A rising star cut down by a faulty gear shift, a possible victim of the "Poltergeist" curse, and a plane crash that launched a CIA conspiracy theory. These child stars may have had varying degrees of success in their careers, but all of their tragic passings occurred in strange ways.
Category
🛠️
LifestyleTranscript
00:00A rising star cut down by a faulty gear shift, a possible victim of the poltergeist curse,
00:05and a plane crash that launched the CIA conspiracy theory. These child stars may have had varying
00:09degrees of success in their careers, but all of their tragic passings occurred in strange
00:13ways.
00:15Anton Yelchin got his start in acting at an early age, booking his first TV role in a
00:192000 episode of ER before delivering a memorable performance in the film Hearts in Atlantis.
00:24Yelchin successfully navigated the often tricky transition to adult roles, most notably portraying
00:28Pavel Chekhov in the Star Trek film franchise.
00:31I can do that. I can do that!
00:34Yelchin's star was on the rise when he was killed in a freak accident involving his vehicle
00:38in 2016. TMZ was the first to report that his body was discovered pinned between a mailbox
00:43and a security gate in front of his home by his SUV, which had rolled down an incline
00:47while in neutral.
00:49Yelchin's parents filed a lawsuit against the vehicle's manufacturer, Fiat Chrysler,
00:53claiming that the vehicle's gear shifters were responsible for the fatal accident. Indeed,
00:57just a couple of months earlier, the company had recalled more than a million vehicles
01:00due to confusing gear shifters that led drivers to think their vehicles weren't parked, when
01:04they were actually in neutral, resulting in numerous accidents. That was precisely what
01:08had happened to Yelchin when he exited the vehicle to punch in the security code.
01:12One of the biggest child stars of the 1980s, Gary Coleman played wisecracking Arnold Jackson
01:17on hit sitcom Different Strokes.
01:19What you talking about, Willis?
01:21Coleman had suffered health problems from an early age due to nephritis, a congenital
01:25defect of the kidney. As a result, he required dialysis throughout his life and had undergone
01:30two kidney transplant operations, one at the age of five and another when he was a teenager.
01:35Given his chronic medical issues, Coleman's life expectancy was shortened, and in his
01:38later years he experienced some well-publicized health scares, including a seizure in February
01:432010 while on the set of The Insider.
01:45Just a few months later, the 42-year-old actor suffered a serious fall at his home just outside
01:49of Provo, Utah. Coleman was rushed to a nearby hospital, where doctors determined that he'd
01:54suffered an intercranial hemorrhage. Coleman was conscious when he first arrived at the
01:58hospital but eventually slipped into a coma. He was placed on life support, which was discontinued
02:02soon after. In a statement, a spokesperson revealed that friends and family were at his
02:06side when the life support was terminated.
02:09Just six years old when Poltergeist was released in 1982, Heather O'Rourke catapulted to stardom
02:15as Carol Ann, the film's central character. She went on to reprise the role in two Poltergeist
02:19sequels and appeared in several TV series. Months after completing Poltergeist 3, O'Rourke,
02:24then 12, died on an operating table in a San Diego hospital while undergoing surgery to
02:29address a bowel obstruction. The obstruction led to an infection that caused septic shock,
02:34which then resulted in pulmonary and cardiac arrest.
02:37What made O'Rourke's death so bizarre was that she hadn't demonstrated any symptoms,
02:40even though she had the undiagnosed condition since birth. O'Rourke's tragic death came
02:44to become the cornerstone of the so-called Poltergeist curse, which included the grisly
02:48murder of her on-screen sister, actor Dominique Dunne, and the eventual deaths of cast members
02:53Julian Beck and Will Sampson.
02:56Matthew Garber has delighted generations of children via his role as youngster Michael
03:00Banks in Disney's 1964 musical Mary Poppins. Garber made just three movies during his brief
03:05Hollywood career, all Disney productions. In addition to Mary Poppins, he also appeared
03:09in 1963's The Three Lives of Thomasina and The Gnome Mobile in 1967. After that, he gave
03:16up acting and returned to normal life in London.
03:18A few years after his graduation, Garber was visiting India when he became infected with
03:22hepatitis. In the summer of 1977, he decided to return to London for further medical treatment.
03:27Sadly, he'd waited too long. When he finally made it back to England, medical tests revealed
03:32that the hepatitis had spread to his pancreas. He died at the age of 21.
03:36The official cause of death was determined to be hemorrhagic necrotizing pancreatitis,
03:40a rare but serious condition that had been left untreated for a tragically long period
03:44of time.
03:45A popular child actor in her native Britain, Myalesia Naylor experienced early success
03:50as star of the kids' show Tattie's Hotel before going on to appear in films such as Cloud
03:54Atlas and Code Red. From 2014 until 2018, she was a cast member on the popular British
04:00series Millie in Between. She was just 16 years old when she died under tragic circumstances.
04:05A subsequent inquest determined that she'd died by hanging and categorized her death
04:09to have been caused by, quote, "'misadventure' rather than death by suicide."
04:13E! News obtained the coroner's report, in which the assistant coroner came to conclude
04:17that Naylor's death had been accidental. Her father, Martin Naylor, concurred when he testified
04:21at the inquest, stating,
04:22"...she had not been her normal self. She was stressed about her exams. I honestly believe
04:26she was just making some sort of point. I genuinely believe she did not mean to do it."
04:31Jayne Madison Wright was just 9 years old when she made her on-screen debut in a 1994
04:36episode of Grace Under Fire, before guest-starring in the Fran Drescher sitcom The Nanny. Later
04:40that year, she was cast in the NBC sci-fi series Earth-2, which ran for just one season.
04:45She continued acting for a few more years, making her final appearance in the 1998 comedy
04:50Safety Patrol. Wright was forced to put her acting career on pause after an X-ray revealed
04:54her heart was dangerously enlarged. She was diagnosed with restrictive cardiomyopathy,
04:59a condition in which the muscles in the heart's lower chamber become rigid and won't fill
05:03with blood. In 2000, 15-year-old Wright underwent a life-saving heart transplant and subsequently
05:08became a vocal advocate for organ donation. In 2006, she married Brent Joseph Morris.
05:14One day after the newlyweds returned from their honeymoon to their home in Lexington,
05:17Kentucky, Wright had a fatal heart attack. She was just 21 years old at the time of her
05:22death.
05:23Best known as a member of the boy band Together, actor and singer Michael Cuccioni made his
05:27screen debut in 1997, appearing in an episode of Baywatch. Prior to that, he'd had a difficult
05:32childhood, as he was just 9 years old when he was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma.
05:37Cuccioni underwent an aggressive course of chemotherapy that lasted for six months, and
05:41was eventually declared free of cancer. Unfortunately, a routine checkup six months later revealed
05:46that the cancer had returned, and Cuccioni required a bone marrow transplant. That medical
05:50procedure was successful.
05:51He always had a positive attitude, even at times when he was struggling, and he did have,
05:57you know, fear of what was going to happen next.
06:00However, intensive chemo had left his organs in a perpetually weakened state, particularly
06:05his lungs. In late 2000, Cuccioni and his mother were involved in a car accident, and
06:09he underwent surgery to repair a damaged diaphragm. While hospitalized, he became ill with pneumonia.
06:15His lungs had become so weakened by the chemotherapy from years earlier that, two weeks later,
06:19he was still unable to breathe on his own without a respirator. In January 2001, he
06:24died at age 16.
06:26In 1982, 10-year-old Samantha Smith had been watching TV shows about the Cold War. Horrified
06:31by the idea of nuclear war, she wrote a letter to Soviet leader Yuri Andropov, asking what
06:36plans he had to avoid it from happening. The letter made her a sensation in Russia, and
06:40in 1983, she and her parents were invited to visit Moscow. Her popularity also exploded
06:45in her homeland. In 1984, she hosted her own TV special, Samantha Smith Goes to Washington
06:50Campaign 84, interviewing various American politicians. She then went on to dabble in
06:55acting, guest-starring on Charles and Charge, and playing a recurring role in the TV series
06:59Lime Street.
07:00In August 1985, Smith and her father were returning to their home in Maine after she'd
07:04been shooting Lime Street. They were flying in a small commuter plane when the aircraft
07:08crashed while attempting to land, killing them both. Oddly enough, Smith's death sparked
07:13a conspiracy theory in the Soviet Union, which claimed that she'd been assassinated by the
07:17CIA because her childish efforts to avoid nuclear war didn't align with America's aggressively
07:22anti-Soviet policy at the time.
07:24The R-Gang shorts from the 1920s and 30s, later renamed The Little Rascals, featured
07:29many memorable characters. Among the most beloved characters was Alfalfa, played by
07:33child actor Carl Switzer. As Switzer grew older, acting roles dwindled, and he found
07:37himself typecast. Relegated to low-budget B-movies and bit parts, he made ends meet
07:41by tending bar and hiring himself out as a hunting guide. He also bred dogs as a sideline,
07:46and in 1959, Switzer sold a dog to a fellow named Moses Stiltz, and believed that he still
07:51owed him $50. Switzer had been drinking when he showed up on Stiltz's doorstep, demanding
07:56that the debt be repaid immediately. According to Stiltz, Switzer burst into his home and
08:00a scuffle ensued, during which Switzer pulled a knife. Stiltz, however, one-upped the former
08:04child star when he pulled out a gun and ended the altercation by shooting Switzer dead.
08:09Stiltz was put on trial, and his claims that he acted in self-defense were upheld by the
08:13coroner's report. The jury agreed that he had been defending himself and deemed Switzer's
08:17death to be a justifiable homicide.
08:20Best known as Darla in The Little Rascals during the 1930s and 40s, Darla Hood shone
08:24in the role. Hood continued her acting career into the 1950s as a series regular on The
08:29Ken Murray Show. She went on to experience success as a singer, and she also did voiceover
08:33work for TV commercials, singing jingles for Campbell's Soup and Chicken of the Sea Tuna.
08:37Hood was just 48 years old when she died in 1979 after undergoing a routine operation
08:42to remove her appendix. An autopsy subsequently revealed that she'd received a transfusion
08:47of tainted blood during surgery and had inadvertently been infected with hepatitis, which led to
08:52heart failure.
08:53Just five years old when she was discovered, Judith Barsi had a successful run as a child
08:58actor. Barsi was cast in dozens of commercials before going on to appear in numerous TV series
09:02and films, including Jaws The Revenge and providing the voice of young dinosaur Ducky
09:06in the animated hit The Land Before Time. Sadly, the young actor's life was cut short
09:11in 1988 when 10-year-old Barsi was found dead in her home alongside her mother and father,
09:16Maria and Joseph Barsi. Joseph had killed his wife and daughter, shooting them both
09:20with a .32-caliber pistol. After setting the bodies on fire, he fatally shot himself.
09:25Subsequent reports pointed out that there were plenty of warning signs indicating Barsi
09:29was being continually abused by her father. A posthumous Los Angeles Times exposé quoted
09:34a relative who claimed that when Barsi left for Barbados to film the Jaws sequel, her
09:37father threatened to slash her throat if she didn't return.
09:40As her parents' marriage deteriorated, Barsi became so stressed by her father's threats
09:44of violence that she plucked out all her eyelashes.
09:47"...I wish that Daddy'd stop shouting at Mommy."
09:50She told family and friends how terrifying her home life had become, allegedly saying,
09:54"...I'm afraid to go home. My daddy is drunk every day and I know he wants to kill my mother."
10:00If you or someone you know may be the victim of child abuse, please contact the ChildHelp
10:04National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-CHILD, 1-800-422-4453, or contact their live chat
10:13services.
10:14For more stories, visit nyseagrant.org