Domino Harvey >permalink<
Model, bounty hunter
She was the daughter of Laurence Harvey, star of the original "The Manchurian Candidate." She was a former Ford model. Later in life, she was a bounty hunter. And Domino Harvey's life story is the subject of a movie set to be released late in 2005.
Born in Belgravia, Domino was the product of a three-year affair between her father and Vogue model Pauline Stone during his second marriage. After his divorce, Laurence married Pauline shortly before his death from stomach cancer in 1973. Pauline then married Peter Morton, owner of the Hard Rock Café chain, and moved to Hollywood while her daughter attended public school in England.
Domino's rebellious nature caused her to be expelled from four schools. Her natural beauty won her a job with the Ford model agency, but she soon tired of life on the catwalk and hopped nightclubs and sold T-shirts in Kensington Market to pass the time. She soon took acting lessons at the Lee Strasberg drama school.
At 19, Domino moved to Hollywood, running a nightclub, working as a ranch hand (where she became familiar with weaponry) and later as a firefighter in San Diego. She also developed a full-blown heroin addiction, and got caught up in the shadowy world of bounty-hunting for the Celes King Bail Bond Agency, tracking down criminals by any means short of murder for skipping bail while awaiting trial. Posing often as a lost English tourist, Harvey would lure her target away before pressing a gun into their gut.
Despite her success rate, her 10% cut usually translated into 300 dollars a week. When money was short, she would move back home. She eventually checked into a Hawaiian rehab clinic in 1997, weighing only 98 pounds. It was then she sold the rights to her life story.
Despite seemingly successful treatment, Domino was arrested for possession of crystal meth in 2003. As a first offender, she avoided trial by entering a treatment program. Domino was then charged in May, 2005 with with conspiracy to distribute drugs, possession, trafficking, racketeering, crossing state lines for unlawful activity and having property used in or obtained through criminal activity. Harvey faced ten years to life if found guilty. Pending trial, she was ordered to wear an electronic bracelet and be subject to drug and alcohol testing. She had yet to enter a plea on the charges.
The film "Domino" stars Keira Knightley under direction from Tony Scott. The real-life subject of the film made her hatred of the film publicly clear, although those close to her said Harvey was delighted with the movie. The film had a budget of 60 million USD. Harvey was paid 300,000 USD for her rights. Her greatest point of contention was that false reports of her open lesbian nature were treated as a source for soft-porn titillation in the film. New Line Cinema did not give Harvey script approval on the film, which is based on a newspaper article about her life. The film's release was delayed to incorporate Harvey's death into the storyline.
In September 2005, the Los Angeles County coroner has concluded that Harvey died from an overdose of Fentanyl, a painkiller more powerful than morphine. The death was ruled accidental.
June 27, 2005 at age 35. Drug overdose.