Why Did They Die So Young? Trivia Quiz

Answer: James Dean

James Dean was born in Marion, Indiana in 1931. He did not finish his university studies, and picked up an acting career in 1951. He appeared in some episodes of several TV shows, and played on stage in five theatre productions. But neither his TV work, his stage roles or the few movies in which he appeared as an extra, can compare to his three big roles on the silver screen: Cal Trask, the protagonist in "East of Eden" (1954); Jim Stark, the protagonist in "Rebel Without a Cause" (1954); and Jett Rink, a supporting role in "Giant" (1955). For these three movies James was nominated twice for the Oscars and twice for the BAFTA Awards.
A few months after completing "Giant", James Dean decided to drive his newest Porsche sports car to a racing event some 300 miles up north. A bit past halfway, he crashed at high speed into another car and died en route to the hospital.
Neither of the red herrings died in a car crash.
Brad Renfro (1982-2008) was credited for 21 movies, among which "Ghost World" (2001).
Bobby Darin (1936-1973) acted in twenty-odd movies, but is best known for the soundtrack of over one hundred movies and TV series. He also composed the music for "Gunfight in Abilene" (1967).
Joey Kovar (1983-2012) appeared in 14 episodes of the TV reality show "The Real World" and 9 episodes of the TV series "Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew".

Answer: The Rollin' Stones

Brian Jones formed The Rollin' Stones with Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Ian Stewart and Dick Taylor. The band's name was later rewritten as The Rolling Stones. At first they played various cover songs, but soon Jagger and Richards started composing the band's own music. International success arrived with "Satisfaction" in 1965. Brian Jones became gradually involved in drug abuse, which finally led to a split with The Stones in June 1969.
Less than a month after parting from The Stones, Brian Jones drowned in his swimming pool.
The other bands I've mentioned also have at least one of their members who died at age 27. Jim Morrison (The Doors) was found dead in his bathtub in 1971. Ron McKernan (The Grateful Dead) died at home from an internal bleeding in 1973. And Gary Thain (Uriah Heep) died in 1975 of respiratory failure from a drug overdose.

Answer: Carole Lombard

Jane Alice Peters adopted the stage name Carol Lombard for her movie "Marriage in Transit" (1925). She started working for Fox Productions, and continued with fifteen-odd short movies for Pathé Productions. In 1930, she moved on to Paramount Pictures, starting with the comedies "Safety in Numbers" and "Fast and Loose" (1930). For this latter movie, someone mistyped her screen name as Carole Lombard, and she decided she liked the added "e".
Carole Lombard was nominated for an Oscar for "My Man Godfrey".
The other actresses I've mentioned also died before their fortieth birthdays and are known by a stage name: Jean Harlow (1911-1937) was born Harlean Carpenter; Marilyn Monroe (1926-1962) was born Norma Jean Mortenson (soon renamed Norma Jean Baker); and Jayne Mansfield was the stage name of Vera Jayne Palmer (1933-1967).

Answer: She shot herself through the head.

Chubbuck was born in Ohio in 1944. She majored in broadcasting at Boston University in 1965. Having worked in several states, she ended up in Florida at a digital television station from the ABC Group. Being without close friends, she was susceptible to depression. On the morning of July 15, 1974, she read some news items and then suddenly produced a loaded revolver.

After the line "In keeping with Channel 40's policy of bringing you the latest in 'blood and guts', and in living color, you are going to see another first - attempted suicide", she pulled the trigger.

The staff had her taken to hospital, where she died some hours later. The other incidents also have made famous victims of less than 40 years old. Frederick Frederici (1850-1888), a British baritone singer, died of a massive heart attack while he was lowered through a trapdoor in the last act of Gounod's opera "Faust". Wong Ka Kui (1962-1993), a Hong Kong singer-songwriter, fell from a slippery platform during the recording of a Japanese TV game show. And when Ty Longley (1971-2003) was on stage in a nightclub in Rhode Island, this American guitarist and singer was one of the 100 victims in the fire.

Answer: Rudolph Valentino

Rodolfo Alfonso Rafaello Pierre Filibert Guglielmi are his given names, and his last name is di Valentina d'Antonguolla. You can certainly understand why making an entertainment career with his full birth name was out of the question.
Rodolfo was born in 1895 and emigrated to the USA in 1913. He started acting in 1914. His stage name was erratically spelled throughout the years; his first name varied from Rodolfo and Rudolpho to Rodolf and Rudolph, and the last part of his stage name varied between di Valentina, De Valentine, di Valentini and even Volantino or Valentine. The most common spelling, however, is Rudolph Valentino.
His first commercial success was "The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse" (1921), soon followed by the role every woman would love to see him play: "The Sheik" (1921). In total he would appear in 39 silent movies, the last one being "The Son of the Sheik", which was completed in July 1926.
On August 15, 1926, Rudolph Valentino was taken to hospital for appendicitis and gastric ulcers. He died a few days later because of several complications from the emergency procedure.
Max Cantor (1959-1991) was an American journalist who acted in a few movies.
Jean Vigo (1905-1934) was a French movie director.
Brandon de Wilde (1942-1972) was an American movie and television actor.

Answer: Brittany Murphy

Brittany Murphy was born as Brittany Bertolotti in 1977. She made her debut in 1991 in the TV series "Murphy Brown".
She started acting at age 14 in several TV series, among which "Drexell's Class" (1991-1992) and "Almost Home" (1993). She starred in (among others ) "Drop Dead Gorgeous" (1999) and "Girl, Interrupted" (1999). The younger audience will remember her as the voice of Gloria in "Happy Feet" (2006).
In the TV series "King of the Hill" she voiced several characters in 226 out of the 259 episodes. For one of these episodes, she won an Annie Award.
In December 2009, she died of pneumonia and the side-effects of too many over the counter medicines.
The other people I've mentioned in this question are also actresses who died at age 32. Natina Reed (1979-2012) is best known for the movie "Bring It On" (2000). Belinda Emmett (1974-2006) was one of the stars in the TV series "Home and Away" (1995-1999) and also acted in two seasons of "All Saints" (2000-2001). Dana Hill (1964-1996) appeared in various (especially animated) TV series and played daughter Amy Griswold in "European Vacation" (1985), one of the "National Lampoon" movie series.

Answer: Janis Joplin

"The Rose", starring Bette Midler, was first intended as a biopic of Janis Joplin. But since the family refused to cooperate to a biopic of this great singer, the story writer presented it as pure fiction. Bette Midler's character was renamed Mary Rose Foster, and the references to Joplin's musical career were supplanted by a fictional discography.
Janis Joplin was born in 1943. In 1962 she started singing professionally. After a few years as a member of the group "Big Brother and the Holding Company" she continued as a solo artist. Her greatest hit was "Me and Bobby McGee", which earned her a posthumous number one hit on the US Billboards.
Janis Joplin had tried a few times to cure her alcoholism and drug addiction, but each time she relapsed. In October 1970 she died of an overdose of heroin, possibly aggravated by excessive drinking.
Mia Zapata (1965-1993) sang in the grunge band "The Gits". Kristen Pfaff (1967-1994) played various instruments in the alternative rock band "Hole". Linda Jones (1944-1972) was a soul singer. All these female musicians, and many more, died at age 27.

Answer: False

Bobby Driscoll started his career in 1943 with a minor role in "Lost Angel". He is best remembered for his voice acting in the Disney animated movies "Song of the South" (1946) and "Peter Pan" (1953), as well as the movies combining live action and animation "So Dear to My Heart" (1948) and "Treasure Island" (1950).
Driscoll did indeed win the Juvenile Academy Award in 1949, but he was not the youngest of the twelve recipients ever of this special award. The youngest winner of this award was Shirley Temple in 1934, at age almost seven.
Bobby Driscoll started using drugs shortly after the end of his contract with Walt Disney Productions. After some minor incidents, he was sent to rehab in 1961. But by that time his career was as good as finished; almost no one was interested anymore in hiring him. His last role was in the Andy Warhol production "Dirt" (1965), a short fantasy movie.
In 1968, two boys found an unidentified dead body in an abandoned apartment in New York. Only a year after this body was buried, people discovered that it was Bobby Driscoll, having succumbed to heart failure.

Answer: Anna Nicole Smith

Anna Nicole Smith was born Vickie Lynn Hogan in October 1967. She started as a topless dancer and striptease artist in 1989. Smith was chosen Playmate of the Year in 1993 and modelled for various fashion brands.
In 1994 she started acting with a minor role in the Coen production "The Hudsucker Proxy" and the comedy "Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult". She continued her career on TV with an episode in "Ally McBeal" (1999) and her own show "The Anna Nicole Show" (2002-2004), for which she also was the creative consultant.
Her personal life involved quite a lot of lawsuits. She sued "New York" magazine for unauthorized use of her photograph, she quarrelled until her death over the inheritance of her second husband, J. Howard Marshall, and she filed for bankruptcy when she was convicted of sexual harassment of an employee.
Anna Nicole Smith died in February 2007, victim of an accidental overdose of over-the-counter medicine.
Lucy Gordon (1980-2009) is best known for her role in "Spider-Man 3" (2007) and "Gainsbourg: Vie Héroique" (2010). Rebecca Schaeffer (1967-1989) starred in the TV series "My Sister Sam" (1986-1988). Gia Allemand (1983-2013) competed in the reality TV shows "The Bachelor" (2010) and "Bachelor Pad" (2011). All these ladies were in the modelling business too, as was Anna Nicole Smith.

Answer: Jean-Michel Basquiat

Basquiat started his career as a graffiti artist in 1976. In 1979 he formed the rock band Test Pattern, later renamed Gray. In 1980 Basquiat acted in the movie "Downtown 81".
Basquiat and Warhol became good friends after their meeting in 1980, and they worked on collaborative painting collections.
In August 1988, Basquiat died of a drug overdose.
Alexandre Levy (1864-1892) was a Brazilian conductor, pianist and composer. He was probably the first member of what would later be called "The 27 Club" - famous musicians dying at age 27. Rodrigo Bueno (1973-2000) was an Argentine singer-songwriter. Valentin Elizalde (1979-2006) was a Mexican singer-songwriter.