Golden Era stars who died way before their time

[Gregg Axley]

Mae Busch also had a talent the directors loved...she was accurate with pottery.
What an odd talent, but she was good at it, especially in the Laurel and Hardy films.

 

[Shangas]

I don't think anybody has mentioned...

Clarence 'Pinetop' Smith (1904-1929).

Pinetop Smith, a jazz pianist, was shot to death during the crossfire of a gunfight that erupted in a Chicago dance-hall.

He was 24.

According to Wikipedia, no photographs of Pinetop Smith are known to exist.

One of his few (but famous) tracks that survives to this day is "Pinetop's Boogie-Woogie", performed here by Hugh Laurie as Bertie Wooster:

[video=youtube;W2yM0DewlYU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2yM0DewlYU[/video]

 

[Connery]

Inger Stevens October 18, 1934 – April 30, 1970 age 35 acute barbiturate poisoning

 

[Blackthorn]

Last night I saw The Mortal Storm, and realized we need to add Margaret Sullavan, probably suicide at age 50. Two of her three children also died by suicide. In watching Storm last night I was impressed by her on-screen charisma.
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0837925/

 

[angeljenny]

Olive Thomas, 25 (accidental poisoning, 1920)

Wow - never heard of her but she was beautiful!

 

[LizzieMaine]

Interestingly, there were very few radio stars who died unusually young -- perhaps radio was a more clean-living business than movies or music -- but whatever the reason, I can only think of three truly major radio celebrities who cashed in before their time:

Joe Penner, for a brief time in the mid-thirties the most popular comedian on the air, was only 36 when he died of heart failure in 1941.

Graham MacNamee, the most famous of all announcers, died in 1942 of a cerebral hemmorrhage at age 53.

And from the other side of the pond, Tommy Handley, the UK's most famous Golden Era radio comedian, also died of a cerebral hemmorrhage, at age 57 in 1949.

You could also include Fred Allen on the list -- he was sixty-two when he dropped dead on a Manhattan sidewalk in 1956, not especially young, but not particularly elderly either.

 

[Tomasso]

I can only think of three truly major radio celebrities who cashed in before their time

How about Tom Breneman who hosted Breakfast in Hollywood. He passed at 46.



[video=youtube;ph8k8rN8VsI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ph8k8rN8VsI&feature=related[/video]

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Roger Wolfe Kahn, 54
1920s bandleader and composer
(heart attack, 1962)

[video=youtube;wnyjKR5hJKM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnyjKR5hJKM[/video]

 

[Stanley Doble]

You haven't missed anybody except Douglas Fairbanks. The very fit, athletic Mr. Fairbanks died in 1939 aged 56.

He was a better actor than he was given credit for. Usually dismissed as a relic of the silent films, he made only 3 or 4 talkies. Reaching for the Moon (1930) is one of my favorite movies. He proves he is as adept at romantic comedy as he was in the action pictures that made him famous.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDsem6Dh0Qk

Watch the swimming pool scene starting at 35:10 and tell me if he looks 47.

His last movie, The Private Life of Don Juan,made when he was 51 I don't like so well but he hardly looks like an old man.

Online bios are vague. The only cause of death I can find is "heart failure".

 

[Lily Powers]

Robert Williams, Platinum Blonde, 1931 - he's the looker dancing with the other looker, Loretta Young. He was so wonderful in this movie and may have had quite a career, but sadly, he died at age 37, only three days after the film premiered. He'd only been in seven films.

 

[CONELRAD]

He may not have really been much of a Golden Era star, nor was he a "superstar", but Dan Blocker, Hoss Cartwright of Bonanza, died in 1972 at age 43. It's made even more tragic by the fact that he died of complications following gallbladder surgery, and that he left behind his four children.

 

[Blackthorn]

He may not have really been much of a Golden Era star, nor was he a "superstar", but Dan Blocker, Hoss Cartwright of Bonanza, died in 1972 at age 43. It's made even more tragic by the fact that he died of complications following gallbladder surgery, and that he left behind his four children.

I had forgotten he was that young.

 

[Blackthorn]

Robert Williams, Platinum Blonde, 1931 - he's the looker dancing with the other looker, Loretta Young. He was so wonderful in this movie and may have had quite a career, but sadly, he died at age 37, only three days after the film premiered. He'd only been in seven films.

Yes, he was very talented, and died just as he was making it big. So sad. It's ironic that he starred with Harlow, too, another tragic loss.

 

[liten]

marilyn 36 [ 1962 ] cause of death

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Mabel Normand, 37 (tuberculosis, 1930)

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Peg Entwistle, 24 (suicide, 1932)
Sadly, she is better known more for the way she died than her acting. She committed suicide by jumping off the letter "H" of the Hollywood sign.

 

[Stanley Doble]

Singer Johnny Ace, died December 25 1954, 25 years of age. Self inflicted accidental gun shot wound.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KcXSS6Q4xE0

 

[Widebrim]

He may not have really been much of a Golden Era star, nor was he a "superstar", but Dan Blocker, Hoss Cartwright of Bonanza, died in 1972 at age 43. It's made even more tragic by the fact that he died of complications following gallbladder surgery, and that he left behind his four children.

My father met him while working at Sears automotive in Hollywood. I don't recall whether Bonanza had already premiered or was still in the works, but I do remember that my father had a positive opinion of Blocker.

 

[Blackthorn]

Don't know if this lady was honored here yet or not: Lupe Velez, tragic suicide at age 37:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0892473/

I just finished watching Kongo, with her and Walter Huston.

 

[emigran]

Great thread first time I've gone through it... quite astonishing statistics, eh...??