MARGAUX HEMINGWAY FOUND DEAD IN HOME.

Byline: Daily News Staff and Wire Services

The badly decomposed body of actress-model Margaux Hemingway was found in her Santa Monica home by the beach Monday, police and coroner's officials said.

Friends made the discovery around 2 p.m. at Hemingway's studio apartment in the 100 block of Fraser Avenue. Concerned because they had not seen her since Friday, her friends climbed a ladder, entered the home through a balcony door and found her dead inside, said Santa Monica police spokesman, Sgt. Gary Gallinot.

``There was no sign of forced entry and no obvious foul play,'' Gallinot said. ``No guns or illegal substances were found in the apartment.''

Gallinot also said it didn't appear to be a suicide.

Hemingway's body was discovered a day before the 35th anniversary of the suicide of her famous grandfather, novelist Ernest Hemingway.

Coroner's officials identified the body using dental records, Gallinot said.

Hemingway, 41, recently moved to the studio apartment atop a pink and burgundy house with a white picket fence, on a tree-lined street less than a block from the beach.

``She seemed nice,'' said neighbor Kristina Deutsch. ``She had an old bike and rode it around the neighborhood.''

Born Feb. 19, 1955, Margaux Hemingway is the older of two famous granddaughters of the Pulitzer Prize-winning author. Her younger sister is actress Mariel Hemingway, who most recently starred in the short-lived television series ``Central Park West.''

Margaux Hemingway was launched into stardom in the early 1970s as the spokeswoman for Faberge's ``Babe'' fragrance. At age 20, she was earning more than $100,000 an hour as a model.

In 1976, she starred in her first movie, ``Lipstick,'' a story about a model who is raped, then exacts violent revenge on her attacker. The film was panned, but Hemingway went on to make a handful of other movies, including ``Killer Fish,'' ``They Call Me Bruce?'' ``Killing Machine,'' ``Inner Sanctum'' and ``Deadly Rivals.''

In the late 1980s, Hemingway also made a film documentary about her famed grandfather.

Margaux Hemingway spent several years of her childhood in Cuba, on her grandfather's farm. The family relocated to San Francisco; then again to Ernest Hemingway's Ketchum, Idaho, home.

Hemingway's rise to stardom was not without its struggles. She was nearly killed in a skiing accident and battled alcoholism in the aftermath, checking herself into the Betty Ford Center in December of 1987. Hemingway also had trouble with bulimia.

After several years out of the limelight, Hemingway enjoyed a brief resurgence in 1990, when she appeared in a photo pictorial in the May issue of Playboy, which led to several script offers and talk show appearances.

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PHOTO (color) Margaux Hemingway

Granddaughter of writer