# 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:** 4
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2021, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-actor-musician-author-etc-who-died-young/948113/61 "2021-08-06T21:14:44Z")
Jeff Buckley Wilfred Owen ---
**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, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-actor-musician-author-etc-who-died-young/948113/62 "2021-08-06T22:16:30Z")
> [@TreacherousCretin](#): > > > [@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. So basically, Duane vs Gregg Allman = John vs Jim Belushi? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2021, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-actor-musician-author-etc-who-died-young/948113/63 "2021-08-06T22:22:31Z")
I don’t think Hank Williams has been mentioned. He died in 1953 at the age of 29. It would have been interesting to see how he would have responded to the changes in popular music that were just beginning at the time of his death. ---
**Author:** ![mtnmatt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a3d4f5/32.png) [@mtnmatt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mtnmatt)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2021, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-actor-musician-author-etc-who-died-young/948113/64 "2021-08-06T23:35:28Z")
Bob Marley seems like a good choice for the list, and Peter Tosh was only 43 ---
**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, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-actor-musician-author-etc-who-died-young/948113/65 "2021-08-06T23:39:28Z")
Oh yes, how could I, how could _anyone_ forget Bob Marley? ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/779978/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats2)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2021, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-actor-musician-author-etc-who-died-young/948113/66 "2021-08-06T23:52:30Z")
And what rhymes with Bob Marley? Chris Farley. ---
**Author:** ![caligulathegod](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/caligulathegod/32/9685_2.png) [@caligulathegod](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/caligulathegod)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2021, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-actor-musician-author-etc-who-died-young/948113/67 "2021-08-07T00:34:16Z")
I’ll add in Mitch Hedberg, 37. One of the best comedians ever. A hippie Steven Wright. Slightly outside, but I also have to add in Divine at 42. He had just appeared in Hairspray and was receiving great reviews for the first time. I had just passed up a chance to meet him at the “hip” video store because it was a hour and a half drive and I…can’t remember why I didn’t. Of course he is gone a few months later. ---
**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 7, 2021, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-actor-musician-author-etc-who-died-young/948113/68 "2021-08-07T00:57:11Z")
> [@caligulathegod](#): > > I also have to add in Divine at 42 That’s who I first considered for actor before checking his DOB. It would have been interesting to see how he navigated recent trans awareness. ---
**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 7, 2021, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-actor-musician-author-etc-who-died-young/948113/69 "2021-08-07T01:49:22Z")
Damn, I can’t believe I forgot Bob Marley. ---
**Author:** ![kitap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b9e5f3/32.png) [@kitap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kitap)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2021, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-actor-musician-author-etc-who-died-young/948113/70 "2021-08-07T02:02:23Z")
He was 40, but Howard Ashman. Such a gifted lyricist. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2021, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-actor-musician-author-etc-who-died-young/948113/71 "2021-08-07T02:13:55Z")
> [@Nightfall1](#): > > 1935 at age 33. Stanley G. Weinbaum, science fiction author. A good suggestion. And I would add C.M. Kornbluth, who died at the age of 34 in 1958. ---
**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 7, 2021, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-actor-musician-author-etc-who-died-young/948113/72 "2021-08-07T04:01:23Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > So basically, Duane vs Gregg Allman = John vs Jim Belushi? Yeah, I think so. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2021, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-actor-musician-author-etc-who-died-young/948113/73 "2021-08-07T04:37:21Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > 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. I’d never heard of Morphine, but a friend of mine was a fan and wanted to see them at a street fair in Cambridge, MA, so we went together. Sandman died only a few weeks later. > [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > I’m having a hard time thinking of a favorite young writer who died at the top of their game. David Foster Wallace, perhaps. He was 46. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2021, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-actor-musician-author-etc-who-died-young/948113/74 "2021-08-07T04:46:50Z")
Canadian singer-songwriter [Stan Rogers](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stan_Rogers) was only 33 years old when he died. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2021, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-actor-musician-author-etc-who-died-young/948113/75 "2021-08-07T04:51:57Z")
> [@TreacherousCretin](#): > > Gregg was his younger brother and very little more, in my opinion. Eh, his was the voice of the band. As a blues-rock vocalist I think he was pretty solid. After Duane I’d argue he was more central to the band than any other member. Well below his brother as a musician? Sure. But still competent and distinctive in his own right. I’d draw the comparison just a little closer to [Phil Alvin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phil_Alvin) vs. [Dave Alvin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_Alvin) than the Belushis. Just a little. ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2021, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-actor-musician-author-etc-who-died-young/948113/76 "2021-08-07T05:12:23Z")
The jazz world has had a lot of musicians and composers who died young. Here are some: Bix Beiderbecke, 28, DTs Charlie Christian, 25, tuberculosis Charlie Parker, 34, drug and alcohol related lobar pneumonia Clifford Brown, 25 car crash Eddie Lang, 30, botched tonsillectomy George Gershwin, 39, brain tumor Jimmy Blanton, 23, tuberculosis ---
**Author:** ![jaycat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jaycat/32/3015_2.png) [@jaycat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jaycat)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2021, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-actor-musician-author-etc-who-died-young/948113/77 "2021-08-07T12:06:01Z")
And Eric Dolphy, 36. ---
**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 7, 2021, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-actor-musician-author-etc-who-died-young/948113/78 "2021-08-07T14:37:50Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > I’m having a hard time thinking of a favorite young writer who died at the top of their game. Jane Austen barely misses the cutoff, at 41. ---
**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 7, 2021, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-actor-musician-author-etc-who-died-young/948113/79 "2021-08-07T14:51:14Z")
> [@TreacherousCretin](#): > > Gregg was his younger brother and very little more, in my opinion. Dude wrote _Whipping Post,_ among other great songs, and was an amazing vocalist. He was hardly “very little more” than Duane’s little brother. ---
**Author:** ![NetTrekker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nettrekker/32/2909_2.png) [@NetTrekker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NetTrekker)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2021, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-actor-musician-author-etc-who-died-young/948113/80 "2021-08-07T15:34:12Z")
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