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Famous people whose deaths affected you

#1

ZenMonkey

ZenMonkey

Inevitably in a thread about some celebrity's death, someone will chime in with "I never knew him, so I don't care." Nothing wrong with that point of view, although I could live without those posts.

But sometimes there are people you only know from their professional work, yet when they die, you feel a personal loss. With all the high-profile deaths lately, few of which have affected me much except for one (which doesn't count because I had a minor personal connection), I've been thinking about people I never knew, but whose deaths affected me emotionally. Here's a few off the top of my head.

Mel Blanc. The reason I have little nostalgia for '80s cartoons like most of my generation is that I was a Looney Toons snob. When Mel Blanc died I just couldn't believe that incredible voice would never be heard from again. I was 16 when he died and I cried when I saw this in a magazine shortly afterward:



Ella Fitzgerald. Again, someone I mainly knew through her voice, although of course I'd seen footage of her. In college I formed a really strong connection with her music, and my thesis script was even called "Ella Sings Mood Indigo." She had been in very poor health because of diabetes, but her death when I was living in San Francisco still shocked me. The New York Times obituary my mother sent me had a Hirschfeld drawing, which I think was this one, but in any case it also got me crying.



Jerry Goldsmith and Elmer Bernstein. We lost these two giants of film composition within a month of each other in 2004 and it really got to me. When I see a movie one of them has scored, I often think about it. I know, this is even more pretentious than the other two; sorry, film music is among my geeky obsessions.

Hmm, I guess all of these have to do with music and sound.


#2



Tiq

Oliver Postgate. :(


Why? Well... charlie brooker explains so much better than I could.



#3

Charlie Don't Surf

The Lovely Boehner

My roommate has a big framed version of that Speechless image. :tear:

This past July 4th Steve McNair hit me a little hard. When I was a kid and first getting into football, he was my favorite player and hero and always seemed like the greatest guy. So it was a little bit of a double whammy of him cheating on his wife and kids AND getting shot in the face. I know now that he wasn't the greatest guy, but fuck.


#4

North_Ranger

North_Ranger

Admittedly... Princess Diana. I don't know how big she was at your side of the puddle, but here in Europe news about royalty is big. And compared to the stuffy princes and princesses of other royal families... well, Diana Spencer was something different.

I'm certain there's more, but I just can't think of one right now.


#5

Bellygrub

Bellygrub

Jim Henson. I was 12 when he died but he was my idol. I wanted to be a Muppetteer like other kids wanted to go to the Moon or play Pro Football. I was depressed for about a week. I can still remember my Mom getting angry at my "moping" around the house for no reason.


#6

Vytamindi

Vytamindi

George Harrison I had received "One" for Christmas my freshman year of high school. Man, I loved that CD. It wasn't my first exposure to the Beatles, but for some reason it clicked.

The next couple of years I developed a HUGE crush on George Harrison. I got my dad's 12 string and tried to hack out some chords, failing, but trying any way as well as falling in love with music and its composition.

Then, my senior year, he died. Mom told me to come watch the news one morning before school and I tried so hard not to cry. It was the first celebrity who I really felt made a difference in my life, and knowing that he would never know that, knowing that I could never tell him thank you for how he made me love music... that just killed me.

Now, when Paul McCartney dies, I will be a freaking wreck.


#7

Cajungal

Cajungal

Ella Fitzgerald and Shirley Horn. I still well up when I hear/sing this song dedicated to her (shirley):



#8

North_Ranger

North_Ranger

Pertti "Spede" Pasanen, a Finnish comedian and actor, whose prolific film and TV appearances meant that just about anyone born between 1970 and 1990 would grow up knowing who he was.





#9

Cajungal

Cajungal

Heheh, that's funny. Hard to beat smooshing desserts in people's faces.


#10



ThatNickGuy

Owen Hart: Not only one of the most entertaining wrestlers, but from all the stories I'd heard about him before and especially after his death, one of the nicest guys in the dirtiest business. And then he got killed doing a stupid gimmicky stunt. Wrestling was never the same for me, after that, and I started preferring just seeing classic wrestling bouts between two guys instead of silly gimmicks like coming down on a wire and such. Not personality gimmicks, because those sell and are still great.

Chris Benoit: And this is pretty much what did it for me as far as losing most of my interest in wrestling. At the time, Benoit was definitely one of my favourite wrestlers. He was Canadian, he wrestled for the sake of pure wrestling, and pound for pound, probably one of the most talented guys in the business with a flawless style. He was everything that was great and pure in the business.

And then he killed his wife, his 7 year old son and himself.

I remember walking around in a daze for weeks, trying to understand it. Hell, I still don't understand. Here's one of my favourite wrestlers and even now, two years later, I still can't sit down and enjoy his work because all I think about is that he killed an innocent woman and a 7 year old boy.

I can still enjoy a lot of the older wrestling, the stuff I grew up on, but still can't to this day watch a Benoit match.


#11

North_Ranger

North_Ranger

Cajungal said:
Heheh, that's funny. Hard to beat smooshing desserts in people's faces.
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I'd show you more, but they're all in Finnish. Particularly I would have loved to show you a bit from a movie where Spede's character (a sardonic comic relief of a grease-monkey) sets up an organisation for world peace. He'll expand it one person at a time, and if someone won't join, he'll PUNCH THEM IN THE FACE and then ask again.


#12



Andromache

I had a drink on Carlin's behalf.


#13

Cajungal

Cajungal

That's one that hit my brother hard. He was depressed for a while when that happened.


#14



Andromache

every time I want to get sad at carlin's death, I picture him down there, screaming up at us, and I can't help but laugh.



#15

Charlie Don't Surf

The Lovely Boehner

ThatNickGuy said:
Owen Hart: Not only one of the most entertaining wrestlers, but from all the stories I'd heard about him before and especially after his death, one of the nicest guys in the dirtiest business. And then he got killed doing a stupid gimmicky stunt. Wrestling was never the same for me, after that, and I started preferring just seeing classic wrestling bouts between two guys instead of silly gimmicks like coming down on a wire and such. Not personality gimmicks, because those sell and are still great.

Chris Benoit: And this is pretty much what did it for me as far as losing most of my interest in wrestling. At the time, Benoit was definitely one of my favourite wrestlers. He was Canadian, he wrestled for the sake of pure wrestling, and pound for pound, probably one of the most talented guys in the business with a flawless style. He was everything that was great and pure in the business.

And then he killed his wife, his 7 year old son and himself.

I remember walking around in a daze for weeks, trying to understand it. Hell, I still don't understand. Here's one of my favourite wrestlers and even now, two years later, I still can't sit down and enjoy his work because all I think about is that he killed an innocent woman and a 7 year old boy.

I can still enjoy a lot of the older wrestling, the stuff I grew up on, but still can't to this day watch a Benoit match.
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Oof. I forgot the wrestling ones. When TNA was based in Nashville(and I lived in Nashville), I went every week. The promotion was small, so they did a few official meet and greet things where the wrestlers just milled around with the crowd hanging out and talking after the show. And a few unofficial ones before and after too. So nearly everyone that ever went through the promotion I talked to, shook hands, blabbered some form of "you're awesome!" to.

And then there was the stretch of time where people in TNA seemed to die every few months. Mad Mikey/Crash Holly, Malice/The Wall, Curt Hennig, I feel terrible but I think I'm forgetting maybe one or two. It was horrible, and they were all under 40(maybe not Hennig). The wrestling business is really brutal for your favorite guys dying suddenly.


#16



meyoumeyou

ThatNickGuy said:
Owen Hart:
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I seriously became ten times the Owen Hart fan, post-death, after reading Mick Foley's first book. From him being a generally good guy, to the hilarious antics, it felt like something of a waste to only know about it after the fact.


#17



Wasabi Poptart



Jacques Cousteau - When I heard of his death I actually sat down and cried. I used to watch his documentaries on TV like most kids would watch special holiday cartoons. You couldn't pry me away from the TV when he was on. I already loved the ocean as a kid, but he was a big reason why I wanted to study marine biology. He made me realize that there is a lot about our own planet that we don't know. Plus, scuba diving would not be what it is today if it wasn't for him.


#18

ElJuski

ElJuski

Well obviously Vonnegut, until I realized the dude was one guy who would not want one fuckafuck mourning about him anyway.


#19



JCM

Many, with the most recent one being Heath Ledger.... I once experimented with drugs, but it was seeing talent hitting its peak die out what made me decide not to touch drugs again.

Also Steve Irwin, for the sheer irony of it.


#20

Math242

Math242

Freddie Mercury hit me really hard even tho everyone older knew it was coming

i was 12 in 1991 and my mom had just introduced me to Queen,

every time i listened to the show must go on, i was sad.

Marie Trintignant was also a shock because she was killed by one of my favourite artists, Bertrand Cantat.

Fuck yeah, i forgot about Heath Ledger, i was very very upset


#21

Covar

Covar

Christopher Reeves.

Nothing like loosing someone I knew, but the man was my first exposure to Superman, and will pretty much always be Superman in my head.


#22

Cajungal

Cajungal

^Me too (about Heath Ledger), because, besides the obvious sadness over someone so young leaving loved ones and a little daughter behind, I thought he was really going to go places.


#23



Lally

There are a couple here that have already been mentioned that had a little personal impact on me (Heath Ledger, for one, since he was one of my teenage celebrity crushes and once I was an adult I appreciated him for beauty AND talent, and Freddie Mercury, even though I was only 7 when he died my parents were big fans of Queen and I grew up listening to their music... I wouldn't say it necessarily affected me emotionally at the time but it did later and still does to an extent). I remember being really torn up over Dale Earnhardt's death because my dad was (and still is) a HUGE fan and we watched the accident happen that killed him, and my dad was pretty bummed about it (no crying, but he was pretty bummed). I am by no means a NASCAR fan, but Dale Earnhardt was a very cool guy.

The celebrity death that has had the most impact on me, though, was LeRoi Moore, the saxophonist for Dave Matthews Band, who died last summer from complications from an ATV accident. Usually I save my slobbering fangirl antics for other outlets (like Twitter), but I am seriously and very shamefully a huge nut for that band, and LeRoi was an amazing musician. It wasn't bad enough that he died, but he died almost three years to the day after my sixteen year old cousin, who was like a little brother to me and actually lived with my family for a while, died from eerily similar injuries from an ATV accident. Even thinking about it makes me emotional. This August, I went to a Dave Matthews Band concert at the last venue LeRoi ever performed at, which happened to occur on the fourth anniversary of my cousin's death. The band acknowledged that that venue was special to them because it was the last place they all played together, and they played songs in tribute to LeRoi all night. It was a really chilling and beautiful time, and I am so so so grateful I was there.


#24

sixpackshaker

sixpackshaker

Abe Vigoda, I thought he was the funniest thing about Barney Miller, I even watched his show Fish. He was also awesome in the Godfather and Godfather II...

Odd thing is, I can't remember exactly when he died.


#25

Shannow

Shannow

sixpackshaker said:
Abe Vigoda, I thought he was the funniest thing about Barney Miller, I even watched his show Fish. He was also awesome in the Godfather and Godfather II...

Odd thing is, I can't remember exactly when he died.
Click to expand...
http://www.abevigoda.com/


#26

Chad Sexington

Garbledina

Michael Crichton. He was the first 'grown-up' author I ever read (I first read Jurassic Park when I was 11) and the first author of a book where I could snobbishly say "The book was better." when I saw the movie.

Looking back, he is not as great an author as I once built him up to be, and I really, really hated his book Next, but man. When I heard he died, all my memories of falling in love with books and reading came back. I used to be the 'loner' kid and I'd just sit and read at lunch time at school, and half the time, it was a Michael Crichton novel.

If it wasn't for Crichton, I wouldn't be the reader I am, I'd never have taken up an interest in writing...

So yeah. I was a bit sad when I heard he'd died.


#27

ElJuski

ElJuski

Micheal Chrichton died?? Missed that one...


#28

Shegokigo

Shegokigo

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selena

As a 14yr old girl, who grew up on Tejano music, her death was a huge hit to me. At the time I wasn't exactly fully aware of my sexual orientation or anything to that sort but I was extremely enamoured with Selena. Her voice, her music, her body, her smile. Everything about her was angelic to me. It was even harder as I had met her in person multiple times (she began her career in my area) and attended a few of her concerts. When I heard the news, I had just gotten out of school for the day and I was crushed beyond belief. I couldn't bear the tribute music on the radio, even to this day I have trouble listening to her music.

She was at the cusp of being one of the first major international music stars, before Shakira or any of the other Latin/American cross-over artists. She could have been so much more.... :tear:


#29

Frank

Frankie Williamson

ThatNickGuy said:
Owen Hart: Not only one of the most entertaining wrestlers, but from all the stories I'd heard about him before and especially after his death, one of the nicest guys in the dirtiest business. And then he got killed doing a stupid gimmicky stunt. Wrestling was never the same for me, after that, and I started preferring just seeing classic wrestling bouts between two guys instead of silly gimmicks like coming down on a wire and such. Not personality gimmicks, because those sell and are still great.

Chris Benoit: And this is pretty much what did it for me as far as losing most of my interest in wrestling. At the time, Benoit was definitely one of my favourite wrestlers. He was Canadian, he wrestled for the sake of pure wrestling, and pound for pound, probably one of the most talented guys in the business with a flawless style. He was everything that was great and pure in the business.

And then he killed his wife, his 7 year old son and himself.

I remember walking around in a daze for weeks, trying to understand it. Hell, I still don't understand. Here's one of my favourite wrestlers and even now, two years later, I still can't sit down and enjoy his work because all I think about is that he killed an innocent woman and a 7 year old boy.

I can still enjoy a lot of the older wrestling, the stuff I grew up on, but still can't to this day watch a Benoit match.
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I was about to post one of those douchebaggy, I don't think any celebrity death has affected me but I'm posting anyway, posts until this. Fucking Chris Benoit. His mother and my mother were friends and used to work together. I had (and still have in a box somewhere) a pile of signed shit of his from when I was massively into wrestling. We're even from the same part of Edmonton.

When all that shit went down, I didn't even know what to think. He was one of my heroes. I couldn't even begin to imagine what led to what happened. It was flabbergasting.


#30

Chad Sexington

Garbledina

ElJuski said:
Micheal Chrichton died?? Missed that one...
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Yeah, last... *quick Google* November. I heard it on the radio from the Worst DJ Ever, which is probably why I remember where I heard it. The guys at work would have the same station on every day, with this boring, douchey host... I digress.


#31

Silver Jelly

Silver Jelly

Right now, I can think only of some people that were long dead before I heard about their death... The fist one is Isaac Asimov. He was the author that introduced me to the wonderful world of science fiction, and I patterned most of my writing style form his. A few years ago, while I was re-reading some stories on the first book of his I read (robot dreams? I don't know what the title is in english) and saw the date he was born in the little biography thing on the back of the book.
He could still be alive!
I headed to the internet, to see if this was the case. I was diying to send him some fan mail because he was so important to me as a reader and writer... and then I saw that he died from AIDS in 1992.
Damn... I felt sad, because, for a moment, one of my literary idols was still alive and breathing in my own present.

The other one is Marilyn Monroe. I always knew about her death, but after I watched a documentary about her life and death, I stated to get sad every time I see her (or hear her) on tv or wherever.


#32

ZenMonkey

ZenMonkey

Can't believe I forgot this one:

Douglas Adams.


#33

Hailey Knight

Hailey Knight

I was only 5 when Jim Henson died and I still remember it. It didn't have a big impact at the time, because I hadn't seen all his stuff then, even though I was watching a ton of it. Later on now, I miss seeing all the specials that would be on where he hosted or was showing behind the scenes of the Muppets.

Stan Winston has been the big one recently. His special effects work has ranged from Predator, Jurassic Park, Terminator, Iron Man, and a ton of others. I used to watch Movie Magic on Discovery channel and idolized him. I was so upset the day he died.


#34

Hailey Knight

Hailey Knight

Damn, Ame, you scared me into thinking Stan Lee and Christopher Lloyd were dead.


#35



Rubicon

ThatNickGuy said:
Owen Hart: Not only one of the most entertaining wrestlers, but from all the stories I'd heard about him before and especially after his death, one of the nicest guys in the dirtiest business. And then he got killed doing a stupid gimmicky stunt. Wrestling was never the same for me, after that, and I started preferring just seeing classic wrestling bouts between two guys instead of silly gimmicks like coming down on a wire and such. Not personality gimmicks, because those sell and are still great.

Chris Benoit: And this is pretty much what did it for me as far as losing most of my interest in wrestling. At the time, Benoit was definitely one of my favourite wrestlers. He was Canadian, he wrestled for the sake of pure wrestling, and pound for pound, probably one of the most talented guys in the business with a flawless style. He was everything that was great and pure in the business.

And then he killed his wife, his 7 year old son and himself.

I remember walking around in a daze for weeks, trying to understand it. Hell, I still don't understand. Here's one of my favourite wrestlers and even now, two years later, I still can't sit down and enjoy his work because all I think about is that he killed an innocent woman and a 7 year old boy.

I can still enjoy a lot of the older wrestling, the stuff I grew up on, but still can't to this day watch a Benoit match.
Click to expand...
Eddie Guerreo

If you know his real life stuff, Eddie fought hell with a stick and won. He became a hardcore drunk, drug user, you name it. And he defeated his inner demons, he got clean, he won his family's love and trust back, he was doing well in the wrestling business again, then he just suddenly died. No drugs in his system, no alcohol. Just the years of abuse from the drinking and drugs took they're toll on his heart and it just gave out on him.. That made me sad, cause it takes a big person to overcome such obstacles in life, succeed then basically have it bite them in the ass.

Andy Hallette (spelling?)

Krevlorneswath of the Deathwok Clan, The Host, or simply Lorne. Andy had the most beautiful voice I've ever heard. Fuck it if it's gay to say, this man could sing like an angel of heaven (no pun intended). I mean really, I could listen to him sing a freakin dictionary, he had a set of pipes on him. He battled heart disease and lost..at such a young age.. He is missed.

Superman (technicality)

Yea he didnt really die, his solar power just having been depleted but I was like, 11 when this came out. Superman was a fucking icon of the superhero community. He was the best of the best, big blue boyscout or not, he was a rolemodel, his values simple and easily understood. It was a shocker to see them off one of their if not their biggest character.. (them being DC).



I'm sure there are more but I can't remember them.


#36

Ross

Ross

Dale Earnhardt, Sr.

Perhaps the greatest NASCAR racer of all time, if not the most iconic. Aside from being a great driver, Dale Earnhardt was also a great father, husband, and all-around genuinely good guy.

At every track he went to, Dale raced to win... sometimes creating a little collateral damage to his opponents on the racecourse... hence his nickname, "The Intimidator." His determination to win knew no bounds, and even got him in hot water more than a few times, but he always patched things up and continued to focus on winning.

Perhaps the greatest reason why his death hurt me was because my Dad and I used to watch him all the time and cheer for him. My Dad and Dale also share many of the same personality traits, and they even look similar, so I had a kind of personal connection to Dale as well.

Perhaps the saddest part of Dale's life was the tragic way it was taken from him... on the last turn of the last lap of the 2001 Daytona 500 (Daytona 500 being the biggest and first race of the year for you non-NASCAR people). Dale Sr. was sitting in 3rd, in the middle of a 3-wide race to the finish. Ahead of him were teammate Michael Waltrip and son Dale Earnhardt, Jr. In an uncharacteristically unselfish act, Dale Sr.'s car visibly slowed down in an attempt to keep the competition from making a run on his teammates in front of him. One of the cars he was blocking struck his back bumper, which turned his car and sent him into the outer wall at 150 mph, killing him virtually on contact with a fatal neck injury. He was about two months shy of his 50th birthday.

I just watched the clip on youtube, and now I have tears in my eyes.


#37

Enresshou

Enresshou

Steve Irwin: Argue with his methods, his actions, or whatever you want, but the man did a lot for conservation and simply radiated a love of nature and empathy for it. He was a good man and father, and the best way I can put it is something I read on Fark the day he died: "Steve Irwin was like that kid we all knew back in elementary school; the one who loved waking up early, who would skip and run to school, who always had a song in his heart, who always raised his hand and knew the answer. We loved him, deep down, and--though we may have hated him at times--we never, ever wanted him to die."

Mitch Hedberg: Loved his jokes and his outlook on life. The title of his first CD, "Strategic Grill Locations," comes from a joke that was never on any of his CD's: 'See, I'm a dreamer, man, and when I was a cook, I'd cook hot dogs. The manager told me to put them in the corner, so if there was a rush I'd have all this space. That's how I knew he wasn't a dreamer, 'cause the day I give up my dreams is the day I have strategic grill locations. A dreamer has a philosophy: the entire grill is hot.'

More than anybody else, he made me laugh, he made me look at the world in a slightly wackier way, and there was nobody else like him.

John Steinbeck: I taught myself to read when I was about three years old, and my dad got me into Of Mice and Men when I was nine or so. After that, I snapped up Steinbeck's books like nothing else, but I had no idea Salinas and Monterey and Big Sur and Carmel were all real places. One day, when I was about ten, my parents took me to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, and I was happily surprised to see they had a bunch of his books in the gift shop. I asked my dad about it when we got outside, and he said, "You know we're standing on Cannery Row, right?"

What I felt at that moment was what I'd imagine a 'normal' kid would feel if you suddenly told them the lamp post they were standing under was actually in Narnia.


#38

Shegokigo

Shegokigo

Loved Mitch, but his death didn't "affect my life". He still remains one of my favorite all time comics though.


#39

blotsfan

blotsfan

Mav;252305][quote=ThatNickGuy said:
Eddie Guerreo
If you know his real life stuff, Eddie fought hell with a stick and won. He became a hardcore drunk, drug user, you name it. And he defeated his inner demons, he got clean, he won his family's love and trust back, he was doing well in the wrestling business again, then he just suddenly died. No drugs in his system, no alcohol. Just the years of abuse from the drinking and drugs took they're toll on his heart and it just gave out on him.. That made me sad, cause it takes a big person to overcome such obstacles in life, succeed then basically have it bite them in the ass.
Click to expand...
Sorry to burst your bubble. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/more/03/19/wrestlers/index.html

Anyways, George Carlin really screwed me up. Simply a phenomenal comedian.
Also, I might get some crap for this, but I was in a bit of a funk when Billy Mays died. Granted, when I found out about the coke, that was lessened.

And to all you people that said Jim Henson, watch this and not cry.


#40

Cajungal

Cajungal

Hail Zappa! He was dead before I got into him, though, so it didn't really affect me, AmE. Still, he was one of the greats.


#41



BErt

Shegokigo said:
Loved Mitch, but his death didn't "affect my life". He still remains one of my favorite all time comics though.
Click to expand...

Pretty much this. I think what was sad for me was, stand-up comedians seem to be "in" again, and Mitch just missed it...he could have been a lot bigger, and it's all just...gone.


#42



Hansagan

Put me down as one more for Jim Henson.....such a loss, and even more tragic because it was so avoidable.

Carl Sagan. I grew up on Cosmos, and read his books voraciously in my school library. He helped to develop my interest in astronomy and science in general, and it was a real shock when he died, because I didn't even know he was ill.

The Crew of the Challenger. Not really celebrities, but still a huge shock in my young life.

And finally, Freddie Mercury. A sad loss, but a real class act, right to the end.


#43

Cajungal

Cajungal

BErt;252449][quote=Shegokigo said:
Loved Mitch, but his death didn't "affect my life". He still remains one of my favorite all time comics though.
Click to expand...

Pretty much this. I think what was sad for me was, stand-up comedians seem to be "in" again, and Mitch just missed it...he could have been a lot bigger, and it's all just...gone.[/QUOTE]

I thought it was a hoax death for a week, like Mikey from LIFE cereal or Steve from Blue's Clues.


#44



Philosopher B.

Mav said:
Andy Hallette (spelling?)

Krevlorneswath of the Deathwok Clan, The Host, or simply Lorne. Andy had the most beautiful voice I've ever heard. Fuck it if it's gay to say, this man could sing like an angel of heaven (no pun intended). I mean really, I could listen to him sing a freakin dictionary, he had a set of pipes on him. He battled heart disease and lost..at such a young age.. He is missed.
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This. I actually saw like a year before he died, someone had written on his wiki page that he died in a car crash, which made me really sad, only to find out that he was alive, only for him to really die not that long after.

There are several others I could mention, like Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau (such awesome acting talents that were in some of my fav movies), but probably the thing that distressed me the most relating to famous people was not a death at all, but hearing that Terry Pratchett has Alzheimer's ... and after seeing my grandmother suffer from it for 17 years before succumbing completely.

On Douglas Adams, though it depresses me that Adams is no longer among the land of the living, I actually started reading his stuff when I was about fifteen, which was after he died, though it was sad to know whatever I read was absolutely all I would get.


#45

CrimsonSoul

CrimsonSoul

Shegokigo said:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selena

As a 14yr old girl, who grew up on Tejano music, her death was a huge hit to me. At the time I wasn't exactly fully aware of my sexual orientation or anything to that sort but I was extremely enamoured with Selena. Her voice, her music, her body, her smile. Everything about her was angelic to me. It was even harder as I had met her in person multiple times (she began her career in my area) and attended a few of her concerts. When I heard the news, I had just gotten out of school for the day and I was crushed beyond belief. I couldn't bear the tribute music on the radio, even to this day I have trouble listening to her music.

She was at the cusp of being one of the first major international music stars, before Shakira or any of the other Latin/American cross-over artists. She could have been so much more.... :tear:
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She grew up in the city I currently live in :) and about 30 minutes from where I grew up


#46

Jake

Jake

Jerry Garcia


#47

fade

fade

I'll have to be the "jerk" then. I really am trying hard to think of one. I wish there was someone I admired so greatly from a distance that his/her death had some effect on me, but none come to mind.


#48

Seraphyn

Seraphyn

Plenty of celebrities who's work I miss, but their deaths never affected me on a personal level.


#49

PatrThom

PatrThom

Most of the ones that came to mind immediately have already been mentioned (Henson, Asimov, Carlin to name a few). I remember a friend of mine once remarking that Asimov's death was a tragedy because it was the death of the only guy who knew everything (or at least came really close).

Aside from these, the only other "What? Oh no!" name that immediately comes to mind is David Eddings, who earlier this Summer. I think The Belgariad was my first (non-Tolkien) epic fantasy.

--Patrick


#50

Necronic

Necronic

Phil Hartman. His death is a tragedy that still gets me to this day. I can't imagine what the face of comedy would be like today if he were still here.


#51

HCGLNS

HCGLNS

Pierre Trudeau
Michael Jackson
Gary Gygax


#52



Chazwozel

Necronic said:
Phil Hartman. His death is a tragedy that still gets me to this day. I can't imagine what the face of comedy would be like today if he were still here.
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I'm reminded of that everytime I see Troy McClure or Lionel Hutz on the Simpsons. He was one of the greats.


#53



TwoBit

I felt sad when Arthur C. Clarke died. It meant that the last of the Big Three of Science Fiction had gone the way of the dodo.

Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein, and now Arthur C. Clarke are all gone. Sci-Fi will never be the same.


#54

ZenMonkey

ZenMonkey

Necronic said:
Phil Hartman. His death is a tragedy that still gets me to this day. I can't imagine what the face of comedy would be like today if he were still here.
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This one should have been in my first post too. Again, don't know why it does but it gets to me too, like on a gut level. By all accounts he was a prince of a guy, besides being a comedic genius, and didn't deserve that horror inflicted on him. Watching NewsRadio, besides still making me laugh out loud, also makes me sad, and I can never get through the episode where Bill dies without losing it along with the cast.


#55



Iaculus

ZenMonkey said:
Can't believe I forgot this one:

Douglas Adams.
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Was starting to wonder where he was. I mean, god damn, that was a kicker.

Won't be too happy when Terry Pratchett pops his clogs, either.


#56

phil

phil

Necronic said:
Phil Hartman. His death is a tragedy that still gets me to this day. I can't imagine what the face of comedy would be like today if he were still here.
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yes sir.

I was a bit too young to really follow him as a personality at the time, but if anything the simpsons was just not the same for me.

More and more as I think about it the more it gets to me. Just the fact that he was murdered. Who would ever want to silence that kind of comedic voice? it blows my mind.

---------- Post added at 11:19 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:15 AM ----------

also, I keep thinking about what I'm going to do when Stan Lee dies. I mean, it's right aroud the corner. He seems like such a genuinely swell guy. I hope he goes peacefully.


#57

Hailey Knight

Hailey Knight

Iaculus;253492][quote=ZenMonkey said:
Can't believe I forgot this one:

Douglas Adams.
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Was starting to wonder where he was. I mean, god damn, that was a kicker.

Won't be too happy when Terry Pratchett pops his clogs, either.[/QUOTE]

Shut your filthy hole!


#58

IronBrig4

IronBrig4

Definitely Steve Irwin. I usually can't care less when a celebrity dies but I always saw Steve as so much more than a talking head. I felt like a buddy of mine had died.


#59



KarateKidMcFly

When I was in high school, my dad told me to read a book called Shogun, by James Clavell. Immediately, I fell in love with the book; that copy he gave me I've unfortunately thrown away, because it was in tatters. I sought out every book of his, and eventually sought out first editions of most of them. Then, after reading everything, I decided to look him up online, and see if there was any information on him working on any new books... and I found out he'd been dead since 1994. Blew the wind right out of my sails -_-


#60



JCM

KarateKidMcFly said:
When I was in high school, my dad told me to read a book called Shogun, by James Clavell. Immediately, I fell in love with the book; that copy he gave me I've unfortunately thrown away, because it was in tatters. I sought out every book of his, and eventually sought out first editions of most of them. Then, after reading everything, I decided to look him up online, and see if there was any information on him working on any new books... and I found out he'd been dead since 1994. Blew the wind right out of my sails -_-
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Damn... that was the first book I read in English. :(


#61

IronBrig4

IronBrig4

blotsfan said:
And to all you people that said Jim Henson, watch this and not cry.
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You just made me sad...


#62



KarateKidMcFly

blotsfan said:
And to all you people that said Jim Henson, watch this and not cry.
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Try this one; it's from Jim Henson's memorial service.



#63

ZenMonkey

ZenMonkey

KarateKidMcFly said:
Try this one; it's from Jim Henson's memorial service. \"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrZyMptC2eQ\"
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The cat is staring at me like I'm nuts -- I completely lost it at "Thank you, Kermit."

:waah:


#64

Kovac

Kovac

Roald Dahl



His was one of the few deaths that I actually teared up over and I was only eight years old at the time.
I didn't know the man beyond his books, but knowing that he wouldn't be creating any more of his wonderful tales was enough to upset me.

Our class performed a memorial service in his honour and while I don't remember much about it, I do have strong memories of sadness over it.



#65



Silvanesti

Amorous Eyes;255233][quote=ZenMonkey;255193][quote=KarateKidMcFly said:
Try this one; it's from Jim Henson's memorial service. \"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrZyMptC2eQ\"
Click to expand...
The cat is staring at me like I'm nuts -- I completely lost it at "Thank you, Kermit."

:waah:[/QUOTE]

Yeah that last part is very touching.

On a brighter note, from that same memorial service:

[/QUOTE]


Nope. Not watching that, i can't believe i got seriously depressed watching big bird.


and on an unrelated note:

Its kinda weird, but i got to admit, the recent death that affected me recently was billy mays. But I had started watching pitchmen a lot right before it happened and he seemed like such a nice, normal guy. Just really sucked that he left a family and kids behind.


#66

Gusto

Gusto

Amorous Eyes said:
Phil Hartman
You might remember him from such characters as Troy McClure from The Simpsons, Bill McNeal from Newsradio, or maybe just as many others in SNL. Either way I always loved his voice.
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Quoted for fucking truth.


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