Movie business is notoriously tough. Some people never get a chance to break into the big screen; some get stuck playing the same roles over and over again, and then there are the ones who shine bright too young and then fade into obscurity. The stars on this list had different career paths and died from different causes, but all of their fates are tragic reminders that fame takes its toll on young, impressionable celebrities.
Sawyer Sweeten
Image: Getty
Sawyer Sweeten played Geoffrey Barone on Everybody Loves Raymond. He didn’t appear on TV at all since early 2000s and returned to the headlines in 2015 when it was reported that he died. The cause of death was a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. He was 19 and was survived by his twin brother Sullivan.
Jonathan Brandis
Image: Pop
Jonathan Brandis was mostly known for the leading role in the TV adaptation of Stephen King’s clown-themed novel IT. His career was very horror-driven: he starred in Stepfather II and Pet Sematary. In 2003, at 27, he hanged himself in his LA apartment without leaving a suicide note.
Heather O’Rourke
Image: Getty
Perhaps the most famous kid from any horror movie, Heather O’Rourke got her big break through the supernatural horror Poltergeist. But while her character managed to survive three entries of the franchise, the actress was misdiagnosed in real life and died from cardiac arrest at the age of 12.
Lee Thompson Young
Image: Getty
Lee Thompson Young enjoyed a lasting career on TV. He got his first break on Disney Channel’s The Famous Jett Jackson, then starred in Friday Night Lights, Rizzoli & Isles and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. When in 2013 he failed to show up on set, the police went to investigate and found his dead body in his LA apartment. He was 29 and died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Rob Knox
Image: Rob Knox Foundation
British actor Rob Knox’s career has been on the rise. He was cast as Marcus Belby in the Harry Potter saga, but didn’t get to appear in the last two films of the movie series because he was stabbed to death while defending his brother in a brawl outside a London pub. He was 18.
Christopher Pettiet
Image: FameFocus
You probably remember Christopher Pettiet as Jesse James in the Western TV show The Younger Riders or Christina Applegate’s brother on Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead. He died in 2000 of an accidental drug overdose in LA. He was 24.
Dana Hill
Image: Hollywood.com
Dana Hill had medical issues since an early age, suffering from diabetes since the age of 10. It didn’t stop her from pursuing a film career and starring in movies like National Lampoon’s European Vacation and Shoot the Moon. In 1996, at age 32, she slipped into a diabetic coma and died from a paralytic stroke.
Sammi Kane Kraft
Image: FanDaily
Sammi Kane Kraft was a triple threat: she was a singer, an actress and a baseball player. Her movie credits include 2005’s remake of Bad News Bears. She died at age 20 in 2012 after a car she was in rear-ended a semi-trailer.
Corey Haim
Image: IMDb
One half of The Two Coreys — the ‘80s film darling duo consisting of Corey Haim and Corey Feldman — starred in many beloved movies, from The Lost Boys to License to Drive. In 2010, at age 39, he died after abusing over 550 pills in one month.
Bridgette Andersen
Image: Youtube
A lot of people remember Bridgette Andersen’s smile from her breakthrough film Savanna Smiles in 1982. But in 1997, at the age of 21, that smile was taken from us when Andersen accidently overdosed on alcohol and heroin.
Brad Renfro
Image: Getty
By the time he died in 2008, at the age of 25 Brad Renfro starred in many movies and TV shows, including The Client, Apt Pupil and The Informers. He died from heroin and morphine intoxication.
Dana Plato
Image: NBC
Not even a Playboy photoshoot could revive Dana Plato’s film career after her run on Diff’rent Strokes was over. The desperate actress took her own life in 1999 at the age of 34 from an overdose of prescription drugs.
Michelle Thomas
Image: ABC
Michelle Thomas got famous after starring as Justine Phillips on The Cosby Show and later as Myra Monkhouse on Family Matters. In 1997, she was diagnosed with a rare form a cancer and underwent surgery, but the cancer kept on spreading. She died at 29.
Skye McCole Bartusiak
Image: Getty
The Houston native starred in The Patriot, Don’t Say a Word, Boogeyman and many other movies. Her career was cut short when she was found dead after an accidental drug overdose in 2014. She was 21.
Josh Ryan Evans
Image: Getty
Josh Ryan Evans had a rare disease that prevented his body from growing, which allowed him to play children even after he hit puberty. He starred in Passions and Ally McBeal before dying in 2002 during a medical procedure. Shockingly, by that time he just wrapped a death scene of his character for Passions, so it was aired the day of the actor’s death.
Ashleigh Aston Moore
Image: Youtube
Ashleigh Aston Moore played Chrissy in 1995’s coming-of-age drama Now and Then, but quit acting soon after. Pneumonia and bronchitis led to her death in 2007 at the age of 26.
Carl Switzer
Image: Getty
As a child, Carl Switzer was the star of 1930s short movies series called Our Gang. In 1959, when he was 31, Switzer had a fight with an acquaintance over a lost dog’s reward and was shot to death during the altercation.
Matthew Garber
Image: Youtube
Matthew Garber was one of the earliest Disney stars, starring in The Three Lives of Thomasina and The Gnome-Mobile. His better-known movie is Mary Poppins. He died from pancreatitis caused by hepatitis in 1977 at 21.
J. Madison Wright Morris
Image: Youtube
The star of Shiloh and The Nanny died from restrictive cardiomyopathy. Even after getting a transplant, she still suffered heart failure in 2006. She was 21.
Judith Barsi
Image: Getty
Even if you haven’t seen Judith Barsi in Jaws: The Revenge, you may have heard her voice in All Dogs Go to Heaven or The Land Before Time. She was killed in 1988 when she was just 10 by her abusive, alcoholic father. The man shot the young actress while she was sleeping, killed her mother and spent two days wandering around the house, before setting the house on fire and shooting himself.
Michael Cuccione
Image: Youtube
At the age of nine, Canadian native Michael Cuccione was diagnosed with stage 2A Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a form of cancer that affects lymph nodes. In his spare time from treatment, Cuccione campaigned for cancer awareness and also starred in a movie about fictional boyband 2ge+her. The band got so big that it even opened for Britney Spears. Cuccione died in 2001, just before turning 16.
Tara Correa-McMullen
Image: OV Guide
Tara Correa-McMullen starred in the CBS series Judging Amy as well as Zoey 101. In 2005, she was shot dead in front of her apartment in Inglewood, CA. She was 16.
Scotty Beckett
Image: Celebrity WC
Yet another stat of Our Gang, Scotty Beckett also starred in Rocky Jones, Space Ranger. In 1968 at the age of 38 he was seriously beaten and quickly died in his nursing home room.
River Phoenix
Image: Today
The hero of Hollywood’s beloved cautionary tale starred in Stand by Me, but couldn’t handle the fame and abused illegal substances a little too much. He died right in front of an LA nightclub at age 23 while Johnny Depp’s band P was playing on stage.
Norman Chaney
Image: Warner Bros.
The chubby child star rose to fame after his stint in the late 1920s Our Gang shorts. But his health was declining and he died at 21 from myocarditis.
Anissa Jones
Image: IMDb
Anissa Jones got famous playing Buffy. Okay, another Buffy. Jones starred in Family Matters and died from drug intoxication at age 18 in 1976.
Rusty Hamer
Image: ABC
The role of Danny in Make Room for Daddy didn’t bring much happiness to Rusty Hamer. After years of struggling with depression Hamer shot himself at age 42.
Gary Coleman
Image: Youtube
Gary Coleman’s small stature brought him fame and the role of Arnold Jackson at Diff’rent Strokes. But in 2010, at the age of 42, he suffered several seizures and died after falling down the stairs.
Anton Yelchin
Image: Youtube
The Russian-born actor started acting at nine, starring in movies like House of D and Delivering Milo and the Taken TV series. He eventually became a world-renowned actor, appearing in movies like Star Trek and Fright Night. A freak accident in June 2016 killed the 27-year-old actor — he was crushed by his own jeep on a steep road.
Bobby Driscoll
Image: Blog CDN
When he was a child, Bobby Driscoll was a go-to kid over at Disney Studios, starring in movies like So Dear to My Heart, Song of the South and Peter Pan. But as he grew older, lucrative career offers grew thinner and Driscoll eventually died at 31 after heart failure due to drug abuse.
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