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Golden Era stars who died way before their time

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13,460
Location
Orange County, CA
Thomas Ince, 42 (heart attack* aboard William Randolph Hearst's yacht, 1924)
*official cause of death though many believe he was murdered

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Montgomery Clift, 45 (heart attack, 1966)

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Kurt Gerron, 47 (murdered at Auschwitz, 1944)
While at Theresienstadt concentration camp he was forced by the Nazis to produce a propaganda film purporting that the Jews were being well-treated. Upon completion of the film, Gerron and many of the other inmates at Theresienstadt were sent to Auschwitz.

seen here with Marlene Dietrich in The Blue Angel
url
 
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C-dot

Call Me a Cab
Messages
2,908
Location
Toronto, Canada
Russ Columbo, singer, violinist and actor. January 14, 1908 – September 2, 1934 Age 26. Gunshot

There's an interesting story behind his death too: he was shot accidentally while his friend, Lansing Brown, was showing him a pistol from his collection.

At the time, Russ was engaged to Carole Lombard. His mother was in frail health, so she wasn't told of her son's death. Everyone in Russ' social circle, including Carole, carried on the charade that he was alive and well for about 7 years until his mother's own death.
 
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Connery

One Too Many
Messages
1,125
Location
Crab Key
There's an interesting story behind his death too: he was shot accidentally while his friend, Lansing Brown, was showing him a pistol from his collection.

At the time, Russ was engaged to Carole Lombard. His mother was in frail health, so she wasn't told of her son's death. Everyone in Russ' social circle, including Carole, carried on the charade that he was alive and well for about 7 years until his mother's own death.

Thanks for that information C-dot. Seven years is a long time to keep that charade going on without the mother seeing her son and catching on. I wonder how they managed that...[huh]
 

HadleyH

I'll Lock Up
Messages
4,811
Location
Top of the Hill
Let's face it, most of 20s and 30s film actors were wiped out before their time, who knows why may be people lived shorter lives then.



Before there was Valentino and before Clark Gable and before all of them, there was Wallace Reid the original "screen's most perfect lover".

And I can see why!;)

Dead at 31
Reason, addiction to morphine

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Shangas

I'll Lock Up
Messages
6,116
Location
Melbourne, Australia
I'm amazed nobody has mentioned...

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'Major' Alton Glenn Miller. 1904-1944. Missing in Action - December 15th 1944.

On his way across the Channel from London to Paris, it's strongly suspected that Miller's plane was accidently destroyed by bombs dropped by Allied bomber-aircraft returning from an aborted mission. The wreckage and Miller's body was never found.

He was 40 years old.
 

Blackthorn

I'll Lock Up
Messages
4,567
Location
Oroville
I'm amazed nobody has mentioned...

Glen_miller.jpg


'Major' Alton Glenn Miller. 1904-1944. Missing in Action - December 15th 1944.

On his way across the Channel from London to Paris, it's strongly suspected that Miller's plane was accidently destroyed by bombs dropped by Allied bomber-aircraft returning from an aborted mission. The wreckage and Miller's body was never found.

He was 40 years old.
Well done, I had forgotten Glenn Miller.
 

skyvue

Call Me a Cab
Messages
2,221
Location
New York City
James Murray became an overnight star in King Vidor's THE CROWD (1928) and went on to star in other films, but he became a derelict alcoholic and drowned at age 35 in the Hudson River, likely a victim of either suicide or foul play.

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Rags Ragland rose from starring as a comic at Minksy's Burlesque to being one of the top comic foils in Hollywood, but he died three days before his 41st birthday of kidney failure related to his abuse of alcohol. Frank Sinatra, one of Ragland's good friends, sang at his funeral.

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Messages
13,460
Location
Orange County, CA
Olive Thomas, 25 (accidental poisoning, 1920)

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Virginia Rappé, 26 (ruptured bladder, 1921)
her death in a room at the St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco precipitated the Fatty Arbuckle scandal

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Connery

One Too Many
Messages
1,125
Location
Crab Key
Alma Rubens (February 19, 1897 – January 22, 1931) Age 33 Pneumonia and/or drug addiction have been given as cause(s) of death


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Amy Jeanne

Call Me a Cab
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2,858
Location
Colorado
Thanks -- I looooooove Marjorie White! She was so cute and funny. She and El Brendel are my two favourites in Just Imagine (1930). They MAKE that movie :)

She and Thelma Todd were two TRAGIC losses in 1935.
 

Fletch

I'll Lock Up
Messages
8,865
Location
Iowa - The Land That Stuff Forgot
Musicians and bandleaders

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Chick Webb, 1939, age 34 (spinal tuberculosis)

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Bunny Berigan, 1942, age 33 (liver failure)

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Chu Berry, 1941, age 31 (auto accident)

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Charlie Christian, 1942, age 24 (tuberculosis)

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Davey Tough, 1948, age 41 (head trauma)

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Earl Burtnett, 1936, age 39 (complications of appendectomy)

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Rudy Wiedoeft, 1940, age 47 (liver failure)

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Elmer Feldkamp, 1938, age 28 (appendicitis)

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Fats Navarro, 1950, age 26 (tuberculosis plus overdose)

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Michel Warlop, 1947, age 36 (hypothermia)
 
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Messages
13,460
Location
Orange County, CA
Sam Warner, 40 (sinus infection, 1927)
One of the five Warner Brothers, Sam Warner was the driving force behind the development of the "talkies". Sadly, he died shortly before the premiere of The Jazz Singer

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Sal Mineo, 37 (murdered, 1976)

seen here with James Dean in Rebel Without A Cause
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Widebrim

I'll Lock Up
John Hodiak, dead from a heart attack at age 41. Known primarily for his roles in Lifeboat and A Bell for Adano (as well as Somewhere in the Night, a rather confusing Noir from whence the below photo comes), he was well-respected in the Hollywood community. Proud of his Ukrainian-Polish ancestry, he refused to give in to L. B. Meyer's pleas that he change his name.

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