# Favorite actor/musician/author etc who died young? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 5, 2021, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-actor-musician-author-etc-who-died-young/948113 "2021-08-05T18:12:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2021, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-actor-musician-author-etc-who-died-young/948113/21 "2021-08-05T23:06:09Z")
I don’t know about “favorite” (her career was far too short for that) but I always think of Heather O’Rourke when I think of actors dying young > **[Heather O'Rourke](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heather_O%27Rourke)** > > Pages for logged out editors learn more > > > Heather Michele O'Rourke (December 27, 1975 – February 1, 1988) was an American child actress. She had her breakthrough starring as Carol Anne Freeling in the supernatural horror film Poltergeist (1982), which received critical acclaim and established her as an influential figure in the genre. She went on to reprise the role in Poltergeist II: The Other Side (1986) and Poltergeist III (1988), the latter of which was released posthumously. > O'Rou... ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2021, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-actor-musician-author-etc-who-died-young/948113/22 "2021-08-05T23:14:32Z")
[Gene Eugene](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2000-mar-25-me-12509-story.html) Wolfgang Mozart (with honorable mention to Felix Mendelssohn and George Gershwin) ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2021, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-actor-musician-author-etc-who-died-young/948113/23 "2021-08-05T23:17:53Z")
> [@TroutMan](#): > > Actor: John Belushi. On further consideration, I’m going to revise my pick to Heath Ledger (28), and throw in River Phoenix (23) as another honorable mention. Both were incredible talents. ---
**Author:** ![Chingon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chingon/32/17645_2.png) [@Chingon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chingon)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2021, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-actor-musician-author-etc-who-died-young/948113/24 "2021-08-05T23:20:57Z")
> **[Clifford Brown](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clifford_Brown)** > > Pages for logged out editors learn more > > Clifford Benjamin Brown (October 30, 1930 – June 26, 1956) was an American jazz trumpeter and composer. He died at the age of 25 in a car accident, leaving behind four years' worth of recordings. His compositions "Sandu", "Joy Spring", and "Daahoud" have become jazz standards. Brown won the DownBeat magazine Critics' Poll for New Star of the Year in 1954; he was inducted into the DownBeat Hall of Fame in 1972. > Brown was born into a musical family... ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2021, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-actor-musician-author-etc-who-died-young/948113/25 "2021-08-06T00:42:46Z")
Franz Schubert (31). He could have surpassed Beethoven. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2021, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-actor-musician-author-etc-who-died-young/948113/26 "2021-08-06T00:45:28Z")
Sandy Denny The 27s Eva Cassidy ---
**Author:** ![lobotomyboy63](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobotomyboy63/32/2900_2.png) [@lobotomyboy63](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lobotomyboy63)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2021, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-actor-musician-author-etc-who-died-young/948113/27 "2021-08-06T01:06:38Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > **Rebecca Schaeffer** (19) killed by a deranged stalker Samantha Smith. > In November 1982, when Smith was 10 years old, she wrote to [Soviet leader](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Secretary_of_the_Communist_Party_of_the_Soviet_Union) [Yuri Andropov](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuri_Andropov), seeking to understand why the [relations between the Soviet Union and the United States](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_Union%E2%80%93United_States_relations) were so tense: > > > Dear Mr. Andropov, > > > > My name is Samantha Smith. I am 10 years old. Congratulations on your new job. I have been worrying about Russia and the United States getting into a nuclear war. Are you going to vote to have a war or not? If you aren’t please tell me how you are going to help to not have a war. This question you do not have to answer, but I would like it if you would. Why do you want to conquer the world or at least our country? God made the world for us to share and take care of. Not to fight over or have one group of people own it all. Please lets do what he wanted and have everybody be happy too. > > > > Samantha Smith[[10]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samantha_Smith#cite_note-10) He wrote back, she ended up visiting the USSR, they loved her, even put her on a postage stamp…worth a read if you don’t know the story. > In her speech at the symposium, she suggested that Soviet and American leaders exchange granddaughters for two weeks every year, arguing that a president “wouldn’t want to send a bomb to a country his granddaughter would be visiting”.[[24]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samantha_Smith#cite_note-Kobe-24) [Wikipedia source](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samantha_Smith) @What_Exit may know why I linked these two (Rebecca and Samantha) together… > Her fame resulted in Smith becoming the subject of [stalker](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stalking) [Robert John Bardo](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_John_Bardo), the man who would later go on to stalk and ultimately murder _[My Sister Sam](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Sister_Sam)_ actress [Rebecca Schaeffer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rebecca_Schaeffer). Bardo traveled to Maine in an attempt to meet Smith, but was stopped by police and returned home.[[32]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samantha_Smith#cite_note-32) ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2021, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-actor-musician-author-etc-who-died-young/948113/28 "2021-08-06T01:14:35Z")
Jimi Hendrix Jim Morrison Janice Joplin Tupac Shakur Philip Seymour Hoffman ---
**Author:** ![dbygawdcapn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dbygawdcapn/32/3995_2.png) [@dbygawdcapn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dbygawdcapn)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2021, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-actor-musician-author-etc-who-died-young/948113/29 "2021-08-06T01:32:56Z")
Steve Goodman ---
**Author:** ![GESancMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gesancman/32/2923_2.png) [@GESancMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GESancMan)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2021, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-actor-musician-author-etc-who-died-young/948113/30 "2021-08-06T04:00:12Z")
A lot of good people have been brought up so far. But the first person that sprang to mind before opening the thread: > **[Kevin Gilbert (musician)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Gilbert_(musician))** > > Pages for logged out editors learn more > > > Kevin Matthew Gilbert (also known as Matthew Delgado and Kai Gilbert; November 20, 1966 – May 18, 1996) was an American singer, songwriter, musician, composer and producer. He was best known for his solo progressive rock projects, Toy Matinee and his contributions to Tuesday Night Music Club, the debut album by Sheryl Crow. > Kevin Matthew Gilbert was born in Sacramento, California, on November 20, 1966, later living in Scotch Plains, New Jersey ... ---
**Author:** ![Fugazi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f08c70/32.png) [@Fugazi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fugazi)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2021, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-actor-musician-author-etc-who-died-young/948113/31 "2021-08-06T06:44:31Z")
Can’t believe I’m the 1st to mention John Bonham. (32) ---
**Author:** ![pmwgreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@pmwgreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pmwgreen)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2021, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-actor-musician-author-etc-who-died-young/948113/32 "2021-08-06T07:11:22Z")
Ok. This thread is depressing me way more than I thought it would. **Kirsty MacColl** **Philip Seymour Hoffman** **John Kennedy Toole** (I thought he _was_ the main character of his book.) **Steve Goodman x 2** but I came here to mention **John Bellairs** who had a twisted mind able to write fantasy novels that took all the silly ideas that mankind had come up with and weave them into a sort of rug you could sleep on and have disturbed but not too awful dreams. Also **John Prine** who died too young at 73. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2021, 10:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-actor-musician-author-etc-who-died-young/948113/33 "2021-08-06T10:42:21Z")
That’s an easy one: **Charlotte Coleman**. For she was Marmalade Atkins, and also Sue in _Worzel Gummidge_. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2021, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-actor-musician-author-etc-who-died-young/948113/34 "2021-08-06T10:59:07Z")
Another vote here for Mozart and Schubert - and Kirsty MacColl. But also, among classical performers, Jacqueline du Pré and Kathleen Ferrier. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2021, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-actor-musician-author-etc-who-died-young/948113/35 "2021-08-06T12:19:08Z")
Frank Zappa died when he was 52. ---
**Author:** ![veryfrank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/87869e/32.png) [@veryfrank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/veryfrank)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2021, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-actor-musician-author-etc-who-died-young/948113/36 "2021-08-06T12:25:13Z")
Not nearly enough of his musical output is out there, but Peter Laughner, one of the original members of Pere Ubu, died of acute pancreatitis at 24. Lester Bangs’ essay eulogizing him is sad and terrifying. And oh yeah, Lester as well. Greatest rock critic ever, died at 33. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2021, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-actor-musician-author-etc-who-died-young/948113/37 "2021-08-06T12:43:29Z")
For music, it has to be **Buddy Holly**. I can easily imagine him slipping into the mold of a Brian Wilson-type genius in the studio. Not a musician, but in the field, a surviving **Brian Epstein** may have been the best hope of preventing the breakup of the Beatles. I’m having a hard time thinking of a favorite young writer who died at the top of their game. Maybe **Edgar Allen Poe**? ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2021, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-actor-musician-author-etc-who-died-young/948113/38 "2021-08-06T12:44:29Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > I’m having a hard time thinking of a favorite young writer who died at the top of their game. Maybe **Edgar Allen Poe**? He was 40 though. So doesn’t fit the Op. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2021, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-actor-musician-author-etc-who-died-young/948113/39 "2021-08-06T12:47:53Z")
Hey, my first choice was Stan Lee (95). ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2021, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-actor-musician-author-etc-who-died-young/948113/40 "2021-08-06T13:09:10Z")
Bonzo is the first one that came to mind for me, as well. Van Gogh Egon Schiele Jaco Pastorius [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-actor-musician-author-etc-who-died-young/948113.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-actor-musician-author-etc-who-died-young/948113.md?page=3)