# How many famous suicides can you remember? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 27, 2004, 8:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-famous-suicides-can-you-remember/266280 "2004-09-27T08:10:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Largo62](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/45deac/32.png) [@Largo62](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Largo62)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2004, 8:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-famous-suicides-can-you-remember/266280/1 "2004-09-27T08:10:25Z")
Many famous people throughout history have died by their own hand. How many can you think of? My list: Socrates (drank a potion of hemlock) Brutus (fell on his sword) Marc Antony (fell on his sword) George Eastman (shot himself through the heart) Ernest Hemingway (blew his brains out with a shotgun) Marilyn Monroe (deliberately overdosed on pills . . . maybe) Ray Combs (hanged himself in a hotel room) Freddie Prinze (shot himself) George Reeves (shot himself . . . maybe) There must be many more. What have you got? ---
**Author:** ![KGS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/90ced4/32.png) [@KGS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KGS)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2004, 8:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-famous-suicides-can-you-remember/266280/2 "2004-09-27T08:31:34Z")
Kurt Cobain (shotgun) Michael Hutchense (hanging, possibly auto-erotic asphyxiation) Jonathan Brandis (hanging) ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2004, 8:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-famous-suicides-can-you-remember/266280/3 "2004-09-27T08:53:16Z")
Some English ones: Virginia Woolf (drowned) Stephen Ward (implied in the Profumo Affair, took an overdose before he could testify) David Kelly (exposed as the source of information about Blair’s “sexing up” of the Iraq dossier, took an overdose and slashed his wrist) Kenneth Halliwell (boyfriend of Joe Orton. Beat him to death with a hammer then took an overdose) Harold Shipman (Doctor of death, Britain’s most prolific serial killer; killed himself before a certain age so that his wife would qualify for a larger pension) Fred West (another serial killer, found hanging in his cell) ---
**Author:** ![Stillsmiling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Stillsmiling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stillsmiling)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2004, 9:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-famous-suicides-can-you-remember/266280/4 "2004-09-27T09:41:03Z")
R. Bud Dwyer was the Treasurer for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and he was caught taking bribes. He was convicted and sentenced to (I think) 55 years in prison. The details are a little muzzy since it happened in 1987, but I do remember watching it in the common room in my dorm. I am from Pennsylvania and had followed the trial. He held a press conference after his sentencing, on live TV. He brought a large manila envelope in with him (this was in the day before metal detectors were omnipresent). He handed out sealed envelopes to people that were present and then reached into the manila envelope one last time….pulling out a .357. I can still remember people in the room screaming, “No! Bud, don’t”. He then put the gun in his mouth and pulled the trigger. The camera continued to focus on the wall behind him for a few seconds, while the few dormmates and I who were from PA stared at the screen in disbelief. Then the camera cut out, but the sound continued. His assistant was repeating, “Some decorum, please,” as the reporters were screaming in panic. ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2004, 10:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-famous-suicides-can-you-remember/266280/5 "2004-09-27T10:34:31Z")
Chris Chubbuck was a television anchor in Los Angeles who shot herself on live TV in 1974. Robin ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2004, 10:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-famous-suicides-can-you-remember/266280/6 "2004-09-27T10:46:37Z")
Juzo Itami (director of Tampopo and A Taxing Woman) killed himself by jumping from his balcony. Yukio Mishima (author) attempted to stage a coup in 1970 and ended up disembowelling himself. ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2004, 10:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-famous-suicides-can-you-remember/266280/7 "2004-09-27T10:47:57Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > David Kelly (exposed as the source of information about Blair’s “sexing up” of the Iraq dossier, took an overdose and slashed his wrist) That reminds me, how could we have forgotten Vince Foster? ---
**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:** [September 27, 2004, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-famous-suicides-can-you-remember/266280/8 "2004-09-27T11:16:21Z")
Vincent Van Gogh Wally Wood Vaughan Bode (autoerotic strangulation) Lupe Velez The guy the kicked out of the Gin Blossoms Sylvia Plath ---
**Author:** ![ColonelDax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@ColonelDax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ColonelDax)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2004, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-famous-suicides-can-you-remember/266280/9 "2004-09-27T11:34:45Z")
Phil Ochs (hanging) Del Shannon (gunshot) ---
**Author:** ![ColonelDax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@ColonelDax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ColonelDax)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2004, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-famous-suicides-can-you-remember/266280/10 "2004-09-27T11:39:52Z")
Oh yeah, and Screaming Lord Sutch (hanging) ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2004, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-famous-suicides-can-you-remember/266280/11 "2004-09-27T11:43:02Z")
The two jumping out of the burning World Trade Center. That is seared on my soul. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2004, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-famous-suicides-can-you-remember/266280/12 "2004-09-27T12:07:59Z")
Steve Barton (original Raoul & later Phantom, gained huge success in Germany in Tanz der Vampyr)–pills Charles Stuart (accused an unknown black man of shooting and killing his pregnant wife)–drowned himself in the Charles River when the truth came out that he did it. ---
**Author:** ![Papermache\_Prince](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f05b48/32.png) [@Papermache\_Prince](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Papermache_Prince)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2004, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-famous-suicides-can-you-remember/266280/13 "2004-09-27T12:28:16Z")
Dear World. I am leaving because I am bored. I feel I have lived long enough. I am leaving you with your worries in this sweet cesspool. Good luck.[George Sanders](http://www.salon.com/07/features/sanders.html), actor. (1906-1972) ---
**Author:** ![roger\_thornhill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@roger\_thornhill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/roger_thornhill)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2004, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-famous-suicides-can-you-remember/266280/14 "2004-09-27T12:28:44Z")
> [@ColonelDax](#): > > Oh yeah, and Screaming Lord Sutch (hanging) When did Lord Sutch (David?) top himself? I can’t imagine an election in Britain without him. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2004, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-famous-suicides-can-you-remember/266280/15 "2004-09-27T12:35:46Z")
Hitler. ---
**Author:** ![Aro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b3f665/32.png) [@Aro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aro)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2004, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-famous-suicides-can-you-remember/266280/16 "2004-09-27T12:42:54Z")
Maybe this thread is more about personal recollection than finding a list, but… [This is a list of famous people who are known to have committed suicide. (Wikipedia)](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Famous_People_Who_Have_Commited_Suicide) ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2004, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-famous-suicides-can-you-remember/266280/17 "2004-09-27T13:03:48Z")
Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria, alongside his mistress Baroness Marie Vetsera. In a roundabout way this helped contribute to the start of WWI: Rudolf was the only son of Emperor Franz Josef and Empress Elisabeth, so had he lived his cousin Franz-Ferdinand wouldn’t have become heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Rudolf’s distant cousin, King Ludwig II of Bavaria, died under mysterious circumstances one dark and stormy night on Lake Starnberg. His death was officially ruled a suicide, although many (myself included) do not find this explanation entirely satisfying. ---
**Author:** ![gooti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/eb8c5e/32.png) [@gooti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gooti)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2004, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-famous-suicides-can-you-remember/266280/18 "2004-09-27T13:23:00Z")
Wendy O. Williams. Edgar Rosenberg (Joan Rivers’ husband). David Strickland (from _Suddenly Susan_). ---
**Author:** ![jimmmy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/73ab20/32.png) [@jimmmy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jimmmy)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2004, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-famous-suicides-can-you-remember/266280/19 "2004-09-27T13:39:06Z")
Judas Iscariot King Saul ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2004, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-famous-suicides-can-you-remember/266280/20 "2004-09-27T13:43:26Z")
I highly recommend [this book](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0786410388/qid=1096292415/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/103-5657743-9808601?v=glance&s=books), which is on my bedside table for light reading. (Oh, yes, off the top of my head: Peg Entwistle, Bobbie Harron, Olive Thomas, Florence Lawrence, Ross Alexander, Phyllis Haver, Lou Tellegen, John Bowers, Lilian-Hall Davies, Art Acord, Allyn King, Clara Bloodgood . . .) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-famous-suicides-can-you-remember/266280.md?page=2)