Post by Joanna on Jan 28, 2014 1:12:46 GMT -5
Update: Child Stars Who Died Young
Bridgette Andersen. The Savannah Smiles star (pictured above) died May 18, 1997, at age 21 of an accidental opioid overdose while consuming alcohol.
Judith Barsi. The young star of Jaws: The Revenge and The Land Before Time (voice of Ducky) died July 25, 1988, at age 10. In a murder-suicide carried out by her father, József Barsi, Judith and her mother were shot to death and subsequently set on fire before the man turned the gun himself.
Jonathan Brandis. The star of seaQuest DSV died November 12, 2003, at age 27. Brandis was found alive, but unconscious, hanging from the neck in his home. The friend who happened upon the scene summoned paramedics immediately, but the star of Ladybugs died at Cedars-Sinai Hospital the following day.
Skye McCole Bartusiak, who played the roles of Mel Gibson’s daughter in the movie The Patriot, and Rose Wilder in Beyond the Prairie: The True Story of Laura Ingalls Wilder (2002) died of an accidental overdose of prescription medication on July 19, 2014, at the age of 21. She suffered from epilepsy, which may have contributed to her death.
Norman “Chubby” Chaney. The Our Gang star died May 29, 1936, of complications following surgery to correct a glandular disorder. He was 21-years-old.
School of Rock actor Kevin Clark was killed at the age of 32 on May 26, 2021, when he was struck by a car while biking in his Chicago neighborhood.
Tara Correa-McMullen. was best-known for her role as gang member Graciela Reyes on the hit TV drama, Judging Amy. Unfortunately, like Graciela, the 16-year-old actress became involved with a gang member, and on October 21, 2005, she was the victim of a gang-related shooting outside her apartment in Inglewood, California.
Michael Cuccione. The actor, best known for his role as “Q.T.” McKnight on the MTV boy-band spoof 2gether, died January 13, 2001, at age 16. Cuccione had survived Hodgkin’s disease at age 9 but the treatments that saved his life damaged his lungs. Following a minor car accident, he was hospitalized and succumbed to respiratory failure.
Dorothy Dell. The Wharf Angel and Little Miss Marker actress died June 8,1934, at age 19. After dodging death several times over the years, Dell was finally felled in a motor vehicle accident in Altadena, California, that killed her instantly.
Bobby Driscoll. The former Disney star (above), who grew up in front of the cameras, died March 30, 1968, at age 31. Driscoll’s unidentified corpse was found in a New York tenement, and it wasn’t until two years later, when his mother began inquiring about his whereabouts, that it was discovered the Song of the South star was buried in an unmarked grave in Potter’s Field. The Law and Order: Criminal Intent episode “Blasters” (2006) is loosely based on Driscoll’s death.
Caryll Ann Ekelund. Caryll was the younger sister of Jana Lund, who made her name in Hollywood history by giving Elvis his first on-screen kiss. Caryll Ann starred in the virtually unknown and bizarre 1940 film The Blue Bird. On November 3, 1939, the 4-year-old died from burns she sustained when her Halloween costume caught fire. She was laid to rest in the toga-like costume she wore in The Blue Bird.
Josh Ryan Evans. The Passions star died August 5, 2002, at age 20. On the same day his soap opera character was killed off, the diminutive star died of a congenital heart defect at a San Diego hospital.
Matthew Garber. The Mary Poppins star died June 13,1977, at age 21. While on tour in India, Garber contracted hepatitis, which spread to his pancreas before he could return to London for treatment. The official cause of death listed on his death certificate is “hemorrhagic necrotizing pancreatitis.”
Dana Hill. The star (above) of Shoot the Moon, Fallen Angel and National Lampoon’s European Vacation died at the age of 32 on July 15, 1996. Diagnosed in her youth with Type 1 diabetes, the actress slipped into a diabetic coma in May, suffered a massive stroke in June, and died a month later.
Anissa Jones. The Family Affair star died August 28, 1976, at age 18. After finally receiving her share of royalties from Family Affair, Jones sank into a life of drugs and alcohol and succumbed to a massive overdose of barbiturates, phencyclidine, cocaine and methaquaalone.
Sammi Kane Kraft. The star of The Bad News Bears remake died October 9, 2012, at age 20. The actress was killed when the car in which she was a passenger rear-ended a semi-truck.
Rob Knox. The Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince actor was stabbed to death May 24, 2008, at age 18. He was defending his younger brother from a man wielding two knives outside a London bar.
Billy Laughlin. The star who played “Froggy” on Our Gang died August 3, 1948, at age 16. While delivering papers with a friend, he was hit from behind by a bus. Both boys were killed instantly.
Ashleigh Aston Moore. The Now and Then actress (above) died in December 10, 2007, of an accidental heroin overdose at the age of 26.
Heather O’Rourke. “Carol Anne” of Poltergeist died February 1, 1988, from complications during surgery to remove an acute bowel obstruction. She was 12.
Christopher Pettiet. The star of Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead and The Young Riders died of an accidental drug overdose on April 12, 2000, at the age of 24.
River Phoenix. The child and teen star of Stand by Me and Explorers died at the age of 23 on Halloween of 1993 after speedballing cocaine and morphine. The scene unfolded not long after midnight in front of The Viper Room, a legendary Sunset Strip music venue, while then-owner Johnny Depp was performing onstage with the Red Hot Chili Pepper’s Flea and Gibby Haynes of the Butthole Surfers. After news circulated through the club that Phoenix had collapsed outside, the show stopped.
Dana Plato played Kimberly Drummond in the TV show Diff’rent Strokes (1978-85). On May 8, 1999, at the age of 34, she died of a prescription drug overdose while visiting her mother-in-law in Oklahoma.
Brad Renfro. The star of The Client died January 15, 2008, at age 25, from a heroin overdose. Renfro’s death from acute heroin/morphine intoxication was ruled accidental.
Lucille Ricksen. The 14-year-old silent movie actress died March 13, 1925. The young star fell ill during the filming of The Galloping Fish and was subsequently diagnosed as having tuberculosis. She died two weeks after her mother, who had kept vigil beside her ailing daughter, suffered a fatal heart attack at the girl’s bedside.
Sawyer Sweeten starred as Ray Romano’s son, Geoffrey, on the hit TV show Everybody Loves Raymond. His real-life twin brother, Sullivan, played the part of Michael Barone, and his sister, Madylin, starred as Ally Barone. On April 23, 2015, 19 days before his 20th birthday, Sawyer Sweeten, who was having financial difficulties and unable to find work, shot himself in the head while visiting relatives in Brownwood, Texas.
Carl Switzer, who played “Alfalfa” in the Our Gang comedies, died January 21, 1959, at age 31. Switzer (above) was shot during an altercation with a man he believed owed him money.
J. Madison Wright Morris. The Grace Under Fire actress died at age 21 on July 21, 2006. She suffered from cardiomyopathy and after having received a heart transplant in 2000, the young woman succumbed to a heart attack the day after returning from her Hawaiian honeymoon.
Anton Yelchin, known for his role as Pavel Chekov in the JJ Abrams Star Trek reboot, died June 19, 2016, when he was struck by his own SUV, which rolled backward, pinning him between the Jeep Cherokee and his brick mailbox. He was 27-years-old.
Sources: ListMania; The Dead Files: MTV, and "They Died Young."
Updated April 3, 2024.
