Introducing the Assassins: Lynette Alice “Squeaky” Fromme

“It didn’t go off.”

Lynette Alice “Squeaky” Fromme

Lynette Alice “Squeaky” Fromme was born in Santa Monica, California in 1948. The daughter of a homemaker and aeronautical engineer, Fromme enjoyed early success as a dancer with a troupe called The Lariats, appearing on The Lawrence Welk Show, at Disneyland, and on two occasions at the White House. With the family’s move to Redondo Beach in 1963, Fromme broke with her parents, meeting Charles Manson, whom she would follow as part of his nomadic “Family”. In the aftermath of the infamous Tate-LaBianca murders in 1969, Seeking a means of drawing attention to the imprisoned Manson, Fromme traveled to Sacramento on September 5, 1975, where President Gerald Ford was to meet with Governor Jerry Brown and deliver a speech on violent crime to the California legislature. Deciding to kill the president, she obtained a gun which proved too large for her purse, and fashioned a makeshift holster with the aid of an elastic belt, which she masked with a long red robe. After a single attempted shot, Fromme was disarmed and taken into custody. It was later discovered that the gun was so old, the bore was filled with dust, preventing firing. Refusing to cooperate at her trial without the testimony of Manson, Fromme was sentenced to life imprisonment. Receiving word that Manson was dying from cancer, Fromme made a jailbreak in 1987 but was captured two days later on Christmas Day, receiving an additional fifteen months on her life sentence, and a nominal fine. Fromme was eventually paroled in 2009 at the age of sixty.

Maren Searle

Maren Searle is playing Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme in Assassins. This season at PlayMakers, Maren has also performed in Metamorphoses and The Tempest.

Catch this lady assassin in action, purchase tickets for Assassins by visiting the PlayMakers website, or call (919) 962-PLAY (7529).