We are remembering 15 classic hollywood actors who tragically died way too young. It’s so sad to see a life ended too soon, a career that could have been, but tragically cut short.
1/ KARYN KUPCINET , 22
(1941-1963)
Age : 22 years old.
Cause Of Death : Murder.
Kupcinet had a brief acting career during the early 1960s, known for The Little Shop of Horrors (1960), The Gertrude Berg Show (1961) and G.E. True (1962).
Six days after the assassination of Joh F.Kennedy, her body was found at her home in West Hollywood (she was found nude lying on the couch).
Coroner concluded that due to the fracture of the hyoid bone in Kupcinet’s throat, she had been strangled.
Her death was officially ruled a homicide (still unsolved).
2/ JAMES DEAN, 24
(1931-1955)
Age : 24 years old.
Cause of death : car accident.
James Dean redefined what it meant to be ‘cool’ on screen. He is remembered as a cultural icon of teenage disillusionment and social estrangement.
As expressed in the title of his most celebrated film, Rebel Without a Cause (in 1955), in which he starred as troubled teenager Jim Stark.
Dean died in a car accident on September 30, 1955, in California, when it was involved in a head-on collision with another car.
3/ PEG ENTWISTLE, 24
(1908 – 1932)
Age : 24 years old.
Cause of death : sui**cide.
Peg Entwistle was a British stage and screen actress who found success working on Broadway in New York. But the one film she acted in, Thirteen Women, wasn’t released until after her death.
Entwistle gained notoriety after she jumped to her death from the “H” on the Hollywoodland sign in September 1932.
She left a sui**cide note in her purse which read :
I am afraid, I am a coward. I am sorry for everything. If I had done this a long time ago, it would have saved a lot of pain.
The cause of death was listed by the coroner as “multiple fractures of the pelvis.”
4/ OLIVE THOMAS , 25
(1894-1920)
Age : 25 years old.
Cause of death : Poisoning.
The silent-film actress, art model, and photo model. She went on to star in more than twenty films over the course of her four-year film career.
In September of 1920, thomas and her husband actor Jack Pickford traveled to Paris for a second honeymoon.
After a night spent partying at the bistros in the Montparnasse Quarter, they returned to the Hotel tired and intoxicated.
Thomas entered the bathroom, and accidentally ingested the mercury bichloride which was prescribed to her husband for syphillis.
The label on the bottle was in French, and she may have mistook the medicine for something else in her compromised state.
After drinking the liquid she screamed, “Oh, my God!” and Pickford rushed to assist her. She was taken to the Hospital where she died five days later, her death was ruled accidental.
5/ SHARON TATE, 26
(1943-1969)
Age : 26 years old.
Cause of death : murder.
During her prime, the 26-year-old was a burgeoning star in the industry, Sadly, all of the promise was for naught in the end.
The American actress was one of serial killer and cult leader Charles Manson’s victims.
On August 9, 1969, Tate was found dead in the home she shared with husband director Roman Polanski.
she was eight-and-a-half months pregnant and was murdered alongside four other friends.
The three main people who actually committed the Tate murders, Susan Atkins, Patricia Krenwinkel, and Tex Watson, were all sentenced to death.(none of them were executed).
Manson spent 40 years in prison before his death in 2017.
6/ JEAN HARLOW , 26
(1911-1937)
Age : 26
Cause of death : Kidney Failure.
Jean Harlow was Known for her portrayal of “bad girl” characters, she was the leading sex symbol of the early 1930s and one of the defining figures of the pre-Code era of American cinema.
A number of somewhat bizarre and physical ailments had sidelined Harlow from acting. Unfortunately, her condition got worse due to several misdiagnosis which led to her passing in 1937.
In the doctor’s press releases, the cause of death was given as cerebral edema, a complication of kidney failure.
7/ THELMA TODD , 29
(1906-1935)
Age : 29 Years Old.
Cause of death : Poisoning.
Silent film star Thelma Todd—nicknamed “Hot Toddy” and “The Ice Cream Blonde”—appeared in about 120 feature films and shorts throughout her nine-year career.
Slapstick comedy was her forte, as she often starred alongside Wheeler and Woolsey, Laurel and Hardy, and the Marx Brothers.
Todd owned a restaurant with her lover film director Roland West and his wife Jewel Carmen, called Sidewalk Café in Los Angeles, California. The three of them also lived in the same duplex above the restaurant.
On the morning of December 16th, 1935, Todd was found dead in her car, parked in West’s garage. The garage was closed and the car was running. She had a broken nose, two cracked ribs, and bruises around her throat.
The coroner determined Todd died of carbon monoxide poisoning. And the case was declared as “accidental with possible suicide tendencies”.
No charges have ever been laid regarding Todd’s 1935 death.
8/ CAROLE LANDIS , 29
(1919-1948)
Age : 29 Years Old.
cause of death : Sui**cide.
Actress and singer Carole Landis was known as “The Ping Girl” and “The Chest” because of her curvy figure. Her breakout role was as the female lead in the 1940 film One Million B.C. from United Artists.
Landis began a relationship with actor Rex Harrison, who was then married to actress Lilli Palmer. And The affair became an open secret in Hollywood.
Landis was reportedly crushed when Harrison refused to divorce his wife for her; unable to cope any longer, she committed sui**cide in her home by taking an overdose of Seconal.
Harrison was the last person to see her alive, having had dinner with her the night before she died.
According to some sources, Landis left two sui**cide notes, one for her mother and the second for Harrison, who instructed his lawyers to destroy it.
9/ VIRGINIA RAPPE, 30
(1891 – 1921)
Age : 30.
Cause of death : ruptured bladder.
Model and silent film star Virginia Rappe died in 1921, after attending a party with actor Roscoe ‘Fatty’ Arbuckle.
The 26-year-old was invited to the party at the St Francis Hotel in San Francisco, when she suffered a “trauma” and was taken to hospital.
Four days later, Rappe died from a ruptured bladder and secondary peritonitis.
Witnesses at the party claimed Rappe was subject to a violent assault by Arbuckle, while others claim the actress died from complications associated with a venereal disease.
After three manslaughter trials, Arbuckle was acquitted in 1922 of Rappe’s murder.
10/ CAROLE LOMBARD, 33
(1908-1942)
Age : 33 Years Old.
Cause of death : Plane Crash.
Actress Carole Lombard was particularly noted for her energetic, often off-beat roles in screwball comedies.
In the early morning hours of January 16, 1942, Lombard, her mother and Winkler boarded a plane to return to California from Indiana.
The plane crashed in las vegas and All 22 aboard, including Lombard, her mother, and 15 U.S. Army soldiers, were killed instantly.
11/ JAYNE MANSFIELD , 34
(1933-1967)
Age : 34 Years Old.
Cause of death : Car Crash.
One of the leading sex symbols of the 1950s and 1960s, She was the first major American actress to appear nude in a motion picture.
In 1967, Mansfield was involved in a deadly car crash. Her three young children in the back seat survived with minor injuries.
One of those kids turned out to be actress Mariska Hargitay.
12/ MARILYN MONROE , 36
(1926-1962)
Age : 36 years old.
Cause of death : Drug Overdose.
Marilyn Monroe remains as one of the biggest sex symbols over the last 100 years. She was a top-billed actress for a decade, and her films grossed $200 million by the time of her death in 1962.
Her interests also included being involved in high-profile relationships (Joe DiMaggio, Arthur Miller, John F. Kennedy).
On August 4, 1962, Marilyn Monroe died in her Brentwood home due to a drug overdose.
Her housekeeper and psychiatrist discovered Monroe naked in bed with an empty bottle of sleeping pills nearby.
13/ LUPE VELEZ, 36
(1908- 1944)
Age : 36 years old.
Cause of death : sui**cide.
The Mexican-born actress was pregnant when she committed sui**cide in 1944, by downing sleeping pills and brandy.
In her sui**cide note adressed to her then married lover Harald Ramond , she said she would rather die with her baby than suffer the shame of raising him as an illegitimate child.
14/ SAL MINEO , 37
(1939-1976)
Age : 37 years old.
Cause of death : murder.
Actor Salvatore Mineo Jr. was best known for his role as John “Plato” Crawford in the drama film Rebel Without a Cause (1955), which earned him a nomination for the Academy award for best supporting actor at age 17.
After parking his car in the carport below his West Hollywood apartment, he was stabbed in the heart by a mugger. He died immediately.
Lionel Ray Williams, a young pizza delivery man with a long criminal record, was convicted and sentenced to 57 years in prison for killing Mineo.
Williams was paroled in 1990 after serving 12 years.
15/ BARBARA PAYTON , 39
(1927-1967)
Age : 39 years old.
Cause of death : Heart Failure.
