# Celebrity murderers **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 16, 2007, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-murderers/396276 "2007-03-16T23:26:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Daylight\_Saving](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/838e76/32.png) [@Daylight\_Saving](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daylight_Saving)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2007, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-murderers/396276/1 "2007-03-16T23:26:56Z")
The other thread about celebrity suicides made me think. What famous people have killed others? I t doesn’t have to be on purpose, could be accidental. Not sure if Laura Bush would count, as it happened 9car accident) before she was well known. My only thought right now is Sid Vicious (assuming he really did it, it wasn’t settled for certain, was it?) ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2007, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-murderers/396276/2 "2007-03-16T23:28:50Z")
Does in combat count? ---
**Author:** ![mamboman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecb155/32.png) [@mamboman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mamboman)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2007, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-murderers/396276/3 "2007-03-16T23:32:59Z")
Well, you have a whole buncha guys who became celebrites because they were murderers. Does that count? Eric Clapton’s one time drummer, Jim Gordon, murdered his mother. mm ---
**Author:** ![Rube\_E.Tewesday](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f0a364/32.png) [@Rube\_E.Tewesday](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rube_E.Tewesday)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2007, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-murderers/396276/4 "2007-03-16T23:40:08Z")
How far back in history do you want to go? Mary Lamb, Charles’ Lamb’s sister and co-author, murdered their mother. ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2007, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-murderers/396276/5 "2007-03-16T23:44:20Z")
Claudine Longet killed Spider Sabich. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2007, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-murderers/396276/6 "2007-03-16T23:46:20Z")
Don King, the boxing promoter, did time for murder. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2007, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-murderers/396276/7 "2007-03-16T23:48:52Z")
[QUOTE=Bryan Ekers] Does in combat count? [/QUOTE] The title asks about ‘murderers’; so I wouldn’t think combat would count. I also don’t think Laura Bush (in the OP) would count, since she killed someone in a collision and not as a premeditated act of violence. Sid Vicious (who would have turned 50 last Saturday) probably killed Nancy Spungen, but if may have been an accident and not ‘murder’. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Hildo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbce88/32.png) [@Johnny\_Hildo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Hildo)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2007, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-murderers/396276/8 "2007-03-16T23:53:03Z")
Actor Gig Young Actor Milos Milos Didn’t Adlai Stevenson kill his sister? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2007, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-murderers/396276/9 "2007-03-16T23:55:46Z")
Huddie ‘Lead Belly’ Ledbetter was sentenced to 20 years for killing a relative in a fight. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2007, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-murderers/396276/10 "2007-03-17T00:39:24Z")
[Matthew Broderick](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Broderick) accidentally killed two people in a traffic accident in Ireland, possibly because he was not used to driving on the left hand side of the road. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2007, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-murderers/396276/11 "2007-03-17T00:53:14Z")
[QUOTE=cochrane] [Matthew Broderick](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Broderick) accidentally killed two people in a traffic accident in Ireland, possibly because he was not used to driving on the left hand side of the road. [/QUOTE] Not murder. OJ Robert Blake Phil Spector Damn did I miss something? ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2007, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-murderers/396276/12 "2007-03-17T01:07:02Z")
Charles S. Dutton (probably best known for the sitcom _ROC_) fatally stabbed a man in a street fight. He took up acting while serving his 7 1/2 year sentence. (Cites abound, but his [imdb.com site](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001165/bio) should suffice.) ---
**Author:** ![Daylight\_Saving](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/838e76/32.png) [@Daylight\_Saving](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daylight_Saving)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2007, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-murderers/396276/13 "2007-03-17T01:37:37Z")
[QUOTE=Johnny L.A.] Sid Vicious (who would have turned 50 last Saturday) probably killed Nancy Spungen, but if may have been an accident and not ‘murder’. [/QUOTE] Wikipedia says his birth data is May 10, 1957-Feb. 2, 1979. Just nitpicking. ---
**Author:** ![Daylight\_Saving](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/838e76/32.png) [@Daylight\_Saving](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daylight_Saving)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2007, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-murderers/396276/14 "2007-03-17T01:39:09Z")
Also, how does one accidentally stick a knife in someone? They weren’t in the kitchen. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2007, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-murderers/396276/15 "2007-03-17T02:00:01Z")
[QUOTE=Loach] Not murder. [/QUOTE] The OP is bipolar because it allows for accidents, though the title specifies murderers. > [@Daylight Saving](#): > > Also, how does one accidentally stick a knife in someone? They weren’t in the kitchen. Cutting/pain play maybe? They weren’t exactly pillars of well-adjusted youth. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2007, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-murderers/396276/16 "2007-03-17T02:02:25Z")
Albert Salmi murdered his wife (ex-wife?), then committed suicide. I have read that she was already terminally ill. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2007, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-murderers/396276/17 "2007-03-17T02:31:25Z")
Phil Hartman’s wife was a murderer, as was Marvin Gaye’s dear old dad. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2007, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-murderers/396276/18 "2007-03-17T03:03:32Z")
No cite for these: William Randolph Hearst killed a man he believed to be Charlie Chaplin. Hedda Hopper witnessed it, and for her silence was given a gossip column in the Hearst newspapers. Actor Ray Sharkey ( **Wiseguy, The Hat Squad** ) learned he had AIDS and proceeded to knowingly infect as many women as he could in the last year of his life. John Wilkes Booth was well-known as an actor before he became better-known as an assassin. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2007, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-murderers/396276/19 "2007-03-17T03:22:36Z")
[QUOTE=Cisco] The OP is bipolar because it allows for accidents, though the title specifies murderers. [/QUOTE] You are right, I missed that. In that case actress [Rebecca Gayheart](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001261/bio) killed a nine year old boy with her car. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2007, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-murderers/396276/20 "2007-03-17T03:32:39Z")
[QUOTE=Krokodil] William Randolph Hearst killed a man he believed to be Charlie Chaplin. Hedda Hopper witnessed it, and for her silence was given a gossip column in the Hearst newspapers. [/QUOTE] That’s Louella Parsons, and the man who died was Thomas Ince. It’s a popular story, but there doesn’t seem to be any evidence. [Here’s the Snopes version of the story.](http://www.snopes.com/movies/other/ince.htm) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-murderers/396276.md?page=2)