# Celebrity Suicides **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 16, 2007, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-suicides/396143 "2007-03-16T03:34:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2007, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-suicides/396143/61 "2007-03-16T19:00:31Z")
[QUOTE=Annie-Xmas] [Charles Boyer](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Boyer) and his son Michael. [/QUOTE] I always found this particularly sad since CB killed himself two days after his wife’s death (they’d been married over 40 years). ---
**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 16, 2007, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-suicides/396143/62 "2007-03-16T19:02:00Z")
George Eastman. ---
**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2007, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-suicides/396143/63 "2007-03-16T19:11:51Z")
**don’t ask** > [@](#): > > This thread could be retitled Supposed Celebrities That You Have Never Heard Of That reminds me of a Jay Leno ‘truth in advertising’ sketch a few months ago. He said a warning should be put on this television show: “Dancing With The Stars: _Warning may not contain actual stars_”. ---
**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 16, 2007, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-suicides/396143/64 "2007-03-16T19:14:11Z")
[QUOTE=gigi] If we’re counting massive overdoses, Alan Ladd died from alcohol and sedatives in 1964. Causing my mom to exclaim, “Alan Ladd is dead?!” when she heard about it…in 2000. :o [/QUOTE] I’m sorry I just laughed at your mom. It was rude. ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_Door](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@Bill\_Door](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_Door)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2007, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-suicides/396143/65 "2007-03-16T19:22:54Z")
It turns out that [Inger Stevens](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0828447/) picked up that mysterious hitchiker after all. ---
**Author:** ![Ronald\_C.Semone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/cc9497/32.png) [@Ronald\_C.Semone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ronald_C.Semone)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2007, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-suicides/396143/66 "2007-03-16T19:36:29Z")
Just off the top of my head (consulting those Wikipedia lists is cheating) Adolf Hitler Several other Nazi leaders (Goering, Goebbels, etc.) Thomas Chatterton (a tragic loss of a 17 year old genius) Socrates Judy Garland (?) Cleopatra Marcus Curtius (although it was committing suicide that made him famous) ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2007, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-suicides/396143/67 "2007-03-16T20:15:26Z")
[QUOTE=gallows fodder] May I ask where you heard this? IMDB says he died in a [car crash](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001121/bio), too. Unless they’re characterizing getting run over by one’s trailer as a car accident. _shrug_ [/QUOTE] Well, \*\*pinkfreud \*\* did refer to him as her “crush”. :eek: **Loach** , that didn’t stop my father either. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2007, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-suicides/396143/68 "2007-03-16T20:23:44Z")
[QUOTE=gigi] > [@gallows fodder](#): > > May I ask where you heard this? IMDB says he died in a car crash, too. Unless they’re characterizing getting run over by one’s trailer as a car accident. _shrug_ Well, \*\*pinkfreud \*\* did refer to him as her “crush”. :eek: [/QUOTE] That was just one of those pinkfreudian slips. ---
**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2007, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-suicides/396143/69 "2007-03-16T20:41:25Z")
Funny thing - the Google Ads (at the moment anyway) all have “lesbian” in their titles. Wow, you mention the Singing Nun and her lover and that’s enough to influence the Google Ads. And like **Ronald C. Semone** said, consulting Wikipedia is just cheating. However, for some of the more obscure stars, it would be nice to have a link - _after_ you have thought of the celebrity. Here’s a few more I thought of: **Rusty Hamer** - He was the kid in “Make Room For Daddy” (with Danny Thomas") **Carole Landis** - an extremely fantastic-looking actress, who made just a few films (the original “One Million BC”) and killed herself at quite a young age. And that makes me think of **Peg Entwhistle** who jumped off the “Hollywood” sign after making her first and only film. ---
**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 16, 2007, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-suicides/396143/70 "2007-03-16T20:48:42Z")
[QUOTE=Ronald C. Semone] Just off the top of my head (consulting those Wikipedia lists is cheating) \ [/QUOTE] Yeah, I agree. FTR, the ones I cited are from my own personal recollection. (I know you’re not singling me out, but I did post a link to the Wikipedia lists, so I thought I should just clarify that I didn’t get my names from there.) I just went to Wikipedia to refresh my memory on the details. ---
**Author:** ![bobkitty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c67d28/32.png) [@bobkitty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobkitty)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2007, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-suicides/396143/71 "2007-03-16T21:21:17Z")
This probably won’t matter to many people, but **Donald Sinclair** , the veterinarian who was the inspiration for the character of Siegfried Farnon in _All Creatures Great and Small_, intentionally OD’d in 1995- two weeks after the death of his wife (they’d been married 50 years), and four months after the death of his best friend/former coworker, Alf Wight (AKA James Herriot). ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2007, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-suicides/396143/72 "2007-03-16T21:26:06Z")
[QUOTE=bobkitty] This probably won’t matter to many people, but **Donald Sinclair** , the veterinarian who was the inspiration for the character of Siegfried Farnon in _All Creatures Great and Small_, intentionally OD’d in 1995- two weeks after the death of his wife (they’d been married 50 years), and four months after the death of his best friend/former coworker, Alf Wight (AKA James Herriot). [/QUOTE] Holy shit. I didn’t know that. Do you know if his brother is still alive (the Tristan character)? That’s made me quite sad, actually. ---
**Author:** ![bobkitty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c67d28/32.png) [@bobkitty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobkitty)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2007, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-suicides/396143/73 "2007-03-16T21:47:44Z")
[QUOTE=Struan] Holy shit. I didn’t know that. Do you know if his brother is still alive (the Tristan character)? [/QUOTE] Brian had died several years earlier.. some time in the late 80s, IIRC > [@](#): > > That’s made me quite sad, actually. Some of us still “recovering” from Wight’s death took the news rather hard.. even though both were somewhere around 80-something years old, it was upsetting. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2007, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-suicides/396143/74 "2007-03-16T22:26:39Z")
[QUOTE=bobkitty] Some of us still “recovering” from Wight’s death took the news rather hard.. even though both were somewhere around 80-something years old, it was upsetting. [/QUOTE] My only connection is loving the books (and to a much lesser extent the TV programme) when I was young. Did you know Alf Wight? ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2007, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-suicides/396143/75 "2007-03-17T05:10:52Z")
Not many remember him because he never got really big doing stand-up and quickly moved to working behind the camera, but comic **Drake Sather** shot himself over marital problems a couple years ago. Found out googling his name after wondering whatever happened to him. ☹ Had one of the funniest lines ever: **"Every time I go to the doctor he tells me the same old thing, [mocking voice] _‘Stop shootin’ heroin!’_ "…** ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2007, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-suicides/396143/76 "2007-03-17T13:18:19Z")
Wally Cox, I believe OD’d & drowned in his swimming pool. Also, director James Whale (a friend gave me GODS & MONSTERS for my birthday yesterday) Also, IIRC, Sarge from Gomer Pyle? ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2007, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-suicides/396143/77 "2007-03-17T13:19:25Z")
Oh, also Robert Young ---
**Author:** ![bobkitty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c67d28/32.png) [@bobkitty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobkitty)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2007, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-suicides/396143/78 "2007-03-17T13:46:14Z")
[QUOTE=Struan] Did you know Alf Wight? [/QUOTE] He was kind enough to correspond with me when I was younger- I read his books when I was about 9 or 10, and became utterly convinced that I wanted to be Just Like Him when I grew up (to be fair, I’d already wanted to be a vet, but the books opened up an entirely new world for me..). So with the conviction that only 9 or 10 year olds have, I decided to write to him via his publisher, and he replied. The letters were sporadic (more so from my end- I _was_ a kid, after all!), but continued for several years. He was a very, very sweet man (who never, not once, pointed out the relative ridiculousness of a kid from Boston wanting to be a large animal vet), and even though we hadn’t written in some time when he died, it was heartbreaking to hear the news. More so because I never did go on to be a vet. Gods, I wish I’d been more careful about keeping those letters.. my mom threw them out years ago in one of her spring-cleaning fits. ☹ There were some awesome pictures in there, of the whole “family,” and Donald even signed a couple of the letters. ---
**Author:** ![Southpaw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@Southpaw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Southpaw)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2007, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-suicides/396143/79 "2007-03-17T13:52:44Z")
How can we forget [Lupe Velez](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0892473/)? She of the “died with her head in the toiled” urban legend. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2007, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-suicides/396143/80 "2007-03-17T14:12:57Z")
> [@gigi](#): > > If we’re counting massive overdoses, Alan Ladd died from alcohol and sedatives in 1964. Well if we’re counting that sort of self destruction, we’d also have to include **Hank Williams** , who met a similar end (booze and sedatives). I don’t know if you’d call it suicide exactly, but it certainly seemed like Hank had reached the point where he didn’t care whether he lived or died; he’d been despondent for some time prior to his death. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-suicides/396143.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-suicides/396143.md?page=5)