# Celebrity Deaths Affecting You the Most **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 21, 2019, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-deaths-affecting-you-the-most/840609 "2019-09-21T12:48:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/face_intentionally_left_blank/32/288_2.png) [@Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Face_Intentionally_Left_Blank)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2019, 7:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-deaths-affecting-you-the-most/840609/61 "2019-09-26T07:34:26Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > Stevie Ray. He was getting better every day. And I figured I’d always have a chance _later_ to see him play. I saw him a few months before he died, during the, “In Step” tour. That one hurt. I was still in my early 20’s, a big fan of his, and not experienced in death and loss. I was down for weeks. I’ll agree: 1. Stevie Ray Vaughan was the one that hurt the most so far. 2. I can’t say what future celebrity death would affect me most. I think knowing the answer would insulate me somewhat, prepare me. The one that will hurt worst will hit like lightning out of the blue. “That person is gone? Oh no. . .” The ones that have hurt most so far have all blindsided me. Jim Henson was a shame, because he was so young, and it seemed so preventable. Robin Williams, because he brought so much joy to everyone, and it was so unexpected. David Bowie’s death hit me hard, and I’m not even a big Bowie fan. It just seems wrong for there to be a world without Bowie. It’s impossible to say, of course, which death of the two will affect me most. I think, if some political figure I admired, or some activist working to improve the world were to suddenly die, that would hurt the worst. ---
**Author:** ![gytalf2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ac91a4/32.png) [@gytalf2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gytalf2000)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2019, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-deaths-affecting-you-the-most/840609/62 "2019-09-26T14:18:08Z")
> [@gytalf2000](#): > > The deaths that affected me the most were : > > 1. John Lennon > > 2. Stan Lee > > 3. Charles Shulz (creator of "Peanuts) > > 4. Teresa Graves (the star of the TV show “Get Christie Love”, from 1974-1975 ; I had a huge crush on her!) > > 5. Fred Rogers > > Living celebrities whose deaths will affect me : > > 1. Paul McCartney > > 2. Ringo Starr > > 3. Barry Gibb > > 4. Kate Jackson > > 5. Lynda Carter As for living celebrities, I want to add a sixth – Olivia Newton John. ---
**Author:** ![Ashtura](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ashtura/32/2963_2.png) [@Ashtura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashtura)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2019, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-deaths-affecting-you-the-most/840609/63 "2019-09-26T14:20:55Z")
1. Which ones affected me the most: Chris Farley and Phil Hartman. Honorable mention to John Ritter. The day before he died a Three’s Company rerun came on and I sat down and watched it, and I don’t think I had done that since it’s original run. So eerie. 2. Which would affect me the most: Morbid, but probably Bill Hader? Love the guy, he’s hilarious and probably the #1 celebrity I’d like to hang out with. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2019, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-deaths-affecting-you-the-most/840609/64 "2019-09-27T00:17:10Z")
Maya Angelou was like losing a Grandmother. I don’t mean that I knew her personally, just that I loved her and looked to her for wisdom. I still feel it in my chest when i think of her being gone from the world. I was also heartbroken by John Denver’s death. Not just the fact of it but the manner. His gentle music gave me solace through a lonely and violent childhood. The idea that he died feeling alone and hopeless hit me like a sledgehammer. It will be similar, I’m sure, when Jimmy Carter goes. Any time I begin to feel like Diogenes, desperately searching for proof of one good person in the world, I think of him. He’s been my proof that good men exist since I was a little girl. I calibrate my moral compass by his actions. ---
**Author:** ![Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/face_intentionally_left_blank/32/288_2.png) [@Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Face_Intentionally_Left_Blank)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2019, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-deaths-affecting-you-the-most/840609/65 "2019-11-03T22:56:11Z")
I thought of two: Being a Pittsburgher, losing [Donnie](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i19DrZUr7u0) [Iris](https://youtu.be/24AkQr5cFh4) would hurt. The guy was (when I lived there) a Pittsburgh institution. Christopher Walken won’t hit me like a brick, but it will be a less fun, less interesting, less \*weird \*world without Walken. ---
**Author:** ![MacTech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MacTech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacTech)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2019, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-deaths-affecting-you-the-most/840609/66 "2019-11-04T00:04:35Z")
In no particular order; Jim Henson Professor Stephen Hawking Douglas Adams Terry Pratchett ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2019, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-deaths-affecting-you-the-most/840609/67 "2019-11-04T02:01:18Z")
1. JFK blown away, what else do I have to say? 2,3. Hell if I know. The world will surely surprise me. ---
**Author:** ![dorvann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2019, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-deaths-affecting-you-the-most/840609/68 "2019-11-04T02:32:28Z")
As far as celebrity deaths that affected me the most, I think Chris Benoit is the number one. For non-wrestling fans he was the wrestler who killed his wife and son and then himself back in 2007. It was just so shocking to me when it happened and I still don’t understand what caused him to snap. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris\_Benoit\_double-murder\_and\_suicide](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Benoit_double-murder_and_suicide) As for living celebrities I’d put Trey Parker and Matt Stone(creators of _South Park)_ up there. ---
**Author:** ![Lamoral](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lamoral/32/16078_2.png) [@Lamoral](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamoral)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2019, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-deaths-affecting-you-the-most/840609/69 "2019-11-04T03:05:27Z")
> [@Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](#): > > Christopher Walken won’t hit me like a brick, but it will be a less fun, less interesting, less \*weird \*world without Walken. You know, it’s funny, but he was exactly who I thought of when I saw the question about the death of an existing celebrity. There’s something so intensely likable about Christopher Walken. He’s like the exact opposite of one of those intense, tortured, highly emotional actors or musicians who die in some tragic way - he’s like, just, a good dude who doesn’t take himself too seriously. He’s also one of those guys who has, for lack of a better term, been a “meme before memes were even a thing” - he’s been that way for decades, beloved by numerous successive generations and immediately recognizable. Totally unique and unlike anyone else out there. Yeah - the world will be a lot less fun without him. ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2019, 7:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-deaths-affecting-you-the-most/840609/70 "2019-11-04T07:41:30Z")
> [@dorvann](#): > > As far as celebrity deaths that affected me the most, I think Chris Benoit is the number one. For non-wrestling fans he was the wrestler who killed his wife and son and then himself back in 2007. It was just so shocking to me when it happened and I still don’t understand what caused him to snap. > > [Chris Benoit double-murder and suicide - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Benoit_double-murder_and_suicide) > > As for living celebrities I’d put Trey Parker and Matt Stone(creators of _South Park)_ up there. Regarding Benoit, he snapped due to CTE from repeated blows to the head. From wiki: > [@](#): > > Former wrestler Christopher Nowinski stated that Benoit may have been suffering from repeated, untreated concussions throughout his wrestling career, ultimately leading to an unstable mental state. Nowinski was quoted as saying that Benoit “was one of the only guys who would take a chair shot to the back of the head … which is stupid”. Tests conducted on Benoit’s brain by Julian Bailes, the head of neurosurgery at West Virginia University, showed “Benoit’s brain was so severely damaged it resembled the brain of an 85-year-old Alzheimer’s patient”. Other tests conducted on Benoit’s brain tissue revealed severe chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), and damage to all four lobes of the brain and brain stem. Bailes and his colleagues concluded that repeated concussions can lead to dementia, which can contribute to severe behavioral problems. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2019, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-deaths-affecting-you-the-most/840609/71 "2019-11-04T18:39:01Z")
1. the crew of the _Challenger_, if they count as celebrities. The _Columbia_ disaster didn’t affect me to nearly the same degree. 2. & 3. Impossible to predict. It will depend not just on who they are but on their age and how shocking the manner, cause, and timing of their death is. The expected death of a long-ailing elderly celebrity, however much beloved, is bound to affect me less than a brutal sudden death of a young and healthy celebrity. ---
**Author:** ![Savannah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Savannah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Savannah)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2019, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-deaths-affecting-you-the-most/840609/72 "2019-11-11T17:33:54Z")
John Lennon, 1980. The world was never the same for me after that. Someone murdered a _Beatle_. Not yet, but I am not going to be okay if/when: The Queen dies. I’m sorry, but she’s been on the money, on the stamps, just part of the structure of life since before I was born. If there was ever a sign of stability and history, growing up with the Queen just always being there, no matter what, has been it for me. Bruce Springsteen. I will be devastated. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2019, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-deaths-affecting-you-the-most/840609/73 "2019-11-11T17:40:48Z")
When the last Beatle (Paul or Ringo) dies, it will definitely be the end of an era. ---
**Author:** ![DummyGladHands](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/49beb7/32.png) [@DummyGladHands](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DummyGladHands)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2019, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-deaths-affecting-you-the-most/840609/74 "2019-11-12T05:21:22Z")
John Lennon. It happened the same day I found out my first husband was cheating on me, and I moved out that same day. Got an apt., moved my shit, then went to class ( I was in night school and had a final). I got home to a strange place, in a strange neighborhood, a little apt. full of boxes and crap. I remember I was so lost, I locked the door, and pushed a chair in front of it. Then poured a stiffie, went to the bedroom and hooked up the TV on a milk crate. Bam, the first thing I saw was John Lennon shot and killed. I don’t know if I’ve ever cried that hard except when a loved one died. ---
**Author:** ![DWMarch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dwmarch/32/1010_2.png) [@DWMarch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DWMarch)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2019, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-deaths-affecting-you-the-most/840609/75 "2019-11-12T05:37:46Z")
Wow, no Canadians here eh? For me, the celebrity loss that made me actually cry was Gord Downie. And I didn’t cry, I wept. I think he is going to live forever but I will be taking the day off to mourn should tragedy ever befall William Shatner. ---
**Author:** ![DerNils](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f14d63/32.png) [@DerNils](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DerNils)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2019, 9:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-deaths-affecting-you-the-most/840609/76 "2019-11-12T09:23:40Z")
Freddie Mercury’s Death was the first one that really registered with me. I was 16, just discovering his Music and was blown away that he COULD die. Sir Terry Pratchetts Death felt extremely personal - I had been following his fight for the right to choose his own way to go. Reading his later books was like seeing him lose the fight to dementia and saying goodbye at the same time. It was also at the time I finally had decided to start writing seriously at last, and he is still one of my literary heroes. Realizing that I would never be able to meet him and thank him was awful. Neil Gaiman will never die, he will ascend to a higher plane of existence to join the Endless - but I will still cry. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-deaths-affecting-you-the-most/840609.md?page=3)