Published: April 07, 2008 09:45 pm            

Mr. Movie: Actors who died young

Each of them seemed to have everything to live for: each of them was dead before 35.

What great performances we will never see!

Heath Ledger absolutely blew the screen away as Ennis in the classic Brokeback Mountain (2005).

And he won an Oscar. It was the only good movie he ever made. I'm Not There (2007) isn't too bad; the latest Batman franchise flick The Dark Knight comes out this year.

John Belushi was dead at 33 from a drug overdose. The dark-suited, dark-hatted, sunglasses-wearing Blues Brothers (1980) are still immediately recognized everywhere.

Mr. Belushi and Dan Ackroyd created a cult classic. Otherwise, well, I guess Animal House (1978) was either the high or low point of stupid college comedies.

River Phoenix was only 23 when he died of an overdose in 1993. And yet, what a legacy of good films he left. Stand By Me (1986) is a classic growing-up film from a Stephen King story.

Running On Empty (1988) sympathetically shows the family fallout from the renegade 60s. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989) is the last entry in that franchise (so far).

And My Own Private Idaho (1991), though loathed by many, is a candid look at a youthful gay lifestyle.

Although it has been over 50 years since James Dean died in an auto crash at 25, he is still a virtual icon of the silver screen. He made only three movies, and all are very good indeed.

Rebel Without A Cause (1955) with Sal Mineo and Natalie Wood (who also died before her time), still strikes a chord with young people.

East of Eden (1955) brings to the screen the John Steinbeck classic about a conflicted California family. And Giant (1956) is from an Edna Ferber story of newly rich oil barons.

Jean Harlow, one of the earliest and best blonde sex symbols, died at 26 in 1937. Hitched to the studio system, she had already been in over 40 movies!

Some are quite good: Public Enemy (1931) with James Cagney is especially worth noting.

Carol Lombard, another studio contract player, was only 34 when she died in 1942, but had already been in an astonishing 75 movies! To Be Or Not To Be (1934), Mr. and Mrs. Smith (1941), My Man Godfrey (1936), Twentieth Century (1934) and We're Not Dressing (1934) are all very good.

All of the movies in this column (except I'm Not There and Dark Knights) are available on video and DVD. There are too many to try to rate for the kiddies.



Rusty Hammond has been writing the Mr. Movie column since 1996. It appears in several newspapers in North Carolina.

        

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