# Who died when they were your age? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 4, 2019, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-died-when-they-were-your-age/828958 "2019-02-04T19:29:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Rushgeekgirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rushgeekgirl/32/3715_2.png) [@Rushgeekgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rushgeekgirl)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2019, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-died-when-they-were-your-age/828958/21 "2019-02-05T02:08:16Z")
Phil Hartman Joey Ramone Verne Troyer Davy Crockett Dale Earnhardt Bob Crane James Garfield But the saddest of all is my mom, who died in March of her 49th year. It was a hard birthday for me, and the months creeping by have been even harder. I know she was sick for many years, but she just seemed so damned OLD when I was 25. And now I’m where she was. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2019, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-died-when-they-were-your-age/828958/22 "2019-02-05T02:19:47Z")
When they were 64: Papa Doc Duvalier Bram Stoker Stan Getz Philo T. Farnsworth Howard Carter Slobodan Milosevic Joseph Pulitzer Lucky Luciano Thelonious Monk Carry Nation ---
**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:** [February 5, 2019, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-died-when-they-were-your-age/828958/23 "2019-02-05T02:31:11Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > Same. I was shocked both Malcolm X and Martin Luther King jr died in their 30s. I once posted a trivia note pointing out that Anne Frank, Martin Luther King Jr, Yasser Arafat, and Ed Asner all feel like they belong in different eras of history. But all four of them were born in the same year. ---
**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:** [February 5, 2019, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-died-when-they-were-your-age/828958/24 "2019-02-05T02:36:47Z")
People who died at 57: Chester Arthur Humphrey Bogart Geoffrey Chaucer Peter Cook Warren Harding Gregory Hines Vince Lombardi Sir Thomas Moore Prince Cardinal Richelieu Patrick Swayze Amerigo Vespucci ---
**Author:** ![P-man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/p-man/32/3606_2.png) [@P-man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/P-man)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2019, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-died-when-they-were-your-age/828958/25 "2019-02-05T02:38:27Z")
At 54: Eliot Ness Wilma Rudolph Paul Lynde John Calvin (it was predestined) Luther Vandross Peter Sellers Michael O’Donoghue (Mr. Mike) Raul Julia ---
**Author:** ![Iggy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iggy/32/3364_2.png) [@Iggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iggy)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2019, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-died-when-they-were-your-age/828958/26 "2019-02-05T03:25:39Z")
At age 46 - JFK Oscar Wilde HP Lovecraft George Orwell And a guy from my workplace passed a few days ago. Pulmonary embolism after a blood clot in his leg broke free. A bit sobering as I have a very sedentary job and sit for hours at a time at work. ---
**Author:** ![romansperson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/romansperson/32/17100_2.png) [@romansperson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/romansperson)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2019, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-died-when-they-were-your-age/828958/27 "2019-02-05T03:42:15Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > People who died at 57: > > Chester Arthur > Humphrey Bogart > Geoffrey Chaucer > Peter Cook > Warren Harding > Gregory Hines > Vince Lombardi > Sir Thomas More > Prince > Cardinal Richelieu > Patrick Swayze > Amerigo Vespucci Today’s my birthday, so timely thread; the above folks are my list (though Thomas More was beheaded so not the same kind of death as the others on the list). I’ll add Edward R. Murrow and Nellie Bly as I used to be in the journalism biz and so they have extra interest for me. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2019, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-died-when-they-were-your-age/828958/28 "2019-02-05T03:47:20Z")
You know how history records that Marie Curie handled radioactive materials without any protection, destroyed her bone marrow, and died tragically? Yeah, she was my age.:eek: ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2019, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-died-when-they-were-your-age/828958/29 "2019-02-05T04:16:17Z")
> [@Ike\_Witt](#): > > I’m 51- notable people who purchased farms at 51: > > Ethan Allen - Furniture guy > Roger Maris - Baseball player > Marcel Proust - Writer > Napoleon - Character in the first Bill and Ted movie > James Gandolfini - Not a gangster, but played one on TV. > Tookie Williams - Legit gangster co-founder of the Crips. I’m with you. Here is an [extensive list](https://www.thefamouspeople.com/died-at-51.php) of people who died at 51, including… Calamity Jane Virgil Pliny the Younger El Cid … ---
**Author:** ![Sefton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Sefton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sefton)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2019, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-died-when-they-were-your-age/828958/30 "2019-02-05T04:27:37Z")
John Candy and Natalie Wood both died at 43. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2019, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-died-when-they-were-your-age/828958/31 "2019-02-05T04:31:43Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > I’m 73. [These people](https://www.who2.com/famous-people-died-at-age-73-years-old/), among others, died when they were my age: > > Charles Darwin > James Brown > Yitzhak Rabin > Joan Crawford > Ray Charles > Federico Fellini > James Monroe > Cole Porter > Erwin Schrödinger (or did he?) > > Makes me think how little I’ve accomplished in my 73 years. Did it ever occur to you that they stumbled into a hobby that payed the bills and got credit for having the time of their lives? I don’t think about who died when they were my age. I think of who died at the age my friends died. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2019, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-died-when-they-were-your-age/828958/32 "2019-02-05T05:10:59Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > George Patton > Carrie Fisher > Teddy Roosevelt > Benedict Arnold > Calvin Coolidge > The Shah of Iran > Sandra Dee > Hopefully not me > mmm Ditto. Although I will also note a special fondness for the Shah of Iran; a great-uncle made his custom Weatherby rifle. Get guns and put money in our pockets gets you some cred on our farm. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2019, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-died-when-they-were-your-age/828958/33 "2019-02-05T11:50:34Z")
**Douglas Adams** is the one I took particular note of. He achieved considerably more in his life than I have managed to, though. ---
**Author:** ![Toxylon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f05b48/32.png) [@Toxylon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toxylon)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2019, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-died-when-they-were-your-age/828958/34 "2019-02-05T11:53:05Z")
My list, as per **Markn+**'s link, consists of a dozen people, most not all that known today. Alongside obscure actors / actresses and semi-ancient royalty, there are Ted Bundy and Robert Kennedy. The prize, however, goes to Elvis, who died the same year I was born, and died the same age as I am now. ---
**Author:** ![Art\_Rock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/art_rock/32/525_2.png) [@Art\_Rock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Art_Rock)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2019, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-died-when-they-were-your-age/828958/35 "2019-02-05T12:16:17Z")
At 61, among others: Eliot, George (died of natural causes at 61 years 30 days on December 22, 1880) Scott, Sir Walter (died of a stroke at 61 years 37 days on September 21, 1832) Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich (at 61 years 79 days on November 14, 1831) Mendel, Gregor (at 61 years 168 days on January 6, 1884) Mussolini, Benito (was shot to death at 61 years 273 days on April 28, 1945) Coleridge, Samuel Taylor (died of a heart attack at 61 years 277 days on July 25, 1834) Prokofiev, Sergei (died of cerebral hemorrhage at 61 years 316 days on March 5, 1953) Hemingway, Ernest (committed suicide at 61 years 346 days on July 2, 1961) Cooper, James Fenimore (at 61 years 364 days on September 14, 1851) ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2019, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-died-when-they-were-your-age/828958/36 "2019-02-05T12:37:33Z")
I’m 65 - still waiting on my Medicare card… Pryor, Richard Disney, Walt O’Neill, Eugene Von Braun, Wernher Zapruder, Abraham Bach, J. S. Bakker, Tammy Faye Bradley, Ed Stevenson, Adlai Taylor, Zachary Audubon, John J. Lewis, Sinclair Pope John Paul I Carroll, Lewis Hayes, Isaac Interesting mix there… ---
**Author:** ![LoneRhino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lonerhino/32/1311_2.png) [@LoneRhino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LoneRhino)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2019, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-died-when-they-were-your-age/828958/37 "2019-02-05T14:37:47Z")
> [@Ike\_Witt](#): > > I’m 51- notable people who purchased farms at 51: > > Ethan Allen - Furniture guy > Roger Maris - Baseball player > Marcel Proust - Writer > Napoleon - Character in the first Bill and Ted movie > James Gandolfini - Not a gangster, but played one on TV. > Tookie Williams - Legit gangster co-founder of the Crips. Don’t forget Bill Evans and Billy Strayhorn. ---
**Author:** ![TRC4941](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trc4941/32/6792_2.png) [@TRC4941](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TRC4941)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2019, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-died-when-they-were-your-age/828958/38 "2019-02-05T15:16:12Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > People who died at 57: > > Chester Arthur > Humphrey Bogart > Geoffrey Chaucer > Peter Cook > Warren Harding > Gregory Hines > Vince Lombardi > Sir Thomas Moore > Prince > Cardinal Richelieu > Patrick Swayze > Amerigo Vespucci That’s my age too. I guess knowing that I outlived my dad when I turned 55 and my grandpa when I turned 57 always gives me pause. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2019, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-died-when-they-were-your-age/828958/39 "2019-02-05T18:24:06Z")
And at 55 we have, among others: Del Shannon Woody Guthrie Bill Haley Louisa May Alcott Elizabeth Barrett Browning Emily Dickinson Will Rogers King Henry VIII Frederich Nietzsche But not I, no way. As the song says, I can’t die 55! ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2019, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-died-when-they-were-your-age/828958/40 "2019-02-05T19:54:37Z")
Robin Williams. FDR. Patrick Henry. Rembrandt. Audrey Hepburn. Robert E Lee. John Banner, who played Sergeant Schultz on _Hogan’s Heroes_, died at 63 and he had the same birthday as me. But I have already passed my birthday, which proves - something or other. Regards, Shodan [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-died-when-they-were-your-age/828958.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-died-when-they-were-your-age/828958.md?page=3)