Robert De Niro summed it up best when his character in A Bronx Tale stated, "One of the saddest things in life is wasted talent."
Many young stars in the course of film history have left this world at the peak of their career. Their deaths shocked the nation, and for some, the world. Some of these film greats died due freak accidents, while others' larger-than-life personas off screen led to their ultimate demise. Regardless of how they died, their fans can agree that they were taken way before their time.
Here is our list of 15 Movie Stars Who Died Tragically Young.
Heath Ledger (1979-2008)
Heath Ledger was at the height of his career when his life came to a tragic end on January 28, 2008. He was becoming known as one of the best actors of his generation, with a career-defining portrayal of The Joker in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight.
Ledger caught the attention of many teenage girls with his role in the 1999 film 10 Things I Hate About You. In the early 2000s, Ledger appeared in various successful films like The Patriot, Monster’s Ball, and A Knight’s Tale. But it was in 2005 that Ledger rose to super-stardom for his role in Brokeback Mountain, playing a ranch worker who has a love affair with a rodeo rider (Jake Gyllenhaal). Critics and audiences alike praised Ledger for his performance, for which he received an Oscar nomination that many felt he deserved to win.
Ledger was in the middle of filming The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus when he died. The cause was listed as an accidental combination of sleeping aids and other prescription drugs. It was rumoured that Ledger became emotionally and physically exhausted after his psychotic portrayal of The Joker the year before, which may have been a contributing factor to his accidental overdose. For the role, Ledger was nominated for a slew of awards posthumously, and his family accepted the Best Supporting Actor Award for him on Oscar night.
Paul Walker (1973-2013)
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. He also starred in the critically acclaimed films Flags of Our Fathers and Disney’s Eight Below, both made in 2006.
Besides being an actor, Walker was also a devoted humanitarian. He started Reach Out Worldwide, an organization comprised of professionals with a first-responder skill set who provide their expertise when disaster strikes with the goal of accelerating relief efforts. The organization has aided in various natural disasters, such as the Nepal earthquake, Chile earthquake, Oklahoma City tornado and more. After Walker's death, Fast and Furious costar Vin Diesel stated that the world lost an angel.
In a tragic case of irony, Walker was involved in a car wreck on his way to a Reach Out Worldwide charity event, to help those affected by Typhoon Haiyan. The Porsche his friend was driving lost control, struck a tree and burst into flames. Walker had recently turned 40 years old.
River Phoenix (1970-1993)
River Phoenix was a teen sensation in the mid-80s and early 90s who struck gold with his breakout role in the 1986 coming-of-age film Stand By Me. Phoenix was born River Jude Bottom in Madras, Oregon in 1970. Along with his brother, fellow actor Joaquin Phoenix (then known as Leaf Rafael Bottom), and his sister Rain, River Phoenix spent the early part of his childhood in Venezuela where the Children of God, an active cult, stationed his parents to work as missionaries. Phoenix once referred to his family as “hippie-ish.” Later, his family became disillusioned with the Children of God and moved back to the U.S, whereupon they changed their last name to “Phoenix.”
In 1988, Phoenix starred alongside Sidney Poitier in Little Nikita. The following year, he received an Academy Award nomination for his work in Sidney Lumet’s Running on Empty. That same year he portrayed a young Indiana Jones in Spielberg’s Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Phoenix was one of the most talented young actors to grace the big screen, and he seemed destined for a long, promising career.
But just as his star was on the rise, he tragically died of an overdose in 1993. Phoenix collapsed outside of the Viper Room in Hollywood, California, in front of his brother Joaquin and sister Rain. Phoenix was rushed to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead. The coroner’s report indicated that he had deadly levels of cocaine and morphine in his system. Phoenix was only 23 years old.
Marilyn Monroe (1926-1962)
Ranked by the American Film Institute as the sixth-greatest film star of all time, Marilyn Monroe is one of Hollywood’s biggest sex symbols of all time. She was born Norma Jeane Mortenson in 1926 and came from humble roots. She bounced between foster homes in her early childhood after her mother was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. Marilyn dropped out of high school at age 16 to play housewife with her first husband, James Dougherty.
Monroe began a modeling career in 1946 and started acting professionally in 1947. After a slew of unsuccessful films, Monroe caught a break with two supporting roles in The Asphalt Jungle and All About Eve in 1950. She made various moderately successful movies after that, but hit it big in 1953 with Gentleman Prefer Blondes, where she established her “dumb blonde” persona. The film included one of her most famous scenes where she sang “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend.” The Seven Year Itch included another iconic scene where she stood over a NYC subway grate with air blowing up her white dress. In 1958, Monroe starred across Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon in Some Like it Hot, which is probably her most well-remembered role.
Despite her fame and fortune, Monroe suffered from serious mental illness and addiction issues. She also gained the reputation for being difficult to work with on set. On August 6, 1962, Monroe was found dead in her Los Angeles, CA home. The coroner’s office recorded the cause of death as acute barbiturate poisoning, resulting from a probable suicide. Regardless of how she died, Monroe left behind a legacy that few actresses have achieved since.
Bruce Lee (1940-1973)
Bruce Lee is unarguably the greatest icon ever in martial arts cinema, as he became the first Hong Kong martial arts star to cross over to Hollywood (with Jackie Chan and Jet Li following in his footsteps). He is often credited for changing the way Asians were represented in American films. Had it not been for his movies in the 1970s, it’s questionable as to whether American cinema and audiences would have been influenced by martial arts the way they have been the past 40 years.
Lee was born in Chinatown, San Francisco in 1940, but was raised in Hong Kong. He was introduced to the film industry by his father and became a child actor appearing in 20 films by the age of 18. Lee returned to the United States at age 18 where he taught martial arts. He is best known for his early 1970s films, including The Big Boss, Fists of Fury, Way of the Dragon and Enter the Dragon.
Lee died on July 26, 1973, six days before the release of Enter the Dragon. He was 32 years old. The official cause of his death was an edema of the brain due to a bad reaction to prescription painkillers. Various bizarre conspiracies surrounded Lee’s death. Rumors spread that the Triads put a curse on him and his family. There was also talks that he engaged in electrical muscle stimulation, which caused his brain injury. Lee was later named by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century.
Brandon Lee (1965-1993)
Theories of the Bruce Lee’s curse resurfaced when his son, Brandon Lee, was accidentally shot and killed while on the set of The Crow.
Lee started his career in a supporting role in the TV movie Kung Fu: The Movie. He starred in various low-budget action movies, including Showdown in Little Tokyo and Rapid Fire before his big role in The Crow. Like his father, he studied martial arts and acting.
The scene in which Lee was fatally shot in The Crow occurse when his character walks into his apartment and discovers his fiancée being beaten and raped by thugs. One of the thugs fires a .44 Magnum revolver at Lee as he walks into the room. Tragically, instead of blanks, the revolver had a live bullet stuck in the barrel. The bullet struck Lee in the abdomen. Lee was rushed to the hospital, but doctors were unable to save his life. The shooting was ruled an accident.
Lee was supposed to marry fiancée Eliza Hutton in Mexico a week after The Crow wrapped up filming. After Lee’s death, Hutton lobbied to have stricter gun safety regulations on film sets. Lee was only 28-years-old when the freak accident occurred.
John Belushi (1949-1982)
John Belushi’s big break came in 1975 when he was offered a spot on the groundbreaking TV variety series Saturday Night Live (SNL). He costarred among comedic greats like Dan Aykroyd and Chevy Chase. He had an aggressive and physical type of humor that flourished on the show.
In 1978, Belushi’s minor role in Animal House is often credited as being a major part of the movie’s success. The film had mixed reviews upon its release, but it ended up being one of the most profitable movies of all time, earning $141 million on its $2.8 million budget. In 1979, Belushi left with SNL costar Aykroyd to pursue a film career. The two comedians made three movies together: 1941, Neighbors and The Blues Brothers, which was inspired by Belushi’s love for blues and soul music and based on the duo's Blues Brothers characters from SNL.
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. hotel room. He was 33 years old. In 2004, Belushi was posthumously honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Chris Farley (1964-1997)
Chris Farley was one of the funniest actors of his generation. Despite his large size, he had an incredible physicality that came across in his film and television roles. He was the innovator of the anti-slapstick comedy style where characters would be harmed by inanimate objects, like a fat man getting stuck in a door frame.
Farley started SNL in 1990 and was a regular on the show for six years. During his tenure, he created some of the most iconic characters ever featured on the show, including motivational speaker Matt Foley and stereotypical Chicagoan Todd O’Connor. His success of the show led to major film roles in Tommy Boy, Beverly Hills Ninja, and Black Sheep.
Farley had a long struggle with his weight, alcohol, and drug addiction. On December 18, 1997, he died of a heroin and cocaine overdose in his Chicago apartment. His death is often compared to fellow SNL legend John Belushi because of their similar circumstances. Recently, recordings of Farley as the ogre Shrek have become public. Farley was originally tapped to voice the ogre, but was replaced by SNL co-star Mike Myers after his death. In 2005, Farley was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
James Dean (1931-1955)
Before becoming a “rebel without a cause,” James Dean studied law at Santa Monica College. He then transferred to UCLA for one semester to study theater. He dropped out to pursue a full-time acting career in 1951. Dean moved to New York where he studied Method Acting at the famous Actors Studio.
Dean appeared in various TV shows in the early 1950s, but Hollywood came knocking on his door after he starred in the theatrical production of The Immoralist. Dean then went on to make only three films: East of Eden, Rebel Without a Cause and Giant. In the first two films, Dean played well-meaning but deeply trouble characters. In Rebel Without a Cause he was just a downright badass, and it became his most iconic film. To avoid being typecast, he then took on a supporting role in Giant, playing a Texas hand ranch who strikes oil and becomes wealthy.
Dean’s stardom was at its height when he was killed in a car crash in 1955. Dean’s talent and charisma earned him two posthumous Academy Award nominations for Giant and East of Eden; he’s the only actor to be nominated twice after his death.
Tupac Shakur (1971-1996)
Tupac Shakur first hit the music scene in 1991 as a dancer for the group Digital Underground, but later that year he released his first solo album “2Pacalypse Now.” As a rapper, "2Pac" sold over 75 million records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling music artists of all time.
Before delving into the world of rapping, Shakur studied theater at the Baltimore School for the Arts and developed a love for Shakespeare. In 1992, Shakur made his film debut in Juice. He then went on to costar alongside Janet Jackson in Poetic Justice, and then made Above the Rim. He starred in three additional films that were released after his death, including Bullet, Gridlock’d, and Gang Related. Director John Singleton intended for Shakur to star in his film Baby Boy, but it starred Tyrese Gibson instead. However, the film included a mural of the rapper and included his song “Hail Mary” in the score.
During the latter part of his career, Shakur was part of the East Coat/West Coast hip-hop rivalry (which is briefly shown in this week's Straight Outta Compton). He was involved in conflicts with other rappers, most famously The Notorious B.I.G. (aka Christopher Wallace, who was also murdered at the height of his career). Shakur was murdered during a drive-by shooting outside a Las Vegas hotel just a few hours after an altercation with Orlando Anderson, a member of the Crips gang. Before their own tragic deaths, both The Notorious B.I.G. and Anderson denied any role in his murder.
Brittany Murphy (1977-2009)
Brittany Murphy appeared in several TV sitcoms and commercials before getting her big break alongside Alicia Silverstone in the hit comedy Clueless. Loosely based on Jane Austen’s novel Emma, Clueless garnered critical acclaim and led to Murphy getting major roles in Girl, Interrupted, 8 Mile, Uptown Girls, and Sin City. She also lent her voice talents to Mike Judge’s animated TV show King of the Hill and the animated film Happy Feet.
On December 20, 2009, Murphy was taken to the hospital after collapsing in her home. She was pronounced dead after going into cardiac arrest. The coroner initially suggested that she died of natural causes, which was difficult for many people to believe at such a young age. Various conspiracy theories emerged that blame her death on various culprits, from toxic mold to murder to harassment by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The mystery surrounding this Murphy’s untimely death was only deepened after Murphy’s husband, Simon Monjack, died under similar circumstances five months later in the same house. Murphy was only 32 years old.
Brad Renfro (1982-2008)
Brad Renfro was a child actor who got his big-screen debut in the critically acclaimed 1994 thriller The Client, based on a John Grisham novel of the same name. In 1995, he won Hollywood Reporter’s “Young Star Award” and was nominated as one of People magazine’s “Top 30 Under 30.” His rising stardom led to roles in other major motion pictures, including Tom and Huck, The Cure, Sleepers, and Apt Pupil.
While Renfro went on to star in other films, his star floundered in the early 2000s as he grappled with drug addiction. Renfro was arrested in 2000 for attempting to steal a yacht. In 2002, he was ordered into a three-month rehab program following an arrest for public intoxication. 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 overdose.
Cory Monteith (1982-2013)
Cory Monteith is best known to “gleeksters” as adorable Finn Hudson on Fox’s hit show Glee. His voice, charm and good looks won him a legion of fans, including Taylor Swift. His feature film credits include Final Destination 3, Sisters & Brothers and Monte Carlo. He also appeared on the small screen in Smallville and Supernatural.
Monteith had a long-standing substance abuse problem that began early in life, at the age of 12. After attending 16 different schools, he finally dropped out at 16, and after an intervention by family and friends, he entered a drug rehabilitation program when he was 19. Unfortunately, Monteith’s substance abuse problem resurfaced in 2013. With the support of his fellow Glee costar and girlfriend Lea Michele, he entered himself into a treatment facility in March of 2013. He completed his treatment in April. It was only a few months later, on July 13, 2013, that Monteith died from a drug overdose in his room at the Fairmount Pacific Hotel in his hometown of Vancouver.
Heather O'Rourke (1975-1988)
Heather O’Rourke got her break in the first grade when she was waiting for her mother in the MGM Commissary. A stranger approached her asking her name to which she replied: “My name is Heather O’Rourke, but you’re a stranger and I can’t talk to you.” The stranger was Steven Spielberg.
In the ‘80s, Heather appeared in Happy Days, Webster, and Leave it to Beaver. Her most famous role was in the 1982 horror film Poltergeist and its two sequels, Poltergeist II: The Other Side and Poltergeist III. Her line “They’re here!” from the first Poltergeist is so well known that it was included on The American Film Institute’s list of top movie quotes from the last 100 years.
Sadly, Poltergeist III was the last film that O’Rourke ever made. 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. On January 31, 1988, O’Rourke collapsed and was rushed to the hospital. Doctors found that her illness was caused by a longstanding bowel obstruction. An attempt to surgically remove the blockage led to septic shock and caused her to suffer cardiac arrest. O’Rourke was only 12 years old.
Jean Harlow (1911-1937)
Jean Harlow was born Harlean Carpenter in 1911, and she was a major sex symbol of the 1930s. Her breakout role was in Howard Hughes’ World War I epic Hell’s Angels in 1930. She signed with MGM in 1932 and became one of their leading ladies, starring in various hit films like Dinner at Eight, Suzy, Red Dust, and Bombshell. She frequently costarred with some of Hollywood’s greatest actors of the time, including Clark Gable and Spencer Tracy. She was nicknamed “The Blonde Bombshell” for her good looks.
Harlow died of uremic poisoning during the filming of Saratoga on June 7, 1937. She was only 26 years old. The film had to be finished with long-angle shots using a double. Like other celebrities who have passed during filming, Harlow’s death made Saratoga a hit, as a record number of fans went to see the film when it released.