Car accidents, randomness and fame.
June 14, 2006 12:34 AM Subscribe
Can you name famous (or notable) people who died in car accidents at the height of their fame?
I actually saw a disturbing documentary about a tragic car crash and it got me thinking about notable lives cut short by way of car accident.
There are a few conditions.
1. The accident can't have been as a result of the intoxication of the famous person.
2. The person can't have driven vehicles for a living (e.g. race car drivers, stuntmen)
3. The accident wasn't as a result of a successful suicide attempt.
I guess I am looking for truly random car crashes that might have happened to anybody but instead happened to the famous person. So not events where someone could argue (even feebly) "Oh yes but that's just because they were living so close to the edge." Princess Diana's crash might qualify but isn't the ideal example because most people aren't chased by the paparazzi.
I actually saw a disturbing documentary about a tragic car crash and it got me thinking about notable lives cut short by way of car accident.
There are a few conditions.
1. The accident can't have been as a result of the intoxication of the famous person.
2. The person can't have driven vehicles for a living (e.g. race car drivers, stuntmen)
3. The accident wasn't as a result of a successful suicide attempt.
I guess I am looking for truly random car crashes that might have happened to anybody but instead happened to the famous person. So not events where someone could argue (even feebly) "Oh yes but that's just because they were living so close to the edge." Princess Diana's crash might qualify but isn't the ideal example because most people aren't chased by the paparazzi.
Jayne Mansfield is probably the iconic example.
posted by Saucy Intruder at 12:41 AM on June 14, 2006
posted by Saucy Intruder at 12:41 AM on June 14, 2006
Start with the Wikipedia Category Entertainers who died in a road accident.
posted by cgc373 at 12:54 AM on June 14, 2006
posted by cgc373 at 12:54 AM on June 14, 2006
Albert Camus, 1957, three years after receiving the Nobel Prize.
posted by ldenneau at 1:01 AM on June 14, 2006
posted by ldenneau at 1:01 AM on June 14, 2006
Tim Horton, 1974, ten years after opening his first store.
posted by Opposite George at 1:08 AM on June 14, 2006
posted by Opposite George at 1:08 AM on June 14, 2006
The first person I thought of was running legend Steve Prefontaine. There seems to be some disagreement over whether or not the drinks he consumed before getting behind the wheel actually played any significant role in the accident (just before the crash, he had driven a friend home without incident).
posted by roomwithaview at 1:09 AM on June 14, 2006
posted by roomwithaview at 1:09 AM on June 14, 2006
Actually, look at the broader Category of Road accident victims. Jackson Pollock? Richard Fariña? Steve Prefontaine? Eddie Cochran? Jesus. Well, not Jesus. I mean, whoa. Lotta dead here.
posted by cgc373 at 1:09 AM on June 14, 2006
posted by cgc373 at 1:09 AM on June 14, 2006
...JFK?
posted by disillusioned at 1:12 AM on June 14, 2006
posted by disillusioned at 1:12 AM on June 14, 2006
Oh yeah, one more: Jessica Savitch, really horribly, after the car she was in flipped and landed upside down in a canal.
posted by Opposite George at 1:12 AM on June 14, 2006
posted by Opposite George at 1:12 AM on June 14, 2006
Marc Bolan of T-Rex. His girlfriend lost control of their Mini, and crashed into a tree. She survived, he didn't.
posted by featherboa at 2:18 AM on June 14, 2006
posted by featherboa at 2:18 AM on June 14, 2006
Do they have to be driving? Roland Barthes (Death of the Author) was killed by a laundry van after meeting François Mitterand.
posted by randomination at 2:30 AM on June 14, 2006
posted by randomination at 2:30 AM on June 14, 2006
A car, an accident (not a crash), and surely random: Isadora Duncan's final curtain call.
posted by rob511 at 2:31 AM on June 14, 2006
posted by rob511 at 2:31 AM on June 14, 2006
Isadora Duncan? Unless you call that a scarf accident.
posted by AmbroseChapel at 2:34 AM on June 14, 2006
posted by AmbroseChapel at 2:34 AM on June 14, 2006
Jeff Buckley died in a motorbike accident when he was doing fantastically well musically.
posted by twirlypen at 3:05 AM on June 14, 2006
posted by twirlypen at 3:05 AM on June 14, 2006
I thought Jeff Buckley drowned? Also, Jackson Pollock was drunk.
posted by equalpants at 3:26 AM on June 14, 2006
posted by equalpants at 3:26 AM on June 14, 2006
Already mentioned, but Richard Farina. Still missed.
Also, there's nothing in the question that says the victim had to be driving. So, no need to look at a "broader category".
posted by Kirth Gerson at 4:24 AM on June 14, 2006
Also, there's nothing in the question that says the victim had to be driving. So, no need to look at a "broader category".
posted by Kirth Gerson at 4:24 AM on June 14, 2006
Margaret Mitchell.
posted by orange swan at 5:29 AM on June 14, 2006
posted by orange swan at 5:29 AM on June 14, 2006
Jeff Buckley died in a motorbike accident when he was doing fantastically well musically.
No.
posted by grabbingsand at 5:34 AM on June 14, 2006
No.
posted by grabbingsand at 5:34 AM on June 14, 2006
Great German expressionist film director, F.W. Murnau.
posted by Adam White at 5:57 AM on June 14, 2006
posted by Adam White at 5:57 AM on June 14, 2006
Gen. George S. Patton didn't actually die in a car crash, but he died from one.
posted by cerebus19 at 6:18 AM on June 14, 2006
posted by cerebus19 at 6:18 AM on June 14, 2006
Alan J Pakula.
posted by blueshammer at 7:50 AM on June 14, 2006
posted by blueshammer at 7:50 AM on June 14, 2006
Herb Brooks, Miracle On Ice coach.
Brooks died in a one-car accident on the afternoon of August 11, 2003, near Forest Lake, MN on Interstate 35, only six days after he turned 66. It is believed that Brooks fell asleep behind the wheel before the accident, and neither drugs nor alcohol were responsible
posted by marsha56 at 9:52 AM on June 14, 2006
Brooks died in a one-car accident on the afternoon of August 11, 2003, near Forest Lake, MN on Interstate 35, only six days after he turned 66. It is believed that Brooks fell asleep behind the wheel before the accident, and neither drugs nor alcohol were responsible
posted by marsha56 at 9:52 AM on June 14, 2006
Herb Brooks, Miracle On Ice coach.
I knew there would be one person on this list I didn't know was dead.
posted by any major dude at 10:20 AM on June 14, 2006
I knew there would be one person on this list I didn't know was dead.
posted by any major dude at 10:20 AM on June 14, 2006
James Darroch, leader of the marvelous Australian band The Eastern Dark.
posted by Scram at 11:30 AM on June 14, 2006
posted by Scram at 11:30 AM on June 14, 2006
Tim Horton was drunk and on drugs at the time of his car crash.
posted by acoutu at 1:27 PM on June 14, 2006
posted by acoutu at 1:27 PM on June 14, 2006
And Frank O'Hara (conversational poet/ MOMA curator), hit by a dune buggy on Fire Island.
posted by Scram at 9:58 PM on June 14, 2006
posted by Scram at 9:58 PM on June 14, 2006
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by wilful at 12:40 AM on June 14, 2006