September 27, 2007

A Short List Of Worthwhile Famous Humans Who Committed Suicide

Let's get your day off to a winning start, shall we? Here is a short list of famous people I enjoyed who voluntarily took the long nap, ripped off from this page on Wikipedia. I'm sure you'll find people on that list you'll say I should have included, but oh well. I probably didn't really enjoy them (Sid Vicious and Kurt Cobain, for example). You may also think that I am posting this list as an ironic gag. That is not my intention. Suspected suicides of worthwhile famous individuals (Marilyn Monroe, for example) were not considered. Diane Arbus barbiturate overdose & slashed wrists Scotty Beckett (shown above) sleeping pills overdose George Eastman gunshot to chest Sigmund Freud lethal dose of morphine Arshile Gorky hanging Spalding Gray drowning Ernest Hemingway shotgun blast to the head Jack London (major bummer) overdose of morphine & atropine Sylvia Plath gassed in kitchen oven Mark Rothko anti-depressant overdose & slashed arms Del Shannon rifle blast to the head Alan Turing ate an apple laced with cyanide Vincent van Gogh gunshot to chest Hervé Villechaize gunshot That's right, Hervé Villechaize made the list, but Ian Curtis didn't. Sue me.

1 comment:

stexe said...

I don't mean to pick apart your list, but if you're going to disregard suspected suicides like marilyn monroe, then:
Jack London's death is controversial. Many older sources describe it as a suicide, and some still do...this appears to be at best a rumor, or speculation based on incidents in his fiction writings. His death certificate gives the cause as uremia, also known as uremic poisoning.... it is known he was in extreme pain and taking morphine, and it is possible that a morphine overdose, accidental or deliberate, may have contributed. Clarice Stasz, in a capsule biography, writes "Following London's death, for a number of reasons a biographical myth developed in which he has been portrayed as an alcoholic womanizer who committed suicide. Recent scholarship based upon firsthand documents challenges this caricature." (wikipedia)
London had such a passion for life, maybe I just prefer to believe he didn't kill himself.
Also, howabout giving creds to people who commited suicide with extreme conviction? I'm not a fan of elliot smith, for example, but I can't imagine what sort of nerve it would take to stab yourself in the heart. There's also a guy on the wikipedia list, a revolutionary accused of bombing the haymarket riots, who killed himself by lighting a stick of dynamite and putting it in his mouth. Wow.
I also would include nick drake on the list, but that's just me.