Celebrity Death: What celebrity death either hit you the hardest or made you sad?

Ozz

Registered User
Oct 25, 2009
9,470
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Hockeytown
Why wouldn't Howe count? You don't get much more popular than him.

Didn't know if we were counting sports celebs. I would have expected the OP to at least mention him considering we're on a hockey forum to begin with.
 

aleshemsky83

Registered User
Apr 8, 2008
17,813
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I loved caillou when I was a kid watched it every day with my mom so I was very sad to find out the young lady that voiced him died in a car accident. Also, was very sad to hear about Christina grimmie just because of how young she was.

But other than that I don't think I've felt genuine sadness just a kind of nostalgia for the work of someone like Michael Jackson and Robin Williams who's work I loved so much.
 

MoreOrr

B4
Jun 20, 2006
24,429
450
Mexico
I'd have to say Leonard Cohen for the hardest.

But these 3 also were big: David Bowie, Alan Rickman, and Carrie Fisher.
 

x Tame Impala

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I'm only 27 so it's hard for deaths to hit me like they have with some of you older folks. Like some of you have said, a lot of these entertainers were a huge part of your life for a long time. I haven't had the chance to experience that yet. Hopefully this isn't too crass, but most of these deaths are just stories of the day that are sad, make me pause for a moment, and then I get on with my day. With that said...

Lou Reed.

Ironically enough it's entirely because of HF Boards that I discovered what would instantly become my favorite band in Velvet Underground.

I made this thread...

http://hfboards.mandatory.com/showthread.php?t=1488975&highlight=albums+from+each+decade

...in August 2013 and someone recommended him to me. I spent almost every day obsessing over all of the Velvet's albums and a lot of Lou Reed's solo stuff. Then a little over two months later, he died. Right at the height of my obsession. It legitimately bummed me out for a full two days.

Bowie was a rough one too. Robin Williams' death was particularly sad because of what hell his life must've been prior to his suicide.

I don't know if Christopher Hitchens counts, but his death (the 5 year anniversary of him dying was just a few weeks ago) hit me pretty hard and still does to this day. I can't watch his "final speech" on YouTube without tearing up.
 

Shareefruck

Registered User
Apr 2, 2005
28,972
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^ Looking at that thread, I'm going to shamelessly claim some credit for that. :yo:

I share the whole VU being the most instantaneously clicking obsession view.

Don't know if it seems inhumane to think this way, but I think for me, because I don't know these people personally, and their work is immortal, it usually doesn't really hit me that hard when they go. When they're still doing their best work and their lives are robbed from them, however, it seems to hit harder. Watching Christopher Hitchens go out there and discuss and face his death the way he did (his views on it were brave and inspiring), while he was still at his best, and watching that weaker version of himself still go out there and do the good work and be really effective, was devastating, for example. Although I did react strongly when Lou Reed went, and that doesn't fit what I'm saying.

Oddly enough, David Bowie didn't really hit me personally, but then in the days following his death, I went through his discography directly in tribute to that, clicked with Station to Station in a way that I never did with him, and I'm pretty sure if I experienced his death all over again, I might have reacted differently.
 
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The Nuge

Some say…
Jan 26, 2011
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British Columbia
I don't even know. Probably Rickman. It's been a tough year no matter what you're a fan of. Athletes alone you've Palmer/Howe/Ali/Fernandez.
 

Jussi

Registered User
Feb 28, 2002
91,752
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This year: perhaps Carrie Fisher slightly ahead of Bowie, Prince and George Michael. Only Madonna and maybe some rock bands representing my 80's anymore...

All time: Michael Jackson and Robin Williams.
 
Apr 1, 2006
3,280
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This year: David Bowie. It'll be a year already in two weeks and I still don't get it. Still mourning. Still listening to him.
Recent years: Robin Williams. What a shock that was. I've seen every movies, every interviews (which were often as entertaining as his movies). How can a human being be so funny yet be so desperate? Pagliacci indeed.
All time: The T-Rex.
 

kdb209

Registered User
Jan 26, 2005
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This year: Bowie (he just seemed so ageless), followed by Prince.

Recent years: Robin Williams.

All time: Robin Williams or Jim Henson.
 

aufheben

#Norris4Fox
Jan 31, 2013
53,652
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^ Looking at that thread, I'm going to shamelessly claim some credit for that. :yo:

I share the whole VU being the most instantaneously clicking obsession view.

Don't know if it seems inhumane to think this way, but I think for me, because I don't know these people personally, and their work is immortal, it usually doesn't really hit me that hard when they go. When they're still doing their best work and their lives are robbed from them, however, it seems to hit harder. Watching Christopher Hitchens go out there and discuss and face his death the way he did (his views on it were brave and inspiring), while he was still at his best, and watching that weaker version of himself still go out there and do the good work and be really effective, was devastating, for example. Although I did react strongly when Lou Reed went, and that doesn't fit what I'm saying.

Oddly enough, David Bowie didn't really hit me personally, but then in the days following his death, I went through his discography directly in tribute to that, clicked with Station to Station in a way that I never did with him, and I'm pretty sure if I experienced his death all over again, I might have reacted differently.
Hitch is another one, I knew I was forgetting a few.
 

yada

move 2 dallas 4 work
Nov 6, 2006
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watching happy pony
All time 2pac

This year gordie howe. Even at such an old age he still had his smile and was such an ambassador for the game. You never heard anything bad ever said about him.

Aside from carrie fisher i dont really care about anything these other celebrities did
I didnt listen to bowie or prince. Carrie fisher really has a eh feel to me because star wars was so long ago and shed gotten up in age and for the most part wasnt visible to me.
 

x Tame Impala

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Aug 24, 2011
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Happy to see that Christopher Hitchens resonated with some of you the way he did/continues to with me. It's so very sad that he's gone.
 

Desdichado93

Registered User
Jan 7, 2012
1,292
246
Sweden
The death that bothered me the most was Christina Grimme because she was so young and because of the nature in which she was killed.

I agree. I had never heard of her before I read about her being murdered.
She was only in her early twenties and had her wwhole life ahead of her.

The only other death that really saddened me was the death of a young girl (23 y. o.) who 's blog
I had been reading for the few years she had it.
She was not a ccelebrity though.
 

Acadmus

pastured mod
Jul 22, 2003
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Well, due to them being people I watched or listened to a lot or over a long period of time, or otherwise had a great deal of respect for...

If we're talking this year, Bowie (for some odd reason, since I'm not a huge fan of his music, but there was just something about the guy that his sudden death left me kind of sad), Prince and Carrie Fisher. Dan Haggerty also left me feeling kind of nostalgic for a simpler time, and of course I liked Alan Rickman's work and was disappointed I won't see any more of it now.

All time? Jim Henson, Michael Landon, Bill Bixby, Jimmy Stewart, and I guess the one that really hit me hard was Ronald Reagan, since he was President through half of my childhood including all my most formative years, and he was almost like a grandfather figure to me as often as he was on television and how he presented himself.

The death of Optimus Prime shook me up quite a bit too...fortunately he was brought back:sarcasm: When Peter Cullen dies that will be a downer I'm sure.
 

Acadmus

pastured mod
Jul 22, 2003
16,963
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Vermont
I agree. I had never heard of her before I read about her being murdered.
She was only in her early twenties and had her wwhole life ahead of her.

The only other death that really saddened me was the death of a young girl (23 y. o.) who 's blog
I had been reading for the few years she had it.
She was not a ccelebrity though.

Well, for the tragically struck down at a young age, there's always Rebecca Schaeffer from My Sister Sam fame...murdered at age 21 in front of her own apartment by a paranoid schizophrenic obsessed fan who took exception at her telling him she was busy after she'd signed an autograph for him.
 

Leafsdude7

Stand-Up Philosopher
Mar 26, 2011
23,135
1,213
Ontario
As a person who would otherwise easily say "none", Ernie Coombs is the only celebrity death that hit me at all. Really sad day for me, mostly because I was still somewhat young so I remembered his show but old enough to grasp the meaning his show had beyond the enjoyment for children.
 
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