What celebrity deaths have saddened/affected you the most?

[Prowler]

Even though they don't know them personally, a lot of people get very sad and even cry when their favourite celebrities die.

No celebrity death has made me cry, but there's a couple that have sorta affected me and made me think about them for a a couple of weeks or so afterwards.

Eusébio: He was one of the greatest football players of all time and a legend and icon of Portugal and my football club Benfica. His death was reported all over the media worldwide and it was something everyone in Portugal talked about. He wasn't exactly young anymore. he died when he was 72 years old iirc, and had had serious health issues in the few years before his eventual death, but ofc it was still sad when the news broke out. For those of you who don't know much about football... well Eusébio was as big in his prime as Cristiano Ronaldo is nowadays, pretty much. Difference being, back then there was no social media. He played in the 1960s and 1970s after all.

Eddie Guerrero: I was still rather new to wrestling, and Eddie was a big part of the company at the time and was in the middle of a very promising feud with then WHC Batista. Eddie was one of the most charismatic wrestlers in WWE at the time and one of my favourites. So his death was a shock to me at the time. Plus, I was told about his death in school, and at first I couldn't believe it. I thought my HS classmates were pulling a distasteful joke on me. But sadly, when I went home and checked WWE's website, I was greeted with a big black banner saying "RIP Eddie Guerrero 1967-2005". It also didn't help the fact that WWE exploited his death and kept mentioning him for months afterwards. That made it hard to move on from it. I also remember telling my mother and grandmother about his death, and even though they don't watch wrestling at all, they couldn't help but feel sorry for him, especially when I told them he was only 37-38 years old. "Oh he was such a young man..." they said.

Also he died on November 13th. 2 days before my 15th birthday. I'll never forget that. I don't remember what my 15th birthday was like, but pretty sure Eddie was in my mind at the time still. Not that his death ruined my birthday by any means, but it made it a bit less enjoyable, that's for sure. Even if I'm obviously over his death by now and think his death sorta overrated his legend a bit, I can't help but remember his death every time my birthday nears by since then.

So yeah, these 2 are the only ones that truly have affected me more than the "oh that sucks, RIP" sense. Even the deaths of people like Ronnie James Dio, Lemmy from Motörhead, Christopher Lee, etc. didn't affect me that much despite me being a metalhead. That being said, I think it's gonna such the day people likw Shigeru Miyamoto or Bruce Dickinson will pass away. I bet their deaths are gonna make me sad. And also, it's hard to imagine people like Scharzenegger or Hulk Hogan dying. They just seem like they're immortal, you know? Just like Christopher Lee and Lemmy.

Although, I'd like to give an honourable mention to a death that has somewhat affected me but in a different sense:

Chris Benoit: At first, when the news broke out, I was sad like I was when Eddie died. But then rumours surfaced about him having killed his wife and son and then committing suicide afterwards. I was then no longer bothered by Benoit dying but by the fact a wrestler I enjoyed watching on TV did something as vile as killing his own wife and son. Among other things, this was what ended up burning me out of pro wrestling and realising how filthy of an industry it was. And a lot of people I've talked to online have also told me Benoit burned them out or they know people who just quit watching WWE and wrestling as a whole after that incident. Or they just took a rather long sabbatical until CM Punk's pipebomb promo or something.

Not to mention the fact it was a REALLY UNUSUAL and morbid case. Double-murder suicide, I mean... how many other cases like that have happened, especially involving celebrities? As far as "people who are regularly on TV goes" I can only think of Benoit's case. Not to mention he wasn't someone I had never heard of before, but a wrestler I was on TV on a weekly basis when I was a kid/teenager and whose ring ability I liked. So it kinda made me feel "dirty" for ever liking someone who turned out to be a monster, know what I mean? So yeah...

What about you? What celebrity deaths have saddened/affected you the most?

[Andrew NDB]

Harold Ramis.

George Romero.

John Candy.

Carrie Fisher.

James Gandolfini.

Leonard Nimoy.

James Doohan.

DeForest Kelley.

Patrick Swayze.

Dennis Hopper.

Bill Paxton.

Those are the first ones that come to mind in terms of making me slam a fist down and going, "F**K!!!"

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

Neil Armstrong. He died in August 2012, but I can't recall much media publicity at the time. It's so sad that the general interest for spaceflight and space exploration seems to have declined.

[Autbot_Benz]

Stan Lee cause he had a bit of a rough patch with elder abuse before he passed

Eddie Gurrerro

Dusty Rhodes

Roddy Piper

Randy "Macho Man" Savage

Mr Rogers I mean we all lost a good neighbor

Carrie Fisher

Peter Mayhew

Robin Willams

Anthony Bourdain

[Andrew NDB]

Originally Posted by Autbot_Benz

Stan Lee cause he had a bit of a rough patch with elder abuse before he passed

That he denied ever happened.

[MikeandRaph87]

My avatar gives one away. While I am not politically aligned as a Republican or a Democrat, George Bush Sr. is the first president that I remember. He was a role model of a person and lead a storied life. Ever since he was wheel chair bound in the last six years of his life and lived to 94 I feared every time I saw his name he would be no more. I was surprised he outlived Barbara, even if only by 7 months and there was Jenna's wedding where it was said to have taken place while he was still healthy enough. It made me nervous and even though he lived so long he was a man I admired all my life. I am sad that he is gone.

Andy Griffith, how many Hollywood legends can create an atmosphere where it is timeless, clean, quotable and despite the show's title was about those that surrounded him? Losing him is like losing a family elder one looks up to. I shed a tear upon hearing of his sudden passing back on Independence Day 2012. A treasure lost to the world and not another like him.

Randy Savage, I just looked him up after watching him and Hogan as a child. My "Where Are They Now?" search uncovered a then recent promo for a WWE video game. I noticed how his hair seemed to go completely white pretty quickly and that he let himself go. I was concerned, but glad to see him active and remarried to an old flame I never heard of. 12 hours later he would suffer a fatal heart attack behind the wheel. Its morbid because I had just looked him up and was happy forbut concerned about him. Steroid user or not, reality and character blurred or overprotective or not it does not matter. A athlete who's charisma and ability I admired went out just when my interest in him randomly piqued.

Tony Gwynn, I am a Braves fan,but growing up in the 90s any baseball fan had to admire Tony Gwynn, just as I did Ken Griffey Jr. and Cal Ripken Jr. I sent Gwynn a birthday card that I made for him in elementary school and I did not ask,but was sent a thank you note card signed. He died the day I got hired from part time to full time in my job.He though he beat throat cancer, but it came back and got him the darn chewing tobacco that he gave up 15 years prior killed him at 54.San Diego lost its greatest athlete in Tony Gwynn too soon.

Those 4 passings of people I admired but never met touched me the most. As time goes on there will be others as the sands of time claims us when the Lord says we are at dash's end.

[Leo656]

Stuff bothered me a lot more when I was younger, but a few still hit me pretty hard.

I was a huge fan of Chris Benoit, probably the biggest, so that hit me really hard and was the first and probably biggest step towards me absolutely hating pro wrestling, because if the guy had better priorities instead of trying to be the "Best In The World" at a fake sport, NONE of that sh*t would have happened and three people would still be alive. It's tragic, but he did it to himself. People need better priorities.

Likewise, when I was younger, Brian Pillman's death devastated me, but again, steroids and cocaine are terrible for you. Nowadays I just shake my head.

Owen Hart was a real bummer, because he only died due to criminal negligence. F*ck Vince McMahon.

I was upset about Eddy Guerrero, but not devastated, because again, gigantic drug addict/steroid abuser. The shock wasn't that he died, it was that he lived as long as he did. Still a shame, but again, these should be easy choices.

Roddy Piper died of cancer, so that was a real shame. One of the few guys I never got to meet who I really wanted to.

I was a huge Monkees fan, so I was pretty torn up when Davy Jones and Peter Tork died.

Those are a few to get started, I'll think of more later probably.

[Powder]

I don't tend to get too worked up about these kinda things, but I did shed a tear for Don Rickles. May well have been others, but I can't immediately recall who.

EDIT: Satoru Iwata, for sure. Still gets to me when I see his name come up in post-death game releases.

[joe-eyeball]

Alan Rickman was a freaking legend and it bummed me out big time!

Roddy Piper was just plain awesome and he starred in one of my favorite films ever, They Live!

David Bowie dying pissed me off and I’m not even that much of a fan of his music. It’s that he was such a talented legend there your whole life making music and then cancer takes him out and it’s over. Very sad!

Anton Yelchin was another one that got to me. He was young kid and by all accounts a decent guy and he turned in some really good work and then a freak accident takes him out!

[oldmanwinters]

I really hated when I heard about the deaths of:
Joe Derita (wasn't a huge fan of him, but the fact that he was the last of the Three Stooges was a big fact to me, as all the others had passed away before I was born)
Jim Varney
Adam Petty
Dale Earnhardt, Sr.
Reggie White
Mr. Rogers
Lou Albano (because... "Do the Mario")

[Voltron]

Heath Ledger.

Not so much for the man's passing, but I had been waiting for DKR for YEARS. I went to a special IMAX showing of I Am Legend to see the first five minutes of DKR and was totally sold on Heath's performance.

I had absolute faith that Nolan was going to keep the Joker alive in the film so that the Joker could be part of the story in the third film. You have no idea how upset I am about Jack Nicholson's Joker being killed off in Burtman.

Then Ledger dies leaving us with a performance so phenomenal it makes a great movie damn near perfect and then. . . nothing. No more. It was a brief glimpse of how much fun we could've had as a fandom that just went away.

That one was upsetting.


On the flipside, and perhaps more complicated, is the wrestling stars from my youth.

I grew up watching late 80's-early 90's WWE. It was fantastic. Macho Man. Hulk Hogan. Million Dollar Man. Sting. The Undertaker.

My dad used to let me watch a little of it before my bedtime, and he would always get excited about the whole thing. He'd explain some of the goofy backstories and rivalries between the wrestlers. He'd pretend to get scared or surprised when someone jumped off the ropes or the tide of a match turned.

It was so much fun. It was such a nice memory. It was one of the few things my father and I ever really spent time doing.

My interest in wrestling started to drop off around middle school when the wacky characters started to give way to the edgier, cooler ones. I would watch and see the Rock or Steve Austin, but they never resonated with me as much. I didn't catch Macho Madness from them.

When these guys started dying, it took me by surprise. I was under the impression that these guys all work out and must be in great shape. How do you go into cardiac arrest that young?

Then their stories started coming to light. The grueling work schedule. The lousy contracts. The necessary pain medications and drugs.

These were guys who were incredibly passionate and gave themselves to an amazingly difficult blend of art and sport. They entertained us at the expense of their own health. They became gods that were inherently broken. And I never knew.

When Macho Man died. . . that hit me hard. I just want some happy endings for these dudes who gave us so much.

[Roseangelo]

Jim Henson, hands down.

I still have to be careful about reading/watching anything concerning his death, because it can still absolutely overwhelm me with sadness.

[Leo656]

With all respect, though, some people have gotten some excellent comedy out of the tragic end of Jim Henson.

For example, the first time I heard "Jim Henson had a 'wait-and-see attitude', and now we have wrong-sounding Muppets!" I nearly pissed myself. There were a few other good ones.

It was definitely tragic and sad, though. That one got me when I was very young, for sure. I'm simply of the George Carlin "You can joke about anything, depending on how you construct the joke" school of thought.
------------

Blunt Force Unpopular Opinion, I wasn't sad about Carrie Fischer. Yeah, she was young-ish, but she was an unapologetic lifelong drug abuser, and when she died she had, like, ALL the drugs in her. That isn't "tragic", to me, it's Cause-And-Effect. I wish she was still alive, sure, but it was ultimately her own choice. Wasn't sad, just annoyed. My sincere hope is that others would learn from what happened to her, and make better choices for themselves.

I hate to hear about anyone dying that way, but if they think they can actually "manage" a drug habit into a healthy old age, well... que sera sera.

No disrespect to anyone who was actually saddened by her untimely passing, of course. I simply was not, personally, saddened by it.
---------------

Adam West hung in there, but he had a pretty long life so it wasn't altogether unexpected. Still sad, though.

Big Van Vader also wasn't a huge shock, given that he was damn near 400 pounds for most of his adult life and thus died of heart failure. But that one pissed me off because I'd met him a few times and even worked some shows with him, and he was a total prince of a guy. I would've loved to see him again, but it is what it is.

[Utrommaniac]

Robin Williams. Mostly because it came at really serendipitous timing when I learned it happened.

Which was while I was watching the Aladdin/Wicked parody "Twisted" (which I've mentioned a few times now). Which laid in on the teasing of the movie referential nature of the Genie pretty hard.

Steve Irwin was a rough one too, because I had really just gotten to being a fan for only a few months.

[Leo656]

Yeah, Robin Williams was a rough one. I totally empathize, though. Poor guy.

[Storm Eagle]

I remember how the death of Kurt Cobain just came at me from nowhere, and the way he went.

Chris Cornell's death also hit me pretty hard, since I found out about it on my birthday two years ago. Another suicide.

[newfan]

I felt sad when Carrie Fisher died, it was unexpected too.
Leonard Nimoy was another.

As mentioned by someone else already, it was sad reading about Anton Yelchin, young guy losing his life like that.

[Andrew NDB]

Actually, Jim Varney, too. And that was when I was super young. Dudley Moore, too.

[Utrommaniac]

Gotta say though, for others, it was just like "Oh, going off to rejoin their vampire coven, are they?"

[cough]Christopher Lee[/cough]

[MrPliggins]

Robin Williams, Brittany Murphy, John Ritter, Bernie Mac