Golden Era stars who died way before their time

[HadleyH]

I could go on for days...

hehe ..... yes the list is long .... we could go on for months, years even ... what the heck ...let me take out my little (well not so little) "Hollywood Celebrity Death Book" .... here we go... (only a few ok? there is too much!)[huh]


John Gilbert, .... lol

Mabel Normand? (has she been mentioned too? lol)

 

[Widebrim]

Are my morbid interests showing?

Regarding Reeves, I highly suggest you read this. As always, form your own conclusions!

The author of the article does make some interesting statements. However, Reeves' ex-lover Toni Mannix admitted in an interview made just prior to her death, that she was responsible for Reeve's murder; he had left her, got engaged with someone else, and Mannix couldn't bear thinking of him with another woman. In addition, regarding the idea that Reeves was severely depressed about filming two more seasons of the show, he told close friends that he was looking forward to it, due to the fact that he would be directing some episodes (he had directed the last three Superman episodes made). Just some food for thought...

Oh, and has anyone mentioned Colin Clive and Dwight Frye, horror film icons, as well as Bud Jamison, who appeared in many 3 Stooges shorts?

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Submitted for your approval. Two of television's most creative minds whose brainchild was a groundbreaking television show that would be destined to become a classic. But little did they know that both would take a premature journey into...

...The Mortality Zone

Rod Serling, 50 (heart attack, 1975)
Charles Beaumont, 38 (Alzheimers, 1967)
(Twilight Zone writer)

hehe ..... yes the list is long .... we could go on for months, years even ... what the heck ...let me take out my little (well not so little) "Hollywood Celebrity Death Book" .... here we go... (only a few ok? there is too much!)[huh]


John Gilbert, .... lol

Mabel Normand? (has she been mentioned too? lol)

William Desmond Taylor, 49 (murder, 1922)

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer, 31 (homicide, 1959)

Linda Darnell, 41 (house fire, 1965)

Jane Green, 34 (paralytic stroke, 1931)

 

[Connery]

Thomas "Tommy" Rettig (December 10, 1941 – February 15, 1996) aged 54 Heart Attack

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Herb Wiedoeft, 41 (car accident, 1928)

[video=youtube;-o6gxX4lzwA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-o6gxX4lzwA[/video]

Larry Semon, 39 (pneumonia, 1928)

 

[C-dot]

hehe ..... yes the list is long .... we could go on for months, years even ...

And enjoy it

The author of the article does make some interesting statements. However, Reeves' ex-lover Toni Mannix admitted in an interview made just prior to her death, that she was responsible for Reeve's murder; he had left her, got engaged with someone else, and Mannix couldn't bear thinking of him with another woman. In addition, regarding the idea that Reeves was severely depressed about filming two more seasons of the show, he told close friends that he was looking forward to it, due to the fact that he would be directing some episodes (he had directed the last three Superman episodes made). Just some food for thought...

I tend to be skeptical of these later admissions (For this I thank Peter Lawford.) Speaking of, Marilyn's death is much the same, though on a larger scale than Reeves'. There is so much conjecture and conflicting accounts and evidence involved that its eventually becomes up to the individual to decide what happened. No one will ever know for sure.

Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer, 31 (homicide)

Now that was an interesting one. Imagine being killed over fifty dollars and a dog.



I've got some more...

Diana Barrymore was 38 (heart failure brought on by the Barrymore Curse)

Peggie Castle was 45 (cirrhosis of the liver)

Bobby Darin was 37 (blood poisoning)

John Garfield was 39 (heart attack)

Betty Grable was 56 (lung cancer)

Judy Holliday was 43 (breast cancer)

Mildred Harris Chaplin was 42 (pneumonia)

Elissa Landi was 43 (cancer)

Vivien Leigh was 53 (tuberculosis)

Jules Munshin was 54 (heart attack)

Mabel Normand was 37 (tuberculosis)

 

[scotrace]

Carole Landis was 29 (suicide, rumoured to be over Rex Harrison)

I had NO idea. Fascinating! I read her book(ish), Four Jills and a Jeep.

 

[C-dot]

I had NO idea. Fascinating! I read her book(ish), Four Jills and a Jeep.

I've never read that one, I'll have to check it out!

Landis' story is indeed fascinating. At the time of her suicide, she was in dire straits financially, had just finished with her third divorce, and had begun a dalliance with the married Rex Harrison (himself married 8 times.) He was the last person to see her alive - Over dinner on July 4th, 1948, she had tried to talk about financial problems with Rex, but he was apparently non-attentive. The next day, when she wouldn't answer her phone, he went to her house and found her dead with her head resting on her jewelry box. Seconal (the powerful barbiturate prescribed by Hollywood doctors like air) and alcohol were to blame.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

William "Froggy" Laughlin, 16 (motor scooter accident, 1948)
Starred in the Our Gang Comedies, 1940-44

 

[Stormy]

Florence Mills - 31 (tuberculosis)

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Florence Mills - 31 (tuberculosis)

I'm starting to notice a creepy pattern. It seems as if 31 was an unlucky number for some of the stars of the Golden Era. So far, the following also died at age 31.

Lyda Roberti (1938)
Carl Switzer (1959)
Rudolph Valentino (1926)

 

[C-dot]

I'm starting to notice a creepy pattern. It seems as if 31 was an unlucky number for some of the stars of the Golden Era.

Interesting pattern. Makes me think of the Forever 27 club for musicians.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Harry Crosby, 31* (suicide, 1929)
Bobby Driscoll, 31 (drug overdose, 1968)
John Dillinger, 31 (shot while being apprehended by FBI, 1934)

*Lost Generation poet

 

[C-dot]

John Dillinger, 31 (shot while being apprehended by FBI)

And this has a Golden Era movie star connection - He came out of hiding to see his favourite actress Myrna Loy's newest movie, Manhattan Melodrama Dark, but very good.

 

[Amy Jeanne]

Lucille Ricksen - 15 (TB)

Lya de Putti - 31 (Choked on a chicken bone)

Marilyn Miller - 37 (Died after sinus surgery)

Clarine Seymour - 21 ("Strangulated intestines")

Karl Dane - 48 (Suicide, gun to the head)

Marjorie White - 30 (car accident)

Florence la Badie - 29 (car accident)

Gladys Brockwell - 34 (car accident)

 

[Connery]

Russ Columbo, singer, violinist and actor. January 14, 1908 – September 2, 1934 Age 26. Gunshot

 

[Amy Jeanne]

Lilyan Tashman - 34 or 39 (abdominal cancer)

Dorothy Dell - 19 (car accident)

Martha Mansfield - 24 (dress went up in flames from a careless smoker)

Evelyn Hoey - 24 (found with a bullet hole in her head -- possible murder)

Gloria Dickson - 28 (house fire)

Dorothy Seastrom - 26 (TB)

William Hinckley - 23 (1918 flu epidemic)

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Charlie Chase, 46 (heart attack, 1940)

As he appeared in Laurel & Hardy's Sons Of The Desert

F.W. Murnau, 42 (car accident, 1931)

 

[Amy Jeanne]

Al Bowlly - 42 (door slammed into the back of his head from a bomb explosion during WW2)

Harold Lockwood - 31 (1918 flu epidemic)

Mary Thurman - 30 (TB)

Gwili Andre - 51 (fire/suicide)