nav[aria-label="Primary Navigation"] { padding: 0; & ul { list-style: none; width: 100%; display: flex; flex-direction: row; justify-content: start; align-items: start; gap: 30px; padding: 0; & li { margin: 0; } & ul li { list-style: none; } } }

Child Item

First celebrity death you remember?

xi5yvm0owc1s2b

With the sad passing of Aretha Franklin today, what was the first celebrity death you remember or that affected you?

I have early memories of my mother in tears when John Lennon died.

For me personally, the first that really hit me was Freddie Mercury.

Find more posts tagged with

Quick Links

Comments

Riddle101

Another one for Princess Diana. As a kid I didn't really know who Diana was tbh, but I remember her death and the attention it received from the media. That's the earliest celebrity death that I can remember.

Rubberlegs

Elvis for me, I was 4 at the time and can remember my mother being upset, she loved him. Marc Bolan died in a car crash the same year and I can remember that being on the news. Richard Beckinsale is another one whose death in the late 70s is a memory.

atilladehun

goose2005 wrote: »

I don't know if it counts, but I remember how desolate I felt when I learned that Roald Dahl was dead and there would never be any more books from him

This was mine too I think. My teacher spoke about him the next day. Cobain was notable too. Senna was massive for me. I was properly devo.

[Deleted User]

Tommy Cooper when I was around 4, he died on live tv

RabbleRouser2k

Deleted User wrote: »

Tommy Cooper when I was around 4, he died on live tv

Viewable on youtube--which is pretty disturbing, tbh. That someone went to the trouble of uploading it to the web I mean.

Sundew

Deleted User wrote: »

Tommy Cooper when I was around 4, he died on live tv

My Dad was a huge fan of Cooper and still watches re-runs of his shows on UK Gold 😀

Three other celebs who I remember made huge headlines on RTE in the 80s were Irish actress Siobhan McKenna ( Irish actress) Rock Hudson and Vincent Hanley.

Squall Leonhart

As a "while we're on the topic", the death of Robin Williams is the only celebrity death that had an impact on me. I really found it very upsetting. I don't even fully understand why. Odd feeling. Just really hit me.

RobertKK

Grace Kelly.

I remember the sadness when the news of the tragic car crash and her death dominated headlines when I was a child.

dubstarr

Ger Roe wrote: »

Forty one years ago today - Elvis.

I remember the sense of shock on hearing the radio reports. I was thirteen, just discovering pop music and had only just started looking in to who Elvis was (his last single 'Way Down' was on release at the time)

Ironically enough, The King of Rock and the Queen of Soul have now passed on the same day - August 16th.

Madonnas Birthday

Sardonicat

Squall Leonhart wrote: »

As a "while we're on the topic", the death of Robin Williams is the only celebrity death that had an impact on me. I really found it very upsetting. I don't even fully understand why. Odd feeling. Just really hit me.

Yeah, that one really upset me too. Perhaps it depends on your age? If, like me you watched Mork and Mindy as a kid and a little older Good Morning Vietnam and Dead Poets Society. I felt those characters really connected with me at the time.

Plus, he had such an awful end. Really tragic.

Outlaw Pete

I remember cycling my bike really fast and crying when I was told Elvis had died in 1980.

Yeah, I know he died a few years before that but I had just seen a film where Elvis was shot, presumed dead, but turns out he was saved by a metal cigarette box in his pocket and so when my brother came into the sitting room I told him (all excitedly) that Elvis was alive and he said 'Don't be stupid, he died years ago'.

So I jumped on my Super Deluxe with angry tears in my eyes and rode like the wind.

Sardonicat

Outlaw Pete wrote: »

I remember cycling my bike really fast and crying when I was told Elvis had died in 1980.

Yeah, I know he died a few years before that but I had just seen a film where Elvis was shot, presumed dead, but turns out he was saved by a metal cigarette box in his pocket and so when my brother came into the sitting room I told him (all excitedly) that Elvis was alive and he said 'Don't be stupid, he died years ago'.

So I jumped on my Super Deluxe with angry tears in my eyes and rode like the wind.

I remember being very confused as a six year old when Elvis went to No. 1 with "Way Down" in the weeks after he died.
Could not get my tiny mind around how he could be making records still!

monkeysnapper

Tommy Cooper

Watched him have a heart attack live on air .

My mum came into my room later that night while going to bed and telling me he had died ... I remember being a bit shocked.

I watched it a year ago again and I still found it quite uncomfortable.

bodhrandude

The death of Elvis, first headline on the ITN News at Ten, just sat there with my mouth open, was in Leitrim up a remote mountain area with the family, B/W telly at the time and will never forget that headline on the news. I would have been twelve at the time.

RabbleRouser2k

Sardonicat wrote: »

Yeah, that one really upset me too. Perhaps it depends on your age? If, like me you watched Mork and Mindy as a kid and a little older Good Morning Vietnam and Dead Poets Society. I felt those characters really connected with me at the time.

Plus, he had such an awful end. Really tragic.

I noticed it seemed to hit everyone equally-like no matter their age. Everyone knew Robin Williams from something.
Was a gut punch when he passed.

Igotadose

Donald J. Trump.. .wait, you mean he's still around?!!!!

AudreyHepburn

RabbleRouser2k wrote: »

I noticed it seemed to hit everyone equally-like no matter their age. Everyone knew Robin Williams from something.
Was a gut punch when he passed.

I think it was because it was hard to think that somebody who made us all laugh and be happy was so unhappy behind it all.

It was one of the few celebrity deaths that stopped me in my tracks when I heard it.

MAJJ

Lennon and then Diana but the ones that impacted me we're Cobain and Jeff Buckley, the later in particular. Plenty more since then

dubstarr

John Lennon was the first big death i was aware of. I was about 7.Its weird hes almost dead for the length of time he was alive.

Sardonicat

RabbleRouser2k wrote: »

Sardonicat wrote: »

Yeah, that one really upset me too. Perhaps it depends on your age? If, like me you watched Mork and Mindy as a kid and a little older Good Morning Vietnam and Dead Poets Society. I felt those characters really connected with me at the time.

Plus, he had such an awful end. Really tragic.

I noticed it seemed to hit everyone equally-like no matter their age. Everyone knew Robin Williams from something.
Was a gut punch when he passed.

True
There was a genuine love for the man and his work. He often played inspirational characters that touched a lot of hearts across many generations

Arthur Daley

John Lennon sticks out. But also Peter Sellers died early that year.

Beasty

Probably not much of a celebrity around these parts, but I remember Churchill's funeral - it was certainly not usual for the small B&W TV in the corner to be showing a funeral, and it was obviously a major State occasion

Others that stick out would be Elvis - when the news came through they started showing all those old films. Was never a fan, but his age at death did strike home. Only a month later Marc Bolan died at the age of 29. He had become familiar with a "pop" programme he fronted for a while

As soon as I was getting into music properly and thinking what a great album "Highway to Hell" was the news came through of Bon Scott's death. How could they possibly continue? Well 38 years later they are more popular than ever with only one of the "originals" active with the band

I was at University when the news of Lennon's murder came through. Even remember discussing it in the reception of the Maths building in Manchester with a Liverpudlian friend

Freddie was certainly a shock as I had been oblivious to his health problems

Diana sticks out as it was the day of my wife's grandfather's 90th birthday, and the following morning we were heading over to Halifax for a party

PlaneSpeeking

dubstarr wrote: »

John Lennon was the first big death i was aware of. I was about 7.Its weird hes almost dead for the length of time he was alive.

John Lennon (at 10) for sure but I'm old enough to remember Elvis' passing in 77 too.

Sardonicat

It's difficult to explain the enormity of Lennon's death to those who weren't born or were too young to remember it well.

My Uncle came to visit a few weeks after it happened, must have been January 81. He was wearing a "John Lennon RIP t shirt and I asked him what RIP meant. The man just burst out crying . He would have been in his late 30s then and quite the hard man.

PlaneSpeeking

Sardonicat wrote: »

It's difficult to explain the enormity of Lennon's death to those who weren't born or were too young to remember it well.

My Uncle came to visit a few weeks after it happened, must have been January 81. He was wearing a "John Lennon RIP t shirt and I asked him what RIP meant. The man just burst out crying . He would have been in his late 30s then and quite the hard man.

First time I ever saw my mum cry that.

She saw the Beatles in 1961 and remained a huge fan.

Cleopatra_

I remember Diana, Versace and mother Teresa. I think the one that stands out most is Diana. I saw the breaking news and I went upstairs to wake my parents and tell them that she was dead, so I guess I must have realised the enormity of it. I had just turned 9 the month before.

Mars Bar

Diana for me followed by dermot Morgan the year after

[Deleted User]

Diana. We were staying in London at the time. I remember being up west a few days after it happened and the atmosphere being very sombre out and about. It must have been particularly so for me to have noticed as a ten year old.

Also remember Frank Sinatras death in a vague way, my grandfather was a big fan and there was a period of what seemed like non-stop Sinatra being played in the house for a while after his death.

Sir Oxman

Elvis for sure, I was 11 - twas a very big deal

The one that stuck with me the most - Lennon
Even at school the principal (a nun) came around each class and said a prayer for him.

I remember everyone going around in a daze that day

Wossack

Pales in comparison to lots in here, but Colin McRae's helicopter crash in 2007 stuck with me for some reason. Tragically his 5 y/o son, son's 6 y/o friend, and father were also killed in the incident - just thought it so so cruel for their survivors. Sad thinking about it even now