William Randolph Hearst

**William Randolph Hearst** is the owner and chief editor of *The New York Journal*. He is the godfather to Violet Hayward, John Moore's fiancée. He is a recurring character in “Angel of Darkness” portrayed by Matt Letscher.

## Character Overview

Hearst is a conservative businessman part of the upper echelon of New York society. Owner and chief editor of the *New York Journal*, Hearst constantly resorts to sensationalism in reporting the news and uses his influence to manipulate popular opinion about social events and personalities. Posing publicly as the godfather of his biological daughter Violet Hayward, Hearst is bent on marrying her to a good match. When Violet becomes infatuated with John Moore, Hearst tries to control the reporter and bring him into his company. He is also an ally of former chief inspector Thomas Byrnes, and uses him as an informant.

## Biography

At the New York Journal, Byrnes brought Hearst a lock of Martha Napp’s hair. He figured Hearst could publish it in the Journal given people’s fascination with gruesome memorabilia. However, Hearst wasn’t interested. He then called Monckton into his office and told him to have one of the "brain monkeys" to write a new column about Spanish spies bringing their war to the States.

Hearst and Violet discussed having dinner, and she assured him John would be joining them for dinner. She’d like for him and Hearst to get to know each other better. On her way out, Hearst gave her a check and told her to be careful with it. Monckton then told Hearst that Byrnes had come to see him. Byrne alerted Hearst that the child of the Spanish consular general had gone missing, though they were keeping it quiet. Public suspicion could flame up if word of this got out to the authorities, which was precisely what they both wanted. Later that night at dinner, Hearst told John that once he married Violet, he’d have to come and work for him at the Journal.

John attempted to persuade Hearst against publishing a story that could potentially spook the kidnapper of the Linares child. However, Hearst suspected that the Linares were responsible for the abduction of their child. John asked that he not use this to drum up support against the Spanish for the war in Cuba. Richard Osgood argued that war was inevitable. Once John had left, Monckton entered with Byrnes, who came with a gift for Violet. Hearst accepted the gift and asked Monckton to escort Byrnes out. Later that evening, Hearst gifted John and Violet with the very first German-designer luxury motorcar. The rich and wealthy around John made jokes and laughed at his expense.

Hearst's dinner with John and Violet was interrupted by Joanna, who revealed to John that Sara was following Libby into Duster territory. John informed Violet he had to leave. Hearst warned John that he earned the right to live above the rules and that it had better be a scoop that John was chasing.

Hearst and Byrnes discussed Sara Howard and her relationship with John. Byrnes suggested he run a story about how Sara was a scandalous lady detective bent on undermining the sacred bonds of family with untraditional friendships with working women and unavailable men.

Violet’s concern for her relationship with John had grown given his close friendship with Sara. Hearst assured Violet that John loved her, but Violet had seen how John gazed at Sara and how he jumped to his feet whenever she entered a room. Violet feared that Sara would be to John as her mother was to Hearst. Hearst promised Violet that he would bring John to heel and that she wouldn’t suffer, but she already had. It was as if the whole New York would whisper whenever she walked by. Hearst assured Violet that he would bring an end to John’s friendship with Sara. He had already started by publishing an unflattering article about her.

Hearst and Byrnes were called over by Cornelius Vanderbilt after his grandson was kidnapped. He asked them about Sara Howard, who they described as a renegade, but Cornelius was willing to accept all the help he could get. Sara arrived and agreed to take on the case under two conditions: Kreizler had to be reinstated and Sara wanted to be made lead detective on the case. Cornelius agreed to her terms.

Byrne refused to serve under Sara. Hearst agreed that she was a pox upon them all. However, they need to be in Vanderbilt’s good favor. Hearst saw this as an opportunity to show the citizens of New York where they should put their stock.

After learning from Mallory Hunter that Libby had a child, Byrnes proposed to Hearst that they use Libby’s biological daughter to lure her out. Vanderbilt would hate them for it, but he would have his child back in the end.

Hearst was confronted by John for publishing that article about Libby’s daughter, whom he had since put in danger. However, Hearst wasn’t concerned with her. His only concern was Violet. While John’s private affairs were not concern to Hearst, his relationship with Sara was very much public. Admittedly, there was a transactional nature to John and Violet’s marriage, but Hearst would not allow her to be hurt. He told John to cut ties with Sara. He lastly informed him that he was expected to attend the family dinner at Delmonico’s later that night to argue our summer plans in Newport. As planned, Hearst and Violet attended the family dinner that night, which John did not show up for.

## Appearances

Angel of Darkness

* Ep. 1: *Ex Ore Infantium*
* Ep. 2: *Something Wicked*
* Ep. 4: *Gilded Cage*
* Ep. 5: *Belly of the Beast*
* Ep. 6: *Memento Mori*
* Ep. 7: *Last Exit to Brooklyn*

## Notes

* Based on William Randolph Hearst (1863–1951), American newspaper magnate and New York Congressman.
* Hearst is mentioned briefly in *The Angel of Darkness* as his newspaper pushed for the Spanish-American War during the time Theodore Roosevelt was in the Navy.

## References

1. ↑ Stuart Carolan (writer); David Caffrey (director); (July 19, 2020); "Ex Ore Infantium". Episode 1. *Angel of Darkness*. TNT.
2. ↑ Stuart Carolan (writer); David Caffrey (director); (July 19, 2020); "Something Wicked". Episode 2. *Angel of Darkness*. TNT.
3. ↑ Alyson Feltes (writer); Clare Kilner (director); (July 26, 2020); "Gilded Cage". Episode 4. *Angel of Darkness*. TNT.
4. ↑ Gina Gionfriddo & Karina Wolf (writer); Clare Kilner (director); (August 2, 2020); "Belly of the Beast". Episode 5. *Angel of Darkness*. TNT.
5. ↑ Alyson Feltes (writer); David Caffrey (director); (August 2, 2020); "Memento Mori". Episode 6. *Angel of Darkness*. TNT.
6. ↑ Tom Smuts & Amy Berg (writers); David Caffrey (director); (August 9, 2020); "Last Exit to Brooklyn". Episode 7. *Angel of Darkness*. TNT.