# Actors who died before people they played **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 21, 2017, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-died-before-people-they-played/794309 "2017-08-21T21:37:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2017, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-died-before-people-they-played/794309/41 "2017-08-27T17:18:08Z")
> [@bibliophage](#): > > Jason Robards (died 2000) played Ben Bradlee (died 2014) in _All the President’s Men_ (1976) Robards is one of 3 actors who died before the real life person they won Oscars portraying. The other two are: \*Gary Cooper (d. 1961) and Alvin York (d. 1964), **Sergeant York** \*Haing S. Ngor (d. 1996) and Dith Pran (d. 2008), **The Killing Fields** Sam Shepard is one of 3 other people who died before the real life person they were nominated for an Oscar portraying. The other two are: \*Susan Hayward (d.1975) and Lilian Roth (d.1980), **I’ll Cry Tomorrow**. \*Jennifer Jones (d.2009) and Elizabeth Comber (aka Han Suyin, d.2012), **Love Is a Many-Splendoured Thing**. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2017, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-died-before-people-they-played/794309/42 "2017-08-27T21:44:24Z")
Strictly speaking, this one doesn’t count, but I’ll use it anywasy. 90% of what Patrrick Dennis wrote about “Auntie Mame” was fictional, and he admitted it. The other 10% was based on his adventures with his eccentric aunt Marion Tanner. IF we think Mame Dennis = Marion Tanner (and that’s not at all clear), well, Dennis’ zany aunt outlived both Rosalind Russell and Lucille Ball, who played her in movies. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2017, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-died-before-people-they-played/794309/43 "2017-08-27T23:52:24Z")
I thought I had another, but Sal Mineo just barely outlived jazz drummer Gene Krupa. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2017, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-died-before-people-they-played/794309/44 "2017-08-28T00:04:04Z")
Just started looking at sports movies. Baseball icons Rogers Hornsby and Joe McCarthy both outlived the actors who played them in Ronald Reagan’s “The Winning Team.” ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2017, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-died-before-people-they-played/794309/45 "2017-08-28T04:51:30Z")
> [@kk\_fusion](#): > > Found another: Janet Brown (d. 2011) played Margaret Thatcher (d. 2013) in _For Your Eyes Only_ (1981). Likewise actor John Wells (d. 1998), who played her husband Denis Thatcher (d. 2003) in that scene. ---
**Author:** ![MrAtoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2017, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-died-before-people-they-played/794309/46 "2017-08-28T15:49:14Z")
This one depends, I suppose, on who you believe. Jackie Gleason, who played Minnesota Fats in _The Hustler_, died in 1987. Rudolf Wanderone, the real-life pool player who used the name Minnesota Fats, died in 1996. The snag here is that Walderone only started calling himself Minnesota Fats after the movie was released. Prior to that, he had used several nicknames, including New York Fats, Chicago Fats, and Broadway Fats. He claimed that the character in _The Hustler_ was based on him. On the other hand, Walter Tevis, the author of the original novel, denied that and always insisted that he had made up the Minnesota Fats character. ---
**Author:** ![xnylder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/bbce88/32.png) [@xnylder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xnylder)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2017, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-died-before-people-they-played/794309/47 "2017-08-28T19:20:28Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > Lindy “Dingos ate My Baby” Chamertlain is about the same age as Meryl Streep, and u but outlive her. Both Lindy Chamberlain-Creighton and Meryl Streep are still alive. ---
**Author:** ![Go\_Arachnid\_Laser\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b2d939/32.png) [@Go\_Arachnid\_Laser\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Go_Arachnid_Laser_1)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2017, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-died-before-people-they-played/794309/48 "2017-08-28T20:10:14Z")
The amazing British actress [Lucy Gordon](https://youtu.be/8fMe4sHihC8?t=26)had the talent and the looks to become a household name. Until she killed herself in 2009 just as her career was starting. Before that she played French singer [Jane Birkin](https://youtu.be/GlpDf6XX_j0) in the movie Gainsbourg. Birkin is, luckily, still among us. ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2017, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-died-before-people-they-played/794309/49 "2017-09-15T02:52:29Z")
Frank Vincent, who passed away this week, played Mafia hitman Frank Marino in _Casino._ The role was based on real life Mafia enforcer-turned-informant [Frank Cullotta,](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Cullotta) who is still alive. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2017, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-died-before-people-they-played/794309/50 "2017-09-15T11:58:10Z")
> [@whitetho](#): > > George Burns played the title role in “Oh God”. (Nietzsche might object). It doesn’t matter. Nietzche is dead. As the famous graffiti has it: "Nietzche is dead ``` --God" ``` ---
**Author:** ![Greathouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/greathouse/32/2992_2.png) [@Greathouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greathouse)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2017, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-died-before-people-they-played/794309/51 "2017-09-15T12:54:18Z")
> [@TonySinclair](#): > > Everybody in the Star Trek movies. What does that mean? ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2017, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-died-before-people-they-played/794309/52 "2017-09-15T13:11:12Z")
As long as we are including movies based on real people there is Robert Montgomery. He played Lt John Brickley in _They Were Expendable_ who was based pretty closely on John Bulkeley. Bulkeley was a Medal of Honor recipient and future admiral. Montgomery died in 81, Bulkeley died in 96. John Wayne’s character was also based on a real person. Capt Robert Kelly outlived Wayne by 10 years. ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2017, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-died-before-people-they-played/794309/53 "2017-09-16T13:17:07Z")
A 1991 TV movie “Separate But Equal” about the Brown vs Board of Education case, Cleavon Little played Robert Lee Carter, a lawyer for the NAACP. Little, despite being 22 years younger than Carter (who was later nominated to a District Court judge by Richard Nixon), died in 1992. Carter died in 2012. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2017, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-died-before-people-they-played/794309/54 "2017-09-16T14:36:15Z")
In a 1994 ABC TV movie, [Lies of the Heart: The Story of Laurie Kellogg](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110347/combined), Alexis Arquette played [Denver McDowell](http://www.newyorkupstate.com/news/2017/08/exclusive_interview_man_who_pulled_trigger_as_teen_in_laurie_kellogg_case_speaks.html) who, as a teen, was lured into killing his neighbor’s husband. McDowell is still in prison but Arquette died last September. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2017, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-died-before-people-they-played/794309/55 "2017-09-16T15:00:36Z")
> [@don\_t\_ask](#): > > In a 1994 ABC TV movie, [Lies of the Heart: The Story of Laurie Kellogg](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110347/combined), Alexis Arquette played [Denver McDowell](http://www.newyorkupstate.com/news/2017/08/exclusive_interview_man_who_pulled_trigger_as_teen_in_laurie_kellogg_case_speaks.html) who, as a teen, was lured into killing his neighbor’s husband. McDowell is still in prison but Arquette died last September. Ah true crime. That reminds me of another one. Joe McGinness wrote the bestselling book _Blind Faith_ about the case of Robert Marshall who hired a hit man to kill his wife. The well done mini-series starred Robert Urich as Robert Marshall and Joanna Kerns as his wife. Urich died in 2002. Robert Marshall died in prison in 2015. It was a local crime so everything about the show, book, and people involved got covered. One interesting side note about the mini-series. Roby Marshall was the son and acted as a consultant on the show. Joanna Kerns introduced him to her tv daughter Tracy Gold. Gold and Marshall have been married for over 20 years. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2017, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-died-before-people-they-played/794309/56 "2017-09-16T17:01:17Z")
> [@Greathouse](#): > > What does that mean? I assume it means, everyone appearing in any version of _Star Trek_ will be dead long before the 2200s roll around. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2017, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-died-before-people-they-played/794309/57 "2017-09-16T22:18:16Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > Ah true crime. That reminds me of another one. Joe McGinness wrote the bestselling book _Blind Faith_ about the case of Robert Marshall who hired a hit man to kill his wife. The well done mini-series starred Robert Urich as Robert Marshall and Joanna Kerns as his wife. Urich died in 2002. Robert Marshall died in prison in 2015. > > It was a local crime so everything about the show, book, and people involved got covered. One interesting side note about the mini-series. Roby Marshall was the son and acted as a consultant on the show. Joanna Kerns introduced him to her tv daughter Tracy Gold. Gold and Marshall have been married for over 20 years. A weird thing about that case is the guy who allegedly pulled the trigger for the murder was found not guilty but the husband who hired him was convicted. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-died-before-people-they-played/794309.md?page=2)