# 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:** 3
**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, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-actor-musician-author-etc-who-died-young/948113/41 "2021-08-06T13:20:37Z")
**Heath Ledger** and **Brittany Murphy** should be already on someone’s list. ---
**Author:** ![Saintly\_Loser](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saintly_loser/32/4045_2.png) [@Saintly\_Loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saintly_Loser)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2021, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-actor-musician-author-etc-who-died-young/948113/42 "2021-08-06T13:21:17Z")
Charlie Parker (35 at the time of his death). John Coltrane (40). And among actors who died young, if I may be granted a little leeway here, I’ll mention John Cazale, who died at 42. ---
**Author:** ![ZonexandScout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zonexandscout/32/544_2.png) [@ZonexandScout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZonexandScout)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2021, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-actor-musician-author-etc-who-died-young/948113/43 "2021-08-06T13:26:49Z")
Duane Allman (24), though I have mixed feelings about it. I fear he would have turned out a bit like his brother, which is sad to consider. He died only a year after contributing to the amazing _Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs_. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2021, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-actor-musician-author-etc-who-died-young/948113/44 "2021-08-06T13:49:16Z")
2 people mentioned here died in the same London apartment. Mama Cass in 74 and Keith Moon in 78. She was 32 he was 31 For writers John Keats was 25 ---
**Author:** ![The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecc23a/32.png) [@The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_wind_of_my_soul)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2021, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-actor-musician-author-etc-who-died-young/948113/45 "2021-08-06T13:50:09Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > **Heath Ledger** and **Brittany Murphy** should be already on someone’s list. Brittany Murphy is mine. She became my girl-crush after I saw her in Uptown girls, and her exuberant spunk made me smile. Then I saw her become more and more skinny and pale, and stopped seeing her infectious smile, so I was sort of mourning her even before she officially died. ---
**Author:** ![Nightfall1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@Nightfall1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nightfall1)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2021, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-actor-musician-author-etc-who-died-young/948113/46 "2021-08-06T13:56:18Z")
1935 at age 33. Stanley G. Weinbaum, science fiction author. ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2021, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-actor-musician-author-etc-who-died-young/948113/47 "2021-08-06T14:03:58Z")
Judith Barsi. [Killed by her father](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0058279/). Brittany Murphy and River Phoenix for me. ---
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2021, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-actor-musician-author-etc-who-died-young/948113/48 "2021-08-06T14:48:23Z")
What the smart dog said! ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2021, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-actor-musician-author-etc-who-died-young/948113/49 "2021-08-06T15:15:31Z")
And then there is Anissa Jones. Anyone remember Buffy? Dead at 18. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2021, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-actor-musician-author-etc-who-died-young/948113/50 "2021-08-06T15:18:26Z")
River Phoenix was my favorite actor when he died. Okay, maybe tied with Keanu Reeves. Still, his death hit me harder than any I can recall. More than Warren Zevon even, because Zevon had already lived three lifetimes, plus I knew it was coming. River dying was for me what Heath Ledger’s and Chadwick Boseman’s deaths must have been for their fans. And on that note, I would add Boseman, along with Anton Yelchin. Liked them both a lot; looked forward to more from them. ☹ Not favorites when they were alive, but I regret Randy Rhoads’ and Selena’s deaths, because they both could have changed the face of popular music. Selena was going to bring Tejano music into the mainstream, and Rhoads was set to attend a music academy and learn classical guitar. If there are alternate timelines, it’s possible that those things happened in one of them. (::grumble grumble:: **Yesterday** was an okay film for what it was, but I’m on Team You Can’t Just Lift Out The Beatles And Have Everything Else In Music Stay The Same.) ---
**Author:** ![racer72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/racer72/32/3075_2.png) [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2021, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-actor-musician-author-etc-who-died-young/948113/51 "2021-08-06T15:41:25Z")
Andrew Wood of Mother Love Bone. I saw MLB at a club in Seattle about a month before Wood died. If he hadn’t died of an overdose, I have 2 questions. What would have been the future of Pearl Jam and Soundgarden without important members of each and would MLB have reached the heights of Pearl Jam and Soundgarden? ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2021, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-actor-musician-author-etc-who-died-young/948113/52 "2021-08-06T16:13:12Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > 2 people mentioned here died in the same London apartment. Mama Cass in 74 and Keith Moon in 78. She was 32 he was 31 A little bit of trivia: the apartment was owned by Harry Nilsson The first person I thought of when I saw the thread title was Mark Sandman of Morphine. But holy crap he was 42 when he died, so not as young as I thought. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2021, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-actor-musician-author-etc-who-died-young/948113/53 "2021-08-06T17:08:17Z")
> [@wguy123](#): > > What the smart dog said! Thank you very much, @wguy123 . I just heard a few hours ago that my father has cancer, so I’m very down and frightened at the moment, but at least your post made my day a bit. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2021, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-actor-musician-author-etc-who-died-young/948113/54 "2021-08-06T17:10:22Z")
surprised no mention of James Dean or Richie Valens. ---
**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, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-actor-musician-author-etc-who-died-young/948113/55 "2021-08-06T17:12:13Z")
Before my time and I’m not a particular fan of either. Might as well include the Big Bopper. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2021, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-actor-musician-author-etc-who-died-young/948113/56 "2021-08-06T17:12:32Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > surprised no mention of James Dean or Richie Valens. Yeah, in my first post I only mentioned musicians, but the first two actors that come to mind are James Dean and River Phoenix. Both bursting with talent, and gone much too early. ---
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2021, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-actor-musician-author-etc-who-died-young/948113/57 "2021-08-06T18:51:09Z")
I’m sorry to hear that and hope it turns out as well as possible. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2021, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-actor-musician-author-etc-who-died-young/948113/58 "2021-08-06T18:53:59Z")
Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2021, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-actor-musician-author-etc-who-died-young/948113/59 "2021-08-06T20:21:33Z")
> [@ZonexandScout](#): > > Duane Allman (24), though I have mixed feelings about it. I fear he would have turned out a bit like his brother, which is sad to consider. Also ruined by heroin- possibly, but the comparisons end there. Duane was one of the very greatest instrumentalists of the 20th century. Gregg was his younger brother and very little more, in my opinion. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2021, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-actor-musician-author-etc-who-died-young/948113/60 "2021-08-06T20:28:14Z")
My List: - **Duane Allman, George Gershwin,** followed by Brian Jones, Jim Morrison, Keith Moon, John Belushi. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-actor-musician-author-etc-who-died-young/948113.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-actor-musician-author-etc-who-died-young/948113.md?page=4)