Death of someone famous; was there one that shook you up?
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Jude (
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)
June 20th, 2011
For me, I wouldn’t say “shook me up”, but, I was saddened by the death of Randy Macho Man Savage (I grew up watching WWF).
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I was just thinking about what a sad day it’s going to be when Dick Van Dyke passes away.
Gregory Peck and Luciano Pavorotti
Mr. Rogers. He had a profound effect on my childhood and I imagine lots of other people too.
Yet, people on the internets are mourning more over a guy who was known for shoving toy cars up his rear, and dying quite the same way!
Steve Irwin. Holy balls I loved that man.
Freddy Mercury. I have never really felt anything but curiosity other times.
I asked this too. My question was a long time ago (in Fluther years), but my answer is still Luciano Pavarotti.
Two others that will or may come in my lifetime and that are going to hit me hard will be Pete Seeger’s and Bob Dylan’s.
President John Fitzgerald Kennedy, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Etc.
My favorite Jackass died today, Ryan Dunn
Didn’t shake me up, but it’s always sad to see someone so young die. I’ve had a lot of that in my life the past year. :(
@jonsblond It surprised me that he didn’t die doing a Jackass stunt. I was a little upset.
Michael Jackson’s death was a big one for me.
The assassination of John Lennon.
The woman (she plays the mom in “The Parent Trap”) that hit her hea…holy shit a moth is on my couch and those things scare me…. hit her head while skiing.. i like to ski so that scares me
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It really weirds me out that Peter Steele is dead. It just doesn’t compute for some reason.
And it really throws off the vibe listening to a tongue-in-cheek goth band once someone is actually dead.
Peter Jennings. It’s so strange to not be able to watch him on the news.
I was surprised and sad when John Denver died.
Seth Putnam died last week. I was also saddened by the death of George Carlin
@jonsblond Did you see the remains of his car? That’s what disturbed me about his death
Yes, Michael Jackson was a shocker, he was my age exactly!
Kinda an ” Oh wow” moment, but, I am also not a drug user, beyond the occasional happy brownie moment. lol
Liz Taylor a bit, she was lovely, read a huge article on her life in People mag, at the dentist a few weeks ago.
Jerry Garcia was an icon, had a Jerry wake all by myself back in 95, stayed up all night drinking wine, listening to the old tunes and singing.
I am not a celebrity type at all, really could care less, but a few have touched me.
The death of River Phoenix really saddened me, mostly because he portrayed himself as one thing, but then died of a drug overdose. I looked up to him.
Heath Ledger’s death was also a shocker. It didn’t really affect me so much as make me feel so bewildered at how easy it is for doctors to overprescribe psychotropic medications so much so that it leads to death. Sigh.
Yes, Princess Diana was another one.
@linguaphile Heath Ledger’s death was very hard for me. I was one of his hugest fans. I swear, I cried for a while when I found out.
Rick Martin was a hockey player with the Buffalo Sabres, and a great one at that. I grew up watching him play on the French Connection line. He was amazing. It was odd, but we were in Buffalo when it happened. My husband decided that it would be fun to go up for a weekend, go to a hockey game, and hang out with my friends. He died on the Sunday that we were there. They announced it at the game and I cried. I wasn’t sobbing but I did cry. It was really hard to be at that game… so many memories of going to games with my dad, watching some great hockey, knowing the contributions that Rico had made to the community in Western New York. At the end of the game, the Buffalo players gathered on the ice and all pointed their sticks in salute to his retired jersey in the rafters. Buffalo won the game that night with 6 goals and you could see them working their butts off trying to get a seventh goal because Rico’s number was 7.
Dang it, I’m tearing up as I type this!
Princess Diana’s funeral was hard to watch because of William and Harry. It was so sad to see those boys.
Michael Jackson, because he was young, and his latter-day music was the soundtrack of my childhood.
Ray Charles. I don’t know why him more than others, but I really was unhappy about it.
@lonelydragon I definitely agree with that one. It was sad and surprising when Heath Ledger and Brittany Murphy died.
It’s always kinda weird and sad to watch an old movie or tv show (which I love doing) with someone who died. I catch myself doing that “Oh, look how young she looks. She’d dead now, you know” thing.
@Blondesjon
Oh jeez, HOW could I forget Lennon! I remember that day very well.
+1 for the Michael Jackson death.
I wasn’t a HUGE fan of MJ. I didn’t get giggly when I heard he was gearing up for another tour. But when I did listen to some of his songs, they still moved me.
I remember, I was in Beverly Hills when he died. My coworker said “guess who just died?” I didn’t believe him when he told me it was Michael. I was shocked. And then I was shocked that it was so profound for me.
He was truly someone that was such a huge star, and so different (even if just in an odd way), that he just surpassed humanity to me. I know it sounds cheezy, and when he was alive, trust me, I’d make fun of myself for typing this, but that’s how I felt when I heard the news, and that’s how I feel now!
My stepdad didn’t talk for a week when Dale Earnhardt died. That’s a true story. Not even to my mom. He lost weight and didn’t eat dinner. That shocked him.
I was pretty upset when Dio died, too. I love Rainbow’s “Rising” and I have it on vinyl. “Run with the Wolf” makes me cry sometimes.
70’s Elvis 80’s Lennon and 90’s Rabin.
Elvis probably affected me most as a young woman, and George Carlin for the now me. We sort of grew up together.
This might sound strange, but Maurice Gibb of Bee Gees fame. My sister was such a fan of them and I remember her phoning me so upset he had passed. I sort of had my first sense of what mortal souls we are. We listened to all of their classic hits recently when she visited me.
On the other hand, as I read all the answers of these great artists, (r.i,p. Clarence) they never really die. You can explore their work, and learn of their genius.
Charlton Heston is the only celebrity I can think of over whose death I was saddened.
And if surviving WWI veterans count as celebrities, I was sad when they all passed as well.
Jim Hensen
Like thousands of children, I grew up with Kermit the Frog on Sesame Street and followed him later to the Muppet Show.
Muppets and Hensen’s brand of magic were a very big part of my growing up. I was very sad when he died.
Osama Binladen. I could barely contain myself.
Thinking about this answer more, I’d go with Tim Russert.
I feel he was one of the most trusted journalists (if not the most) of my time, and I was really sad when he died.
I was really sad when David Bloom died. Tim Russert was a shocker and @jonsblond‘s response brought back that feeling when David died.
@bkcunningham That was a sad death too. I did like David. He left behind 3 young daughters too. So sad.
Grete Waitz, the Norwegian marathoner who died on19 April 2011. I’m stunned that such a power of strength could die at age 57 from cancer. She won the New York City marathon 9 times from 1978 to 1988 also placed first in the marathon at the1983 World Championship and 2nd at the 1984 Olympics. God bless her.
@cprevite I remember that date also. Jim Henson and Sammy Davis Jr. died on the same day and I was visiting my grandmother in Oklahoma when a tornado went through her town. Me, grandma and my mom were crouching in her clawfoot tub waiting on the tornado to pass. When we got out and watched the news, it was about the passing of Jim Henson and Sammy Davis, not the tornado.
I have been greatly saddened by a number of celebrity deaths, but nothing can match how I felt when
John Lennon was killed.
I didn’t cry. I wailed. I screamed. I balled my head off. I was lost in agony for days.
Lennon was my childhood, my teen years, and a spokesman for my attitudes.
To this day, I cannot watch any media involving his killer. My stomache turns, and I have to turn away.
John Lennon made me cry. Murdered! I mean, I still think, what the hell!? Murdered in the street like a damn dog. I was just shocked to the core when that happened.
Kurt Cobain shook me up, too. Every time I saw him on TV, he just looked like he wanted help. It almost hurt to watch him. His eyes were just haunted and it was a little depressing to see everyone around him pretty much ignore it.
I wasn’t shocked with Michael Jackson so much. Wasn’t it just a matter of time as he became more a relic of the past? I figured he wouldn’t’ve been able to cope with growing old and losing his dancing abilities. It just so happened that an awful doctor took him out before the real physical decline began.
Never at the time of their death, but I have looked back at music and history and thought, “Damn… If only..”. Particular cases: John Lennon, John F Kennedy, Jim Morrison (Shit, this pattern of J names is freaking me out..) Heath Ledger.
When Patrick Swayze died, I was in the car with my friend. We had the radio turned down very low and we were on our way to pick up pizza. Suddenly, the radio declared that he was dead and I yelled, “Oh my god! Patrick Swayze is dead!” My friend and I immediately called our parents.
That one shook me. :(
Princess Diana’s death really shook me up. I’m not sure why. I was never particularly interested in the Royal family’s lives before, but I was completely overwhelmed with sadness when I saw it unfolding on the news.
I miss Phil Hartman. I loved his characters. Also Gilda Radner. She was amazing!
@MyNewtBoobs I completely agree with you about Dick Van Dyke…it will be a devastating loss to the entertainment industry
@Raven_Rising I don’t know that he’s doing anything in the entertainment industry right now (or has been for awhile), but the chimney sweep from Mary Poppins has to be immortal! Same goes for Julie Andrews – that’s going to be a rough one.
@Raven_Rising
Oh yes, I loved Gilda Radner. Wow, time warp, I was about 16 when the original SNL premiered. Oh, and Michael Landon, I loved Little House as a pre-teen, young teen.
Coloma, I heard Michael was not a very nice man in ‘real’ life. That made me sad. I had a crush on him in Bonanza.
@faye
Oh, that is too bad. I never heard anything like that. I loved Bonanza too. :-)
Oh, and Elizabeth Montgomery and Dick York. Aaah…60’s time warp. haha
I always wanted my hair to be like Elizabeth Montgomery’s.
@chyna: I had forgotten about Sammy Davis Jr. dying on the same day. That’s an almost surreal story you have there. What a memory.
Princess Diana. It was shocking when I heard the news.
Dusty Springfield.
My best friend called me when Elizabeth Taylor died and we realised that, although neither of us were massive fans, we both felt quite sad about it.
Of the more recent ones:
Benazir Bhutto in 2007
Heath Ledger, and Douglas Adams (writer).
Yeah, a few. John Lennon. I just cried when I heard that.
Marc Bolan from T-Rex. I was never into T-Rex but the guy had just got his life together. Kicked his drug habit and was getting on with things. It just seemed so unfair (but then as we all know, life is).
Heath Ledger… that was just so so sad. He used to shit me off when I saw him in interviews originally until I realised he was just so, so shy. He was a great actor though with a brilliant future in front of him and again… what a bloody waste. I cried a lot. I know that’s daft because I didn’t know him but it was just that waste factor. That gone too soon thing.
Odd one, because he used to give me a bit of cultural cringe, but Steve Irwin. I cried and cried when I heard that. Crikey, he annoyed the shit out of me BUT he was genuine and had heart and was sincere in his love for wildlife and it wasn’t the right way for such a man to go.
Can’t think of anyone else now… sighs…
Actually, I just remembered a funny story… about Princess Diana’s death. Not that that was funny but this story still makes me giggle. So I will bore you and share it.
I had been at the library studying and I got home (had no idea about the accident) and my then husband said… your brother was on the phone and he said Princess Di has been in an accident and is seriously injured. He said .. Pavarotti was chasing her and the car crashed!!!
I was like WTF? Pavarotti was chasing Princess Di!! Why? Why is Luciano Pavarotti chasing Princess Di!! I had visions of Pavarotti in an open top car, singing loudly all the way, chasing Princess Di in her car up a sort of Monte Carlo mountain road…
Then I realised…...my brother meant PAPARAZZI!!!
Well it made me laugh (perhaps you had to be there though) ... and now .. I know its wrong, but it still makes me giggle a little when I think of that mistake. One word and the whole message is changed.
Jim Croce. He was just 30 and doing really well on the charts (with such songs as Time in A Bottle, Bad, Bad Leroy Brown etc.) when the small engine plane he was in crashed in 1973. I still often think of him and hum his music.
Patrick Swayze and Brittany Murphy.
I haven’t been very shocked by any celebrity’s death.
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