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Mark Frechette, a high school dropout of Quebecois ancestry from Fairfield, Connecticut, made his acting debut in Michelangelo Antonioni's controversial Zabriskie Point (1970). As Antonioni toured the U.S., experiencing cultural clash firsthand and shooting background footage, a talent scout saw Frechette, a carpenter, scream and throw a flowerpot at a woman on a Boston street. Antonioni immediately cast Frechette, a non-actor, in the movie's lead role: a college student, wrongfully hunted for the murder of a policeman during a campus uprising.

Throughout the filming, Frechette and the director disagreed bitterly about the script, while Frechette had an affair with co-star Daria Halprin. After the film, she joined Frechette in Mel Lyman's Boston commune, which supposedly had previously turned Frechette away, but accepted him after he was cast in Zabriskie Point (1970). He had been hospitalized twice for emotional problems, and several times arrested, prior to Zabriskie Point (1970). Lyman had been a member of the Jim Kweskin Jug Band. Frechette donated $60,000 from films to the commune. Halprin soon left the Fort Hill commune.

Frechette quickly starred in two Italian movies, then was arrested for a 1973 bank robbery a few blocks from the commune, in which Christopher "Hercules" Thien, one of Frechette's two fellow cult member accomplices, was killed. Frechette's own gun had no bullets. After his arrest, he explained the bank robbery: "It would be like a direct attack on everything that is choking this country to death". In 1975, while serving a 6-15 year prison sentence, he died in an apparent weightlifting accident in the prison gym, when a 150-pound barbell fell on his neck, killing him.

John O'Keefe was born on 8 December 1975 in Braintree, Norfolk County, Massachusetts, USA. He died on 29 January 2022 in Canton, Norfolk County, Massachusetts, USA.

Miles Mutchler was born on 18 April 1926 in Meadville, Pennsylvania, USA. He was an actor, known for Platinum Pussycat (1968), Heartbreak Hotel (1988) and The End of August (1981). He died on 27 June 2002 in Norfolk, Massachusetts, USA.

Catherine Proctor was born on 12 November 1879 in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. She was an actress, known for Dow Hour of Great Mysteries (1960), The Foolish Virgin (1916) and Youth Takes a Fling (1938). She died in July 1984 in Norfolk, Massachusetts, USA.

Don Hasselbeck was born on 1 April 1955 in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA. He was married to Betsy Hasselbeck. He died on 14 April 2025 in Norfolk, Massachusetts, USA.

Fisher Ames was born on 9 April 1758 in Dedham, Massachusetts, USA. Fisher died on 4 July 1808 in Dedham, Suffolk County [now Norfolk County], Massachusetts, USA.

Composer, songwriter ("Snow, Snow, Beautiful Snow", "It's Easter Time") and author, educated at the Suffolk University Law School (LL.B) and the Emerson College of Oratory. He worked in radio in Boston and New York, and did the first known all-night radio show. He also was a columnist for the Boston 'American'. During World War II, he joined the US Army Special Services, and wrote three Army shows which earned two Presidential commendations. Joining ASCAP in 1950, his oher popular-song compositions include "If I Were You (I'd Fall in Love With Me)", "If Tears Could Bring You Back to Me", "Francesca", and "My Baby's Comin' Home".