Drug overdoses have claimed the lives of countless people, including some of our greatest stars.
Judy Garland
One of the greatest of all movie stars — and one of the key people in making film what it is — Judy Garland was born June 10, 1922 and died June 22, 1969, at 47.
The Wizard of Oz icon achieved fame very early, but at a terrible cost: She said that she and other young stars were prescribed amphetamines to keep up their busy shooting schedules, and barbiturates to help them sleep.
Her struggle with pills continued through her adulthood and led to her death from an accidental barbiturate overdose.
River Phoenix
River Phoenix was born on August 23, 1970 and died on October 31, 1993 at just 23.
He was the Gen X actor for the duration of his short life, growing up on camera and delivering iconic performances in films from Stand By Me to Running on Empty to Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade to My Own Private Idaho.
He died of a heroin and cocaine overdose at the West Hollywood club The Viper Room.
John Belushi
Born January 24, 1949, the Saturday Night Live star died on March 5, 1982 — a decade before River Phoenix, and a mile up Sunset Boulevard, in the same way.
One of the most beloved comic actors of the 1970s and early ’80s, he was also a grim symbol of the consequences of addiction.
The Animal House (above) and Blues Brothers icon was 33 when he died of combined drug intoxication at the Chateau Marmont, after he was injected him with a speedball.
Chris Farley
Chris Farley, who idolized Belushi, was born February 15, 1964 and died December 18, 1997.
One of the most explosively funny Saturday Night Live stars of the early ’90s, Farley was legendary for his commitment to characters and bits, happily diving through walls and coffee tables to sell a joke.
The Tommy Boy star died of an overdose of cocaine and morphine in Chicago, the Cook County Medical Examiner said.
Like Belushi, he was just 33.
Heath Ledger
The Australian actor was born born April 4, 1979 and died January 22, 2008 at only 28.
In his short life he proved himself one the most dazzling Gen X actors, starring in hits including 10 Things I Hate About You, The Patriot and A Knight’s Tale before earning an Oscar nomination for Best Actor for his role in 2005’s Brokeback Mountain.
He earned a posthumous Oscar for his role as The Joker in The Dark Knight, released the summer after his accidental overdose death from medications.
“Mr. Heath Ledger died as the result of acute intoxication by the combined effects of oxycodone, hydrocodone, diazepam, temazepam, alprazolam and doxylamine,” the New York City Medical Examiner said in February 2008.
Philip Seymour Hoffman
Another of our greatest actors, Philip Seymour Hoffman, was born July 23, 1967 and died February 2, 2014 at only 46.
He was known as a deeply committed, nuanced, and astonishingly versatile actor known for roles including The Talented Mr. Ripley, Mission: Impossible 3, the Hunger Games franchise, and Capote, for which he won the Best Actor Oscar in 2006.
He struggled with heroin addiction early in life, and successfully abstained from it for many years before relapsing. He died of overdose from a combination of drugs, including heroin and cocaine, according to the New York City Medical Examiner.
Brad Renfro
The star of The Client, Sleepers (above), Apt Pupil and Ghost World was born on July 25, 1982 and died January 15, 2008, at just 25 years of age.
Renfro, who was from Knoxville, Tennessee, made his way to Hollywood after a D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) officer recommended him to a casting agent. (The officer, Dennis Bowman, told the Knoxville News Sentinel that Renfro was “street smart and wise beyond his years.”)
The actor struggled for years with addiction, and died from acute heroin/morphine intoxication, according to the Los Angeles County Coroner’s Office.
Prince
Prince Rogers Nelson was born June 7, 1958 and died April 21, 2016, at 57 years of age.
The star of Purple Rain (above), Under the Cherry Moon and Graffiti Bridge — as well as one of the greatest musicians to ever do it — was known for clean living prior to his shocking departure. “He was a Jehovah’s Witness and obsessively healthy eater. You couldn’t drink, smoke or even curse at his Paisley parties,” the New York Times noted. He died the day before he was scheduled to meet with a California doctor in an attempt to kick an addiction to painkillers, according to this report.
A press release from the Midwest Medical Examiner’s Office, which handled the investigation, concluded that he died from an accidental overdose of fentanyl.
Elvis Presley
Like Prince, Elvis Presley was such an essential figure in music history that it’s easy to forget that he was also a movie star. Born January 8, 1935, he died on August 16, 1977, at just 42 years of age.
The King’s cause of death has always been in dispute — and if you read a lot of supermarket tabloids in the 1980s, you probably noticed that even his death itself was in dispute.
Soon after he died, Shelby County medical examiner Jerry Francisco declared that Elvis Presley died of “cardiac arrhythmia” and that drugs were not a factor.
But in a piece for PBS News Hour, Dr. Howard Markel argues that this seems like an attempt to protect Presley’s reputation. He notes that a toxicology report found that Elvis’ blood contained very high levels of the opiates Dilaudid, Percodan, Demerol, and codeine — as well as Quaaludes. Two pathologists also eventually disclosed that they had found evidence of severe and chronic constipation, diabetes, and glaucoma during their examination.
More on Elvis Presley
Presley was also “straining very hard to have a bowel movement — a maneuver that put a great amount of pressure on his heart and aorta,” Markel notes. “Thus, he likely died of a massive heart attack and keeled over onto the floor. But Elvis was not suffering from garden-variety constipation at the time of his death. Indeed, his medicine chest was filled with amber-colored, white-topped vials of medications, in doses no responsible doctor would have prescribed.”
Markel adds: “Presley was a long-time abuser of opiates, which not only kill pain but also cause savage constipation.”
Edie Sedgwick
Born April 20, 1943, Sedgwick died November 16, 1971 at just 28.
Her short, spectacular life included becoming a famed It Girl of Manhattan nightlife as she collaborated with Andy Warhol and quickly became known as one of the most influential fashion figures of the 1960s. (Vogue cited her as the “poster girl” for a recent fashion trend just last year.)
She split off from Warhol to begin an independent movie career that resulted in one cult classic: Ciao Manhattan (above), a sad, astonishing time capsule of what might have been. It was released after she died by what her death certificate lists as “probable acute barbiturate intoxication” due to ethanol intoxication — meaning she died of both barbiturates and alcohol.
Marilyn Monroe
Perhaps the most iconic movie star of all time, Marilyn Monroe, born Norma Jeane Mortenson on June 1, 1926, died on August 4, 1962 at just 36 years of age.
A Los Angeles County toxicology report found that the cause of death was acute barbiturate poisoning, and deputy coroner Thomas Noguchi determined her death was a probable suicide.
Matthew Perry
Though best known for his decade starring as Chandler Bing on the hit sitcom Friends, Matthew Perry was also a Hollywood leading man known for roles in Fools Rush In (1997, above), Three to Tango (1999), The Whole Nine Yards (2000) and more. He also starred with Chris Farley in Almost Heroes (1998).
Born August 19, 1969, he died on October 28, 2023 at just 54.
Perry was found unresponsive in the pool of his Los Angeles home. His death was caused by an accident caused by the “acute effects of ketamine,” according to Los Angeles medical officials. Drowning was listed as a contributing factor in his death.
Overdose Deaths and Addiction Help
Opioid-involved overdose deaths climbed from 21,089 in 2010 to 47,600 in 2017 and remained steady through 2019, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. The number of deaths significantly increased in 2020, with 68,630 reported deaths and again in 2021 with 80,411 reported overdose deaths, the NIDA reports.
Also from the NIDA website: If you are experiencing severe symptoms or are in danger, please call 9-1-1, or call poison control at 1-800-222-1222. You can also visit www.poison.org.
For treatment, call the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration (SAMHSA) National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357) or visit www.FindTreatment.gov to find a qualified healthcare provider in your area.
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