In
the wake of the recent deaths of such icons as Robin Williams, Lauren Bacall,
and Joan Rivers, I have been thinking of the many beloved stars who have come
and passed on the silver screen. In this reminiscing, I was also reminded of
the many talented actors whose careers were tragically cut short before their
time. In honor of the many stars who have made their way into our hearts only
to leave this life too soon, I have written this tribute to four stars whose
outstanding work has and will continue to live on despite their premature
deaths.
JAMES
DEAN: Despite the fact that his career consisted of only three leading roles,
James Dean has become an icon of disillusioned youth and 50’s glamour. Like
many actors who began their film careers during the 1950’s, Dean was a devoted
follower of Method-style acting that was popularized in America by Lee
Strasberg. While many actors of his generation utilized the Method, however,
few were able to do so in a way that was as raw or riveting. After several walk
on parts and extra roles, Dean finally found his breakout role in the 1955 World
War I family saga East of Eden. When
the film’s director, Elia Kazan, set out to cast the part of under-appreciated
son Cal in 1953, he said that he wanted to find, “another Brando”, and
discovered just that in the young Dean. After stealing the picture through his
mulit-layered and sympathetic portrayal of troubled Cal, he went on to star in
the equally compelling films Rebel
Without A Cause and Giant, both
of which were filmed in 1955. While his role as angst ridden new kid in town
Jim Stark remains his best remembered, he reportedly preferred his work in the
supporting role of a wealthy oil tycoon nursing bitterness over a past
unrequited love in Giant. Through his
work in Giant, Dean hoped to break
away from the tormented young men he had built his career playing and move on
to more mature and varied parts. During filming of Rebel he also began to pursue an interest in auto racing, which
developed into a true passion. Unfortunately, audiences never did see the
rising actor fulfill the promise of his first roles, as his life was tragically
cut short. While driving on California’s State Route 46, Dean’s vehicle was
struck head on by a vehicle that had crossed into his lane at eighty-five miles
per hour. The impact of the crash left Dean trapped within the vehicle with his
foot lodged between the gas and the break and caused him to suffer a broken
neck as well as numerous internal and external injuries. He was pronounced dead
on arrival at Paso Robles War Memorial Hospital; he was twenty four years old
and had yet to see either the release of Giant,
or his Oscar nominations for his roles in East
of Eden and Giant. In the years
since his tragic death, audiences have realized just how great the loss of this
young actor was for American cinema with Dean becoming an icon of classic cool.
In only three films, James Dean accomplished more than most actors do in a
lifetime as he made complexity cool and cynicism sexy, all while providing a
disillusioned generation with a role model who genuinely understood their
fears, frustrations, and ambitions. No matter how many tough guys come and go
on the silver screen, there will forever be only one James Dean.
JEAN
HARLOW: Long before Betty Grable, Marilyn Monroe, Pamela Anderson and Scarlett
Johannsen, there was a wisecracking dame who brought the words ‘blonde
bombshell’ into the American vocabulary; Jean Harlow. Harlow received her first
major role in 1930 in Howard Hughes’ World War I aviation epic, Hell’s Angels.
In the notoriously risqué film, Harlow debuted her newly dyed platinum blonde
hair and the infamous line “Would it shock you if I were to put on something
more comfortable”. Although critics panned her performance, audiences couldn’t
get enough of the snappy blonde and she quickly developed a devoted following.
She went on to appear in a series of films that capitalized on her newfound
fame as a screen vamp, but quickly grew tired of the brash persona that the
studio had labeled her with, saying “must I always wear a low-cut dress to be
important?”. She was finally able to rise above typecasting when the advent of
the Hays Code in 1934 prevented studios from writing the racy parts that she
had previously been relegated to. While the restrictions of the code hampered
the careers of many 30’s stars, those same restrictions actually provided
Harlow with the artistic freedom that she had been craving, and enabled her to
improve upon and test her range as an actress. The films she made during these
years prove that she was far more than a mere pretty face with a striking
hairstyle and was actually a gifted comedic actress. In 1936, Harlow began
complaining about health concerns such weight gain, sunburns, fatigue, nausea,
and abdominal pain, but her doctors concluded that she was simply feeling the
after effects of a particularly serious bout of influenza. By 1937 her health
began to seriously decline, as her body swelled to twice its normal size and
she became so fatigued that she was barely able to maintain her work schedule.
After being in and out of hospital care for several months, Harlow entered a
coma while shooting her final film, Saratoga,
and was admitted to Good Samaritan Hospital where she was diagnosed with
kidney failure. It is now believed that the dye she used to obtain her infamous
hair color may have contributed to her illness, as its combination of bleach
and ammonia combined to create hydrochloric acid, a chemical that is poisonous
after chronic exposure. Harlow was pronounced dead on June 7, 1937 at age
twenty-six.; even if she had been diagnosed earlier, the limited medical
treatments of the 1930’s would not have been able to treat her condition. In
her twenty-six years, Jean Harlow lived through more triumphs and tragedies
than many people do in a century. She was also a multifaceted artist who left
behind twenty one starring films ranging from drama to slapstick, as well as a
posthumously published novel. Harlow once said, “I’m not a born actress. No one
knows that better than I”, whether she was born with her talent or cultivated
it, there is no denying that she was an endlessly fascinating actress without
whom cinema would be much less entertaining.
RIVER
PHOENIX: Child actor turned emerging star River Phoenix remains a haunting
example of the dangerous excesses that often accompany a life on camera. After
surviving a childhood living under the oppressive rules of the Children of God
cult, River Phoenix was spotted by a top child actors’ agent while pan-handling
on the streets of Los Angeles with his siblings. Following his chance
discovery, he began his career on a series of television commercials and
quickly moved on to made for television movies and several short-lived series.
After several years of performing in forgettable projects, he found his
break-out role in the 1986 coming of age drama Stand By Me. Although already fifteen at the time of production,
Phoenix perfectly captured the contradictory adolescent desires to grow up
while still grasping onto the remains of childhood as tormented tough Chris
Chambers. He followed up his success in Stand
By Me with Peter Weir’s family drama The
Mosquito Coast, in a role that eerily mirrored his own childhood as he
portrayed a teen forced to live in increasingly desperate circumstances when
his parents relocate to South America to join a cult. Despite Phoenix’s belief
in the project, the film ultimately proved to be a critical and commercial
failure. He returned to top form, however, with his Oscar nominated turn in the
1988 drama Running On Empty, in which
he portrayed the teen son of domestic terrorists on the run from the FBI. He
continued in a series of successful roles into the early 1990’s which
culminated in the Venice Film Festival, National Society of Film Critics, and
Independent Spirit Award winning role as an adolescent prostitute in the
Generation X take on Shakespeare’s Henry
IV, My Own Private Idaho. During
this time, Phoenix also pursued his first love, music, and contributed to the
soundtracks of several of his films and also invested in the founding of the
original House of Blues in Cambridge, MA. He also participated in extensive
work on behalf of animal rights as a spokesman for PETA. He further helped
animal rights by buying 800 acres of
Costa Rican rainforest for preservation and donating to numerous animal rights
charities. Unfortunately, Phoenix’s success masked his losing battle with drugs
and alcohol. On the night of October 30, 1993, Phoenix collapsed and began
convulsing outside of a nightclub in which his friend, Johnny Depp, was
performing. Despite efforts to resuscitate him, he was pronounced dead at
Sinai-Cedar Medical Center of cardiac arrest at age 23. Toxicology tests later
determined that he had suffered an overdose of cocaine and heroin that
ultimately lead to heart failure. During his all too short career, Phoenix
proved to critics that he was more than just another child star as he matured
into increasingly complex roles while still pursuing a burgeoning music career
and doing his part to give back through environmental activism. At the end of Stand By Me, the narrator says of
Phoenix’s character, “Although I hadn’t seen him in more than ten years, I know
I’ll miss him forever”; so too will audiences continue to miss Phoenix’s electrifying presence as the years go on.
HEATH
LEDGER: From teen heartthrob to
independent film sensation, Heath Ledger was an emerging master of his craft.
Inspired by his older sister’s stage performances and his love of Gene Kelly
films, Ledger journeyed across Australia to pursue an acting career upon
graduating high school at age 17. In Sydney, he embarked upon a television career
with parts on several programs, including the wildly successful soap opera Home and Away, before making his film
debut in the 1997 crime drama, Blackrock.
He gained international notice in his first starring role in the American
romantic-comedy 10 Things I Hate About
You in which he played a high school outcast who charms a shrewish
classmate. His career continued to thrive with such roles as a teen trying to
survive the American Revolution in The
Patriot, a medieval knight with a Gen X attitude in A Knight’s Tale, and a British soldier turned pacifist attempting
to find redemption in the remake of the A. E. W. Mason classic, The Four Feathers. Ledger’s most
acclaimed role came in the 2005 western/romance Brokeback Mountain, in which he played a ranch hand struggling to
maintain his family life while leading a double life in a homosexual love
affair with an aspiring rodeo rider. For his work as the tormented Ennis Del
Mar in Brokeback Mountain Ledger
earned a New York Critics Circle Award, a San Francisco Film Critics Award, a
Golden Globe Award, and an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor. He followed
up his mainstream success with a return to independent films as a heroin addict
trying to kick his addiction in Candy,
and an incarnation of 1960’s folk icon Bob Dylan in I’m Not There. He also began to pursue an interest in directing,
and after directing several music videos turned his attention to beginning work
on a documentary and a feature film. His final mainstream success came with his
chilling take on the Joker in The Dark
Knight. Unfortunately, before the release of The Dark Knight, Ledger was discovered unconscious and not
breathing in his apartment by his housekeeper, Teresa Solomon. Solomon
immediately called Ledger’s friend, former child star Mary Kate Olson, and his
masseuse, Diana Wolozin called 911. Paramedics arrived at the apartment moments
later, but were unable to revive him. A toxicology report identified oxycodone,
hydrocodone, diazepam, temazepam, doxylamine, and alprazolam in his blood
stream. Police reported that Ledger had been taking the drugs for treatment of
anxiety, insomnia, pain, and a recent bout of pneumonia. Authorities were not
able to determine if the drugs were prescribed to the actor or if they had been
purchased illegally, leading to suspicion falling on Olson as Ledger’s possible
drug connection, as she had also been known to abuse drugs. Controversy
continued to hang over Ledger’s death as his will had not been updated to
include his daughter, Matilda, or her mother Ledger’s ex-girlfriend and Brokeback Mountain co-star Michelle
Williams and several of his relatives came forward to contest the legality of
the will. At age twenty-nine, Ledger was just beginning to scratch the surface
of the success that he possessed the talent and potential to achieve. While his
death remains an alarming example of the dangers of prescription drug abuse,
his true legacy will be the impact of his work both on and off camera.
_01.jpg)
