NAME AN ACTOR OR ACTRESS THAT YOU REGARD AS A TRAGIC FIGURE

[TomJH]

It will be your idea of tragedy, of course. An early death, a self destructive life style, a career that was blighted for reasons, perhaps, beyond their control, an actor/actress who was somehow a victim.

Here's one who gets a nomination from me.

John Gilbert

The legendary silent matinee idol whose talkie career collapsed after a pair of poor early films (the word soon abounded that he had a "weak" voice, though viewing his talkie films proves that legend to be false). Gilbert became morose and a notorious alcoholic and was dead of a heart attack in 1936 at age 38. A decade earlier, when he enjoyed arguably his greatest film triumph in THE BIG PARADE and a couple of years later was heavily publicized as the lover of Greta Garbo, it would have been inconceivable that his star (and life) would be extinguished so soon.

 

So what are your nominations for tragic film figures?

[JamesJazGuitar]

[NoShear]

 With   still in mind, how about the proverbial tragic beauty of Inger Stevens: Many years before her suicide-ruled death, to my knowledge, she'd tempted Mr. Death by ingesting some cleaning fluid  !

[scsu1975]

Tor Johnson. He unfortunately died while auditioning for the lead in The Laird Cregar Story.

[NipkowDisc]

2 hours ago, jamesjazzguitar said:

she couldn't live without the Duke.

[Tikisoo]

Both favorites Linda Darnell & Jack Cassidy perished in senseless fires:

They both saw some recognition, but should have enjoyed many more years of great performances. The tragedy is ours.

 

[Millenniumman]

I didn't know about Inger Stevens drinking cleaning fluid that's messed up there are easier ways to kill youself.

[hamradio]

Dorothy Dell star of "Little Miss Marker" (1934) died too young in a car crash at 19.

[Hoganman1]

While I wouldn't necessarily consider his life "tragic", I think it is sad that Bogart died at 57. Apparently, from what I've read; he was so happy with Bacall and their children.  My guess is though his career was winding down his personal life was still flourishing. 

[Roy Cronin]

Dorothy Dandridge 

 

[Aritosthenes]

16 hours ago, TomJH said:

It will be your idea of tragedy, of course. An early death, a self destructive life style, a career that was blighted for reasons, perhaps, beyond their control, an actor/actress who was somehow a victim.

Here's one who gets a nomination from me.

John Gilbert

The legendary silent matinee idol whose talkie career collapsed after a pair of poor early films (the word soon abounded that he had a "weak" voice, though viewing his talkie films proves that legend to be false). Gilbert became morose and a notorious alcoholic and was dead of a heart attack in 1936 at age 38. Less than a decade before, when he enjoyed arguably his greatest film triumph in THE BIG PARADE and a couple of years later was heavily publicized as the lover of Greta Garbo, it would have been inconceivable that his star (and life) would be extinguished so soon.

 

So what are your nominations for tragic film figures?

While There (Unfortunately) Might be others..

 

 

 

I submit two nominations...

_

Madam Mary Elizabeth Hartman..

..and Mr Ernie Kovacs ...

🙏🥂😣😓🙁🙁🙁🙁🙁🙁😶

 

 

🌌🕊🌠🌠🌈🌠🎨🌅

[Sepiatone]

Dunno.....

In "classic" movie terms you can't get much more tragic than... 

And too, seemed to run in the family, eh?

 

Sepiatone

[LsDoorMat]

 

James Murray (1901- 1936) was just a bit actor until King Vidor picked him to star in "The Crowd" in 1928. He never got a role that good again, but turned in good performances until alcohol took over his life. He was panhandling by 1934. In 1936 his body was found in the Hudson River. He died from drowning. What was never established was whether he fell in by accident, committed suicide, or was actually pushed in by somebody.  Hard to imagine somebody having a life sadder than John Sims of "The Crowd" but he definitely did, and for some of the same reasons.

[LsDoorMat]

Olive Borden (1906-1947) was a big silent star, making $1500 a week during the 20s while working for Fox.  She left the studio when she refused a pay cut. She had a hard time making the transition to sound,  and her last credited role was in 1934, according to imdb. She was in the WACS during WWII, and afterwards fell into poverty and alcoholism. She had to take a job scrubbing floors to survive.  She died at age 41 of a stomach ailment while living in a home for destitute women on skid row.  

Sound films that she made that are rather easy to find - "Dance Hall" and "Half Marriage" . Both films made at RKO in 1929. 

[txfilmfan]

Surprised Carole Lombard hasn't been mentioned yet who died at age 33 on TWA flight 3 on its last leg from Las Vegas to Los Angeles.  She was returning from a trip to promote war bonds.

http://www.latimes.com/includes/projects/hollywood/portraits/carole_lombard.jpg

[LsDoorMat]

Barbara Payton (1927-1967) - She started out strong with leading roles in "Trapped" and "Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye".  She had quite a few trysts, but one made her famous in a bad way. Boyfriend Tom Neal got in a fight with her other boyfriend Franchot Tone over Payton in 1951. When it was over Tone was in the hospital with a brain concussion, Payton had a black eye, and Neal was blacklisted and could only get jobs doing landscaping.  Her career suffered, she hit the bottle, and ultimately got involved in passing bad checks and prostitution. She decided to move back in with her parents and dry out in 1967. She died of heart and liver failure caused by alcoholism later that year. 

 

[NoShear]

4 hours ago, Millenniumman said:

I didn't know about Inger Stevens drinking cleaning fluid that's messed up there are easier ways to kill youself.

 I qualified that account with "...to my knowledge..." as I could not find any support to my memory years ago while searching Inger Stevens in the context of The TWILIGHT ZONE...                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           In viewing both her appearances on the Rod Serling gem as well as "HANG 'EM HIGH" (1968), it seems like she was tapping into some real pain and desperation.

 "The SIXTEEN-MILLIMETER SHRINE": Unlike Henry David Thoreau's "...mass of men..." who "...lead lives of quiet desperation", though, Inger Stevens will forever be taking that black 'n' white drive across America  .....

[TomJH]

John Garfield, dead of a heart attack at 39, the stress of his being on the Hollywood blacklist blamed by many as a major contribution to his death. A great acting talent extinguished so early in life.

[Tikisoo]

3 hours ago, hamradio said:

Dorothy Dell star of "Little Miss Marker" (1934) die too young in a car crash at 19.

I made sure to visit her grave when visiting New Orleans-

 

[hamradio]

Jayne Mansfield untimely death had a change to tractor trailer safety.

(1933 - 1967)

 

 

 

 

 

The "Jayne Mansfield Bar" or Rear Underrun Protection System

 

[lydecker]

I'd have to say Raul Julia.  What a talent and I often think about how many incredible performances he would have given us had he not died of a stroke at 54.

[TomJH]

Tyrone Power, dead of a heart attack at 44, just as his film career was enjoying a resurgence in popularity as well as critical acclaim as an actor.

[filmnoirguy]

Child actor Bobby Driscoll who starred in some of Disney's best live-action movies of the 1940s and '50s, including Song of the South (1946), So Dear to My Heart (1949) and Treasure Island (1950).  He was the animation model and voice for Peter Pan (1953).  Awarded a Juvenile Oscar for The Window (1949).   In the mid 1950s when his acting career began to decline, he became addicted to narcotics and was sentenced to prison for illicit drug use.  After his release, he moved to New York to find work in television and became involved in the avant-garde art scene.  In ill health because of substance abuse and broke, his body was discovered on March 30, 1968 in an abandoned building in Manhattan's East Village.  He was 31 years old.  Not realizing who he was, and with no one claiming his body, he was buried in Hart Island's Potter's Field in New York.  

[TomJH]

Errol Flynn, actor, author, sailor, adventurer. His zest for living turned into his own destruction. He had it all and gradually threw it all away with booze and drugs. Dead at 50, one of the biggest stars of the late '30s and early '40s who was all but unemployable by the last year of his life.

[LsDoorMat]

Gladys Brockwell (1894-1929) 

Gladys Brockwell was a silent actress ("Seventh Heaven")  who easily made the transition to sound. She was, in fact, in the first all talking feature film,  "Lights of New York" (1928). In 1929 she died in an automobile crash shortly after making "The Drake Case" (1929). Brockwell's mother could be spotted at multiple showings of this film after her death, perhaps a talking record of her daughter keeping the illusion  of her being alive just a little longer.  Many of Brockwell's  films did not survive, but the silent version of "The Drake Case" does, although it is somewhat incomprehensible.