

With that in mind, and to quench the curiosity of those who just watched the movie, let’s take a look at the main characters depicted in The Trial of the Chicago 7.

Abbie Hoffman (played by Sacha Baron Cohen)

Hoffman remained an activist for the rest of his life and wrote Steal This Book, which he called “a manual to free living, theft and violent revolution.” Given the book’s title, enough people stole the book that many stores no longer carried it. Hoffman was arrested in 1973 for intent on selling and distributing cocaine. He claimed he was captured by an undercover officer and had been on the run for several years. During this time, he left his family and even had plastic surgery to change his appearance. Hoffman eventually served four months of a year in prison. He later returned to activism and appeared as a protester in Oliver Stone’s 1989 July 4th film Born. Hoffman, who had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, died in April 1989 at the age of 52 from complications of a phenobarbital overdose. Hoffman’s suicide has many doubts, including his colleague David Dellinger of Chicago 7, as Hoffman lectured regularly on how the CIA disguised its assassinations as suicides.

Jerry Rubin (played by Jeremy Strong)

After leaving political activism, Rubin became a multimillionaire businessman and even invested in Apple computers in his early days. Rubin and Hoffman argued with one another on a tour that was touted as “Yippie versus Yuppie”. Rubin worked to create wealth and social awareness in business. He also criticized the excesses of the counterculture movement. Rubin died in November 1994 after being hit by a car while jaywalking in Westwood, California.

Bobby Seale (played by Yahya Abdul-Mateen II)

Seale is co-founder of the Black Panther Party and is now 83 years old. Following the Chicago 7 trial, law enforcement agencies were interested in Seale for the murders of two Panther colleagues, but only brought charges in one case. They were later dropped. Seale ran for Mayor of Oakland, California in 1973, but lost in a runoff election. He left the Black Panther party in 1974. Seale has remained a social justice advocate, has authored several books including an autobiography and a cookbook, worked with youth groups, and also appeared in an ad for Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream.

Rennie Davis (played by Alex Sharp)

Davis, 79, became a venture capitalist and heads the Foundation for a New Humanity. In the 1970s he joined the Divine Light Mission as a disciple of Guru Maharaj Ji. and has given lectures on meditation and self-awareness.

David Dellinger (played by John Carroll Lynch)

Dellinger remained a political activist and committed pacifist and participated in protests, including a sit-in at the 1996 Democratic Convention in Chicago, where he was arrested along with Abbie Hoffman’s son Andrew. He died of Alzheimer’s disease in May 2004 at the age of 88.

Tom Hayden (played by Eddie Redmayne)

Hayden founded the Indochina Peace Campaign, partly aimed at obtaining amnesty for those who had evaded the draft Vietnam War. A Democratic politician and prolific writer, Hayden served in the California State Assembly from 1982 to 1992 and in the Senate from 1992 to 2000. He was married to activist Jane Fonda for 17 years. During this time he fathered actor Troy Garity (best known for his roles in the sequels to Barbershop and Ballers). Hayden died in October 2016 at the age of 76.

John Froines (played by Daniel Flaherty)

After his acquittal, 81-year-old Froines worked in public health. He was director of UCLA’s Occupational Safety and Health Center, served as director of the Labor Protection Agency, and served for decades as chairman of the California Scientific Review Panel on Toxic Air Contaminants. Froines retired from UCLA School of Public Health in 2011.

Lee Weiner (played by Noah Robbins)

After his acquittal, Weiner received his doctorate as Dr. in sociology and has worked in fundraising for nonprofits and congressmen. His autobiography Conspiracy to Riot: The Life and Times of a Chicago 7 was published in August 2020. Weiner, 81, lives in Florida.

Judge Julius Hoffman (played by Frank Langella)

Judge Hoffman continued to lead the cases until his death at the age of 87 in 1983, although the majority of Chicago lawyers had a bad rap, according to the book The Benchwarmers.

Richard Schultz (played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt)

Schultz later went into private practice with Chicago 7th Attorney, Thomas Foran, and worked with him at the Chicago firm Foran & Schultz.

William Kunstler (played by Mark Rylance)

The radical lawyer and activist died in 1995 at the age of 76. In his defense of the Chicago 7, artist defended members of the Native American movement participating in the Wounded Knee Occupation, an inmate accused of killing a guard during the Attica prison riot, the Assata Shakur of the Black Liberation Army, who ” blind sheikh “Omar Abdel-Rahman and even organized crime figures like mob boss John Gotti. Kunstler also portrayed singer Jim Morrison’s defense attorney in Oliver Stone’s 1991 film The Doors.