What’s the earliest celebrity death you remember? Which one hit you hardest and why?
For me the earliest I remember is Elvis’ death. I was 8 years old. I kind of knew who he was but my parents were CSN fans so I didn’t hear much Elvis while growing up.
John Lennon’s death threw my mom for a loop but didn’t really affect me.
When Mr. Rogers died I cried. (I was 34.) He’d been a big part of my childhood. I was upset by Cpt. Kangaroo’s death but nothing like my reaction to Fred Rogers.
The earliest one I remember is Roy Orbison. I was probably three or four. My mother was a huge fan and it hit her pretty hard.
I don’t think I’ve ever been hit really hard by a celebrity death. John Ritter’s kind of depressed me for a while, and Christopher Reeves definitely, but I don’t think I cried over either of them.
I was around 11 years old when John Lennon died. I remember being quite affected by it. (I was a big Beatles/John Lennon fan - still am actually.) I think it was also the manner in which he died - such a senseless killing. It definitely rocked my secure little world. I don’t think I had any conception of murder until then.
I was very upset when Buddy Holly and James Dean died. Both were idolized by young people of my generation, and both died sudden, accidental deaths that no one could have anticipated.
Oddly, I had not seen any of James Dean’s movies at the time of his death, but he was such a big celebrity, and so many people that I knew were grieving, that I felt devastated anyway. Grief by osmosis.
I have vague recollections of Sharon Tate’s death, so that’d probably be the first. I think the ones that hit me hardest were John Wayne, because he was such a huge icon, John Ritter, because it was so totally unexpected, and John Lennon, because my hero, my Uncle Mike, went completely to pieces over it. Definitely Mr. Rogers - I wept for days.
“The day the music died”, February 3rd, 1959. Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and The Big Bopper killed in a plane crash. Buddy and Richie were right at the top of rock ‘n’ roll popularity.
In a drugstore/hangout that afternoon, some girl kept playing one of Buddy Holly’s sad songs, maybe Heartbeat, over and over. She played it seven or eight times in a row, until the local badass went and un-plugged the juke box, said he was sick of hearin’ it.
So everybody just sat around listenin’ to the pin ball machine goin’ “bong-boing”. Kids just lookin’ at each other and sayin’ “oh shit”. It was a bad day.
pinkfreud: Welcome to the SDMB Geezer Group[sup]TM[/sup].
If we’re not counting politicians, probably Mama Cass Elliot (complete with the ham sandwich rumor) and country musician String Bean.
The one that moved me the most was probably the death of John Bonham. I don’t remember being terribly moved over John Lennon’s death, though it upset my sister quite a bit.
I can remember when Harry Truman died. I was 10.
Another geez checking in. Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and The Big Bopper were the first. The one that hit me the hardest was John Lennon.
And as an aside, at the time of Elvis’ death, he was pretty much a drugged up has-been. He’d played in the town where I was living earlier that year and even the Elvis fans I knew said going to see him was a waste of money. When his death was announced, I was on my way to the supermarket and decided not to even mention it to the checkers or anyone else because I didn’t think anyone would care.
That was probably the most wrong I’ve ever been about anything!
I remember when Elvis died. I was 9.
And I, too, cried when Mr. Rogers died. I was at work when I found out. A 34 year old, securities lending analyst crying her eyes out at her desk…would have been terribly embarassing except for the fact that several others were crying as well.
Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin, who died within weeks of one another. It was very very sad.
The earliest that made any impression on me was probably Elvis, but just because I knew he was ‘famous’.
Really? We’re not counting politicians? Because my earliest would be JFK, when I was in third grade.
Non-politicians – I don’t particularly remember any until the Janis Joplin-Jimi Hendrix one-two punch that Annie Xmas mentioned, when I was in 10th grade.
Devastated? None. Bummed? Fred Astaire. That happened as my sister and I were clearing out my mother’s house, a couple of months after her death, and she was surprised at how upset I was. Of course, Fred Astaire is my god. And I was dealing with my mom’s death, or trying to.
Politicians are fine. Fame is fame. Or infame, as the case may be. (What is the noun form of “infamous” anyway?)
John Belushi’s death happened right before my birthday, so that one I remember pretty clearly. In fact, I believe today is the anniversary of his death. Wow, a year goes fast…
Well, I remember Elvis’ death, but not clearly. I suppose the next earliest would be John Lennon.
The only ones that made me sad were Charles Shultz and Dr. Suess. Both played a big part of my youth and I suspect I was more sad to realize that my youth had passed too.
I remember JFK’s assassin. I didn’t realize the significance of it at the time, as I was almost nine years old.
Janis Joplin, is probably the earliest I remember.
When Elvis died, I was 14. I was on a roadtrip with my sister and father. We had just checked into a motel in Memphis. My dad was taking a shower while my sister and I were watching TV. When they interupted the show with the news of Elvis’s death, we were stunned. Then we jumped up and ran to the bathroom door to tell my dad. He thought we were joking. Trying to drive out of Memphis the next day was hell. And for the rest of the trip, through several Southeastern states, it’s what everyone was talking about.
I had never been a big John Lennon fan, but his death felt like the end of something.
I remember the day Ricky Nelson died like it was yesterday. I had gotten up early that Saturday morning to watch cartoons, as usual, and they broke in with the news. My mom was a big fan, which I knew, so I woke her up to tell her.
I was an angst-ridden teenager when Kurt Cobain died. I guess you could say I took it pretty hard. My friend and I made a collage with pictures from a People magazine article that came out the week after he died.
The first celeb. I remember passing away is Rock Hudson. It was such a big deal because it was the first time I had ever heard of Aids. THat was in '85, so I was still in single digits.
The one that I took the hardest was Johnny Cash. I cried. I listened to his music, and it meant a lot to me. I think he did some of his best work late in his life, so it was sad to see him go. September 12, 2003.
Walt Disney.
There was a picture of a sad Mickey Mouse in the newspaper and my father thought it would be a good way to illustration his death to the 4 year old Caricci and twin. He told us “Mickey Mouse’s Daddy died”. It’s haunted both of us to this day.
The WORST one was John Lennon.