No matter how rich or famous, death eventually claims its due. These books are filled with true stories of how and where some of the most renowned celebrities and authors met their ends.
The Hollywood Book of Death: The Bizarre, Often Sordid, Passings of More than 125 American Movie and TV Idols (4/5 stars, currently priced at $13.99)
Discover the tantalizing details of Hollywood’s famous and infamous fatalities
The death of a celebrity is often as fascinating as–and sometimes more fascinating than–a star’s actual life. From the grisly end of Sharon Tate at the hands of the Manson family and the mysterious demise of Bob Crane to the peaceful passings of Lucille Ball and George Burns, The Hollywood Book of Death is a captivating and appealingly packaged volume of more than 125 television and movie stars’ final curtain calls.
Arranged by manner of death, these well-researched accounts include details of celebrities’ colorful lives and unusual deaths, their funerals, and the intriguing aftermath. With more than 100 rare photographs and a special “necrology” index of more than 6,000 stars and directors, along with a section revealing where Hollywood personalities are resting in eternal sleep, this enthralling reference promises to be on every film and television buff’s “Top 10” gift list.
Final Chapters: How Famous Authors Died (4/5 stars, currently priced at $9.99)
“Everybody has got to die, but I have always believed an exception would be made in my case.” –William Saroyan, Pulitzer Prize–winning author
Famous authors, like everybody else, know that one day they will die. Final Chapters tells the fascinating stories of more than one hundred writers’ encounters with death—and their attitudes toward the Grim Reaper: fear, uncertainty, or acceptance.
Francis Bacon wrote, “It is as natural to die as to be born,” while Socrates told the judges who condemned him, “And now we go our ways, I to die and you to live. Which is better is known to God alone.”
Death often came in startling ways for these well-known writers. The playwright Aeschylus was conked by a turtle falling from the sky. Christopher Marlowe was stabbed in a barroom brawl. Molière collapsed while playing the role of a hypochondriac in one of his plays.
Edgar Allan Poe was found semicomatose in someone else’s clothes shortly before he died. Sherwood Anderson was felled by a toothpick in a martini. Did Dylan Thomas really die of eighteen straight whiskeys? And was it a bottle cap or murder that did in Tennessee Williams?
If these authors have lessons for us, the best may be that of Marcus Aurelius: “Death smiles at us all; all we can do is smile back.”
TRUE CRIME: True Crime Stories, Hollywood Deaths and Bullycide Box Set (4.5/5 stars, currently priced at $3.99)
9 book box set, includes Celebrity Deaths Of Tinseltown Vol. 1-3 The Complete Box Set:
When we get to see inside the lives of celebrities as we do, it is hard not to become attached to not only the characters they play but also who they are as human beings. It is also easy to sit in our homes and judge them and wonder how things can be so bad when they have all that money and fame.
The reality is they experience the same anxiety, depression and hardships many of us face when it comes to being the emotional people we are. There is a price to pay for fame and fortune and unfortunately many celebrities pay it with their life. With the death of celebrities like Robin Williams, it opens the world’s eyes to the force that depression is.
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