What Was The First Celebrity Death That Affected You?

[Cruel_Sandwich]

What Was The First Celebrity Death That Affected You?#1

Posted: 7/15/07 at 5:36pm

Chris Farley/Phil Hartman for me. I was 10. Truly bummed me out.

[iflitifloat]

re: What Was The First Celebrity Death That Affected You?#2

Posted: 7/15/07 at 5:41pm

John Lennon

Sueleen Gay: "Here you go, Bitch, now go make some fukcing lemonade." 10/28/10

[blueroses]

re: What Was The First Celebrity Death That Affected You?#2

Posted: 7/15/07 at 5:42pm

Me too, iflit. And he died on my birthday.

[Kringas]

re: What Was The First Celebrity Death That Affected You?#3

Posted: 7/15/07 at 5:50pm

The first one I ever remember feeling genuinely saddened by was the death of Gilda Radner. I think I was a freshman in high school and I had only recently discovered the early years of SNL.

I think the celebrity death that hit me the hardest was John Phillips. He was behind a lot of my all time favorite music and I broke my heart to hear that he'd died.

"How do you like THAT 'misanthropic panache,' Mr. Goldstone?" - PalJoey

[D2]

re: What Was The First Celebrity Death That Affected You?#4

Posted: 7/15/07 at 5:57pm

Judy Garland.

Cheyenne Jackson tickled me. AFTER ordering SoMMS a drink but NOT tickling him, and hanging out with Girly in his dressing room (where he DIDN'T tickle her) but BEFORE we got married. To others. And then he tweeted Boobs. He also tweeted he's good friends with some chick on "The Voice" who just happens to be good friends with Tink's ex. And I'm still married. Oh, and this just in: "Pettiness, spite, malice ....Such ugly emotions... So sad." - After Eight, talking about MEEEEEEEE!!! I'm so honored! :-)

[Craig]

re: What Was The First Celebrity Death That Affected You?#5

Posted: 7/15/07 at 5:59pm

John Lennon

Then I'd have to say Jim Henson.

There might be people in between... but those are the two that stick out most.

"A little nonsense now and then is relished by the wisest men" - Willy Wonka

[GYPSY1527]

re: What Was The First Celebrity Death That Affected You?#6

Posted: 7/15/07 at 6:00pm

Karen Carpenter.

Happy...Everything! Kaye Thompson

[StageManager2]

re: What Was The First Celebrity Death That Affected You?#7

Posted: 7/15/07 at 6:01pm

Selena

Salve, Regina, Mater misericordiae
Vita, dulcedo, et spes nostra
Salve, Salve Regina
Ad te clamamus exsules filii Eva
Ad te suspiramus, gementes et flentes
O clemens O pia

[Chita1933]

re: What Was The First Celebrity Death That Affected You?#8

Posted: 7/15/07 at 6:03pm

JFK Jr.

Click on my profile and watch Chita Rivera "Put On A Happy Face"

Updated On: 7/15/07 at 06:03 PM

[best12bars]

re: What Was The First Celebrity Death That Affected You?#9

Posted: 7/15/07 at 6:10pm

Judy Garland, when I was six years old.

As a kid, it was simply and sadly, "Dorothy died today." I remember watching "Over the Rainbow" playing throughout the day on the news.

But her death affected me (and a lot of us) for years to come in other ways... many of which I didn't realize until I was an "out" gay man, only beginning to understand what had gone on before me... in that secretive, dark, oppressive time before her death triggered the Stonewall Riots.

"Jaws is the Citizen Kane of movies."

---

blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22

[mominator]

re: What Was The First Celebrity Death That Affected You?#10

Posted: 7/15/07 at 6:15pm

John Lennon as well I was a senior in HS.

"All I ask of you is one thing: please don't be cynical. I hate cynicism -- it's my least favorite quality and it doesn't lead anywhere. Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get. But if you work really hard and you're kind, amazing things will happen." Conan O'Brien

[Elphaba]

re: What Was The First Celebrity Death That Affected You?#11

Posted: 7/15/07 at 6:22pm

June 6, 1968

Robert F. Kennedy

I was 15, and I learned then that the world was not a nice place....and my childhood ended.

It is ridiculous to set a detective story in New York City. New York City is itself a detective story... AGATHA CHRISTIE, Life magazine, May 14, 1956

[Unknown User]

re: What Was The First Celebrity Death That Affected You?#12

Posted: 7/15/07 at 6:38pm

Marilyn Monroe was the first celebrity, but JFK was the first public figure. There have been too many to mention since then.

[Weez]

re: What Was The First Celebrity Death That Affected You?#13

Posted: 7/15/07 at 6:42pm

This is going to sound incredibly silly, and it was only a couple of years ago an' all, but... Richard Whiteley. Most celebrity deaths are people I just don't care about, or by the time I learned they were dead it'd been long enough that I wasn't affected by their deaths. But Richard Whiteley was just such a nice man I couldn't help but feel sad.

The celebrity death that has actually had the most tangible impact on my life was David Gemmell's. My co-worker ordered in TONS of his books for an "In Memoriam" display, and it took about three months to sell through them and get back down to a normal amount again. Madness!

Notes from the Earlham Street Gutter

[RockabyeHamlet]

re: What Was The First Celebrity Death That Affected You?#14

Posted: 7/15/07 at 6:59pm

On MTV several years ago there was a Tv show called 2gether, about a mock band. In that show was a charecter named QT, and he was played by Michael Cuccione. He was my age. When he died in 2001, it affected me more then I ever thought. I had taken a liking to him because, like me, he faced severe, chronic childhood illness ( he had Hodskin's Disease,) and he and I had both survived crazy odds. And when he died at the age of 16, it was the first time someonee I was "close" to, my own age died. It made me think that I could have died, and that no one that is chronically ill, is ever really completely well, and basically was an insight into mortality.

I honestly don't know if I have completely gotten over it.

"I wouldn't let Esparza's Bobby take my kids to the zoo...I'd be afraid he'd steal their ice cream and laugh."- YankeeFan
"People who like Sondheim enjoy cruelty."-LuvtheEmcee

[tazber]

re: What Was The First Celebrity Death That Affected You?#15

Posted: 7/15/07 at 7:04pm

I remember that Rockabye. That was really sad.
And when Pedro Zamora died I think I actually cried.
Also, Princess Diana upset me.

....but the world goes 'round

[Taryn]

re: What Was The First Celebrity Death That Affected You?#16

Posted: 7/15/07 at 7:06pm

I'll date myself as pretty young, but Jerry Orbach.

[withoutlovewithoutU]

re: What Was The First Celebrity Death That Affected You?#17

Posted: 7/15/07 at 7:32pm

Does Princess Diana count? If not I'd have to second Jerry Orbach.

"If we don't live happily ever after at least we survive until the end of the week!" -Kermit the frog "I need the money... it costs a lot to look this cheap!" -Dolly P. "Oh please, Over at 'Gypsy' Patti LuPone hasn't even alienated her first daughter yet!" Mary Testa in "Xanadu" "...Like a drunk Chita Rivera!" Robin de Jesus in "In the Heights"

"B*tch, I don't know your life." -Xanadu After that if he still doesn't understand why you were uncomfortable and are now infuriated, kick him again but this time with Jazz Hands!!! -KillerTofu

[another_reprise]

re: What Was The First Celebrity Death That Affected You?#18

Posted: 7/15/07 at 7:41pm

Princess Diana affected me, I remember watching footage of her wedding a few years before she died for the first time and then all of a sudden I was watching her funeral. I think that might have been the first time I understood the concept of mortality...
Marlon Brando's death kind of bothered me too, but that was mostly because it hit my Dad kind of hard, he's a big godfather fan.

Does the sun really rise in the east?
Does the earth really spin around the sun?
What's it matter in the least?
What's real to me ain't real to everyone.

[MotorTink]

re: What Was The First Celebrity Death That Affected You?#19

Posted: 7/15/07 at 7:50pm

Mine would be Kurt Cobain. I was just starting to get into music when he committed suicide. I'm sure his death wouldn't have affected me like that today, but I was young and impressionable and thought the world was going to end.

BroadwayBoobs: I'll give all of you who weren't there a hint of who took the pictures ...it rhymes with shameless

SOMMS: I knew it was Tink!

[harris007]

re: What Was The First Celebrity Death That Affected You?#20

Posted: 7/15/07 at 7:55pm

cobain here too also madeline kahn, i will always remember that one,was still in radio, when our news girl broke into a contest thing we were doing , and told us.

Attend the tale of Bovine Boy His party threads we all enjoy But does he have Mad Cow Disease? He doesn't eat beef - but cows skating? - oh please!!! With cocoa!?! And lemonade!?! The heifer-mad poster of Broadway (World)

[sweetestsiren]

re: What Was The First Celebrity Death That Affected You?#21

Posted: 7/15/07 at 7:58pm

Princess Diana for me. I remember being glued to the TV with my cousin the night of her accident.

[nealb1]

re: What Was The First Celebrity Death That Affected You?#22

Posted: 7/15/07 at 8:04pm

Lucille Ball and Princess Diana. Princess Diana died on my birthday. She died on 8/31 in Paris, but it was 8/30 here in The US...

I'd also have to add Natalie Wood, too. She died on a Saturday night...the same night my Mother and I saw Elizabeth Taylor in "The Little Foxes" at The Ahmanson Theatre, here in LA. The night that we saw it, The Ahmanson announced their new season...which included "Anatastia" with Natalie Wood. I picked up 3 posters that they were giving away.

The next morning, on the Sunday news, it was announced that Natalie Wood died the night before. It was so shocking.

I held on to those posters.........the show that never was. I sold them about 4 years ago on ebay for $1,500....each!


Updated On: 7/15/07 at 08:04 PM

[thejcm]

re: What Was The First Celebrity Death That Affected You?#23

Posted: 7/15/07 at 8:06pm

Aaliyah, in 2001. It was right before I started my freshman year of high school. I just remember waking up to MTV on the tv and hearing the news and I just started crying. She was so young, and so talented.

"Who says you can't bend over backwards and eat bugs if you want to? I guess the bugs would probably say you can't do that that, but assuming that they are willing and consenting bugs, then there's no problem. Let's wig out eating bugs." -RuPaul

[DG]

re: What Was The First Celebrity Death That Affected You?#24

Posted: 7/15/07 at 8:12pm

Cass Ellitot - 'Mama Cass'. I grew up with the Mamas and Papas, so this was a part of my 'ingrained' childhood that ceassed to exist. It really was my first experience with the concept of death - of the 'no more'.

It's been downhill ever since. When 'reality' was supplanted by the 'surreality' that pop culture provides, I barely survived. We can choose to accept that which is handed us as 'important,' or we can choose to define those things for ourselves.