Some left behind critically-acclaimed performances,
others, millions in record sales. But they all left behind a sea of heartbroken
fans when they passed away before their time. These are the celebrities who died at the
peak of their fame. Cory Monteith
Thanks to his career-defining role as Finn Hudson on Glee, Cory Monteith became a superstar. After his fatal overdose on heroin and alcohol
on July 13, 2013, he was written off the show in a loving tribute, but Glee was just a springboard
for the promising young star. In fact, the 31-year-old Monteith had just
completed a stint in rehab and was already embarking on a burgeoning film career at the
time of his loss. In perhaps a somewhat macabre testament to
Monteith's star power, Glee creator Ryan Murphy acknowledged to Entertainment Weekly that
losing the actor changed the show forever, saying, “What started off as being such a great
celebration of love and acceptance ultimately became about darkness.” Paul Walker
It's undeniable that Paul Walker was at the peak of his fame when he died in a gruesome
car accident on November 30th, 2013. It was a hauntingly ironic demise for the
star of the Fast & The Furious franchise, which heavily features increasingly outlandish
stunts involving cars. Walker died before production was finished
on Furious 7, which grossed more than $353 million in the United States, a box office
record at the time not only for the series but also for Walker's career. The Furious franchise earned Walker and several
co-stars spots on Forbes' list of top-grossing actors for 2013. At the time of his passing, Walker was putting
in some of his best performances in side projects such as Brick Mansions and Hours. In addition to experiencing profound professional
growth, Walker was also beloved by fans: a reported 5,000 mourners showed up for his
public memorial at the site of his fatal crash. Heath Ledger
Posthumously earning an Oscar has to be the biggest indicator that an actor died at the
exact apex of their career. Heath Ledger would have continued churning
out fantastic performances had he not overdosed on prescription drugs in 2008 at age 28, but
nobody can argue with the fact that his Joker in The Dark Knight was the game changer for
his craft. In fact, he was planning to return to the
franchise in The Dark Knight Rises. Unfortunately, Ledger passed away long before
that film began production in 2011. At the time of his passing, Ledger was in the
middle of shooting The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus and director Terry Gilliam had nothing
but praise for the actor, writing for the New York Post:
"It still rankles with me that he's dead because he would have been streets ahead of anyone
else in his generation. [Ledger] just kept getting better and better. He was fearless." Anton Yelchin
While he may never have achieved the mainstream name recognition of his Star Trek reboot co-stars
Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto, Anton Yelchin was well on his way toward just that when
he died tragically in a freak accident on June 19th, 2016 after being pinned between
his car and a brick mailbox pillar. Before that cruel twist of fate, Yelchin was
moving up from his successful career as an endearing supporting player. Yelchin's director on one of his last projects,
Thoroughbreds, seemed to concur with that sentiment, telling the New York Post:
"I thought [Yelchin] had such a lovely, off-kilter leading-man energy. He always just jumped off the screen for me." River Phoenix
At the age of 23, River Phoenix had already received an Oscar nomination, played Young
Indy in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, and starred in the classic Stand by Me. Director Rob Reiner told Entertainment Weekly
that Phoenix could have become one of the greatest screen actors of all time. By many accounts, Phoenix was poised to be
the next leading man when he fatally overdosed on morphine and cocaine in 1993, outside The
Viper Room, Johnny Depp's famous rock club in Hollywood. Consider these coveted roles he was planning
to play before he passed away: Christian Slater snagged Phoenix's slot in the smash hit Interview
with the Vampire, and an up-and-coming Leonardo DiCaprio earned praise for his "bust-out star
performance" in The Basketball Diaries. Lisa 'Left Eye' Lopes
It's not always drugs or violence that claim the life of a celebrity. Car accidents can happen to anyone, and a
particularly bad one in Honduras left Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes dead at the age of 30 on
April 25th, 2002. The feisty, rapping component of TLC had traveled
to the Central American country to shoot a documentary about her spiritual journey. MTV reported that at the time of her fatal
car accident, Lopes was in a somewhat tumultuous phase of her career marked by a dispute over
the release of her first solo album, and a move to sign with controversial producer Suge
Knight. None of that seemed to matter to fans. When Lopes died, TLC was set to release a
fourth studio album to follow their legendary CrazySexyCool and FanMail. With millions of albums sold and nine Top
10 hits on Billboard's Hot 100, TLC was the female R&B group to beat until it lost "Left
Eye." Aaliyah
The list of stars who have the juice to operate under just one name isn't long, but Aaliyah
was clearly on it. The R&B star died on August 25th, 2001 at
22-years-old in a plane crash after shooting a music video for what would become the hit
single, "Rock the Boat." She had also just completed a starring role
in the horror movie Queen of the Damned. Reacting to her passing, Aaliyah's contemporaries
lavished her with praise. Mega-producer Timbaland said:
"Beyond the music, she was a brilliant person, the [most special] person I ever met." While Diddy lamented:
"Her time was coming; [she] was just about to explode." A true triple threat, Aaliyah had the presence,
voice, and acting chops to follow in the famous footsteps of other successful singer-turned-actresses. Selena
A huge star in Latin pop markets, Selena Quintanilla Perez was shot in 1995 by the president
of her own fan club. She had just won a Grammy, and was set to
release her first English-language album. The titular hit song from that album, Dreaming
of You, went straight to the top of the Billboard 200 Chart, helping Selena realize her dream
of crossover stardom, albeit posthumously. The album's first-day sales of 175,000 copies
made it, at the time, the fastest-selling album by a female artist in pop history. Selena was so popular in both America and
Mexico that NBC Nightly News anchor Tom Brokaw dubbed her the "Mexican Madonna." Tupac Shakur
Undoubtedly one of the most successful rappers of all time, Tupac Shakur represented west
coast hip hop despite being born and raised in Harlem, New York. He died in 1996 at the age of 25 in a high-profile
Las Vegas drive-by shooting, speculated to be related to the East Coast-West Coast hip
hop feud. Despite the mysterious circumstances surrounding
his passing, Shakur was so dominant in the rap game that he topped the Billboard charts while
serving a prison sentence and released so many posthumous albums that he was still making
money years after his passing. According to Forbes, Shakur's estate brought
in $9 million in 2007 alone, over a decade after his passing. By 2011, Shakur had racked up 11 platinum
albums, seven of which came from beyond the grave. So yes, to say he was only getting started
when his life was cut short would be an obvious understatement. The Notorious B.I.G. Like Tupac Shakur, rapper Christopher "Biggie
Smalls" Wallace died violently in a drive-by shooting, which was also widely attributed
to hip hop's East Coast-West Coast beef. Investigations later suggested both shootings
were a result of gang affiliations. Wallace died in early 1997 at age 24, just
before the release of his aptly titled double album, which skyrocketed
to the top of the charts and became one of only a few "diamond-certified" albums in the
rap genre. Wallace was clearly on the very cusp of an
already influential career, which many agree changed hip hop forever. Brandon Lee
Son of martial arts and screen legend Bruce Lee, Brandon Lee's life ended in March 1993
after a freak accident on the set of the cult classic film The Crow. A co-star fired an improperly prepared prop
gun at Brandon, causing a projectile fragment to puncture his abdomen and aortic stem. He died the next day. Lee's role in The Crow was not only a star-making
moment for Lee, but it was also the the highest grossing film of his brief career. Brandon's follow-up to The Crow was supposedly
an action-thriller about an officer sent on a chase by a deceptive villain. If that sounds familiar, it's because after
Lee's passing, that film was recycled into the plot of the blockbuster hit Die Hard With
a Vengeance. Philip Seymour Hoffman
Already established as a veteran actor who could tackle comedy or drama, Philip Seymour
Hoffman passed at the point in his career where just lending his name to a project gave
it credibility. Hoffman reportedly succumbed to an overdose,
a mix that included heroin, cocaine, benzodiazepines and amphetamine. He died at 46 years old on February 2nd, 2014. He left behind performances in films such
as God's Pocket and The Master, both of which demonstrated his powerful ability to woo the
audience toward even the most despicable characters. Hoffman was not only starring in the highest
grossing franchise of his career at the time of his passing with The Hunger Games, but
he'd also just completed a critically-acclaimed run on Broadway as Willy,
a classic play in which Theater Mania praised his performance as award-worthy. This man was a modern classic. Chris Farley
On December 18th, 1997, just two years after the end of his star-making run on Saturday
Night Live, Chris Farley reportedly died at age 33 from an overdose of cocaine and morphine. His notorious drug-use mirrored his larger
than life persona, both of which were said to have masked his insecurities as a comedic
performer. Attempting rehab an astounding 17 times, Farley
couldn't beat back his personal demons. At the time of his passing, Farley had successfully
transitioned from TV to film. Even the critically panned Beverly Hills Ninja
brought in box office figures on par with his well-received earlier efforts in Tommy
Boy and Black Sheep. In short, fans were still there for him, even
if the critics weren't. Rolling Stone reported that Farley was earning
around $6 million per movie and he was supposedly considering tackling a dramatic role in a
bio-pic about comic legend Fatty Arbuckle. That's a testament to the star power he, sadly,
never saw in himself. John Candy
Comedic actor John Candy was a household name when he succumbed to a heart attack on the
set of the western send-up, Wagons East, in 1994. Before his passing, Candy was appearing in what
seemed to be an unstoppable string of hits. His successful career included Uncle Buck,
Only the Lonely, Cool Runnings, and a fantastic cameo in Home Alone. Just a few years before his untimely passing,
Candy had even proven his acting chops with a dramatic turn in Oliver Stone's JFK. Had Candy lived, he might have garnered the
type of Oscar-winning success of fellow funnyman-turned-dramatic actor Robin Williams. Phil Hartman
Saturday Night Live legend Phil Hartman died at age 49 at the hand of his own wife in a
horrific event. Hartman was at the height of his career when
he was shot by his spouse in their San Fernando Valley, California home. Even Hartman acknowledged just a few years
prior that he'd reached a pinnacle in his career, saying:
"I've succeeded beyond my wildest dreams, financially and the amount of fun I have in
my life." Beloved by co-stars and fans alike, Hartman
dominated the TV comedy world with impressions, voicework, and acting, from SNL to News Radio
to The Simpsons. He stole any scene he was in, as a bizarre
Alcatraz prison guard in So I Married an Axe Wielder, or in his role opposite Arnold Schwarzenegger
in Jingle All the Way. There's no doubt we would have seen Hartman
stealing the show for years on screens both big and small.
