Prescription drug victims

[stuart.uk]

With the death of Michael Jackson I'm reminded of other stars who suffered from addiction from prescription drugs

Michael was due to do 50 gigs in London. This reminded me of Maryiln Monroe, who was on the verge of a great comeback after being reinstated on Somethings Got To Give, before her tragic death in 1962

Elvis Presley was planning a tour around the time of his death of a heart attack at 42

Judy Garland

Possibly Montgomery Clift

Rosemarry Clooney survived her addiction and lived a normal livespan.

[myrnaloyisdope]

Wallace Reid was prescribed morphine after an accident during filming, and that lead to his downfall and eventual death.

I Think Mabel Normand may have also had a morphine addiction.

Not quite the same, but my understanding of Olive Thomas' death was that she accidentally ingest her husband Jack Pickford's syphillis medication, subsequently burning her vocal chords quite severely and dying a day or two later.

[MichiganJ]

Well, recently there are:
Heath Ledger
Anna Nicole Smith
Chris Penn

[charliechaplinfan]

I didn't realise that Chris Penn died of prescription drugs.

When I read about Heath Ledger, I could sympathise with how pressured he felt and how he needed something to induce sleep and then he needed something to pick him up in the morning and the doses had to keep getting stronger and stronger. Add to this painkillers like Michael Jackson, the very big stars have no one to say no to them, others are just desperate to keep on going. I do think fame is great if you are the type who can handle it but for others it can excerabate the need for prescription drugs as the only release. I'm sure these stars took the drugs because they felt they had no choice. Elvis thought there was nothing wrong because it was legal, he certainly wasn't a drug taker in his eyes. It's sad and if any good was going to come out of Michael Jackson's death it might just highlight the dangers of prescription drugs.

[knitwit45]

Alison said:

the very big stars have no one to say no to them,

Sometimes, Alison, that is the biggest drug of all, and people believe if no one says "NO", then they are invincible, and no drug can hurt them.

[Garbomaniac]

Well, I have become a terrible fatalist as I have lived my life seeing life and death. I believe you go when you are supposed to go. Some people take prescription drugs all their life and nothing goes wrong (like my mother who was a pill junkie of the worst kind who finally died at the age of 87); some people could blame the eventual effects of the drugs, but 87 is a long and full life. Then, there are people who step out of their house, slip and fall, and crack their head and die. Walking is very dangerous! I know that is a silly analogy, but I am just saying life is dangerous no matter what, and the biggest danger of all, if you read the reports, is the automobile. But, people aren't going to stop driving cause they might die. Plenty of people who never drank or smoked or took drugs die young. And, plenty of people who did all three live to a ripe old age. I don't mean to sound cynical, even though I do, but I still say it was the best thing to happen to all of those sad, lost souls. Their death made them immortal. Had they reached the age of 87, their passing would have been a brief obit in the papers for a day or so (if that), and then oblivion.

My fear is that Liz will live so long that by the time she dies no one will remember her. Well, we oldies will, but I never cease to be amazed at how many of my students don't know who she is.

[myrnaloyisdope]

I think there's something to be said for that.

Fritz Lang basically lived on amphetimines, martinis, and Viennese deserts and lived to 86.

Hunter S. Thompson was an astonishingly prodigious drug-user and he was productive and healthy up until the end of his life (he commited suicide at 68).

For all the negativity associated with drug use (and abuse), there's a goodly amount of people who lived to old age and were incredibly productive all while being regular users.

Whether its God, fate, luck, or simply good genetics that allows some to survive and thrive as heavy drug users, I have no idea.

As for the legacy of Liz, well she'll get her due when she passes on, but she is hurt by not really having a signature moment/line/cue. At least Judy Garland has Somewhere Over The Rainbow as her cross-generational reference point, while James Dean has Rebel and the accident.. But I'm not sure Liz has one. I'm 28 and my first memories of her are various SNL parodies of her perfume commercials and her weight troubles. I certainly didn't know any of her work. Plus she hasn't really been in the public eye for over 20 years.

[charliechaplinfan]

Elizabeth Taylor doesn't really register with me as one of life's big stars and I think it is because she hasn't got a signature apart from perhaps the marriages.

My hubby's grandma lived on a diet of asprin, whisky, cream cakes and oxtail soup, she died aged 101. Yes, people can live on a diet of drugs, alcohol etc but there is a level at which it kills you. I think it just shows that we aren't indestructable, no matter how many doctor's we have advising us.

[mrsl]

Garbomaniac: You don't sound cynical, you sound logical to me, and sensible. It is a fact that nobody knows what is around the proverbial corner.

As for Liz, she has so many signatures it would be hard to decide on one. Apart from her many marriages, there are her beautiful purple/blue eyes, also as a child she was absolutely gorgeous, you may not think her beautiful as an adult, but as a child she was astounding. She's had so many illnesses that would kill a lesser person, yet she has overcome them. I believe her Oscar for Butterfield 8 was a sympathy award because of her combination of pneumonia and whatever caused her tracheotomy, but she is a darn good actress when she has a good part, (check out Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, or Giant when she ages). I don't know why I'm a fan, but I am, maybe it's because when I was about 5 my aunt gave me an Elizabeth Taylor coloring book and I colored every single page because the clothing was so pretty. Unfortunately for me, I'm one of those people who, when I like you, I can overlook your foibles, but then I like nearly everybody, but it takes a lot to make me dislike you, but then look out. . .

Anne