Actors Who Died Tragically Young

The world is full of tragic events. But some tragic events pertaining to the death of famous celebrities leaves a void in their fans’ lives.

Posted On March 31st, 2021

Heath Ledger

Heath Andrew Ledger was an Australian singer, filmmaker, and music video producer (4 April 1979 - 22 January 2008). Ledger moved to the United States in 1998 to further grow his acting career, after performing roles in many Australian television and film productions during the 1990s. Ledger was a former child actor from Australia, best known for his Academy Award-nominated role as the gay cowboy Ennis Del Mar in the acclaimed Brokeback Mountain of director Ang Lee (2005), who first became known to American audiences in the 1999 teen film 10 Things I Hate About You. Later, when he played the part of Mel Gibson's son in the civil war drama The Patriot (2000), he passed on other teen comedies and was rewarded with a big break. Ledger appeared in two critical and commercial flops, A Knight's Story (2001), after starring in the well-reviewed Monster's Ball (2001), and Commercial Flops, A Story of the Knight (2001) and The Four Feathers (2002). In 2005, he roared back, with lead roles in no less than four films, including Casanova, in which he played the title role.

Paul Walker

Walker was quite well known for Brian O'Conner's role in the franchise "Fast & Furious" His life was shortened when, on 30 November 2013, a Porsche crashed during a few off days while he was filming the seventh film in the popular series. Walker began his acting life in the 1970s and 1980s. Despite having performed in the TV soap opera The Young and the Restless in the early 1990s, he received recognition for his performances in the teen film She's All That, and the upcoming movie Varsity Blues (1999), and gained international recognition after performing in The Fast and The Furious. (2001).

Bruce Lee

Lee Jun-fan, commonly known as Bruce Lee, was an American actor, director, martial artist, martial arts instructor and philosopher from Hong Kong (November 27, 1940-July 20, 1973). He was the founder of Jeet Kune Do, a hybrid philosophy of martial arts drawn from various fields of combat that is often credited with paving the way for modern mixed martial arts (MMA). Commentators, critics, media, and other martial artists consider Lee to be the most influential martial artist of all time and an icon of 20th-century pop culture, which bridged the gap between East and West. He is credited with helping to change the way Asians are shown in American movies. During an automated dialogue replacement session for entering the Dragon at Golden Harvest in Hong Kong, Lee collapsed on May 10, 1973. He was immediately rushed to Hong Kong Baptist Hospital to diagnose brain oedema due to seizures and headaches. Doctors diagnosed the disease. The mannitol administration allowed them to reduce the swelling. The headaches and brain oedema in its initial collapse were repeated later on the day of his death.

Marilyn Monroe

To become one of the world's greatest and most enduring sex icons, actress Marilyn Monroe overcame a rough upbringing. Her films have grossed over $200 million. She is famed for her relationships with Joe DiMaggio, Arthur Miller and, perhaps, President John F. Kennedy. On August 5, 1962, at just 36 years of age, Monroe died of a heroin overdose. Monroe was born in Los Angeles, California, on June 1, 1926. At birth, Monroe was renamed Norma Jeane Mortenson (later baptized as Norma Jeane Baker). When Monroe grew up, she spent most of her time in foster care and an orphanage. On August 5, 1962, Monroe died at her home in Los Angeles at just 36 years of age. She found an empty bottle of sleeping pills in her room. Over the years, there has been some talk that she may have been killed, but the cause of her death was formally ruled as an overdose of medication. In her beloved Emilio Pucci cap, Monroe was buried in what was known as a "Cadillac casket" the highest-end casket possible, made of strong heavy-gauge bronze and lined with champagne-coloured silk.

Jean Harlow

Jean Harlow, original name Harlean Harlow Carpenter, (born March 3, 1911, Kansas City, Missouri, U.S.-died June 7, 1937, Los Angeles, California), the original "Blonde Bombshell" American actress. Originally known for her stunning attractiveness and forthright sexuality, Harlow grew tremendously as an actress, but at the height of her career, she died prematurely. Hollywood was saddened to hear of the abrupt and shocking death of actress Jean Harlow on June 7, 1937, who succumbed at the age of 26 to uremic poisoning (now best known as acute renal failure or acute kidney failure).

Tupac Shakur

Tupac Shakur was an American rapper and actor who came to embody the gangsta-rap aesthetic of the 1990s, being an image that symbolized the heroic struggle of death. To date, he has sold 75 million songs, making him one of the best-selling artists of all time. A sensitive, precociously talented and troubled soul, on September 7, 1996, Tupac was gunned down in Las Vegas and died six days later. His assassination was never solved. As an insurgent with a purpose to express the efforts and injustices faced by many African Americans, Tupac launched his music career.