Golden Era stars who died way before their time

[V.C. Brunswick]

Thomas Ince, 42 (heart attack* aboard William Randolph Hearst's yacht, 1924)
*official cause of death though many believe he was murdered

Montgomery Clift, 45 (heart attack, 1966)

Kurt Gerron, 47 (murdered at Auschwitz, 1944)
While at Theresienstadt concentration camp he was forced by the Nazis to produce a propaganda film purporting that the Jews were being well-treated. Upon completion of the film, Gerron and many of the other inmates at Theresienstadt were sent to Auschwitz.

seen here with Marlene Dietrich in The Blue Angel

 

[C-dot]

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

There's an interesting story behind his death too: he was shot accidentally while his friend, Lansing Brown, was showing him a pistol from his collection.

At the time, Russ was engaged to Carole Lombard. His mother was in frail health, so she wasn't told of her son's death. Everyone in Russ' social circle, including Carole, carried on the charade that he was alive and well for about 7 years until his mother's own death.

 

[Connery]

There's an interesting story behind his death too: he was shot accidentally while his friend, Lansing Brown, was showing him a pistol from his collection.

At the time, Russ was engaged to Carole Lombard. His mother was in frail health, so she wasn't told of her son's death. Everyone in Russ' social circle, including Carole, carried on the charade that he was alive and well for about 7 years until his mother's own death.

Thanks for that information C-dot. Seven years is a long time to keep that charade going on without the mother seeing her son and catching on. I wonder how they managed that...[huh]

 

[HadleyH]

Let's face it, most of 20s and 30s film actors were wiped out before their time, who knows why may be people lived shorter lives then.



Before there was Valentino and before Clark Gable and before all of them, there was Wallace Reid the original "screen's most perfect lover".

And I can see why!

Dead at 31
Reason, addiction to morphine

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Geesh, another one who died at 31! This is getting creepier and creepier :eeek:
I'm so glad I'm not 31 anymore

 

[Shangas]

I'm amazed nobody has mentioned...

'Major' Alton Glenn Miller. 1904-1944. Missing in Action - December 15th 1944.

On his way across the Channel from London to Paris, it's strongly suspected that Miller's plane was accidently destroyed by bombs dropped by Allied bomber-aircraft returning from an aborted mission. The wreckage and Miller's body was never found.

He was 40 years old.

 

[Blackthorn]

I'm amazed nobody has mentioned...

'Major' Alton Glenn Miller. 1904-1944. Missing in Action - December 15th 1944.

On his way across the Channel from London to Paris, it's strongly suspected that Miller's plane was accidently destroyed by bombs dropped by Allied bomber-aircraft returning from an aborted mission. The wreckage and Miller's body was never found.

He was 40 years old.

Well done, I had forgotten Glenn Miller.

 

[skyvue]

James Murray became an overnight star in King Vidor's THE CROWD (1928) and went on to star in other films, but he became a derelict alcoholic and drowned at age 35 in the Hudson River, likely a victim of either suicide or foul play.

Rags Ragland rose from starring as a comic at Minksy's Burlesque to being one of the top comic foils in Hollywood, but he died three days before his 41st birthday of kidney failure related to his abuse of alcohol. Frank Sinatra, one of Ragland's good friends, sang at his funeral.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Olive Thomas, 25 (accidental poisoning, 1920)

Virginia Rappé, 26 (ruptured bladder, 1921)
her death in a room at the St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco precipitated the Fatty Arbuckle scandal

 

[Connery]

Alma Rubens (February 19, 1897 – January 22, 1931) Age 33 Pneumonia and/or drug addiction have been given as cause(s) of death

 

[Amy Jeanne]

Jeanne Eagels - 39 (alcoholism/heroin overdose)

Barbara LaMarr - 29 (drug overdose/anorexia)

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Marjorie White - 30 (car accident)

Here's Marjorie White with the Three Stooges in Woman Haters (1934)

[video=youtube;PgZLy49UDrU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgZLy49UDrU&feature=related[/video]

 

[Amy Jeanne]

Thanks -- I looooooove Marjorie White! She was so cute and funny. She and El Brendel are my two favourites in Just Imagine (1930). They MAKE that movie

She and Thelma Todd were two TRAGIC losses in 1935.

 

[Fletch]

Musicians and bandleaders

Chick Webb, 1939, age 34 (spinal tuberculosis)

Bunny Berigan, 1942, age 33 (liver failure)

Chu Berry, 1941, age 31 (auto accident)

Charlie Christian, 1942, age 24 (tuberculosis)

Davey Tough, 1948, age 41 (head trauma)

Earl Burtnett, 1936, age 39 (complications of appendectomy)

Rudy Wiedoeft, 1940, age 47 (liver failure)

Elmer Feldkamp, 1938, age 28 (appendicitis)

Fats Navarro, 1950, age 26 (tuberculosis plus overdose)

Michel Warlop, 1947, age 36 (hypothermia)

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Thomas "Fats" Waller, 39 (pneumonia, 1943)

Bessie Smith, 43 (car accident, 1937)

 

[HadleyH]

And there is always Bix! Dead at 28, cause of death pneumonia, and to a certain extent alcoholism.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Sam Warner, 40 (sinus infection, 1927)
One of the five Warner Brothers, Sam Warner was the driving force behind the development of the "talkies". Sadly, he died shortly before the premiere of The Jazz Singer

Sal Mineo, 37 (murdered, 1976)

seen here with James Dean in Rebel Without A Cause

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Hal Kemp, 36 (car accident, 1940)

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Carleton Coon, 38 (jaw infection, 1932)
Coon-Sanders Nighthawk Orchestra

 

[Widebrim]

John Hodiak, dead from a heart attack at age 41. Known primarily for his roles in Lifeboat and A Bell for Adano (as well as Somewhere in the Night, a rather confusing Noir from whence the below photo comes), he was well-respected in the Hollywood community. Proud of his Ukrainian-Polish ancestry, he refused to give in to L. B. Meyer's pleas that he change his name.