No love for Dr. Seuss? Or Carl Barks?
I didn’t cry; these guys both lived long and full lives. But without Dr. Seuss and Carl Barks, the world really is a less interesting place. Truth to tell, when they died it felt like losing bits of my own childhood, so I guess I was really just feeling sorry for myself.
**Lucielle Ball **
Most of these shocked and saddened me (I’ll add John Ritter to the list) but I didn’t cry for Princess Diana until her funeral, when the hearse rolled by with the little bouquet of white flowers…and the card addressed to “Mummy.”
That’s when I lost it.
John Kennedy (John-John). A young life on a brink of coming into his own and doing so much good. What a waste.
Mitch Hedberg. Comedic genius on a troubled road. He made me laugh. . .and ultimately cry. Another waste of talent.
Not crying, but the following people’s deaths did upset me: Aaliyah, Left Eye, Tupac, Biggie (I listened to a lot of hip hop in high school, and I still miss their talent), Chris Farley, Phil Hartman, Rodney Dangerfield.
Thank you for posting this.
I just saw the docuemtary on Arthur Kane and he seemed like the coolest guy, ever.
Freddie Mercury and Phil Hartman (though I might not have shed a tear on that one if it wasn’t for his stand-out performances on News Radio).
For me, John Candy.
A few others made me quite sad but I think the only one where I actually cried was John Candy.
For some reason I don’t cry at such news. Which is surprising because I can be a real mush. I’m more likely to tear up during someones movie than to hear about their death. Maybe it’s too impersonal to just read about it. Movies can be a much more personal experience. Probably the death that bummed me out the most was Stevie Ray Vaughn. I saw him live seven times in four states. I once met him as he was going into a gig. The only celebrity autograph I have.
I think a lot of people were pretty sad watching Reagan’s decline, even if they strongly disagreed with his politics. He was so powerful and capable at one point, and a complete miserable mess soon after.
I think we all kind of half-expected Christopher Reeve to stand up again someday. Instead, he died suddenly and completely unexpectedly. That was kind of hard to deal with, too.
Steve Irwin’s death was one of the most jolting, though. He was more healthy than most of us can expect to ever be in our lives. He was strong and happy, and approached his work with fascinated wide-eyed enthusiasm. Then BAM, “by the way, Steve Irwin died a few minutes ago when he accidentally swam too close to a stingray, and it pierced his heart.” Nobody could have even dreamed that would happen.
The closest I came was Syd Barrett, because until then I still held out faint hope that he might record again, but it was not meant to be. (Although I did joke when he was still alive that there was a better chance of ALL the Beatles reuniting again than ALL of the Floyd 
)
I had a complete meltdown when Kurt Vonnegut died. It tore me up on a few different levels.
Jim Henson
Mr. Rogers
Mitch Hedberg
John Ritter–but not until the episode of his sitcom where he dies, man that was sad and you could tell how alarming it was for his co-stars, especially Kate Sagal
Yeah, we all thought he’d be eaten by a crocodile. I mean c’mon, the guy practically french-kissed cobras…death by cancer at the age of 80 would have been a stunner.
That said, he had such a *joie de vive * and a young wife and young children who shared his enthusiasm that he left a huge hole.
Chaim Potok, Douglas Adams, Michael Hedges and while watching the funerals of Yitzhak Rabin, Diana and John Kennedy Jr.
None. Not threadshitting, just answering truthfully.
I was mighty upset for John Lennon though.
When Jerry Garcia died, I was more angry than sad. A few days later, the newspaper ran a little cartoon of a guitar leaning against a tree. The caption read:
It’s the same story the crow told me; it’s the only one he knows. Like the morning sun you come and like the wind you go.
Then I cried.
I’ve been thinking about this some more since posting earlier. I don’t often cry at the initial news that a celebrity has died, but it’s not unusual for me to see or hear the work of the departed weeks or months later and react then.
Did I explain that well? What I mean is that I didn’t cry when the newscaster said “George Harrison died today in London” (or wherever - I don’t remember)…but two weeks later hearing “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” had me bawling.
Didn’t cry, but the saddest I was over a celebrity’s death was last March when I found out that Brad Delp (lead singer of Boston had committed suicide.
Tragedy, that.
I cry far too easily for the deaths of those I’ve never met and never will. Mostly those who died too young–Douglas Adams, Diana, the Challenger astronauts. But also those whose work have touched me in some particular way. Again, Douglas Adams, Charles Shultz, Madelein L’Engle. It’d probably be easier to tell you who I didn’t cry over. 
Similarly, when Lawrence Olivier died, and some wonderful cartoonist showed him meeting William Shakespeare in heaven (“Larry!” “Bill!”)…well, I was young but had a great love of both Shakespeare’s work and Olivier, and I cried.
(I still have the cartoon somewhere.)