Patrick Bissell - Drug Use and Death

Drug Use and Death

Bissell was arrested in 1981 in Bloomington, Indiana, and charged with public intoxication, disorderly conduct and pushing a policeman. He was given a 30-day jail sentence, however a plea bargain was made whereby the judge ordered him to arrange to give a performance at Indiana University with the proceeds to be given to charity. Bissell was also given a $100 fine.

Bissell married Jolinda Menendez, a former American Ballet Theatre ballerina (she danced two rôles in the Baryshnikov Nutcracker) and principal ballerina with the Pennsylvania Ballet, on June 26, 1982 at the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church. However the marriage ended after a year due to Bissell's many philanderings and erratic behavior. In 1984, company officials from the American Ballet Theatre consulted with experts on drug addiction and found a therapist for him. The following year, a condition of his continued employment by the company was that he undergo regular urine tests. The tests were held weekly with results 95 percent negative, however lapses were penalized with fines. In 1987, he spent five weeks at the Betty Ford Clinic in California for intensive therapy, completing the treatment in August. Prior to entering the clinic he had injured his foot and was thus prevented from going on the American Ballet Theatre's fall tour. His family blamed his drug use on the "highly competitive dance world in New York City".

Bissell was found dead in his apartment in Hoboken, New Jersey on December 29, 1987. At the time of his death, he was engaged to fellow dancer at the American Ballet Theatre, soloist Amy Rose, and had planned to rejoin the company in January of the following year. The results of an autopsy showed that he died from an overdose of cocaine, codeine, methadone and other drugs. It never was determined whether Bissell's death was a deliberate suicide. His death prompted charges of extensive drug use in the dance world by Bissell's parents and fellow-dancer Gelsey Kirkland. Kirkland's autobiography Dancing on My Grave mentions Bissell's frequent use of cocaine and, when discussing her own addiction, she alleged that he had introduced her to the drug. Attention was also drawn to the drug therapy program offered by the American Ballet Theatre. According to the company's executive director, Charles Dillingham, Bissell had been participating in the therapy program instituted by the company and had "appeared to have been making progress" prior to his death. Gelsey Kirkland alleged that Bissell's death was "an unavoidable tragedy caused at least in part by the failure of the ballet world and American Ballet Theater in particular to acknowledge and deal openly with the drug problem", which contrasted with Dillingham's statement that "his death came as an utterly horrible surprise". The 1988 production of La Bayadère by the American Ballet Theatre was dedicated to Bissell who had been notable in the rôle of Solor.