Dick Scobee, Michael Smith, Judy Resnik, Ellison Onizuka, Christa McAuliffe, Greg Jarvis, Ron McNair.
21 years ago Monday.
John Peel is pretty much the only one. He was genuinely beloved of millions at the time of his death, and for many in my generation he was a huge influence to us, as ‘alienated’ youths and beyond.
Spike Milligan’s death saddened me, as he was a hero of mine, but it wasn’t unexpected.
I don’t cry about people dying, but Carl Sagan’s death made me sad. I wish he were around to write about all the extrasolar planets discovered since his death.
Johnny Cash. Seeing a picture of him at June’s funeral, you just knew that he was going to join her shortly. I don’t know why his death hit me as hard as it did, but I was definitely moved by his passing.
Princess Diana and John Lennon.
It continues to to confound me as I had never and still never have watched a NASCAR race, but I cried uncontrollably for a few days when Dale Earnhardt died.
I think I probably shed a few tears for some others. I remember being particularly sad when John Ritter died. Anyone who dies that isn’t really old and/or known to be ill or given to dangerous behaviors jolts my system.
The four that have made me the most teary have all been mentioned - Heath Ledger, Kurt Cobain, Princess Diana and Steve Irwin. What’s weird is that I wasn’t a fan really of any of these people. For Ledger and Cobain, I think the sadness came partly from the fact that I feel like they’re my generation - my people. I was a senior in college when Cobain died and his death is in amongst the jumble of stuff that marked the end of my childhood and the beginning of my adulthood.
For all of them, I think what’s really upset me the most has been the very young children they’ve left behind. I can’t even think about that part without the tears welling up.
The only time I’ve teared up is after Elliott Smith committed suicide (via stabbing himself twice in the heart), and I heard a [recorded] live performance of his then unreleased song “King’s Crossing”. He gets to the line:
*
So give me one good reason not to do it*
And his girlfriend yells out from the crowd, in an almost desperate tone, “BECAUSE I LOOOOVE YOOOOU!”
Motherfuck.
Christopher Reeve.
Johnny Carson.
Richard Pryor.
That one really got to me, too. I got choked up about Duane Allman, and John Lennon - but they were both killed. George Harrison got sick and died. To me there’s a difference, probably because it causes me to reflect on my own mortality, know that I’m getting older myself, etc.
Johnny Cash’s and Warren Zevon’s deaths affected my in a similar way - overwhelming sadness and a tear or two.
If the seven Challenger astronauts count as celebrities, that was the first instance of a celebrity’s death making me cry. My 8th grade class was all watching it together and we all started crying - girls, boys and teachers alike.
As far as conventional celebrities go, I’m often saddened but rarely cry. I did cry, hard, when I heard Stevie Ray Vaughan had died. It was just terribly senseless and unfair - SRV was living clean and happy after years of battling drugs and alcohol, he was making some of the best music of his career, and then he was gone in an instant.
Also, Freddie Mercury.
Another vote for John Peel. Boy that was a sad day. Here’s the song I linked to in the other crying thread. But like I said there, I’m an inhibited English bloke and crying isn’t really in the repertoire*
*It must be my Welsh half that chokes up on that song.
John Lennon
Christopher Reeve
not really celebrities, but I cried when Anwar Sadat died, and when John Kennedy died.
I see Small Clanger already posted a link to Let’s Have a Minute’s Noise for John. That thing still chokes me up.
Bobby Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Elliott Smith, John Lennon, Warren Zevon and Molly Ivins and Phil Ochs all got to me.
None that I can recall.
Doesn’t mean I don’t mourn the passing of many good men and women.
I’m all cried out for family deaths. But if I weren’t, Madeleine L’Engle’s death would have made me weep.
Mr Rogers. Cried like a baby.
I wasn’t deeply moved when the Challenger was lost, but the Columbia’s loss really did a number on me.
Does Ruffian count?
Arthur Kane
Johnny Thunders.
Both were very close friends.