Famous Patients

As mentioned in the story one of McLeans hospitals most famous patients was Ray Charles

I have uncovered some information about this famous piano player and his reasons for seeking treatment


The most grandiose structure on the McLean Hospital campus in Belmont, Massachusetts, is Upham Memorial Hall, a brick mansion larger than many hotels but built to house just nine mental patients. Now abandoned, it was known as the "Harvard Club" because "at one time, each of its majestic corner suites was said to have been occupied by a graduate of Harvard College," often found among McLean’s clientele, writes Boston Globe columnist Alex Beam in Gracefully Insane: The Rise and Fall of America’s Premier Mental Hospital (PublicAffairs, $26). In the 1950s and ’60s, Upham became "a dumping ground for chronically ill, elderly patients—practically all of them rich—whose families had cut lifetime financial deals with the hospital. There was little incentive to ‘cure’ the Uphamites because their families had paid good money never to see them again." One day in 1966 the residents had a surprise visitor. Bluesman Ray Charles, then 35 years old, came onto the hall for a week-long "observational" visit.

Courtesy of : http://harvardmagazine.com/2002/01/ray-charles-plays-the-ha.html

I found this very interesting how one of the most famous musician of all time had spend time at a mental hospital. It really is fascinating how even the people we believe to have mental disorders and have to stay at a hospital such as McLean.