It is the old saying “the brightest flame burns quickest”. When the fallen are young and famous, their deaths are felt culturally, in our music, our movies and our literature. Whenever a celebrity or famous personality dies, the world seems to light up with cries of, ‘He was too young’ or, ‘She could have done so much more’. It’s even worse when these celebrities are in their first few decades of life, during a time when they are producing so much work that the world remembers them for. The last century has taken many talented souls from us. But, regardless of their accomplishments during life, some have found even more success after passing. Still, we miss them and can’t help but wonder what might have been. Here is a list of 10 celebrities with ties to the movies or television that we lost way too soon.
Top 10 Famous Stars Who Died Too Young.
1. Divya Bharti
She was just a teenager when hailed as one of the most vivacious and gifted female stars to watch out for in years to come. Also being touted as the future reigning queen of Bollywood Divya Bharati, had indeed attained incredible heights of success at a very young age. Unfortunately destiny had other plans and she fell to her death from her fifth floor apartment in a Mumbai suburb on April 5th 1993. She was just nineteen and the cruel shackles of mortality nipped her life in the bud leaving a lot of unanswered questions about her terrible end. She died at the age of 19.
2. Marilyn Monroe
The hottest bombshell in the world.Ever.No one even comes close to the kind of iconic status Marilyn Monroe, an American actress, model, and singer, who became a major s.x symbol, starring in a number of commercially successful motion pictures during the 1950s and early 1960s. She was famous for some controversial relationships and an epitome of breath taking beauty. Her mother was a filmcutter at RKO Studios who, widowed and mentally ill, abandoned her to sequence of foster homes. She was almost smothered to death at two, nearly raped at six. Monroe was found dead on August 5, 1962, in her Brentwood home. At 4:25 a.m. her psychiatrist, Dr. Ralph Greenson called the local police after determining her in a motionless status. After Monroe’s autopsy, it became clear that she was habitual of consuming Nembutal and Chloral Hydrate. Her “probable suicide” is still a subject of controversy theory among debaters as it often relates with CIA and Kennedy brothers. She was 36 years old at the time of her death.
3. Bruce Lee
Bruce Lee, a Chinese American actor from Hong Kong, was considered one of the greatest martial arts exponents of all time. He is credited with popularizing the martial arts in the west by showcasing his skills in many Hollywood films. But before he could expand his body of work, he died as a result of hypersensitivity to a certain medicine he was being administered at that time. He was 32.Given his iconic status, there are many conspiracy theories still doing rounds about his death.
4. Jean Harlow
Jean Harlow was an American film actress and s.x symbol of the 1930s. Known as the “blonde Bombshell” and the “Platinum Blonde”, Harlow was ranked as one of the greatest movie stars of all time by the American Film Institute. She died of uremic poisoning (brought on by acute nephritis) at the age of 26 on June 7, 1937, while filming Saratoga with Clark Gable.
5. Aaliyah
Aaliyah Dana Haughton, who performed under the mononym Aaliyah, was an American recording artist, dancer, actress and model. Aaliyah Dana Haughton died on August 25, 2001, when her over weighted aircraft disintegrated just after the takeoff from an airport in Bahamas. She was accompanied by a pilot (unapproved to fly a plain) and her seven associates. Later, medical reports revealed that pilot, Luis Morales III was hyped with heroin and alcohol while piloting.
6. Madhubala
Mumtaz Jahan Begum Dehlavi, known by her screen name Madhubala was a Hindi movie actress. The actress with the million dollar smile ruled the hearts of millions in the formative years of Indian Cinema. Likened to Marilyn Monroe; Madhubala is the vintage beauty of Indian Film Industry. The Anarkali of Indian Cinema was born with a complex heart condition, which was difficult to be treated in those days. This Bollywood star eventually succumbed to her illness at the age of 36 in the year 1969 leaving a void in the Indian Celluloid Industry forever.
7. River Phoenix
River Jude Phoenix was an American film actor, musician, and activist. He was the oldest brother of fellow actors Rain, Joaquin, Liberty, and Summer Phoenix. American teen icon, River Phoenix died on October 31, 1993, after consuming a heavy amount of cocaine and heroin. On the day of this incident, he was all set for perform a musical show in a Hollywood night club, owned by Johnny Depp. But he crumpled outside the club and was admitted in the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where he died while inserting a packemaker.
8. Sal Mineo
Salvatore “Sal” Mineo, Jr., was an American film and theatre actor, best known for his performance as John “Plato” Crawford opposite James Dean in the film Rebel Without a Cause. In 1976, Mineo’s career had begun to turn around. Playing the role of a bisexual burglar in a series of stage performances of the comedy P.S. Your Cat Is Dead in San Francisco, Mineo received substantial publicity from many positive reviews, and he moved to Los Angeles along with the play. Arriving home after a rehearsal on February 12, 1976, Mineo was stabbed to death in the alley behind his apartment building in West Hollywood, California. He was 37 years old.
9. Jeff Buckley
Jeffrey Scott “Jeff” Buckley, son of Tim Buckley, also a musician, was an American jazz singer and devotee of Nusrat Fataeh Ali Khan, Godhead of Qawwali, Jeff was one of the most noteworthy musician of 1990′s. On May 29, 1997, he decided to take a swim in his favorite Wolf River Harbor. Since then, he went missing and finally on 4th June his rotten body was discovered in Mississippi River. His autopsy indicated no signs of alcohol or drug consumption and clarified that entire case was related to accidental drowning. Buckley and his work remain popular and are regularly featured in “greatest” lists in the music press.
10. Natalie Wood
Natalie Wood was an American film and television actress best known for her screen roles in Miracle on 34th Street, Splendor in the Grass, Rebel Without a Cause, and West Side Story. Natalie Wood appeared in 56 films for TV and the silver screen and received 3 Oscar nominations before turning 25. At age 43, Wood drowned near Santa Catalina Island, California at the time her last film, Brainstorm (1983), was in production with co-star Christopher Walken. Her death was declared an accident for 31 years; in 2012 after a new investigation the cause was reclassified as “undetermined”.