r/AskReddit • u/CorgiUprising • 4h ago
What’s the saddest tv show death that was due to real life death? Spoiler
827
u/5Y3 4h ago
Leo McGarry/John Spencer in The West Wing.
185
u/-The-Bloody-Nine 4h ago
That funeral opening with pretty much the whole cast past and present felt like they were both burying Leo in-character and paying tribute to Spencer out of character
94
u/No-SkillBill 4h ago
Oh God, I watched this show for the first time about a year ago and had no idea this is what went down. I thought it was the strangest decision, but assumed there was a schedule/filming/contract conflict of some sort
→ More replies (4)73
u/Forsythsia 3h ago
One of the episodes in that final season actually opens with a message from Martin Sheen explaining that Spencer had died, but that may not have made it into every (streaming) edition.
50
u/ladyjenren 3h ago edited 49m ago
Just thinking about it and I’m crying. His episode that he talks about alcoholism is the only way I could understand why my ex couldn’t stop for so long. And because this mirrored John Spencer’s real life sobriety was even more impactful. Leo and the rest of the West Wing are so real to me that I forget that we never had Bartlet for President. I need a rewatch to feel some hope again. Hope for the US and hope that there will be an administration that cares.
→ More replies (3)17
15
→ More replies (12)15
1.4k
u/Seyi_Ogunde 4h ago
Phil Hartman, in NewsRadio.
Episode of the entire cast reminiscing about Phil, with real tears.
171
u/SolidAshford 3h ago
I will never get over his death. He wanted to be a good husband to his wife and she killed him
→ More replies (13)181
u/victorcm2005 4h ago
You could tell the tears weren't acting. They were saying goodbye to a friend.
92
52
43
u/zoidbert 3h ago
I remember Dave talking about having mixed feelings on the episode; not about him and the cast, but about NBC using his grief to promote the show in the commercials for that episode.
→ More replies (6)13
u/darkscottishloch 3h ago
I remember where I was when I heard the news. It was devastating then. My tears were real, too.
2.5k
u/andersonthered 4h ago
John Ritter 8 simple rules
859
u/thepvbrother 4h ago
John Ritter - Scrubs
389
u/TrollTollTony 4h ago
Scrubs handled it really well. The relationships between JD, his brother, and Cox. The grieving in different ways. The support from friends, it was just a very well done episode.
203
u/TheWackoMagician 3h ago
Every sad episode of scrubs is very well done
13
u/ibiddybibiddy 2h ago
Even the recent ones! I’ve been caught off guard a couple times at how they’ll have me tearing up and then laughing again. ❤️
65
u/ChronoLegion2 4h ago
No wonder JD’s brother went insane and obsessed with going fast
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (2)114
u/Cardkoda 4h ago
Yeah just rewatched this recently during my current scrubs binge. And I'm glad they addressed it. It was tasteful and beautifully done. They didn't just forget him but acknowledged the loss.
75
u/racer_24_4evr 3h ago
I believe the episode where he died, he was actually scheduled to be in that episode, and he died the Friday before they were supposed to shoot. They scrambled to get Tom Kavanaugh in and rewrite the script.
94
u/MontgomeryKhan 3h ago
It was "My Brother, Where Art Thou". The speech at the end where Tom Kavanaugh's character chews out Dr. Cox and finishes by admitting that JD respects Cox in a way he'll never respect him was meant to be delivered by Ritter.
→ More replies (1)70
u/BeneathAnOrangeSky 3h ago
I never really had the heart to watch the show after this. It just wasn't the same. I think I watched the episode they addressed it and that was it.
That was also a time where more families watched shows together I think. So it was heartbreaking for the parents that loved him growing up watching Threes Company, and for kids who loved him watching him as a dad. So I wouldn't be surprised if a ton of families felt the same way.
134
u/Scott-Cheggs 4h ago
My daughters were about the same age as the girls in the show. The episode after his death broke us. Really well done but upset my whole house.
→ More replies (7)22
806
u/IDontUnderstandReddi 4h ago
To me, when Jessica Walter died, it fucked me up how Archer covered it, but they handled it beautifully
139
u/Imagination_Mover67 4h ago
I thought about this one too. Archer (the show) really handled this death beautifully.
43
210
u/Azaraphale107 4h ago
Her and Ron sitting on the beach holding hands...
176
u/GhostMaskKid 2h ago
"How's my lady love?"
"Infinitely better now."
And then I learned after that they were married in real life and it got me all over again.
98
u/r0botdevil 3h ago
This was my first thought as well, although her character didn't die in the show she just left.
It was a beautiful tribute, though.
→ More replies (1)57
44
→ More replies (1)49
u/GhostMaskKid 2h ago
Yes, I was just thinking this. When H. Jon Benjamin reads her letter and his voice breaks... It gets me every fucking time. The show is still good after that, but everyone agrees it wasn't the same.
20
u/IDontUnderstandReddi 1h ago
Yeah they managed to keep it pretty good through the end, but Mallory (and Lucille Bluth since they’re the same character) is the best character in tv imo
21
u/Colourblindking 2h ago
I only just watched that for the first time this year and yeah... sure as hell didn't expect the voice crack and it hit me like a truck when it did. Fantastic send off of the character and honoring Jessica.
422
u/skunkc90 4h ago
When Coach died on Cheers
→ More replies (2)148
u/moxvoxfox 4h ago
Fuck. You reminded me of how Mae adjusted the picture of Coach in her pub on Ted Lasso*, and in turn that Mae is gone. But, the actress is still with us. RIP Coach.
*Cheers --> George Wendt --> Jason Sudeikis (Wendt's nephew)
→ More replies (6)60
321
u/cmd_iii 4h ago
Kinda TV-related, because that’s where the character was introduced, but when Leonard Nimoy passed, they worked it into the Star Trek Beyond script. That movie’s Spock was informed of the death of the original Spock (Spock Prime), early in the film. The current Spock considers resigning from Starfleet as a result. Later in the film, Spock is given a box of Spock Prime’s personal effects. There, he finds a group photo of the bridge crew from TOS, and decides to stay on at Starfleet.
81
u/HomeworkOk6460 2h ago
I found Zachary Quinto's work in those scenes so moving, especially knowing how much Leonard Nimoy had been to him such a good friend and mentor, and really father figure.
39
15
u/fbibmacklin 1h ago
He wasn’t killed off in the movie, but the “For Anton” at the end broke me.
→ More replies (1)
321
u/xwhy 3h ago
Howard’s mother on The Big Bang Theory, even though she was only a voice. Her absence changed the trajectory of the show.
A double for Kaley Cuoco, John Ritter’s death on 8 Simple Rules. Mostly I just felt bad for Ritter, but the part of the story line where Cuoco’s character admits that the last thing she said to her father was “I hate you” really stung. She played that well.
37
u/flecksable_flyer 3h ago
I was going to say that John Ritter's death was well done, but it even hit me hard. I knew about it ahead, of course, but that was a really good show and he played the roll really well.
31
u/Devil-Hunter-Jax 1h ago
The episode where that news breaks is such a tear-jerker and the way it ends man... 'To Mrs. Wolowitz. Loving mother, to all of us. We'll miss you.' really feels like that wasn't just about the character but also about Carol Ann Susi.
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (2)8
135
u/beatnik_squaresville 4h ago
Mr Hooper is the ur-answer, but for me it was Selma dying on Night Court. On a show that was so unabashedly goofy it was incredibly moving to see Bull struggle with the grief of the loss of his best friend.
→ More replies (2)11
u/YogurtclosetVast3118 2h ago
Florence (her replacement) also passed from lung cancer. Both women were legend, they came up in the man's world of comedy from way back
131
u/Mot_the_evil_one 4h ago
Mrs. Wolowitz from Big Bang Theory. She had such an impact even though she was never seen on screen.
124
u/nowhereman136 4h ago
Finn on Glee when Corey Monteith died. He died tragically young and you can tell the rest of the cast is just a wreck. That's also where I tell people to stop watching. I don't think he was the key to the show or anything, but it really is downhill after that
61
u/True_Pirate 4h ago
He wasn’t the last to die in that cast either. The death of Maya Rivera was so sad and tragic. The other cast death besides monteith and Rivera……not so much.
→ More replies (2)
324
u/nihilistkitty 4h ago
Duckie in NCIS was pretty sad
46
u/Otherwise-Wall-6950 4h ago
I cried!
52
u/nihilistkitty 4h ago
I also cried. I thought it was a nice tribute. Great character and a gentleman in real life.
→ More replies (3)
317
u/Inside_Tennis4238 4h ago
One of the saddest has to be Luke Perry as Fred Andrews in Riverdale. After Luke Perry died in real life in 2019, the show dedicated an emotional episode to his character, explaining Fred’s death and honoring the actor. It was heartbreaking because the grief shown on screen reflected the real loss felt by his castmates and fans. 💔
→ More replies (1)38
202
u/kitten1985 4h ago
Polly Gray - Peaky Blinders, it was handled beautifully 😍
53
u/BrittneyofHyrule 3h ago
This one still hurts bc her actress was taken by sudden and aggressive cancer, with the backdrop of 2020.
The show's creator at one point stated that Polly was meant to survive all the way to the original planned ending and I was looking forward to that bc women like her in 'gritty' shows usually get fridged....then reality had to conform to the cliche.....
→ More replies (1)48
17
u/ArmouredWankball 1h ago edited 1h ago
Helen McCrory, who was only 52 at the time. She was also Damien Lewis's wife.
→ More replies (1)15
451
u/tinycryptid 4h ago
Corey Monteith on Glee. Heartbreaking
178
u/LemmyLola 4h ago
I didn't think Id have to scroll so far to find this .. thats mine... Santana singing 'If I die young' and Mr.Shue with the jacket, whole episode was so hard to watch but beautifully done
40
59
u/Blanche- 3h ago
The actor who played his mom knocked her emotional breakdown scene in his bedroom out of the park!! Sister was acting her ASS off (Although some of it could have not been acting, I don’t know how close they were in real life)
→ More replies (1)28
u/SyllabaryBisque 3h ago
Finn’s mother broke me during that episode. I’ll still cry if I think about her scenes in the Quarterback.
74
u/iamquestar 3h ago
I was 40 when I watched that episode. I was holding my 18 mo. old son, getting him to sleep. He had a rough start to life. My wife was diagnosed with cancer while pregnant (doing great now). She had 2 rounds of chemo before he was born. He spent 13 days in the NICU due to pneumonia. At one point his O2 sats were pretty low. We didn’t know what kind of long term effects there might be. He was slower to walk or start talking than his older siblings, so there was always a worry in the back of my mind.
It was while holding him and watching that episode, having had all this weight burdening me, that I came to accept that he was going to be OK. I sometimes get emotional, but am not generally demonstrative. I have never cried so hard as I did that evening, watching those characters (and actors) grieve, while holding by baby boy who I loved so much.
25
u/Horny1594 2h ago
The one that often gets me is Kurt when he open the episode saying that everyone wants to know how he died but who cares cause what’s important is his life. When my dad died people were more interested in the gossip than the person. I remember that getting me hard
→ More replies (1)15
u/piratesswoop 3h ago
The scene where his mom, Burt and Kurt are going through his stuff was heartbreaking.
→ More replies (4)12
u/Robbylution 1h ago
I honestly have no idea how the actors got through filming the memorial episode. Same with John Ritter's sitcom kids on 8 Simple Rules. They were all in their late-teens/20s and can't have had that much experience with the grief of losing someone close, and then they have to release it on camera.
Lea Michele's "Make You Feel My Love" was devastating.
→ More replies (1)
278
u/BarryHotelHouseBand 4h ago
Hasn't aired yet, but Catherine O'Hara's send of on The Studio is probably gonna fuck me up.
36
u/Slayer1440 2h ago
Can I just say that every single time I watch Home Alone, that scene when Catherine walks into the house right at the end, big winter coat on, I can smell this scene. It reminds me when my mom would get home from work in the winter. I can smell her coat, the cold air clinging to the fabric. Her perm'd hair. a wonderful woman taken from us too soon.
→ More replies (3)87
u/Hit-Enter-Too-Soon 3h ago
I just listened to the latest episode of Nathan Fillion and Alan Tudyk's podcast, and Nathan told a story about how a guest actor on The Rookie told him how excited his neighbors were when he was auditioning for the show. They said "you'd better get this part, or there will be trouble." Then he asked if Nathan would be willing to say hi to them, Nathan said yes, and the guest grabbed his cell and dialed.
As the phone was ringing, he said "do you know who Catherine O'Hara is?" And Nathan was like "wait, are you about to put me on the phone with her?!" He got all flustered and didn't know what to say, and she ended up inviting him over for a BBQ with a bunch of other friends.
He said the guys were all out at the grill doing meat things, and the ladies were all in the kitchen making salad and such, "and you'd better believe I was in the kitchen making salad with them." They were chatting and laughing, and Catherine's husband walked in, and she looked at Nathan and said "well, here he is, you can tell him to his face." Totally set him up. :D
22
u/Summer20232023 3h ago
Great story but don’t understand the last part about being ‘set up’.
→ More replies (1)23
u/Hit-Enter-Too-Soon 3h ago
That's pretty much exactly how he told it on the podcast. The implication is that they hadn't been talking about her husband at all, and as a comedy legend, she threw Nathan under a bus he didn't even see coming. Now he had to figure out in the moment, in front of her, how to improv his way out of it. Does he make up some smack talk about a person he doesn't know, and doesn't know how they'll react? Does he fall apart and just get all awkward?
→ More replies (3)
252
u/ThingsOfThatNaychah 4h ago
Edna Krabappel when Marcia Wallace died.
47
u/northsaskatchewan 3h ago
The usual chalkboard gag with Bart in the opening credits got me. Only a second or two and it was so impactful. Bart’s sad expression and “We’ll really miss you, Mrs. K”
→ More replies (3)80
u/Eric848448 4h ago
I’ve been calling her Krandall!
Why didn’t somebody tell me, I’ve been making an idiot outta myself!
73
82
u/chilari 4h ago
Not quite what you're asking but Jill Dando, who presented Crimewatch - a TV show about communicating unsolved crimes to the British public as part of appeals for information from people who might know about them, and educate citizens about how to reduce the risk of becoming a victim of crime - became the subject of the show after she was murdered on her doorstep. The killer has still not been identified. I can't imagine how difficult it must have been for the people she had worked with to present that to the public.
19
u/angelic_darth 2h ago
I still remember watching that episode when it aired live.
Very strange! Usually she was asking for information about the criminals, and now she is featured as a murdered victim.
Then the whole "crimes of this nature are very rare, so don't have nightmares", yet they aren't that rare as they have impacted their own show!
68
u/Metalhed69 4h ago
There’s an episode of the Muppet Show dealing with the death of Jim Henson, it breaks me.
→ More replies (7)
138
u/dannydirtbag 4h ago
Katie Segal / Peg Bundy on Married With Children was pregnant in the show and real life. She miscarried and they had to pivot to it being “just a dream”
→ More replies (2)26
135
u/RayoftheRaver 4h ago
Grandad from Only Fools and Horses
69
u/ResponsibleOffice805 4h ago
It really was sad. I love the way they mixed the sadness with being hilarious. Del lovingly holds Grandads hat, and then Rodney throws it in the grave. Then the next scene is the vicar asking if anyone had seen his hat.
→ More replies (1)28
31
u/d0ggzilla 3h ago
Two types of people in this thread: those who agree with this answer, and those who never saw OFAH.
→ More replies (2)23
28
55
u/Martylouie 3h ago
Sgt Phil Esterhaus on Hill Street Blues, played by Michael Conrad. How they explained his death was totally in character.
Another was John Spencer who played Leo McGarry on The West Wing. He was found dead in his office.
→ More replies (5)
53
u/YorkPepperMintPaddy 4h ago
My Sister Sam
→ More replies (1)25
u/shaz1717 4h ago edited 4h ago
Oh so sad, I think she was a young woman murdered by a fan stalker? I kind of remember .. off to google.
* She was. Tragic!
169
u/Cold-Committee-7719 4h ago
When I was about 5 years old, Mr. Hooper on Sesame Street died. I still remember the episode when Big Bird comes to terms with the fact that he's never coming back. It devastated me and still affects me to this day.
669
u/cutegirl5445 4h ago
Losing Andre Braugher after Brooklyn Nine Nine ended was already devastating. Imagine if it had happened while the show was still running.
→ More replies (2)241
u/Appropriate_Big_1610 4h ago
I can hardly believe he's actually gone. The intensity he brought to his role in Homicide remains amazing.
186
u/LGMHorus 4h ago
I think Braugher had an incredible skill: he brought all the seriousness and gravitas of his many years of dramatic work into a zany comedy, and was able to channel this even in the most ridiculous and stupid scenes.
"No, from now on call me VELVET THUNDER!"
→ More replies (3)51
u/DM_Me_Ur_Real_Boobs 3h ago
I would've loved to have seen a Naked Gun with him as the lead. It would've been great
→ More replies (1)10
u/LoneRangersBand 2h ago
Straight up doesn’t feel right that we’ll never get a full B99 reunion. It feels like one of those shows that’s still on, and that we’ll never see Andre Braugher or Captain Holt again is heartbreaking.
42
42
u/Candid-Sky-3258 4h ago
Nick Yemana (Jack Soo) on Barney Miller. Danny Arnold, who created and produced the show, refused to write an episode incorporating Soo's death into the show. Instead they aired an episode showing clips of Soo's scenes and members of the cast remembering him as a person.
→ More replies (1)15
u/AlvinTaco 4h ago
I still think his delivery of “Oh my god, I ate my eraser.” is one of the funniest sitcom lines. Such a well paced visual gag.
8
u/ArcadianDelSol 3h ago
When they all ate the pot brownies and someone says "they so mooshy!" and he walks to him and says, "moshi moshi" which is a Japanese greeting.
Joke probably went over a lot of heads but it was so perfectly done. Jack Soo was one of a kind.
39
u/anakephalaiosis 4h ago
No one seems to have mentioned it yet, perhaps because it is still relatively recent, but Leslie Jordan's very sudden death changed the course of--and ultimately probably accelerated the end of--"Call Me Kat."
→ More replies (1)
84
u/Alive_Wing_2133 4h ago
Frost from Rizzoli and Isles. Lee Thompson Young was one of my favorites growing up. He memorial episode was heartbreaking
→ More replies (3)32
u/deadestduckie 4h ago
I was going to say this because I recently binged Rizzoli and Isles. I couldn't believe they wrote him off so abruptly. I looked it up and found out what really happened. I cried for him.
36
u/cwb4ever 4h ago
John Spencer, Leo mcGarry, on West Wing. His character had a heart attack on the show and survived but John died of one in real life before the show ended (and before Leo got to be the VP). Pure tragedy.
40
u/bezoarius 4h ago
Jessica Walter as Malory Archer in the animated series Archer.
Gotta say, I really felt it that first episode, which is really saying something for a show like Archer.
→ More replies (1)
63
71
u/Montymania94 3h ago
I have two answers:
I don't watch much TV, so the most recent one for me was Big Bang Theory. The cast is fighting in the comic book shop, when Howard gets a call. The episode ends as he says, stunned and shocked, "My mother just died."
And everyone went silent.
They added that in because her voice actress, Carol Ann Susi, had just passed away. The abruptness of it in the episode is unforgettable, and they handled it realistically and beautifully. The shock was like a brick to the teeth.
But the one that hit me hardest wasn't Mr. Hooper. I had already known about death before I went into preschool, after my mom ran over our favorite pet chicken. I was very upset, yes, but I knew old folks died too.
The one that really hit me hardest was Luna the moon, from Bear in the Big Blue House. Her actress, Lynne Thigpen, suddenly passed away from a brain hemorrhage.
She had been complaining of headaches for a long time, and her negligent doctors didn't bother to check further, only told her to rest and take pain meds. By the time they knew what was wrong, she was already gone.
Her death caused the show's production to stop for years. The show was finished being filmed before her passing, but the planned movie was canceled.
The cast also has no desire to do anything more with BitBBH since, which is understandable. How do you sing the Goodbye Song without Luna? 💔
Edit: Removed a bit.
13
u/2PlasticLobsters 1h ago
What struck me about the episode with Howard's mother dying was how realistic it was. I mean, that's how it goes sometimes. One minute you're going about your business, the next you're thrown into shock & disbelief. Even when you know someone isn't in the best of health - the character's obesity was well-known - somehow you still don't expect the worst.
Also, I got a vibe of real grief from the other actors. I guess they knew her to some degree, even if she didn't deliver her lines on set (I have no clue how these things work). So they had a genuine loss.
It all worked really well.
→ More replies (1)9
32
u/shut_it_down321 3h ago
John Spencer (Leo McGarry) in The West Wing passed in last season of the show right before he would become vice president.
106
u/Chemical_Ad6124 4h ago
Big Bang Theory-Howards mom
63
u/Time-Cover-8159 4h ago
Also the episode after her death where the ashes have been lost, and Howard talks about how she had asked him to take her to the airport when he last saw her but he said he was too busy and he feels so guilty. That hits me in the gut.
48
u/BlackStar867 3h ago
Or the episode later where there is a power outage and Howard realizes the last food she cooked in the freezer thawed and they have everyone over for one last meal. That one gets me.
→ More replies (1)22
22
u/Electronic-Total3552 3h ago
She was never on screen once, and the character still felt like family.
→ More replies (1)25
u/TheDrunkNun 4h ago
Was that because of a real life death? She was always just a voice in the show
35
→ More replies (2)25
u/ilaughathorrormovies 4h ago
The killed her off as her voice actress/ inspiration died
→ More replies (1)
27
29
u/ChronoLegion2 4h ago
Stanley Kamel – Monk (Dr. Kroger). The only one who could help Monk… until Dr. Bell (Héctor Elizondo)
51
22
21
24
u/CaptainPunisher 4h ago
Coach from Cheers. Most of the cast and crew weren't even allowed to go to his funeral because of the filming schedule. The end of the episode around his death hits hard.
23
20
u/IAmTheLizardQueen666 2h ago
NCIS when Gibbs’ dad, played by Ralph Waite (known from The Waltons) died. It as written into the show, and Gibbs returned to his hometown to close the store.
20
u/TobiBaller17 4h ago
Glen (Clark Middleton) on The Blacklist
→ More replies (3)10
u/RoxoRoxo 4h ago
i agree, his dedication episode was amazing though they really did go out of their way to show him ssome love
21
u/killingjoke96 3h ago
Strained Relations - Only Fools and Horses.
The actor of Grandad, Lennard Pearce, had passed away and this episode opens with his characters funeral. Nicholas Lyndhurst who plays Rodney said in an interview they had only buried him a few days before, so the emotions were still raw and you can see it in the actors faces.
According to Lyndhurst it was also one of the first times in British TV history where the series storyline reacted to an actors death with their characters death and funeral.
19
44
u/matt5673 4h ago
I'm still not over John Ritter dying!
9
u/WonderfulPirate9683 4h ago
He was my first favourite actor I liked. Loved threes company aged 4, probably first live action I watched . Loved him in 8 simple rules. Was sad when he passed. Felt like an uncle passed away.
→ More replies (2)
43
40
u/Top-Salamander8111 4h ago
Cory Monteith (Finn) from Glee was devastating for middle school me
20
u/thepuresanchez 4h ago
I feel like this should be higher. Just remembering santanas breakdown trying to sing that memorial song and how it was real (like naya actually couldnt finish it at first) is heartbreaking. Especially as it was the first in many deaths for that cast
→ More replies (2)
18
u/ixtlan66210 4h ago
Barry Frost on Rizzoli and Isles due to suicide death of actor Lee Thompson Young.
9
u/xxsparky70 4h ago
This tore me up! The way they kept his memory alive with the action figure!
→ More replies (1)
19
u/MightyTeaRex 4h ago edited 3h ago
If I remember correctly, they wrote the character Rosalyn Dyer as a dying character in The Rookie since the actor Annie Wersching was dying in real life. Which was a depressing thing to not know until years later.
→ More replies (1)
34
u/vinylfantasea 4h ago
Not character death but the last episode of Father Ted hits hard, as Dermot Morgan died only a day after wrapping
→ More replies (1)9
u/Kimmbley 3h ago
I remember hearing that news for the first time in the playground in primary school and genuinely crying. 😭
→ More replies (1)
15
u/Fioreborn 3h ago
Lee Thompson Young - Barry Frost, rizzoli & isles
David McCullum - Ducky, NCIS
→ More replies (2)
31
12
13
u/Fallenangel152 3h ago
British one that Americans probably won't know. Only Fools and Horses.
When Grandad (Leonard Pierce) died suddenly, they decided to film a funeral episode for Grandad and introduce a new character, Uncle Albert. Amongst jokes, we see a rare vulnerable side to Delboy. Very moving episode.
A tough episode for the cast to film, since they'd just done the real funeral.
37
u/missbettybakes 4h ago
Debbie Wolowitz (voiced by Carol Ann Susi) on Big Bang Theory
Drake Hogestyn who played John Black on Days of Our Lives
John Aniston who played Victor Kiriakis
11
12
11
24
u/SeveralFishannotaGuy 4h ago
Todd in Suddenly Susan, played by David Strickland.
→ More replies (1)10
u/LuvPibble 4h ago
I can't listen to Fatboy Slim's "Praise You" without thinking of him
→ More replies (4)
11
u/AnyCurve6818 4h ago
John Ritter on 8 Simple Rules.
Knowing he actually passed away makes those episodes heartbreaking 😖
10
u/snazzymacaronis 3h ago edited 3h ago
Jaclyn Linnetsky and Vadim Schneider from 15 Love which is a Canadian teen show from the 2000s. Jaclyn and Vadim were 17 in 2003 when they died in a car accident while on their way to film an episode of 15 Love. On the show, their deaths were addressed by having their characters pass away in a plane crash.
→ More replies (2)
10
12
u/diflas_iawn 2h ago
Very recent example - Ben Satterley, aka PAC from All Elite Wrestling. His group (Faction and real life friends The Death Riders) are currently storytelling their way through it, with the strong, stoic ace of the group who is supposed to be the one setting the example, slowly cracking and breaking due to the grief ("what kind of pain are you in?" "Truth is I don't know what hurts the most"). It's been a heartbreaker but it's also been an excellent example of injecting real life into a wrestling storyline, and one of only a few examples of an active wrestlers death being incorporated into storyline in a tasteful way.
→ More replies (2)
11
10
22
u/Individual_Serve_914 4h ago
Helen McCrory, RIP, She was Aunt Polly in Peaky Blinders
→ More replies (2)
19
17
u/morosco 3h ago edited 2h ago
Just to throw in an old timey one, Dolph Sweet on Gimme a Break in the 80's. He died between seasons and I remember people talking about how they'd handle it on the show. His character died and the season premiere was built around his death and the family's grief
Nell Carter's performance somehow became a meme pre-internet, and I see it pop occasionally as a post-internet meme. "DAMN DAMN DAMN" (Actually this whole clip is more poignant than I remember)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sf_OW5JBO1U
Also in this show, in Sweet's last season, a young Joey Lawrence performed in blackface at a black church. Though Aunt Nell then explained to him why that was bad. Which, in a different kind of world where we were less connected by media, was maybe the first time that a lot of Americans heard of the concept of blackface being bad. Just like how Different Strokes probably introduced the concept that pedophilia and homosexuality where different things, to millions of viewers. Sitcoms explored these (and other) topics awkwardly in retrospect, but, I think there was a societal benefit to them taking these swings occasionally.
→ More replies (2)17
u/InappropriateGirl 3h ago
That meme is actually from Good Times, after James, the father. (The actor didn’t die IRL though.
I had no idea Nell Carter did a similar thing but I was getting a little too old for Gimme a Break by then.
Here’s the scene I’m talking about: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xKUwcCp7LPE&ra=m
→ More replies (1)
8
9
9
9
10
17
u/PumpkinPure5643 1h ago
West wings John Spencer was heartbreaking because he was such a good part of the show and no one was prepared for it.
2.9k
u/Different_Pain5781 4h ago
Big Bird trying to understand where Mr. Hooper went still ruins me. They handled death for kids so gently and honestly.