“He was younger than me and he would teach me something every day.” This article contains references to mental health struggles, suicide, murder, addiction, and abuse. Here is the rest of our list of 59 famous people who died before the age of 40, starting with Sylvia Plath. Several months before filming began, she became ill and was misdiagnosed as having Crohn’s disease. Unfortunately, the misdiagnosis was not discovered until it was too late.
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James Dean was the original “rebel without a cause,” a rising star who lived life in the fast line. Besides acting in big screen productions, Dean also took up an auto racing career, coming in second in the Palm Springs Road Races and third in Bakersfield in 1955. On his way to another race on Sept. 30, 1955, Dean died in a head-on collision. The 22-year-old recording artist had just released her third studio album, Aaliyah, the month before, and had recently finished filming her scenes for her first starring role in the horror film Queen of the Damned, which was released six months after her death. The actress, who rose to fame in Clueless and had memorable turns in films like 8 Mile, Riding in Cars With Boys, Just Married, Uptown Girls and Girl, Interrupted, died at age 32 in December 2009. Her death was ruled accidental, with the Los Angeles County coroner saying at the time that it was caused by a combination of pneumonia, an iron deficiency and intoxication of multiple drugs.
Stars Who Died Young
In 2005, Renfro was arrested for attempting to purchase heroin from an undercover police officer in Los Angeles. On January 15, 2008, the 25-year-old sadly died of a heroin actors who died young overdose. Paul Walker broke onto the Hollywood scene during the teen movie craze of the late 90s and early 2000s, starring in films like Varsity Blues, The Skulls and She’s All That. He gained international fame when he starred in The Fast and the Furious, in which he reprised his role as Brian O’Conner in five of the six subsequent installments.
Jonathan Brandis, 27
- My all-time favourite, Bob Peck feature image is one of those immensely talented actors who never gave a dud performance.
- He earned his first Academy Award nomination (for “Running on Empty”) at 18 and became critically acclaimed at 21 for his performance in “My Own Private Idaho” alongside Keanu Reeves.
- When he didn’t show up, the group came to his home and found him dead in the early morning.
- They’re often precocious and talented way beyond their years, but here’s the thing — Hollywood doesn’t have a reputation as being a very kind place, and putting an inexperienced, naive young person in that kind of environment is just asking for trouble.
- He remained busy, appearing in many productions, but his progression was hampered by Hendry’s well-earned reputation for heavy drinking.
- He died at age 27, leaving behind wife Courtney Love and daughter Frances Bean Cobain.
Nick shared a post on Instagram after Aaron’s death, writing, “My heart is broken. Even though my brother and I have had a complicated relationship, my love for him has never ever faded.” When celebrities with a special place in our hearts have their lives unexpectedly cut short, the grief we feel can often take us by surprise. Around the time of the release of The Blues Brothers, Belushi’s drug addiction started to escalate. On March 5, 1982, Belushi overdosed on cocaine and heroin in his L.A. In 2004, Belushi was posthumously honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. His 1994 album “Ready to Die” came at a time when the East Coast/West Coast rap rivalry was going strong, and according to Rolling Stone, Biggie shifted the focus back to New York.
A disturbing number of “Our Gang” cast members met tragic, premature ends. Much like the “Poltergeist” franchise, people believed the show was cursed, as other series alumni like Carl Switzer and Scotty Beckett what is alcoholism also died at an early age. After a dispute over a hunting dog that ran away during an expedition in 1959, Switzer and a friend went to the dog owner’s house to confront him about a fee he felt he was owed. An altercation arose, and while stories from witnesses and the parties involved were conflicted, Switzer was shot and killed at age 32. However, according to her friends, the star had begun hanging out with a dangerous crowd; others alleged she was dating a man who was a suspected gang member and 10 years her senior, per Los Angeles Times.
John Belushi (1949 –
She found early fame with her successful singles, 2013’s “Selfie” and 2014’s “Glen Coco.” Her untimely death came just four months after the release of her most recent EP, In Case I Die First. Just hours before he was scheduled to perform with his band at a sold-out concert, the Sublime lead singer was found dead on May 25, 1996, of a heroin overdose in a hotel room in San Francisco. Nowell had been married to wife Troy den Dekker for just seven days and left behind an 11-month-old son, Jakob. His death also came two months before the release of Sublime, the album that officially brought fame to the reggae-ska outfit out of Long Beach, California. The reality show was a raw, unflinching look at child stardom, and in one episode Haim revealed that the Coreys had both been abused as children. She considered that her favorite role into her teenage years, when she told The Write Stuff that the cast felt like a family thanks to the film’s long shooting schedule.