most shocking celebrity deaths 1999-2014
by carpet_crawler | created - 21 Oct 2014 | updated - 19 Mar 2018 | Publicin no particular order.
mostly actors, some directors, musicians, comedians and other entertainment personalities - who passed away in surprising, sudden or unexpected circumstances.
**notes**
- to all those asking about not including Paul Walker, no disrespect to the man but i simply haven't heard of him before his death (never seen any of the FURIOUS movies).
- others that are absent from this list is either because their deaths were sadly somewhat expected or i did not follow their careers as closely. but you might find them in my http://www.imdb.com/list/ls071950592/"i remember when they died
- for others i might add... read the specified years in the title more closely perhaps.
1. Robin Williams
Actor | Mrs. Doubtfire
Robin McLaurin Williams was born on Saturday, July 21st, 1951, in Chicago, Illinois, a great-great-grandson of Mississippi Governor and Senator, Anselm J. McLaurin. His mother, Laurie McLaurin (née Janin), was a former model from Mississippi, and his father, Robert Fitzgerald Williams, was a Ford ...
died august 11th 2014 of suicide by hanging. aged 63.
2. Philip Seymour Hoffman
Actor | The Master
Film and stage actor and theater director Philip Seymour Hoffman was born in the Rochester, New York, suburb of Fairport to Marilyn (Loucks), a lawyer and judge, and Gordon Stowell Hoffman, a Xerox employee, and was mostly of German, Irish, English and Dutch ancestry. After becoming involved in ...
died february 2nd 2014 of Acute mixed drug intoxication. aged 46.
3. Bob Hoskins
Actor | The Long Good Friday
Bob Hoskins was described by the director John Mackenzie as "an actor from the British tradition but with an almost American approach, an instinctive approach to acting and knowing how to work with the camera". He was born on October 26, 1942, in Bury St. Edmund's, Suffolk, where his mother was ...
died april 29th 2014 of pneumonia. aged 71.
4. Heath Ledger
Actor | Brokeback Mountain
When hunky, twenty-year-old heart-throb Heath Ledger first came to the attention of the public in 1999, it was all too easy to tag him as a "pretty boy" and an actor of little depth. He spent several years trying desperately to sway this image, but this was a double-edged sword. His work comprised ...
died january 22nd 2008 of Cardiac arrest brought on by prescription drug intoxication. aged 28.
5. Lisa Robin Kelly
Actress | That '70s Show
She first made her acting debut at age 21 in a 1992 episode of Married... with Children (1987), and went on to guest-star in many popular television shows, such as Murphy Brown (1988), The X-Files (1993), Sisters (1991), and Silk Stalkings (1991), and appeared in many obscure, straight-to-video/TV ...
died august 15th 2013 of accidental multiple drug intoxication. aged 43.
6. Greg Giraldo
Actor | Common Law
Greg Giraldo was born on December 10, 1965 in Bronx, New York City, New York, USA. He was a writer and actor, known for Common Law (1996), Z Rock (2008) and Greg Giraldo: Midlife Vices (2009). He was married to MaryAnne McAlpin-Giraldo. He died on September 29, 2010 in New Brunswick, New Jersey, ...
died september 29th 2010 of accidental prescription medication overdose. aged 44.
7. James Gandolfini
Actor | The Sopranos
James Gandolfini was born in Westwood, New Jersey, to Santa (Penna), a high school lunchlady, and James Joseph Gandolfini, Sr., a bricklayer and head school janitor. His parents were both of Italian origin. Gandolfini began acting in the New York theater. His Broadway debut was in the 1992 revival ...
died june 19th 2013 of a heart attack. aged 51.
8. John Ritter
Actor | Sling Blade
Jonathan Southworth Ritter was born in Burbank, California, on September 17, 1948. He was the son of legendary country singer/actor Tex Ritter (born Woodward Maurice Ritter) and his wife, actress Dorothy Fay (née Dorothy Fay Southworth). The couple married in 1941 and had their first child, Tom ...
died september 11th 2003 of aortic dissection. aged 54.
9. Bruno Kirby
Actor | City Slickers
Native New Yorker and Italianate Bruno Kirby tended towards assertive, pushy, streetwise characters and was armed with a highly distinctive scratchy tenor voice that complemented his slim eyes and droopy puss and accentuated his deadpan comedic instincts on film and TV. The well-regarded character ...
died agugust 14th 2006 of leukemia. aged 57.
10. Brittany Murphy
Actress | Clueless
Brittany Murphy was born Brittany Anne Bertolotti on November 10, 1977 in Atlanta, Georgia, to Sharon Kathleen Murphy and Angelo Joseph Bertolotti. Her father's ancestry is Italian, and her mother is of Irish and Slovak descent. Her father moved the family back to Edison, New Jersey as a native New...
died december 20th 2009 of cardiac arrest, Pneumonia and anemia. aged 32.
11. Whitney Houston
Soundtrack | The Bodyguard
Whitney Elizabeth Houston was born into a musical family on 9 August 1963, in Newark, New Jersey, the daughter of gospel star Cissy Houston (née Emily Lee Drinkard) and John Russell Houston, Jr., and cousin of singing star Dionne Warwick.
She began singing in the choir at her church, The New Hope ...
died february 9th 2012 of drowning due to drug intoxication. aged 48.
12. Tony Scott
Producer | Domino
Tony Scott was a British-born film director and producer. He was the youngest of three brothers, one of whom is fellow film director Ridley Scott. He was born in North Shields, Northumberland, England to parents Jean and Colonel Francis Percy Scott. As a result of his father's career in the British...
died august 19th 2012 of suicide by jumping off the Vincent Thomas Bridge in LA. aged 68.
13. Gary Coleman
Actor | Diff'rent Strokes
Without a doubt Gary Coleman was THE child TV star of the late 1970s and early 1980s. A refreshingly confident little tyke with sparkling dark, saucer-like eyes and an ingratiating, take-on-anyone burst of personality, the boy charmed the pants right off of TV viewers the minute he was glimpsed in ...
died may 28th 2010 of epidural hemorrhage resulted by a seizure. aged 42.
14. Michael Jackson
Soundtrack | Michael Jackson: Thriller
Michael Joseph Jackson was born on August 29, 1958 in Gary, Indiana, and entertained audiences nearly his entire life. His father, Joe Jackson (no relation to Joe Jackson, also a musician), had been a guitarist, but was forced to give up his musical ambitions following his marriage to Michael's ...
died june 25th 2009 of Cardiac arrest induced by fatal accidental drug intoxication. aged 50.
15. Anna Nicole Smith
Actress | Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult
Anna Nicole Smith was born on November 28, 1967 in Houston, Texas, USA. She was an actress and producer, known for Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult (1994), Be Cool (2005) and Illegal Aliens (2007). She was married to J. Howard Marshall II and Billy Smith. She died on February 8, 2007 in Hollywood...
died february 8th 2007 of a Drug overdose. aged 39.
16. John Hughes
Writer | Planes, Trains & Automobiles
John Hughes was an American film director, film producer, and screenwriter. He was credited for creating some of the most memorable comedy films of the 1980s and the 1990s, when he was at the height of his career. He had a talent for writing coming-of-age stories, and for depicting fairly realistic...
died august 6th 2009 of a heart attack. aged 59.
17. Bernie Mac
Actor | The Bernie Mac Show
Bernard Jeffrey McCollough was born in 1957 in Chicago, the son of Mary McCullough and Jeffery Harrison. He grew up in the city, in a rougher neighborhood than most others, with a large family living under one roof. This situation provided him with a great insight into his comedy, as his family, ...
died august 9th 2008 of cardiac arrest while being treated for Sarcoidosis. aged 50.
18. Chris Penn
Actor | Reservoir Dogs
Christopher Shannon Penn was born on October 10, 1965 in Los Angeles, California, the third son of actress Eileen Ryan (née Annucci) and director, actor, and writer Leo Penn. His siblings are musician Michael Penn and actor Sean Penn. His father was from a Lithuanian Jewish/Russian Jewish family, ...
died january 24th 2006 of Drug Related Cardiomyopathy and possible enlarged heart. aged 40.
19. Stanley Kubrick
Director | 2001: A Space Odyssey
Stanley Kubrick was born in Manhattan, New York City, to Sadie Gertrude (Perveler) and Jacob Leonard Kubrick, a physician. His family were Jewish immigrants (from Austria, Romania, and Russia). Stanley was considered intelligent, despite poor grades at school. Hoping that a change of scenery would ...
died march 7th 1999 of a heart attack in his sleep. aged 70.
20. Maurice Gibb
Soundtrack | Saturday Night Fever
Maurice Gibb was born on December 22, 1949 in Douglas, Isle of Man, UK. He was an actor and composer, known for Saturday Night Fever (1977), Ready Player One (2018) and Virtuosity (1995). He was married to Yvonne Gibb and Lulu. He died on January 12, 2003 in Miami Beach, Florida, USA.
died january 12th 2003 of complications of a twisted intestine. aged 53.
21. Michael Johns
Soundtrack | The Vampire Diaries
Michael Johns was born on October 20, 1978 in Perth, Western Australia, Australia. He was an actor and composer, known for The Vampire Diaries (2009), I Am (2010) and Ithuteng (Never Stop Learning) (2005). He was married to Stacey Vuduris. He died on August 1, 2014 in Tustin, California, USA.
died august 1st 2014 of dilated cardiomyopathy. aged 35.
22. Anthony Minghella
Writer | The Talented Mr. Ripley
Anthony Minghella was the son of immigrants from Italy, who own an ice-cream factory on the Isle of Wight, where Anthony was born on January 6, 1954. He and his two siblings, Edana Minghella and Dominic Minghella, grew up there, a popular British holiday spot. After graduating from the University of...
died march 18th 2008 of Haemorrhage. aged 54.
23. Ted Demme
Director | Blow
Ted Demme was born on October 26, 1963 in New York City, New York, USA. He was a director and producer, known for Blow (2001), Beautiful Girls (1996) and A Decade Under the Influence (2003). He was married to Amanda Scheer-Demme. He died on January 13, 2002 in Santa Monica, California, USA.
died january 13th 2002 of a possible drug-related heart attack. aged 38.
24. Scott Kalvert
Director | The Basketball Diaries
Scott Kalvert was born on August 15, 1964 in New York City, New York, USA. He was a director and producer, known for The Basketball Diaries (1995), DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince: Parents Just Don't Understand (1988) and Deuces Wild (2002). He was married to Sonia Kalvert. He died on March 5,...
died march 5th 2014 of an apparent suicide. aged 49.
25. John Spencer
Actor | The West Wing
John Spencer was born John Speshock III in Paterson, New Jersey, the only son of Mildred (Benzeroski), a homemaker and occasional waitress, and John Speshock, a truck driver. He grew up near Paterson, New Jersey, and left at age 16 to attend the Professional Children's School. In 1963, he landed a ...
died december 16th 2005 of a heart attack. aged 58.
26. David Carradine
Actor | Kill Bill: Vol. 2
David Carradine was born in Hollywood, California, the eldest son of legendary character actor John Carradine, and his wife, Ardanelle Abigail (McCool). He was a member of an acting family that included brothers Keith Carradine and Robert Carradine as well as his daughters Calista Carradine and ...
died june 3rd 2009 of accidental Asphyxiation. aged 72.
27. Isaac Hayes
Actor | Escape from New York
Isaac Hayes, the second-born child of Eula and Isaac Hayes Sr., was raised by his grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Willie Wade Sr. The child of a poor family, he grew up picking cotton in Covington, Tennessee. He dropped out of high school, but later his former high-school teachers to get his diploma, ...
died august 10th 2008 of a stroke. aged 65.
28. Michael Clarke Duncan
Actor | The Green Mile
Michael Clarke Duncan was born on December 10, 1957 in Chicago, Illinois. Raised on Chicago's South Side by his single mother, Jean, a house cleaner, Duncan grew up resisting drugs and alcohol, instead concentrating on school. He wanted to play football in high school, but his mother wouldn't let ...
died september 3rd 2012 of complications of a heart attack. aged 54.
29. David Strickland
Actor | Suddenly Susan
David Strickland was born in Glen Cove, Long Island, New York, on October 14, 1969. Raised in Princeton, New Jersey, he never thought about an acting career until moving to the LA suburb of Pacific Palisades while in high school. Instead of going to college, he joined a theater company and began ...
died march 22nd 1999 of suicide by hanging. aged 29.
30. James Avery
Actor | Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Although known as the uncle/patriarch and judge "Philip Banks" on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (1990), James Avery was a classically trained actor and scholar. A native of Atlantic City, New Jersey, USA, he joined the US Navy after graduating high school and served in Vietnam from 1968 to 1969. Upon...
died december 31st 2013 of complications from open heart surgery. aged 68.
31. Ryan Dunn
Writer | Jackass 3D
Ryan Dunn (June 11, 1977 - June 20, 2011) was an American reality television personality, actor and stunt man. He was a member of the Jackass and Viva La Bam crew.
Ryan Matthew Dunn was born in Medina, Ohio, to Linda Sue (Reese) and Ronald James Dunn. He came to prominence as a member of the CKY ...
died june 20th 2011 of a car crash. aged 34.
32. David Dukes
Actor | Gods and Monsters
David Dukes was born on June 6, 1945 in San Francisco, California, USA. He was an actor, known for Gods and Monsters (1998), Rawhead Rex (1986) and A Little Romance (1979). He was married to Carol Muske-Dukes and Carolyn Lee McKenzie. He died on October 9, 2000 in Lakewood, Washington, USA.
died october 9th 2000 of a heart attack. aged 55.
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