# 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:** 2
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2004, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-famous-suicides-can-you-remember/266280/21 "2004-09-27T13:44:36Z")
Anthony Aloysius St.John Hancock, of 23 Railway Cuttings, East Cheam, ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2004, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-famous-suicides-can-you-remember/266280/22 "2004-09-27T14:44:57Z")
> [@DesertGeezer](#): > > 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) No, he was sentanced to death by poison, so it doesn’t count as suicide. My cite– [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SoCrates/The\_Trial\_of\_Socrates](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SoCrates/The_Trial_of_Socrates) ---
**Author:** ![Caricci](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/85f322/32.png) [@Caricci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caricci)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2004, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-famous-suicides-can-you-remember/266280/23 "2004-09-27T15:02:21Z")
The former Queens Borough President Donald Manus (sp). He was involved in some sort of financial scandal which was about to come to light. He was found wandering on the Grand Central Parkway and gave some strange story whose details I forget but implied that he was a victim of a crime, but it soon became clear he was there and acting confused because of something he did. Anyway, he was in the news for months and months, was hospitalized for being suicidal and, ultimately stabbed himself in the chest with a steak knife in the presence of his wife. ---
**Author:** ![Caricci](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/85f322/32.png) [@Caricci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caricci)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2004, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-famous-suicides-can-you-remember/266280/24 "2004-09-27T15:03:44Z")
Here’s the story: [http://www.queenstribune.com/anniversary2003/donaldmanes.htm](http://www.queenstribune.com/anniversary2003/donaldmanes.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Ghanima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Ghanima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ghanima)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2004, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-famous-suicides-can-you-remember/266280/25 "2004-09-27T15:56:43Z")
Ian Curtis of Joy Division Cleopatra ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2004, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-famous-suicides-can-you-remember/266280/26 "2004-09-27T16:02:24Z")
Last winter Spaulding Gray went into the Hudson(?) river after a bout with depression. ---
**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, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-famous-suicides-can-you-remember/266280/27 "2004-09-27T16:15:18Z")
> [@roger thornhill](#): > > When did Lord Sutch (David?) top himself? I can’t imagine an election in Britain without him. June 1999. I wish I’d clipped the \*Time Out \* cartoon that ran in the following issue, which depicted two undertakers standing next to Sutch’s hearse, one looking at a map and saying, “It’s no good, we’ve lost his depot site” and the other replying, “He would have wanted it this way.” ---
**Author:** ![presidebt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c37758/32.png) [@presidebt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/presidebt)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2004, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-famous-suicides-can-you-remember/266280/28 "2004-09-27T16:23:39Z")
Come on, peeps! You gotta tell _how_. 😃 Someone mentioned Sylvia Plath. She killed herself, as the legend goes, by “sticking her head in an oven.” What is not widely known is that her two small children were with her in their home and while they were sleeping, she spent time filling in all the cracks and crevices around the kitchen door with paper and rags, and then put tape over that, before she turned on the gas and laid her head on the oven door. She didn’t want her children to be affected by the gas. Anne Sexton is another suicidal poet. IIRC, she took some of her psyche medicine, I wanna say thorazyne(?), and then mixed herself a cocktail. She donned her fur and went out to her shiny convertable, which was parked in the garage. Sitting at the wheel, she turned the ignition and tuned into the radio, and there she remained, drinking her cocktail until unconsciousness overtook her. ---
**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, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-famous-suicides-can-you-remember/266280/29 "2004-09-27T16:24:49Z")
> [@adam yax](#): > > Last winter Spaulding Gray went into the Hudson(?) river after a bout with depression. East River, which separates the other side of Manhattan from Queens. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2004, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-famous-suicides-can-you-remember/266280/30 "2004-09-27T16:27:52Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > East River, which separates the other side of Manhattan from Queens. I don’t know NYC that well and I had a 50-50 guess. ---
**Author:** ![Ghanima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Ghanima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ghanima)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2004, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-famous-suicides-can-you-remember/266280/31 "2004-09-27T16:55:02Z")
Ok, OK: Ian Curtis: hanging Cleopatra: asp venom ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2004, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-famous-suicides-can-you-remember/266280/32 "2004-09-27T17:17:36Z")
> [@Ghanima](#): > > Cleopatra: asp venom \HUH HUH HUH HUH! She made a “asp” of herself! HUH HUH HUH HUH!\ ---
**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, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-famous-suicides-can-you-remember/266280/33 "2004-09-27T17:36:16Z")
> [@adam yax](#): > > I don’t know NYC that well and I had a 50-50 guess. Common mistake. When the airplane crashed in Queens on November 12, 2001, the BBC TV newscaster said: There was another plane crash in New York City today, but it was on the other side of the Hudson River. Either I missed something major in New Jersey, or they moved the Hudson while I wasn’t looking. ---
**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:** [September 27, 2004, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-famous-suicides-can-you-remember/266280/34 "2004-09-27T18:08:13Z")
Another list of famous suicides - [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category%3ASuicides](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category%3ASuicides) ---
**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, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-famous-suicides-can-you-remember/266280/35 "2004-09-27T18:22:48Z")
> [@Bosda Di'Chi of Tricor](#): > > No, he was sentanced to death by poison, so it doesn’t count as suicide. > > My cite– > > [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SoCrates/The\_Trial\_of\_Socrates](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SoCrates/The_Trial_of_Socrates) Okay, he was sentenced, but took the poison himself. He chose not to defend himself, and chose not to flee, even though he probably would not have been stopped. I’d say the he committed “sideways” (as my dad used to put it), because the final choice was his, and he was not forced to drink the hemlock. Semantics. 🆒 ---
**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, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-famous-suicides-can-you-remember/266280/36 "2004-09-27T18:38:25Z")
In the list of suicides provided by \*\*Little Nemo \*\* is Mohammed Atta. My personal feeling is that his death was only suicide in the technical sense that he set in motion the events that led to it. It was incidental to a heinous crime. His name should be erased from human memory, as if he never existed, and his soul (if there is any such thing) should wander in darkness for all eternity. The same is true of Harris and Klebold, the two foul pustules on the ass of society, who took their own lives after depriving thirteen innocents of theirs. Really, Larry, you should try to get hold of yourself! ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2004, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-famous-suicides-can-you-remember/266280/37 "2004-09-27T18:49:19Z")
To add… Harris, Klebold and Atta also could hardly be considered celebrities before their deaths. They were all, for good reason, nobodies. ---
**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, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-famous-suicides-can-you-remember/266280/38 "2004-09-27T18:59:29Z")
The 19 9/11 Hijackers. And I hate mentioning those bastards. ---
**Author:** ![violacrane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/c57346/32.png) [@violacrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/violacrane)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2004, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-famous-suicides-can-you-remember/266280/39 "2004-09-27T19:02:13Z")
Thomas Chatterton, was caught passing off his own poems as medieval discoveries, took poison at 17 – silly boy. Arthur Koestler, 79, suffering Parkinson’s disease, joint suicide with his considerably younger wife. ---
**Author:** ![Gotterfunken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/58956e/32.png) [@Gotterfunken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gotterfunken)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2004, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-famous-suicides-can-you-remember/266280/40 "2004-09-27T19:52:46Z")
[Ray Combs](http://www.who2.com/raycombs.html), the former host of Family Feud (Dawson’s successor). He killed himself by hanging. [Jules Pascin](http://www.artnet.com/artist/13137/Jules_Pascin.html), an early 20th-century painter. Tried to kill himself by slitting his wrists; succeeded in killing himself by hanging. [Antoine-Jean Gros](http://www.abcgallery.com/D/david/grosbio.html), a French nineteenth-century painter best known for [_The Pesthouse at Jaffa_](http://www.louvre.fr/img/photos/collec/peint/grande/inv5064.jpg)–his drowning death is thought to have been a suicide. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-famous-suicides-can-you-remember/266280.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-famous-suicides-can-you-remember/266280.md?page=3)