Updated January 28, 2022 20.6K votes 3.8K voters 294.9K views
Voting Rules
Vote up the strangest celebrity endings.
Celebrities are skilled at keeping us entertained - and not just on the movie screen or in our favorite Netflix show, but frequently off-screen as well. Some of them drive cars with their babies on their laps, others lick donuts and put them back, and plenty have wild love lives.
This, however, is not a list that highlights the madcap antics of celebrities. Instead, it's about celebrity death involving untimely ends and cruel twists of fate. It comprises, undoubtedly, some of the most bizarre endings that have rocked Hollywood (and beyond). You may have heard about some of them, while others may come as a complete surprise. Either way, this list is full of details that will give you the heebie-jeebies - vote up the most jarring ones!
Dancer Isadora Duncan Got Her Scarf Stuck In The Wheels Of Her Convertible
When you hear of a deadly car accident, you don't usually learn that the cause of death was strangulation. Unfortunately for famous American ballerina Isadora Duncan, that's exactly what happened on the afternoon of September 15, 1927.
Duncan had just bought a new convertible, and a friend was teaching her how to drive. Enjoying the beautiful weather in Nice, France, she had the top down. As she leaned her head back to soak it all in, the large red scarf she was wearing came loose. It got caught in the rear passenger-side wheel well, strangling Duncan and pulling her from the car. She died instantly.
In 1986, Metallica was one of the fastest-rising heavy metal bands. Bassist Cliff Burton and his bandmates were on a European tour when tragedy hit. On September 26 of that year, the band was traveling between shows in Sweden. Getting ready to settle in for the night, each member drew cards to see who would get which bunk. Burton drew the ace of spades, and chose the top bunk in the back of the bus. It would prove to be a fateful decision.
During the early morning hours of September 27, the driver allegedly hit a patch of black ice and lost control of the bus, which careened from side to side, eventually turning over and landing on its side. During those few seconds, Burton was flung out the window next to his top bunk, and when the bus rolled over, it landed directly on top of him. Rescuers brought in a crane to try to free the 24-year-old, but the bus slipped and landed on Burton a second time. He was declared dead at the scene.
In 2016, Anton Yelchin was well on his way to becoming a star. Born in the Soviet Union and emigrating to the US as a baby, he landed roles in movies such as Fright Night, Alpha Dog, and Star Trek - easily his biggest role and the one he was most famous for. Hollywood was shocked when on June 19, 2016, Yelchin was crushed by his Jeep Grand Cherokee in a freak accident.
After he had parked the car in his driveway and gotten out, the vehicle rolled backward down the driveway. Yelchin, just 27 at the time, was pinned between the running vehicle and a security gate. Authorities believe he suffered for quite some time before succumbing to his injuries. The Jeep allegedly had a faulty gear system that automatically shifted into neutral instead of remaining parked, and his parents settled with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles out of court.
Age: Dec. at 27 (1989-2016)
Birthplace: Leningrad, USSR (now St. Petersburg, Russia)
Vic Morrow was a TV and film actor who made his debut in the mid-1950s. In 1982, he was filming a movie version of the popular TV show The Twilight Zone. On the last day of filming, July 23, an accident occurred during a scene that included Morrow and two child actors. In the scene, the trio was being pursued by a helicopter in Vietnam, with special effects to make the scene look as if it were right out of the Vietnam War.
Instead, the special effects caused the helicopter pilot to lose control and crash into the set. Morrow and the two children - Renee Shin-Yi Chen, age 6, and Myca Dinh Le, age 7 - all perished. Morrow and Le were killed by the helicopter blades, and Chen was crushed by the craft itself. The families of the victims all sued Warner Brothers, as well as co-director John Landis and producer Steven Spielberg. The parties settled out of court for an undisclosed amount.
British singer and songwriter Kirsty MacColl was famous for hits such as "They Don't Know," "Free World," and "Fairytale of New York," the latter a popular Christmas collaboration with the band The Pogues. Unfortunately, it was around Christmastime that MacColl also met her demise.
In December 2000, she was vacationing with her sons, Louis and Jamie, and her boyfriend, James Knight. On December 18, the group was snorkeling in Mexico in waters where boats were prohibited. However, a speedboat entered the restricted area and was on a direct path to collide with MacColl's 15-year-old son Jamie. Seeing the danger, she pushed him out of the way. MacColl, 41, was hit directly by the boat and died instantly, while Jamie suffered minor injuries.
The boat belonged to a wealthy businessman named Guillermo Gonzalez Nova. One of his boat hands took responsibility for the accident, but was only given a small fine.
The man known for wrestling crocodiles and chasing venomous snakes, Steve Irwin captured hearts around the world. His fans all knew that he regularly put his life at risk, but what ultimately killed him came as a shock to everyone.
On September 4, 2006, Irwin was working on a documentary titled Ocean's Deadliest. On that particular day, he and the crew were looking for tiger sharks. During a spot of bad weather that delayed filming, they decided to ride it out, and that's when they spotted an 8-foot stingray. Irwin and the crew saw little harm in getting in the water and filming the stingray up close, as they are typically calm creatures.
Out of nowhere, the stingray started stabbing at the air and water with its barbed tail. One of those strikes hit Irwin directly in the heart. Despite initial reports, Irwin did not pull the barb out, but he did succumb to his injury very quickly. His last words to his friend and cameraman were, "I'm dying."
