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Hollywood
Suicides - Suicides of Hollywood's Children
Suicide is often a gesture of anger that is directed at someone important to the person. It's as if the person is saying, "See what you have driven me to.
You'll be sorry."
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Michael and Kirk Douglas
Yet despite the fame by proxy, some sons of the stars have surpassed their father's fame. Jeff Bridges
received and Oscar nomination for his debut performance. And Kirk's son Michael Douglas
won an Oscar but was producer of
ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST
&
THE CHINA SYNDROME
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Liza and Judy Garland
Liza Minnelli, daughter of Judy Garland and director, Vincent Minnelli's,
Carrie Fisher, daughter of Debbie Reynolds and Eddie
Fisher and likewise, Mia Farrow eldest of Maureen
O'Sullivan and director, John Farrow were able to
trade on duel parental lineages. By and large
most Hollywood off-spring have not inherited the
talent of their parents
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Jane and Henry Fonda
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The precious few who have risen beyond the myth surrounding their parents to become more famous has not be due to their on-screen abilities but rather their off-screen antics. Some notables are, Jane and Peter Fonda, and third generation contender, Bridget Fonda. Like the Fonda's, Hollywood has convinced us that Drew Barrymore is also genetically predisposed to stardom with the Barrymore legacy dating back to the silent film era.
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Paul Newman with son
Scott Newman
After Paul
Newman's son Scott died of an overdose in 1978, he
created the Scott Newman Center to educate children
about the dangers of drugs.
Newman
also donated 100 percent of the profits from his
Newman's Own food line to charity. In 1988, he founded
The Hole in the Wall Gang Camp in Connecticut. The
program was designed as a summer camp for handicapped
or terminally ill children
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Children of the
born to the famous have collapsed under domicile insecurity, while the world outside
clamours for smiles and autographs
from their celebrated parents. Many have committed suicide, while others hang around hoping their surname
alone will give them that all-important break. A smaller group ignore Hollywood and forge an identity for themselves. And there are those who have written books. When Anthony Quinn oldest daughter told her father
she plans to write a book... "Promise me you will never do a Christina Crawford on me!" replied Quinn.
The catch-cry of most Hollywood children is that they never really had parents, because they were always on the verge of a divorce. Even if mother is not an actress, she didn't have the energy to raise children, because she was devoted to the actor father. If she wasn't she didn't last long. Actors don't have time for children if they want to make it big.
Drew Barrymore recalls, "Until I was 5 years old my father and I were very close. Then my parents separated I had a nervous breakdown. I was nine at the time. By the time I was eleven I was drunk. By the time I was fourteen I had my first
joint"
Of the many children of Hollywood stars who have been able to warmth themselves in bask of the glow just as many have committed suicide.
The problem can be attributed to the fact that these children have a problem establishing their own identity. Many have changed their names in a bid to escape.
Still others wanted nothing to do with their parent when the reached adulthood.
As children they were rallied to the backseat, as their parents talked nothing but business. But what could I do? It was my work. Alan Alda never really lived in Hollywood since his childhood. His father Robert Alda was a film star. He portrayed George Gershwin in RHAPSODY IN BLUE (1945). When Alan committed to M.A.S.H. he would leave his New Jersey home late Sunday to report Monday morning to the studio in Hollywood and flew back on Friday for the weekend at home with his family. He did this for 11 years, until deciding it was too much and called it quits. Alan had polio when he lived in Hollywood as a boy. It may have been the reason he raised his children away from Hollywood.
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The proxy burden of fame took Louis Jourdan's
20 year-old son, who shot himself.
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Charles
Boyer. After he shot himself, Charles became an old man
overnight. One year later Charles took his own life.
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Gregory Peck was unable to work for two years after the suicide of a son from his first marriage.
Gregory Peck explained, "When you're working you have to get up at five in the morning. When you come home at the end of the day you're too tired to talk to your children. You can't give them the time they need and all you really have to give them is time. If not you lose them.
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Ray Milland's son Daniel blew his brains our in the bedroom of his Beverly Hills home. Even posthumously the legacy of fame had a price.
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Talk-show host Art Linkletter's
daughter Diane committed suicide by jumping her death from
a window in his home in 1969, allegedly under the
influence of LSD
(the story that Art maintains)
An autopsy revealed no drugs in Diane's system.
After her
death Linkletter became one of USA's most prominent
spokesmen for the War on Drugs.
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Robert
Taylor had been dead several years when his 23 year old
son died of an overdose of drugs.
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The son
of Mary Tyler Moore the star of her own television show
ended his life which contributed to the end of her
marriage to Grant Tinker.
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Jim Arness recovery took four years after his daughter, Jenny committed
suicide in 1975.
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Manson Murders |
Hollywood Crimes
| Crime Scene Photographer
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