Tragic Actors - list them here

[LynneSin]

I've been reading about Judy Garland again after coming across an article about her in last months Vanity Fair. Seems we are upon the 50 aniversary of her concert at Carnegie Hall, probably one of the premiere live performances ever.

To me Judy Garland is one of the most talented actresses ever but she's also one of the most tragic. I read about how her mother allowed the Studios to start drugging her so they could not only keep Judy on a hectic filming schedule but also take off the baby fat. She was also put down alot because Judy was never a 'classic beauty'.

Judy died way too soon but she was definately memorable.

Who else do you think was a Tragic Actor

[hifiguy]

1. Montgomery Clift certainly has to be on that list. n/t

[alphafemale]

2. Stephen Baldwin

For humanity that is.

[peekaloo]

6. !

bwah

[styersc]

66. Dominique Dunne and Heather O'Rourke both of whom died

horrible deaths after appearing in the film "Poltergeist" because Satan is alive and well in Hollywood.

[Ohio Joe]

3. River Pheonix - nt

[undeterred]

10. God, he was good.

And he had so much work ahead of him.

[ScreamingMeemie]

4. Fatty Arbuckle, Jean Harlow, Clark Gable (to some extent) and

Rock Hudson.


Many people don't realize that without (the railroaded) Fatty discovering them, we quite possibly wouldn't have had greats such as Bob Hope and (yes I'm going to say it with a smile over fond memories you and I share) Buster Keaton.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

11. I'm curious, why Gable?

[ScreamingMeemie]

33. He fought the Hollywood machine, and a socialite wife, to marry

the woman he was in love with...only to lose her in a plane crash. His life, after that, became finding a doppelganger of Lombard. Working with Monroe on the set of "The Misfits" is said to have broken him. His only child (known to him) was born after his death. I've always had soft spot for Gable.

[hifiguy]

35. I loved Carole Lombard

No one ever played intelligent screwball comedy better than she did. Wonderful actress. Just saw the original "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" a few months ago at a micro-cinema a few months ago. Great little film and she was terrific.

[ScreamingMeemie]

38. Agreed. Her last film "To Be or Not to Be" is one of my favorites.

The book "Gable and Lombard" is a really great read.

[driver8]

48. She was so beautiful and so talented.

One of my favorites, too!

[dimbear]

22. Fatty was definitely America's number one comic. In the day.

He has suffered a sort of damnatio memorae. His films are nowadays extremely rare.

[ScreamingMeemie]

34. My brother has been researching and working on a screenplay

for a couple of years. What happened to Fatty, and his contributions to comedy as we know it, are immeasurable.

[CBGLuthier]

5. Mile long list. Gig Young, Brandon de Wilde, Robert Francis, James Dean

John Cazale, Steve McQueen, Albert Dekker, David Carradine, Albert Salmi, Sal Mineo, Natalie Wood, Jane Mansfield, Joan Hackett.

OK those are mostly people who died young or violently, but that's a pretty tragic thing to me.

[LibDemAlways]

19. Thanks for remembering John Cazale. So heartbreakingly perfect in

Godfather I and II. Also gave terrific performances in The Deer Hunter and Dog Day Afternoon. He was engaged to Meryl Streep when he died. What a loss.

[cemaphonic]

42. The only other movie he was in was "The Conversation."

Don't think there are too many other actors that starred only in great movies, with no duds in their resumes.

[GoCubsGo]

63. Lindsay Lohan. Seriously.

At 12-years old, she did a damn good job in the remake of "The Parent Trap." It's a shame she can't get her shit together, because I think she actually does have talent as an actor.

[GoCubsGo]

64. And, speaking of that...Natasha Richardson.

Very sad.

[travelingtypist]

65. Oh, wow. Yeah.

Seriously tragic.

[Initech]

7. Heath Ledger - why so serious?

[nolabear]

8. How can we have gotten this far w/o Marilyn Monroe and James Dean?

Electric, electric on screen and so tragic off.

[dixiegrrrrl]

9. Sheen, of course.

[dawg]

40. Seriously, that's who I thought of.

This guy starred in Wall Street and Platoon. He could have been a winner, but now he is a joke.

Sure, he's rich and has lots of women. I'm sure he would consider me a loser compared to him. But he was going to be rich regardless of what he did with his career. And with the money, the women would have come along as well. That's not winning to me.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

12. Veronica Lake

Schizophrenia, alcoholism until she died of hepatitis at 50.

[dimbear]

23. There's a moral here. Remember to tip your waitress.

You never know.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

13. George Reeves

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Reeves

George Reeves (January 5, 1914<1> – June 16, 1959) was an American actor best known for his role as Superman in the 1950s television program Adventures of Superman.

His death at age 45 from a gunshot remains a polarizing issue. The official finding was suicide, but some believe he was murdered or the victim of an accidental shooting.<2><3>

[Xipe Totec]

14. Christopher Reeve n/t

[edbermac]

15. Frances Farmer

[MiddleFingerMom]

36. Some friends and I in college made the mistake of watching "Frances" AND "Death of a Saleman"...

.
.
.
...back-to-back.
.
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.
I'm surprised any of us survived that night.
.
.
.

[PassingFair]

41. Gee...you couldn't have squeezed in Glengarry Glen Ross?

That really would have rounded out your evening.

Alt: They Shoot Horses, Don't They?

[MiddleFingerMom]

68. Glengarry Glen Ross is an AMAZING movie (so badly titled -- no one knows what the hell it is).

.
.
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Nowhere NEAR as depressing as the other two.
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And it MUST hold the record for swearing in all of film history.
.
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OK... maybe tied with the remake of "Scarface".
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Which ALSO starred Pacino. Hmmmmm.
.
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Another night that taxed our survival skills was watching "A Clockwork Orange" and "The Wall" back-to-back.
.
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We were certainly fucking FEARLESS in those days.
.
.
.

[PassingFair]

69. Did you know....

that Alec Baldwin's role was NOT in the original stage play?

It was written expressly for the film version!

What a career making role for Alec!

[PassingFair]

70. Rita Hayworth

She began showing signs of Alzheimer's at 42...a very unhappy woman for most of her adult life.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ub35gYqEWFU/THDjegHYa7I/AAAAAAAAAf0/7TPCzJpkcZY/s1600/Rita+Hayworth+1918+0040.jpg

Oops, meant to post to the OP....

[mulsh]

16. Florence Lawerence -one of the first movie stars.

here's her Wiki listing in all its tragic glory.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florence_Lawrence

here's one of her movies, she's in the white hat.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORwC7gNyUaY

[Bombero1956]

17. Sal Mineo

Natalie Wood and Corey Haim.

[emilyg]

20. and James Dean.

[Tikki]

18. Nick Adams...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_Adams_(actor)


Tikki

[nolabear]

21. Freddie Prinze

[Rambis]

50. I wrote to him in school

He killed himself soon after I got a signed picture from the fan club. Today I would be sent to counseling for sure back then they were like Oh too bad do you want to write somebody else?

[dimbear]

24. Bela Lugosi. You can watch his life go to pieces on the screen.

Folks have commented on the symbolism of the scene in "The Body Snatchers" where Karloff strangles Lugosi. Lugosi's career went straight downhill from there, what with the morphine addiction and all. A much more talented actor than he is usually credited.

And, of course, you can notice the point in "Plan Nine from Outer Space" where he dies.

[chollybocker]

25. Can I say Jim Henson?

The great invisible actor. It's impossible to imagine what he would be imagining right now.

[Skittles]

26. Carole Landis, Marilyn Monroe, Pete Duel

Inger Stevens, Elizabeth Hartman - there are so many :(

[NewJeffCT]

27. John Belushi

of course

[GoCubsGo]

62. I am still pissed off at him.

What a stupid, stupid waste. The same goes for River Phoenix.

[sarge43]

28. John Barrymore

One of the greatest until the booze destroyed him. His Hamlet is said to be definitive.

[Richardo]

29. Steve McQueen

[eShirl]

30. Andy Kaufman

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_qB-1shUSwgo/Saa117imi0I/AAAAAAAAFok/-PiyRLQkPn4/s400/taxi,+c.+1979.jpg



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_Kaufman

[JonLP24]

31. Dorothy Dandridge

[Tabasco_Dave]

32. Sharon Tate

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lPaeEPNCFY Killed by the Manson family for those who don't know.

[ohiosmith]

37. Bruce and Brandon Lee

[bikebloke]

39. Tom Cruise

...well, don't we wish.

[charlie and algernon]

43. Heath Ledger, John Candy, Chris Farley

[denem]

44. Heath

[Divameow77]

45. Britney Murphy

She had potential and it was so bizarre how she died...

[gizmonic]

46. Clara Bow

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clara_Bow

[RedCloud]

47. John Wilkes Booth. One bad day just ruined his career.

[TZ]

49. Rock Hudson

He had to hide what he was his entire life and he died in an unpleasant manner from AIDS well before medicine had a chance to be able to treat it.

[sakabatou]

51. Heather O'Rourke, others from the Poltergeist series

[KamaAina]

52. Samantha Smith

the little girl who gained fame by writing a letter to Pres. Carter, had been cast in a TV series called "55 Lime Street" right before she was killed in a plane crash in Maine. :(

[Broken_Hero]

53. Tom Sizemore, nt

[geardaddy]

54. Is he dead?

[Broken_Hero]

56. I don't think so....

I remember watching his addiction/reality show on VH1 a few years back, showing his ups/downs in terms of his drug use, and his career.

[geardaddy]

57. Ah, ok, that would make him tragic.

Thanks

[geardaddy]

55. Jon Voigt

He went looney toons.

[BlueIris]

58. Heath Ledger.

I also think what's happened to Lindsay Lohan is really sad.

[El Supremo]

59. Rudolph Valentino

Women went nuts when he suddenly died.

[travelingtypist]

60. Brad Renfro

I only know about him because he was so amazing at 12 in The Client with Susan Sarandon and Tommy Lee Jones and Apt Pupil with Ian McKellan. He died within a week of Heath.

[trof]

61. Patty Duke, for sure.

Duke and her older brother Raymond experienced a childhood of hard times. Her father was an alcoholic, and her mother suffered from clinical depression and was prone to violence. When Duke was 6, her mother threw her father out; when she was 8, her mother turned Duke's care over to John and Ethel Ross, who became her managers. The Rosses recognized her talent and promoted her as a child actress.<3>

The Rosses' methods were often unscrupulous and exploitive; they consistently billed Duke as two years younger than she was, and padded her resume with some false credits.<4> It was Ethel Ross who gave the sweeping name-change order, "Anna Marie is dead, you are Patty now," hoping the change in her first name would allow her to duplicate the success of child actress Patty McCormack.<5> This act would have painful repercussions for Duke in the decades to come.<5>
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patty_Duke

[Tom_Foolery]

67. Gail Russell...

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0751149/

[blogslut]

71. Alan Ladd

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Ladd

[solara]

72. Bob Crane, Jeff Conaway, Gene Anthony Ray

Woops, I think Jeff is still alive, but a tragic figure nonetheless

[TuxedoKat]

73. Vivien Leigh, Linda Darnell, Robert Walker, Jayne Mansfield, Sharon Tate

there are a few others I can't recall right now. For the above their ages were 54, 48, 32, 34 and 26 at death. You might also include George Raft, a fairly long life, but didn't seem very happy, except maybe towards the end it was okay.

[Pool Hall Ace]

74. Tyrone Power

[Archae]

75. Christopher Reeve