# Celebrities who have completely vanished **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 18, 2015, 9:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-have-completely-vanished/715272 "2015-03-18T09:27:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2015, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-have-completely-vanished/715272/101 "2015-03-29T13:36:54Z")
Bobbie Gentry apparently hasn’t been seen in any public capacity since 1981. ---
**Author:** ![Ellis\_Aponte\_Jr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@Ellis\_Aponte\_Jr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellis_Aponte_Jr)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2015, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-have-completely-vanished/715272/102 "2015-03-29T15:32:43Z")
> [@Koxinga](#): > > Bobbie Gentry apparently hasn’t been seen in any public capacity since 1981. That’s a good one. She was unusually talented and one would think her style would go over really well today and she herself would be in great demand. She’s only slightly older than Dolly Parton. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2015, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-have-completely-vanished/715272/103 "2015-03-29T16:30:07Z")
I just read [this article](http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/02/magazine/evermans-war.html?_r=0) about Jason Everman, a musician who managed to get kicked out of both Nirvana _and_ Soundgarden before they became huge. He kicked around the music scene for awhile, then joined the Army and ended up in Special Forces. He completely avoided publicity, although he was occasionally recognized by hard-core rock fans. The reporter who wrote the article was a friend of his from the early days and tracked him down to the remote cabin he now lives in. He hasn’t disappeared completely, but pretty close to it. ---
**Author:** ![No\_umlaut\_for\_U](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ea5d25/32.png) [@No\_umlaut\_for\_U](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/No_umlaut_for_U)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2015, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-have-completely-vanished/715272/104 "2015-03-30T23:17:08Z")
Lisa Gerritsen, of _My World and Welcome to It_, and recurring character on _The Mary Tyler Moore Show_. There’s some evidence she worked in the computer industry. Gerry Rafferty, of Stealer’s Wheel and solo albums. Wasn’t he missing for many years before turning up dead? ---
**Author:** ![Obeseus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbce88/32.png) [@Obeseus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Obeseus)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2015, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-have-completely-vanished/715272/105 "2015-03-31T02:28:58Z")
Not sure if she counts as famous enough, but Kitty Burke, a nightclub entertainer, walked onto the field and batted for the Cincinnati Reds in a game in 1935. The Reds wanted to commemorate the event in 1985, but they couldn’t figure out what ever happened to Kitty Burke. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2015, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-have-completely-vanished/715272/106 "2015-03-31T02:34:28Z")
> [@No\_umlaut\_for\_U](#): > > Gerry Rafferty, of Stealer’s Wheel and solo albums. Wasn’t he missing for many years before turning up dead? Not missing, but reclusive is what I heard. Apparently his alcoholism ruined his career and killed him in the end. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2015, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-have-completely-vanished/715272/107 "2015-03-31T16:11:07Z")
For purposes of this thread, if a formerly big star now has a mundane, ordinary job, leads an ordinary middle-class family life, and no longer performs, that that person “vanished”? Last I heard, disco chanteuse Anita Ward, who had a huge hit with “Ring My Bell” back in my college days, was a high school math teacher. Has she “vanished”? Well, as far as the public is concerned, I suppose. But she’s not JD Salinger, hiding from the world. It’s more that the world has stopped caring about her, except to the extent that periodically someone listening to an oldies radio stations wonders, “What ever happened to her?” Many of us know that Peter Ostrum of \*\*\*Willy Wonka \*\*\*fame never made another movie, and is a country veterinarian somewhere. Does that count as “vanishing”? Well, no. He can be found. He’s probably in the phone book wherever he lives. He’s just totally out of the spotlight, and has been for 40 years. ---
**Author:** ![journeyman\_southpaw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5e9695/32.png) [@journeyman\_southpaw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/journeyman_southpaw)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2015, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-have-completely-vanished/715272/108 "2015-04-14T00:45:15Z")
In the hard rock/heavy metal world the guy for this thread is Vinnie Vincent, who played in Kiss for a couple years and then formed his own band, Vinnie Vincent Invasion, which made a couple albums before it kinda morphed into Slaughter without him. That might not sound like a whole lot, but Kiss fans on the internet are utterly _fascinated_ with the guy to this day, yet his current whereabouts remain a mystery. Here’s a [Rolling Stone article](http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/the-long-kiss-goodbye-the-search-for-vinnie-vincent-20140408) from last year about him. ---
**Author:** ![PlumBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@PlumBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlumBob)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2015, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-have-completely-vanished/715272/109 "2015-04-14T12:41:54Z")
How about Betty Page? She seemed to have vanished from the 60’s through the 80’s. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2015, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-have-completely-vanished/715272/110 "2015-04-14T13:13:10Z")
> [@PlumBob](#): > > How about Betty Page? She seemed to have vanished from the 60’s through the 80’s. Someone will be along to explain in depth, but you might check out her Wikipedia page for some eye-openers. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2015, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-have-completely-vanished/715272/111 "2015-04-14T13:21:15Z")
> [@Superdude](#): > > Does anyone know the current whereabouts of Question Mark (of ? And the Mysterians fame…the guys who performed “96 Tears”). > > Wiki has him mentioned up through the middle 2000s, then says that the band still plays without him. [This is the latest I could find on him.](http://www.mlive.com/news/saginaw/index.ssf/2012/10/fifty_years_later_question_mar.html) ---
**Author:** ![PlumBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@PlumBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlumBob)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2015, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-have-completely-vanished/715272/112 "2015-04-15T11:55:47Z")
> [@salinqmind](#): > > Someone will be along to explain in depth, but you might check out her Wikipedia page for some eye-openers. Oops, she didn’t quite fit the OP’s criteria. If only I had posted this in 1989 ; ) ---
**Author:** ![Ms\_Boods](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5e9695/32.png) [@Ms\_Boods](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms_Boods)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2015, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-have-completely-vanished/715272/113 "2015-04-15T15:49:21Z")
> [@psiekier](#): > > There’s a similar thing going on with [Michelle Stacy](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0821094/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm), the little girl who provided the voice of Penny in the first _The Rescuers_ movie. IMDB notes she had a small part in the _Logan’s Run_ TV show and was in some Peter Pan Peanut Butter commercials way back when, but seems to have disappeared after that. After you’ve done this you're left with no place to go but retirement, really. ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2015, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-have-completely-vanished/715272/114 "2015-04-16T15:34:23Z")
If he counts as a WWII celebrity of sorts, young Arthur MacArthur IV seems to have disappeared himself quite effectively over the past 50 years. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2015, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-have-completely-vanished/715272/115 "2015-04-16T15:52:57Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > Many of us know that Peter Ostrum of \*\*\*Willy Wonka \*\*\*fame never made another movie, and is a country veterinarian somewhere. Does that count as “vanishing”? Well, no. He can be found. He’s probably in the phone book wherever he lives. He’s just totally out of the spotlight, and has been for 40 years. He did a “where are they now?” reunion show a while ago (probably when the Tim Burton film came out). Michael Bollner (Augustus Gloop) is a tax attorney in Munich. The girls actually attempted to have acting careers, with mixed success. ---
**Author:** ![DrForrester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8edcca/32.png) [@DrForrester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrForrester)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2015, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-have-completely-vanished/715272/116 "2015-04-16T20:32:14Z")
[Rodriguez](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2125608/) I would tell you how it all turns out, but that would be a spoiler… ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2015, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-have-completely-vanished/715272/117 "2015-04-16T23:36:07Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > Are you referencing Bobby Fisher? 'Cause that dude has shut up permanently. He dead. Be careful what you wish for… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-have-completely-vanished/715272.md?page=5)