Non-Mainstream Actors

Abstract

In this chapter the focus is on fourteen non-mainstream actors who are/were self-acknowledged heroin misusers. There were three subgroups: actors connected to the Warhol scene, those not connected to the scene, and directors who were also actors. Profiles are presented and the hypotheses from Chap. 1 are examined. The hypothesis that these actors didn’t start using until after they became actors was not supported, while the prediction that these actors would report the same basic reasons for use as most heroin misusers was supported. As expected, the effects of heroin on performance, creativity, and careers were mainly adverse. The chapter addresses two subcultures—both outlaw/rebel subcultures—that held values and attitudes supportive of heroin use, were a source of members’ identities, and that help explain heroin misuse by some of the non-mainstream actors.