How many people are probably more famous today because they died.
For example I doubt Marilyn Monroe or James Dean would be nearly the icons they are had they lived. That is their deaths contributed to their being famous.
I am thinking JFK is on the borderline.
How about The Big Bopper? (He died in the plane crash with Ritchie Valens)
Maybe Jayne Mansfield?
Actually, Ritchie Valens is a pretty good one.
I think this question defies a definite answer and is more of an opinion/polling type thing.
I’ll move it over to IMHO for you.
Jesus Christ never would have gotten his little operation off the ground if he hadn’t been nailed to that tree.
Kurt Cobain. He’d be just another washed-up rock star today, had he not blown his own head off.
Elizabeth Short, a.k.a. the Black Dahlia.
John F. Kennedy. Had he not been assassinated, history would remember him only as one of the mediocre presidents.
I immediately thought of Lei Feng, a Chinese soldier who, after he died, was made into a hero for “selfless Chinese youth”. He had a diary or a book of letters or something that was published (or probably just made up) that was distributed to damn near every kid in the country for years.
Along those lines, Anne Frank.
Jim Morrison … that is, if he’s REALLY dead.
Well, for that matter, any of many famous murder victims.
Kitty Genovese,
Leon Klinghoffer,
Yankel Rosenbaum,
Harvey Milk,
and many others.
If not for their murders, they would have lived happy obscure lives.
In addition, there are those whose fate has become unknown. They too are famous only because of their presumed deaths.
Amelia Earheart,
Joseph Force Crater,
Jimmy Hoffa,
Etan Patz.
Zev Steinhardt
Princess Diana
Elvis
Me.
Just not yet.
I’m with Welfy on Elvis. I read Careless Love, the second half of Elvis’ biography (first half was Last Train to Memphis), and it sounds like he would have just faded away if he hadn’t died so young.
Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman
Anyone who earns a “Darwin Award”
William Henry Harrison (a little-known U.S. President-- the only thing most people know about him is that he served as president for one month, then died.)
Stephen, and other early Christian martyrs
Orshee wrote:
Elvis died at the age of 42. Just imagine if he had died in, say, 1962 instead of 1977! Maybe he would be famous in more of a James Dean kind of way than in, well, an Elvis kind of way.
It’s hard to picture Elvis today, at age 65.
Buddy Holly.
How about Otis Redding? I personally think the guy was incredible (unlike, say, the vastly overrated Jim Morrison or Janis Joplin), but he was mostly known mainly to the “soul/r&b” audience until he died, at which point “Dock of the Bay” became a (pop) chart hit.
How about John Lennon?
And I think nobody would remember Sid Vicious if he hadn’t died.
disagree on Elvis, the musicians I’d pick are Janis Joplin and Jim Morrison. They’d have a place, but smaller one if they hadn’t died young. Hendrix would’ve been bigger.
JOHN LENNON?
I’m sure both secured their fame long before their untimely deaths.