Legends In Celebrity Death

Matthew Gates 50m 12,554 #celebritydeath

The views of this article are the perspective of the author and may not be reflective of Confessions of the Professions.

This Page Is A Memorial, Please Respect The Deceased By Scrolling Quietly

Death is an inevitable fact of life. It is a one-time occurrence for every living thing. Death is permanent and there is nothing anyone can do to undo it. Death is an experience that we all must face whether we want to or not. It is indifferent to every man, woman, child, and every living species on this planet. It does not discriminate against the rich, the poor, the sick, the healthy, the young, or the old alike. Death does not care when you lived, only that you will die. No matter where you are in the world, or how busy you are, death will find you and take you without any regard for your life. Death can be violent or peaceful. When death comes, all of your business on Earth is finished, whether you completed it or not. Death will eventually have everyone. Without death, there cannot be life, and without life, there cannot be death. Death is needed in order for the cycle of life to work. Death brings with it a balance and peace to the individual who it takes. Death is the great equalizer, as Burgess Meredith put it in The Twilight Zone’s The Obsolete Man.

It is very hard to foresee death happening to any of us, but no one lives forever, and no one is exempt from the forces of death. Grasping such a reality, even after facing the death of loved ones and having near death experiences, it is so hard for humans to fathom the idea that they can die. However, nearly 150,000 humans die per day on this Earth from disease, murder, suicide, body failure, accidental death, or any other means that can kill. That is equivalent to about 2 deaths per second, 110 deaths per minute, 6,400 deaths per hour, 56 million deaths per year, and about 4.5 billion deaths in a person’s average lifetime (around 75 years). When a natural disaster or a war occurs, this number is greatly increased. Nearly everything, anything, and anyone can end your life, from choking on a small cherry, falling down the stairs, drowning, to dying in a plane crash, car accident, getting shot by a gun, stabbed, strangled, to suffering from disease, or your own body turning against you or failing, sometimes considered natural causes, or Earth-related natural causes such as earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes, tornadoes, storms, or even volcanoes. The odds of death and dying are pretty high for everyone living. All living beings face death everyday and celebrities are not exempt.

We grow up watching television and movies, often becoming acquainted with many celebrities who are or were such great actors and actresses, that we feel as if they are a part of our family because we grew up watching them and watching their progress from movie to movie or show to show. While we may not know any celebrities personally, we grow to love them and support them in all they do. Sometimes celebrities may have already passed away before we are born or when we are young children, but we become familiar with their popular works because they continue to be shown on television as re-run episodes. Whether you are watching classic movies or modern day movies, celebrities leave this feeling of comfort on us when we see them and can often pull off any character, no matter who they are acting. We sympathize with them as actors and actresses and love them for who they are as real life people.

Celebrities are far from flawless, many born with or developing body illness-related issues over time. Many celebrities become addicted to drugs or alcohol, or develop anger issues, anxiety issues, or other forms of mental illness. Others may become involved in life threatening situations and or become victims of murder. Celebrities may die young or old. Celebrities are only human and succumb to illness, violence, drug abuse and addiction, suicide, and eventually death. There are no special celebrity hospitals that keep them invulnerable and alive. There is no special place for them on Earth where they go to be protected. Celebrities do not get extra protection unless they actually hire the protection themselves. While in public, celebrities may try to remain hidden while they go out to eat or shop, but they are just as vulnerable as anyone else, capable of dying at any time.

Our lives may or may not be personally affected by the death of a celebrity. We may not have to personally deal with the death of a celebrity because they are not in our lives firsthand, but the effects of the death of a celebrity has on us are really long-lasting and underlying. When a celebrity dies, it means that whatever films they were working on may never be completed, or if they were completed, it is their very last film. They will never ever make another film again. The last film portrays the last bit of life they lived before their real life took a turn for the worst and death became imminent.

Celebrities will always be fascinating to us and they will always become legends in their own right. The job of a celebrity is tough, but can be rewarding. While the fame and fortune may be appealing, celebrities may drop out of the spotlight in order to avoid the attention, stress, the lack of privacy, or just to experience a “normal” life again. Even dropping out from the spotlight does not guarantee that they can avoid publicity. The media and tabloids have only increased publicity with advancing technology and companies willing to pay big bucks for any celebrity gossip. Celebrities are entertainers and are almost always remembered for the characters they played. We love them and they are a part of our everyday lives.

We never think that they can or will die, but all celebrities will die eventually. Sometimes we even remember the exact day when they died and what we were doing when we found out they had passed away. When they die, a part of us dies and we are saddened by their death. We may feel as if our own family member passed away and we were all hopeless to do anything about it. We will never see them in another movie or show again. Although we didn’t know them personally, they are personal to us. We only have their memories to live with through their past films. Your favorite celebrities will die and continue to die throughout your lifetime until eventually, you succumb to the same fate as well.

No one really knows when or how they will die. It is normally never planned. No one can predict their own death, but we all have a very short time on this Earth, and what we do with our time can matter if we make it matter, especially if it makes a positive lasting impact for future generations. In the end, we all must accept the fact that we die. Everyone dies.

In loving and cherished memory of all these amazing celebrities who once wandered this Earth… and left a legacy in one form or another. The following is a list of beloved celebrities.  They may be gone, but they will never be forgotten.

This list is far from complete, but gives you an idea of all the celebrities we have lost in the last century since the film industry began to grant people celebrity status. It does not include music artists, directors, screenwriters, writers, or playwrights.  For a list of several music celebrities who died young and became legends in their own right, take a look at A Closer Look: The Role Of Drugs In Making The Infamous 27 Club [Infolgraphic].

*This is a listing of 842 posthumous celebrities — in order to appear on this list, the celebrity had to have passed away before their last work was released.

Sources of confirmation: IMDB.com, Wikipedia.org, The DeathList, Who’s Alive? Who’s Dead?, People.com, and multiple others (Last Updated: March 2023)

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