 Starring: Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine, Aaron Eckhart, Maggie GyllenhaalDirector: Christopher Nolan Year Of Release: 2008 Plot: With the help of Lieutenant Jim Gordon and District Attorney Harvey Dent, Batman sets out to dismantle the remaining criminal organizations that plague the city streets. The partnership proves to be effective, but they soon find themselves prey to a reign of chaos unleashed by a rising criminal mastermind known to the terrified citizens of Gotham as The Joker. However unlike most criminals, The Joker only seems to be interested in creating pure anarchy. |
You live fast, you die fast. That certainly seems to be the way it works in Hollywood. Seeing as Im rather Batman-ned out after writing articles based around four other Caped Crusader movies a few months ago, today I thought Id be rather morbid and look at death in Tinsel-town. Of course Heath Ledger tragically passed away a few months before the release of The Dark Knight, after accidentally taking too many prescription drugs. It certainly shocked a lot of people, and was made even more poignant when his Dark Knight performance was universally acclaimed and he won an Oscar for it. However hes not the only star to have died too young, and to be honest his passing was actually pretty pedestrian compared to many in Hollywood.
While some stars manage to keep going into their dotage, a more than usual amount seem to get snuffed out well before their time is due. Whether its murder, suicide, car wrecks or a plain old accident, star deaths often seem to be as spectacular as the movies they were in. While it means Hollywood is haunted by lots of grief and tragedy, it also reminds us that movie stars are just as human as the rest of us.
James Byron Dean
Date of Death: 30/09/55
Age: 24
Interred: Park Cemetery, Fairmount, Indiana
Cause of Death: Car Accident
Occupation: A rising star who had an amazing impact on film, even though he only ever starred in three movies.
Details: Having recently completed the filming of Giant, James Dean decided to take his pride and joy, a silver Porsche Spyder hed nicknamed Little Bastard, to a rally in Salinas, California. Along with Porsche mechanic Rolf Weutherich, he was stopped in Bakersfield by the police and told to watch his speed. Ignoring this advice he reached the junction of Routes 41 and 466, and slammed at 86 miles an hour into another car. While Weutherich only suffered a broken leg and head injuries, and the driver of the other car was only slightly injured, Deans head was almost completely severed.
Deans death is also thought to have been partially responsible for another Hollywood demise. The allegedly bisexual Dean had embarked on an affair with young starlet Pier Angeli, which had ended after pressure from MGM and Angelis mother. She however never got over the end of their relationship, or his death, and when her career started to slide, she killed herself in 1963.
Sharon Marie Tate
Date of Death: 09/08/69
Age: 26
Interred: Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City, California
Cause of Death: Murder
Occupation: Tate, married to director Roman Polanski, had found success in the likes of The Fearless Vampire Killers and Valley of the Dolls, and was tipped for major stardom.
Details: The death of Sharon Tate is probably one of the most infamous events in all of Hollywood history, but it wasnt just her who died that night. Her husband Roman Polanski was away at the time of her death, so the heavily-pregnant Tate had decided to stay at home with a friend called Jay Sebring. She also had a couple called Abigail Folger and Voytek Frykowski staying with her. By the next morning they were all dead.
At around 8.00am, Tates maid discovered the bodies of Folger and Frykowski in the garden, both butchered. It wasnt until the police arrived that they found the eight months-pregnant Sharon. She was inside the house, covered in blood and with a rope tied round her neck. The rope led up over a beam and the other end was tied to Sebring. Outside the body of Steve Parent was found in his car. The young man had unfortunately chosen the wrong time to visit his friend, Tate and Polanskis handyman William Garretson. Three of the victims had been shot and all except Parent had been repeatedly stabbed.
Garretson was arrested almost immediately, as he had been on the property all along, but said he hadnt heard the screaming because he had his stereo on. The evidence at the site, including the word Pig scrawled in blood, eventually led them to issue warrants for the arrest of Charlie Manson and his so-called family of followers. Manson himself didnt commit the murders, instead sending out his devotees. These people believed Manson was the Messiah and that an Armageddon was coming where black people were going to rise up against whites, an event which Manson called Helter Skelter. Manson and his family were going to survive this holocaust by hiding in a golden city hidden under Death Valley.
No specific motive was ever discovered for the crime, though it could have been because the person who lived in the house before Tate and Polanski, Terry Melcher, had refused to record an album of Mansons music, although it is believed Charlie thought he could help start Helter Skelter with his actions. It is also believed Manson had a celebrity hit list including Elizabeth Taylor, Frank Sinatra and Steve McQueen. Manson and four of his followers were convicted of the crimes, and Charlie is still in prison, unlikely ever to be paroled.
Marilyn Monroe (born Norma Jean Mortensen)
Date of Death: 05/08/62
Age: 36
Interred: Westwood Memorial Park, Los Angeles, California
Cause of Death: Drug Overdose
Occupation: From humble beginnings, blonde bombshell Marilyn became one of the biggest screen icons Hollywood has ever produced.
Details: A large chunk of Monroes legend is based on her untimely death, but speculation has continued ever since into what actually happened that night. What is known is that she made several phone calls, including one to ratpacker Peter Lawford, in which she asked him to apologise on her behalf, because she was feeling too ill to go to an engagement they were both due to attend. A little after midnight, unable to get a response by knocking on the door, Marilyns assistant phoned the doctor. They broke a window to get in and found Monroe lying face down and naked on her bed. She was dead.
The official verdict was probable suicide, as an empty bottle of sleeping pills was found beside her bed and drugs were in her system. Others were keen to believe it was all a conspiracy. Even now there are those who think it all had something to do with the Kennedys. With Marilyn allegedly having had affairs with both John and Robert Kennedy, some speculated she had been killed to keep her quiet, possibly concerning an abortion shes alleged to have had. Despite the controversy and masses of conflicting theories that have appeared over the years, no charges were ever brought against anyone. Strangely, Monroe didnt leave the bulk of her estate to either her family or any of her numerous husbands and lovers, but to her acting coach Lee Strasberg.
Brandon Bruce Lee
Date of Death: 31/03/93
Age: 28
Interred: Lake View Cemetery, Seattle, Washington
Cause of Death: Gunshot Wounds
Occupation: The son of martial arts legend Bruce Lee was just beginning to have success of his own with action films like Rapid Fire and The Crow.
Details: When Bruce Lee was said to have died of an allergic reaction to painkillers, many people thought something funny was going on, with some claiming rival martial artists had silenced him because hed revealed too many of their secrets. His sons death was to raise almost as many questions. Brandon was working on The Crow, in which he starred as a murder victim who comes back to avenge his and his girlfriends death. About a week before shooting was due to be completed, Lee was working on a flashback scene where he was to walk through a door and pretend to get shot.
Everything seemed to be going well until Brandon didnt stand up again after the take and there appeared to be far more blood on him than there should have been. They soon realised that Lee had a small hole in his abdomen that was bleeding profusely. Brandon underwent five hours of surgery to try and repair the damage sustained, but it was too late and a few hours later he died. The autopsy showed that what had killed Lee was not faulty safety equipment as some had speculated, but a perfectly working live round of ammunition. Due to the strict and heavily enforced laws on gun use in films, no one has ever worked out where the bullet came from. Questions were also raised about the fact that the person who fired the gun was actually pointing it directly at Lee, something which is usually faked on set, specifically to prevent this sort of problem. In the end none of these questions were really answered and nobody was found culpable for Brandons death.
Phil Hartman (born Philip Edward Hartmann)
Date of Death: 28/05/98
Age: 49
Interred: Ashes scattered on Catalina Island, California, memorial at Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale, California
Cause of Death: Murder
Occupation: Hartman actually started off his screen career doing voices for the likes of Scooby Doo and The Smurfs, but later became a regular on Saturday Night Live, which propelled him into films as Coneheads and Small Soldiers. You might remember him for being the voice of Troy McClure and Lionel Hutz in The Simpsons.
Details: From the outside things seemed to be going well for Hartman, who had just finished a series of his TV show NewsRadio, but internally his marriage to Brynn was failing. Before theyd even met she had a desire to marry a famous comedian, but by the late 90s she was getting bored of being the non-famous part of the couple. Brynn became dependent on drink and drugs, and was getting both physically and verbally violent.
In late May 1998, they had a massive argument he railing against her drinking and she convinced he was having an affair. Despite this Hartman went to bed as usual, leaving Brynn to search the house for clues to his infidelity. Apparently convinced he was going to leave her and unwilling to let him do so, Brynn got a gun, crept into Phils bedroom and shot him three times, twice in the head and once in the side. Then, despite the fact that her and Phils children were still in the house, she drove to a friends house and confessed. She returned home before the police got there and barricaded herself in the bedroom with her husbands body. While the authorities tried to remove the terrified children from the property, Brynn took out another gun, lay down on the bed and shot herself.
Carole Lombard (born Jane Alice Peters)
Date of Death: 16/01/42
Age: 33
Interred: Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale, California
Cause of Death: The first major celebrity casualty of World War II didnt die in combat, but on the way back from a very successful tour selling War Bonds across the country. Travelling on a plane back to LA, Clark Gables wife, who was a huge star in her own right, was killed when the aircraft she was travelling in hit Mount Potosi, near Las Vegas in Nevada. It took two days for a rescue team to even reach the crash site. Her death shocked the world, and caused Gable, who felt responsible for her death, to sign up for the army and go to war.
Jayne Mansfield (born Vera Jayne Palmer)
Date of Death: 29/06/67
Age: 34
Interred: Fairview Cemetery, Plainfield, Pennsylvania
Cause of Death: While her movie career was fading, the queen of pink was still living the highlife. Travelling with her lover, a driver and three of her children, their Buick slammed into the back of a stopped car, shearing the roof off and throwing Mansfield into the highway. She, her lover and the driver were killed instantly, but her children escaped with minor injuries. Reports that she was scalped during the crash came from the fact that when she was thrown from the wreckage, her platinum blonde wig had landed on the dashboard (and was visible in crash photos). Incidentally, one of her children who was in the car at the time was Mariska Hargitay, who is now the star of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. All three kids escaped with minor injuries.
Vic Morrow
Date of Death: 23/07/82
Age: 53
Interred: Hillside Memorial Park, Culver City, California
Cause of Death: After an auspicious debut in Blackboard Jungle, Vic Morrows career had gone ok, but lasting fame came from his horrific death. While filming John Landis section of Twilight Zone: The Movie, Vic was involved in a stunt with two children. During the take, one of the special effects explosions caused a helicopter to spin out of control and crash, decapitating Morrow and killing the children he was with. This horrific event led Landis and four others to court, charged with involuntary manslaughter, but they were acquitted. It is probably the most horrific accident in filmmaking history and led to major changes in the safety precautions taken on Hollywood sets.
Sal Mineo (born Salvatore Mineo Jr)
Date of Death: 12/06/76
Age: 37
Interred: Cemetery of the Gate of Heaven, Valhalla, New York
Cause of Death: The diminutive star of Rebel Without a Cause and Giant was just getting his career back on track when he was stabbed through the heart outside his West Hollywood apartment block. He died shortly afterwards at the scene. Both police and newspapers couldnt figure out a motive for the crime, but a jealous lover or homophobic attack (Mineo was primarily gay) were both mooted. Two years later Lionel Ray Williams was convicted of the murder. His motive was apparently robbery, though Mineo still had his wallet with him after the attack. To this day Williams denies killing Mineo.
River Phoenix (born River Jude Bottom)
Date of Death: 31/10/93
Age: 23
Interred: Ashes scattered in Gainesville, Florida
Cause of Death: While partying with brother Joaquin, sister Rain and girlfriend Samantha Mathis at Johnny Depps Viper Room (Depp was performing there with the Red Hot Chili Peppers that night) on LAs Sunset Strip, Phoenix is believed to have taken an unusual form of heroin. He soon began to complain of feeling ill and was given a Valium. After vomiting, passing out and then being helped outside, Phoenix went into convulsions. It was Joaquin who phoned the police, but by that point River had slipped into a coma underneath a street sign and before he got to hospital, he was dead. The official cause of death was acute multiple drug induced heart failure. Marijuana, heroin, cocaine and Valium were found in his system.
Rock Hudson (born Roy Harold Scherer Jr)
Date of Death: 02/10/85
Age: 59
Interred: Ashes scattered in the Pacific.
Cause of Death: Like his Giant co-stars James Dean and Sal Mineo, Rock Hudson came to a less than happy end. He was the first high-profile victim of AIDS, before most people even knew what that was. The gay star had obsessively tried to hide his illness, though when he travelled to Paris for specialist attention, the press caught on. Despite trying to maintain his privacy, he was filmed arriving back in the States and the pictures broadcast the same day. Not long after, he passed away.
Lupe Velez (born Maria Guadalupe Velez de Villalobos)
Date of Death: 13/12/44
Age: 36
Interred: Pateon Delores Cemetery, Mexico City
Cause of Death: Velez demise is probably more famous for the legend that sprang from it than anything else. Like so many other minor Hollywood stars, she popped open a bottle of pills one night and swallowed the lot. The apocryphal story, as related by the likes of Kenneth Anger in his exposé Hollywood Babylon, is that the drugs reacted badly with her system and she threw most of them up, so there wasnt actually enough in her system to kill her. She then staggered to the toilet, and then either slipped on the tiling and broke her neck on the toilet bowl, or passed out while vomiting and drowned with her head down the bog. At least thats the legend. The rather more dull fact is that she was found in bed the next morning by her maid, stone cold dead.
Ramon Novarro
Date of Death: 30/10/68
Age: 69
Interred: Cavalry Cemetery, Los Angeles, California
Cause of Death: Once a legendary matinee idol of the silver screen, Novarro had continued to act until the late 1930s, when his film career more or less ended. Like other stars such as Montgomery Clift, he was also a terribly guilt ridden homosexual who found solace in drink. He was found one morning bound and beaten to death, with the message, Us girls are better than fagits [sic] written next to him. The girls part was a ruse, cooked up in a rush by two young brothers whod heard that Novarro had $5000 stashed in his house. After insinuating themselves into Navarros house with the promise of sex (Novarro had seen one of the boys before they were both street hustlers so didnt feel threatened), the siblings are then alleged to have beaten him up and tortured him for several hours to try and get him to reveal the location of the cash. He then died from the severe beating he received. The five grand wasnt even there, as the youngsters had received bad information.
Hollywood Necrology:
Fred Astaire Pneumonia
Lucille Ball Heart Attack
John Barrymore Alcoholism
John Belushi Heroin and Cocaine Overdose
Ingrid Bergman Complications From Breast Cancer
Clara Blandick (Aunt Em in The Wizard of Oz) Suicide
Humphrey Bogart Cancer
Clara Bow Heart Attack
Charles Boyer Suicide
John Candy Heart Attack
Montgomery Clift Heart Attack Caused by Drugs
Gary Cooper Lung Cancer
Bing Cosby Heart Attack
Dorothy Dandridge Suicide
Brad Davis Assisted Suicide While Dying of AIDS
Sammy Davis Jr Cancer
Marlene Dietrich Kidney Failure
Peg Entwhistle Threw Herself off the Hollywood Sign
Douglas Fairbanks Heart Attack
Chris Farley Drug Overdose
Richard Farnsworth Suicide While Dying From Cancer
W.C. Fields Stomach Haemorrhage and Cirrhosis of the Liver
Errol Flynn Heart Attack
Clark Gable Heart Attack
Greta Garbo Pneumonia
Ava Gardner Bronchial Pneumonia
Judy Garland Drug Overdose
John Gilbert Heart Attack
Lillian Gish Heart Failure at 99
D.W. Griffiths Cerebral Haemorrhage
Jean Harlow Kidney Disease
Rita Hayworth Alzheimers Disease
Audrey Hepburn Cancer
William Holden Fell Over and Cut His Head Open When Drunk
Buster Keaton Lung Cancer
Gene Kelly Complications After Two Strokes
Grace Kelly Car Crash
Carole Landis Suicide
Veronica Lake Hepatitis
Michael Landon Cancer
Mario Lanza Heart Attack
Heath Ledger Accidental Prescription Drug Overdose
Bruce Lee Brain Inflammation Caused by Allergic Reaction To Painkillers
Vivien Leigh Tuberculosis
Liberace AIDS
Bela Lugosi Heart Attack
Groucho Marx Pneumonia
Robert Mitchum Lung Cancer
Audie Murphy Plane Crash
Haing S. Ngor Shot to Death (incidentally the only Oscar winning actor ever to have been murdered)
Heather ORourke Cardiopulmonary Arrest
Anthony Perkins AIDS
Mary Pickford Stroke
Elvis Presley Cardiac Arrhythmia Exacerbated by Multiple Drug Use
Freddie Prinze Shot Himself
George Reeves Shot Himself (possibly murdered)
Ginger Rogers Heart Failure
Will Rogers Plane Crash
Tupac Shakur Shot to Death
Frank Sinatra Cancer and Heart Disease
Barbara Stanwyck Heart failure
Thelma Todd Carbon Monoxide Poisoning
Lana Turner Cancer
Rudolph Valentino Ruptured Appendix, Ulcer and Blood Poisoning
Johnny Weissmuller Stroke
Orson Welles Heart Attack
Mae West Stroke
Natalie Wood Drowned
Gig Young Shot his Wife and Then Himself
TIM ISAAC
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