Aortic dissection if memory serves.
Same thing that got John Ritter. He went from rehearsing on the set of 8 Simple Rules for Dating my Teenaged Daughter to “I don’t feel well” to dead as a doornail in about an hour.
Peter Sellers. Heart attack.
Leonard Warren, operatic baritone, died onstage of a massive heart attack, epitomizing the concept of “drop dead” about as literally as possible.
On top of that, didn’t Cobain OD on alcohol and pills (or something) a month or a few months before (Italy or something)? Anyhow, my point is that he was clearly in a bit of trouble.
Darryl Kile, the St. Louis Cardinals pitcher who died suddenly and unexpectedly in the middle of the 2002 season.
Gene Eugene, who was a celebrity in, and great loss to, the world of (for lack of a better term) alternative Christian music.
So did Mark Sandman of Morphine.
Bruce Lee - “death by misadventure”
I think it was an alergic reaction to an analgesic that got him. Either that or some secret Chinese gang got him with the Five Point Exploding Heart Technique – depends on who you want to believe.
Would Alexander Woollcott count? He suffered a heart attack in the middle of a live radio discussion show in 1943. The audience may have thought he just didn’t have any more comments to contribute.
He actually didn’t die immediately, but maybe I’m getting too picky about the definition of “drop dead.”
Dennis Danell of Social Distortion apparently just dropped.
Pete Maravich’s heart pretty much just came apart on him.
Everything that we now know about her life makes Karen Carpenter’s death unsurprising.
However, I was too young to be at all aware of her death at the time, then as I went through elementary and middle school her death was pretty much all that I knew about her, since she had become the Health Class eating disorder poster girl.
So, I’ll ask Dopers who have a better memory: at the time of her death how surprising was it to fans and the general public?
Completely off-guard. I remember the news blurb. I was in my car, and the opening lines to “Close to You” were playing as the announcer said, “A heart attack has silenced this voice.”
Eva Cassidy died of an aneuryism.
Dale Earnhardt. Sure, racecars drivers die occasionally, but his was a shocker. Had the wreck been violent, it would have been one thing, but he casually hit the wall and was pronounced dead. A broken seat belt was the cause.
Redd Foxx suffered a massive heart attack during rehearsal for his sitcom “head of the Family.” Worse, when he clutched his chest and collapsed, the crew thought he was doing his “I’m coming, Elizabeth” routine from “Sanford and Son.”
Former Vice President Alben Barkley died while giving a speech at Washington and Lee University. An old-school orator, Barkley collapsed just after telling students “I would rather be a servant in the House of the Lord than to sit in the seats of the mighty.” I still consider that to be the greatest last words ever.
What, no mention of Heath Ledger yet?
Bing Crosby dropped dead on a golf course.
So did Conrad Veidt, who played the German major in Casablanca. It was his last role.
bienville, Karen Carpenter’s death at the time was shocking because anorexia wasn’t a “known” disease. I remember thinking, “How is it possible for someone who has money to starve to death?” But knowing more about her battle with an eating disorder, it’s not surprising at all.
And yes, Cobain had attempted suicide before through an OD in Rome, I believe, and that was reported upon at the time. So no big surprise there.
All of the examples I can think of were accidental deaths, suicides, and murders. Maybe Michael Hutchence’s death qualifies. Some suggest that he hung himself, but it might have been a case of autoerotic asphyxiation. Either way it was a complete shock: INXS were mounting something of a comeback at the time after being under the radar screen for a few years.