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Which celebrity death do you think is the most tragic?

Which celebrity death do you think is the most tragic?

many come to mind, kurt cobain, diana, heath ledger, MJ, tupac etc etc etc. but which one do you think was a real tragedy? a waste of life, that could have done so much more, but left us before they should have?

for me its bruce lee. he was a legend. he had so much to offer, but was atken away so soon. i cant only imagine what he could have become.

Freddie Mercury.

James Dean

Marilyn Monroe

honestly, i'd say heath ledger. just because of his performance in Batman.

All the musical ones, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, Buddy Holly, Randy Rhoades.

Bruce Lee, Steve Irwin, Freddie Mercury

Elvis Presley and Heath Ledger

John Keats, poet of the second Romantic Age (1795 - 1821)

He died of TB at the tender age of 26.

If you look at his canon of poetry and gauge its depth, quality, and temper that with its volume, it's hard not to think, "Damn it. He produced that within a span of 6 or 7 years, and all by his mid-twenties?!"

I cannot even fathom what he would have produced had he fully developed his powers.

/book nerd

Einstein.

I don't really consider the death of a celebrity in the traditional sense any more of a tragedy than the death of anyone else. They merely entertain us. Einstein enlightened us.

Cliff Burton...

Metallica might still make good music if he were still around.

I'll second:

- Bruce Lee (martial arts god)
- James Dean (saw Rebel and wanted so much more)
- Cliff Burton of Metallica (never seen a bassist like him since)

brandon lee and diana because of the circumstances beyond their control.
i'll have to give it more thought for some of the others, but those two jumped into my head as soon as i read the title.

Mozart (He was only 35). And Diana, because her death was so unexpected and mindboggling. Both she had Mozart had years of doing wonderful things remaining in their lives.

Present day musicians and actors tend to be kind of carefree and haphazard in their lifestyles, so their deaths don't shock me quite as much. However, Michael and Elvis were legends so they are not even in the same category as other musicians.

For those of you familiar with his work, Ritchie Valens was only 17.

Jim Henson.
Douglas Adams.

They both had a lot left to create.

Pushkin
Hillel Slovak
John Kennedy Toole
John O'Brien
Jean-Michel Basquiat
John Belushi
Chris Farley
Brad Nowell

Adding to the list:

Stevie Ray Vaughn
Jon Bonham
Natalie Wood
River Phoenix
Oscar Wilde

John Lennon
Freddie Mercury
Bon Scott
Keith Moon

Can't believe Keith Richards out lived these guys.

Marvin Gaye
Bill Hicks
Hank Williams
Sam Cooke
Otis Redding
Buddy Holly
Jimi Hendrix

Quote:

Originally Posted by guccilvr (Post 2660845)

Freddie Mercury.

James Dean

Marilyn Monroe

with the addition of Kurt Kobain, Lennon, Keats, Heath Ledger, John Ritter.

oh, and JFK & RFK & MLK and Harvey Milk
and
Andy Kaufman

Quote:

Originally Posted by Redlemon (Post 2660921)

Jim Henson.
Douglas Adams.

They both had a lot left to create.

Seconded.

Also I'd like to second Lennon and Kurt.

Everyone has listed most of the people I would have put on here except one:

Robert Jordan

I can't describe how soul-crushing it was to hear of his death (I know he was old but still), say what you will about his series, I love them. I'll never get to know how the series will end (Ghost writer blah blah blah).

Musically I would say Jimi Hendrix and John Bonham. Hendrix was just beginning to evolve and who knows where Bonham would have taken Zeppelin into the 80's.

Going back I would say bluesman Robert Johnson and jazz virtuoso Charlie Christian who died at 26.

Lenny Breau also. Can't imagine how more out there he could get though. Maybe so out that he would be in.

i do not want to defeat the purpose of the thread. i think every human's death is equally tragic, no one's death is more tragic than another's.

if i have to choose someone, i say salvador dali, hunter s thompson, and freddy mercury.

I miss all of these people. Tragedies = JFK, his bro, and Lennon. All shot by their own kind.

I miss Gilda Radner, so very much.

Quote:

Originally Posted by girldetective (Post 2661044)

I miss all of these people. Tragedies = JFK, his bro, and Lennon. All shot by their own kind.

What does this mean, "shot by their own kind"?

Are you referring to the state of humanity and those few that fail to realize it fully? I just have a difficult time envisioning anything else but a human shooting another human. (A rogue and genetically-enhanced laboratory orangutan aside, but even so, where would it obtain the pistol...)
It truly strikes harder and bears more burden on the heart to realize the tragic end of anyone who falls at the hands of their own blood. And given the celebrity and status of a certain musician, it can haunt people for years how such a fatal circumstance came into being.

Quick overview regarding Marvin Gaye

Quote:

After retiring from his 1983 U.S. promotional tour to support what would be his final album, he isolated himself by moving into his parents' house.

Gaye was plagued by health problems and frequent bouts with depression, propelled further by incessant fears over an attempt on his life. He threatened to commit suicide several times after bitter arguments with his father. On April 1, 1984, Gaye's father fatally shot him after an argument that started after his parents squabbled over misplaced business documents. Gaye attempted to intervene, and was killed by his father using a gun he had given him four months before.

Detailed description of what transpired that day click to show

By the time 1984 rolled around, Marvin was on a train ride to hell. He owed a lot of money to the IRS, and he was in the midst of a downward spiral of drug addiction and abuse. He wasn't able to hold on to a relationship, and was becoming increasingly more paranoid. He told his musicians that he was being stalked by murderers, and began wearing a bullet-proof vest.

On April 1, 1984, Marvin was staying in his parent's house, in the Crenshaw district of Los Angeles. The house is still there, on Gramercy. He was strung out, doing loads of cocaine and spent hours watching porn videos in his bedroom. He was wearing a maroon bathrobe that he'd been wearing for days. He carried a pistol in the pocket of his robe, and had a small arsenal under his bed. He was convinced that someone was going to kill him.

I have to preface the next part by saying that according to most published sources, Marvin had a turbulent-at-best relationship with his father, Marvin Gay, Sr. They say that the senior Gay abused Marvin as a child, and resented his fame and glory, yet lived off the profits. What follows are quotes from Marvin's mother, Alberta:

"That morning, my husband (Gay Sr.) came walking through my bathroom door, and asked me where he could find this insurance letter. I couldn't hear him very well, so Marvin asked him to come into the room where we were. My husband said no, he wouldn't come in the room."

Marvin told him, ''If you don't come in now, don't you ever come into my room again.''

"Then my husband came in the room. Marvin told him to get out, and got up from the bed, walked over to my husband, and pushed him back. Marvin pushed him a couple of times. My husband turned and walked back to his bedroom. Marvin followed him, yelling little cuss words at him. Marvin told his father, ''I'll beat you up.''

Both of them went into the father's room. "I didn't see what happened in the bedroom," related Alberta, "I heard my husband say, He's kicking me. I don't have to take that.''

"When I entered the room, my husband was on the floor, and Marvin was standing a short distance away. I took Marvin by the arm and led him back to his room. I sat him on the foot of the bed. Marvin told me, "Mother, I'm going to get my things and get out of this house. Father hates me and I'm never coming back."

"I was standing about eight feet away from Marvin, when my husband came to the door of the bedroom with his pistol. My husband didn't say anything, he just pointed the gun at Marvin. I screamed but it was very quick. He, my husband, shot - and Marvin screamed. I tried to run. Marvin slid down to the floor after the first shot."

The first 38-caliber slug had entered his right chest at a 30 degree downward angle, perforating the right lung, heart, diaphragm, liver, stomach, and left kidney before coming to rest against his left flank. It was immediately fatal.

Gay Sr. stepped forward and fired again at point-blank range. He then went downstairs to the front porch, threw the pistol out onto the lawn and sat down to await police.

Marvin Gaye Jr. was taken to the California Hospital Medical Center, and pronounced dead at 1:01 PM. It was one day before his 45th birthday.

Heath Ledger is definitely the biggest one in recent memory.

The most tragic??

Easy,

Phil Hartman

YouTube - Phil Hartman audition

Quote:

I thought about what I wrote as I was writing it, thinking something similar. A little nausea sets in when I think of a human gunning down another human. Death because of illness, addiction, accidents, even suicide doesnt strike quite the same feel for me, although most any death in itself is tragic.

When I read the thread title I thought immediately of my hero Joan of Arc (1412 - 1431) who was burned at the stake at the age of 19. She was completely impossible, and she transformed the world. Her work and her example arguably allowed the formation of the modern state of France (through the creation of the spirit of "nationhood"), and which allowed Europe to coalesce around this strong core of France. A less ravaged and more defined Europe in turn lead to the Renaissance. Imagine what Joan of Arc could have accomplished had she been allowed some more time.

A man I wished had been given 20 more years is Genghis Khan (1162 - 1227) who died after falling from a horse during a hunt. Yes, he lived till the age of 65, and yes part of his empire lasted (at least in name) until the final desolution of the Golden Horde through annexation by Catherine the Great of Russia in 1768 (540 years after his death). But he could have strengthened and guided what he had created in a way that his sons were incapable of, and had he lived he would have done a better job of arranging his succession. I strongly recommend the book Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World by Jack Weatherford. A truly amazing man of remarkable genius and insight.

Tom Thompson (1877 - 1917) was the founder of The Group of Seven artists in Canada. He was a brilliant and gifted artist who died under mysterious circumstances. His gifts and his vision were a real loss.

The recent loss of Freddie Mercury and John Lennon are about the most tragic of recent celebrities that come to mind.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Baraka_Guru (Post 2660863)

Indeed.

Every time I come across Mary Wollstonecraft's works I wonder what else she would have produced had she lived longer.

Farley, Belushi and Candy

Quote:

Originally Posted by noodle (Post 2660893)

brandon lee and diana because of the circumstances beyond their control.
i'll have to give it more thought for some of the others, but those two jumped into my head as soon as i read the title.

i agree

I can think of tons of world figures but the saddest in my life was Lady Diane

I would go with Phil Hartman

Quote:

Originally Posted by God of Thunder (Post 2661067)

The most tragic??

Easy,

Phil Hartman
YouTube - Phil Hartman audition

Damn I forgot Phil Hartman. The Simpsons just isn't the same without Troy McClure, who you may recognize from such...

Phil was comedy gold.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tully Mars (Post 2660940)

Keith Moon

Words can't describe how disappointed I am in myself for not putting Moon Man on the list.

:sad:

Booker Little
Scott LaFaro
Clifford Brown
Steve Bohannon
Ross Pollack
Albert Stinson
Jimmy Blanton
etc.

(did not make 30, most not 25, one not 19)

Christopher Reeve.
Diana.
Michael Landon.

Odd from the lists of musicians I'd have figured at least someone before me would have said Johnny Cash, ok he was of a fair age when he left us ate age ummm 61 I believe but he still had much more music left in him then most "artists" will ever hope for.

Must not be many Robert A Heinlein fans here. Again a truly gifted individual that has inspired many with his works, left us at the grand old age of 81 years young and still writing with the help of his wife Ginny who has also passed on.

Guess I'm thinking that a person doesn't have to be young to have their death be tragic as long as they still have something of themselves left to teach or reach us as those two icons have certainly done.

I'd have to vote for Harry Chapin. Most widely known for "Cats in the Cradle" and "Taxi," he donated his proceeds from half of his concerts per year toward fighting world hunger. When he died, several charities had to close because of the lost funding. World Hunger Year is still carrying his message.

John Lennon - imagine what mor he could have brought to all of us.

Both men lost within 6 months of each other... 1980. That was a sucky year for me.

Aaliyah.

She was going places. Many places.

Princess Di is the only one for whom I stayed up till 4am to watch the funeral procession and memorial service as a kid.

Tupac and Biggy Smalls was a tragedy for music.

rocky marciano and ayrton senna in sport

Lady Di because if it hadn't been for that drunken bastard of a driver she had, she'd still be alive.

Judy Garland, she was desperate to be loved, and couldn't find it. She was looking in all the wrong places, but the fact that people continued to fuel her addictions, and her lack of self-worth, and didn't reach out to her as a person...it's very sad. She was a moneymaker and that's all they worried about.

Lou Gherig, because it is a shame they didn't have the science back then that they had today...he could have lived longer. And I disagree with the way they kept telling him that he was going to be fine, and that it was just a matter of time. Well they were right, it was just a matter of time, but not for a cure but for it to take it's toll.

Ronald Reagan. It's sad to see a couple that in love and to see him die the way he did. To go from a vibrant young strapping actor (not that he was a favourite), but he had talent, then to see him lead this country, even though I didn't agree with everything he stood for, and then to leave office with dignity (which is rare these days). To see that he was so very happily married and in love, and then to die the way he did.

Heath Ledger. Because it could have been prevented.

Mr. Rogers. Despite all the urban legends and rumors, the only "bad" thing anyone could ever come up with was that he would swear like a sailor when the camera was off. The guy was just about perfect and deserved to live forever.

If you don't find this speech at least a bit moving, you're not fully human.

YouTube - Mister Rogers defending PBS to the US Senate

Probably the most shocking death of a famous person that hit me was the death of Marc-Vivien Foe