Tragic ends to famous stars

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Is anybody currently interested in the lives of various Hollywood stars who unfortunately met a tragic demise?

I recently became interested in the story of Bobby Driscoll. He's well known as being the voice of Peter Pan from the Disney animated movie, as well as being involved with many other Disney projects. He was one of the most famous child stars of his day (late '40s and early '50s).

Then, in the mid '50s, his contract with Disney abruptly expired (partially due to acne from his being on the onset of puberty), and he found it increasingly difficult to land roles in films during the latter half of the '50s. When was was seventeen, he began to abuse drugs.

In the '60s, his acting career was pretty much over, and he had already been in trouble with the law multiple times mainly due to his drug use. He became involved with the underground scene in Manhattan and began working on avant-garde paintings. He was also involved with Andy Warhol's various groups.

He became penniless and homeless in either late 1967 or early 1968, and in March of 1968, he was found dead in an abandoned Manhattan tenement building. He was only 31 years old. He was determined to have died from heart failure due to long-time drug abuse, and he wasn't properly identified upon his death. A few years later, his mother had forensic scientists properly identify his body from DNA fingerprinting, and his death was not known to the public until 1971, the year that Song of the South (in which he had a starring role) was rereleased to theaters.

One of his most famous roles, as the voice of Peter Pan, said "Once you grow up, you can never go back." In an ironic and tragic twist of fate, growing up would end up being Driscoll's slow and steady demise.

Interesting. I can't say I follow that thing, but we were arguing the other day how effective Bruce Lee would be in today's MMA world. There has been a lot of conspiracies associated with his death involving poisoning by chinese triads, though I think his death was determined to be uncommon side effect of painkillers.

women-

francis farmer [an astoundingly talented but insufferably arrogant b-witch before her time, and paid steep price]
dorothy dandridge [just sad- she was da bomb]
jayne mansfield [genius IQ, spoke several languages fluently, lost top of her head in freak traffic accident in 1967]
inger stevens [sad ditto- what a babe]
dana plato [unforgiveable, what was done to her]
natalie wood [mysterious circumstances, and too damned far before her time]
marilyn monroe [another "difficult" woman before her time- the "madonna" of her age, mysterious circumstances]
jean harlow [a madonna of HER era, but abused by many bad men, including paul bern whose abuse likely lead to her fatal kidney failure at 26]
janis joplin [what a f-ing waste of a god-given talent, just 27]
jean seburg [yet another sad and mysterious end]
rebecca schaeffer [murdered by f-ing nutjob in 1989]
jane dornacker [played nurse murch in "The Right Stuff," wrote/performed "Don't Touch Me There" with The Tubes- helecopter accident 1986]

and now for men-

jonathan brandis [suicide- too damned young]
james dean [speed killed him just as surely as night follows day, age 24]
heath ledger [overdose]
pete duel [brother of geoffrey duel- suicide]
jon erik hexum [tragic gunplay misadventure on set]
dan blocker [pulmonary embolism, age 43]
john belushi [a crime, IMHO]
victor buono and john candy [both just 43, both morbidly obese]
jimmy hendrix [another OD, age 27]
Elvis Presley [ditto, age 42]
jim morrison [a true mystery, as the death certificate simply said "cardiac arrest"- 1971- his wife pamela courson followed him in 1974]
selar sheik sabu, starred in various sword and sandal epics- died from heart attack, only 39]

too many others to list here.

Robert E. Howard—in his 30 years, he published more than 160 stories, created a cultural icon, and established an entire genre of fiction before splattering his mind all over the insides of a car in a driveway, in Cross Plains, Texas, in 1936.

at age 62, carl sagan was still too damned young to leave us. damn it. damned leukemia.
oh, and i gotta mention Kyu Sakamoto, singer of "sukiyaki" [actual title "ue o muite aruko" or "i look up when i walk"] died in that awful [august 12] 1985 japan airlines flight 123 crash, the single deadliest air tragedy of all time. he was only 43. damned plane crashes.

Bruce. Frickin'. Lee.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqgIoyxPV_8[/youtube]
在死的時候，你已經成為不朽。

F.W. Murnau - German director most famous for his movie Nosferatu.
Hitting the big time, and coming to America to make movies, Murnau was killed in a car accident.

-Bill, otherwise known as Kraichgauer

jonathan larson ["Rent"]

When I was 15 I became interested int James Dean and became convinced that I would die at the age of 23. I am 40 now.

His film Rebel without a Cause stars two other tragic stars Natalie Wood and Sal Mineo (think that is his name).

It is a life lesson for famous people to learn. Die young and stay pretty? or grow old gracefully?

Bradley Nowell, the driving force of Sublime--Murdered by heroin at 28...

from wikipedia:

Bruce Lee has been mentioned, but not his son, Brandon Lee, who literally died for the role of Eric Draven in The Crow back in 1993, at the age of 28, just weeks before he was to be married to his fiance?

tim and jeff buckley [both due to misadventure]
roy orbison [damned heart attack just as his career was getting back on track]
bix beiderbecke [drank himself to death]
bunny berrigan [drank himself to death]
charlie christian [TB]

and the king of 'em all- fats waller [pneumonia].

all of 'em too damned young to go.

--Abraham Lincoln
--Bruce Lee (Cerebral edema/Brain Attack, Chuck Norris is always stealing his spotlight)
--George Carlin (Heart Failure, he and Thomas were my childhood)
--Don LaFontaine (Blood Clot, He was a god at voice acting)
--Umaga/Eddie Fatu (Heart Attack, it pisses me off that WWE didn't even acknowledge his career...)