List of drug-related deaths
Encyclopedia
The following is a list of notable people who have died from drug-related causes.

Criteria for inclusion are death from overdose
Drug overdose
The term drug overdose describes the ingestion or application of a drug or other substance in quantities greater than are recommended or generally practiced...

, death from organ-failure/illness due to or exacerbated by drug use, or death from suicide/misadventure under the influence of drugs. Deaths from lethal injection
Lethal injection
Lethal injection is the practice of injecting a person with a fatal dose of drugs for the express purpose of causing the immediate death of the subject. The main application for this procedure is capital punishment, but the term may also be applied in a broad sense to euthanasia and suicide...

 as a form of capital punishment, as well as deaths due to drug-related crime
Drug-Related Crime
In the United States, Illegal drugs are related to crime in multiple ways. Most directly, it is a crime to use, possess, manufacture, or distribute drugs classified as having a potential for abuse...

, are not included.

A

Name Life Profession Cause of death Reference
Herb Abrams
Herb Abrams
Herb C. Abrams was an American professional wrestling promoter from New York.-Career:Abrams founded the Universal Wrestling Federation in 1990 and remained CEO of the company until his death...

1954–1996 Professional wrestling promoter Cocaine related heart attack.
Janet Achurch
Janet Achurch
Janet Achurch was an English stage actress and actor-manager. She made her London debut in 1883. She played many Shakespearean roles, but is best known as a pioneer of major roles in the works of Ibsen. Perhaps her most notable role was as Nora in A Doll's House...

1864–1916 Actor Morphine
Morphine
Morphine is a potent opiate analgesic medication and is considered to be the prototypical opioid. It was first isolated in 1804 by Friedrich Sertürner, first distributed by same in 1817, and first commercially sold by Merck in 1827, which at the time was a single small chemists' shop. It was more...

 overdose.
Brian Adams
Brian Adams (wrestler)
Brian Keith Adams was an American professional wrestler. Adams gained fame in the 1990s while performing for the World Wrestling Federation , under the name Crush, and for World Championship Wrestling under his given name.Trained in Japan by Antonio Inoki, Adams was a two time WCW World Tag Team...

1963–2007 Professional wrestler Painkiller overdose. Accidental.
Nick Adams 1931–1968 Actor Barbituate overdose. Death officially certified as "accidental-suicidal and undetermined". High levels of sedatives were found in his blood.
Stuart Adamson
Stuart Adamson
Stuart Adamson , born William Stuart Adamson, was an English-born Scottish guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter, described by legendary music journalist John Peel as “Britain’s answer to Jimi Hendrix”...

1958–2001 Musician (Big Country
Big Country
Big Country are a Scottish rock band formed in Dunfermline, Fife in 1981. They were most popular in the early to mid-1980s, but they still release material for a cult following...

)
Hung himself under the influence of alcohol.
Michael Adkisson, aka Mike Von Erich
Mike Von Erich
Michael Brett Adkisson was an American professional wrestler under the ring name Mike Von Erich. His four brothers, David, Kerry, Kevin and Chris, also wrestled...

1964–1987 Professional wrestler Tranquilizer
Tranquilizer
A tranquilizer, or tranquilliser , is a drug that induces tranquility in an individual.The term "tranquilizer" is imprecise, and is usually qualified, or replaced with more precise terms:...

 overdose. Suicide.
George Albert, aka George V
George V
George V was king of the United Kingdom and its dominions from 1910 to 1936.George V or similar terms may also refer to:-People:* George V of Georgia * George V of Imereti * George V of Hanover...

1865–1936 King Cocaine and morphine overdose. Euthanasia
Euthanasia
Euthanasia refers to the practice of intentionally ending a life in order to relieve pain and suffering....

.
Asa A. Allen
A. A. Allen
Asa A. Allen , better known as A.A. Allen, was a controversial evangelist with a Pentecostal healing and deliverance ministry. He was, for a time, associated with the "Voice of Healing" movement founded by Gordon Lindsay. He died at age 59 in San Francisco...

1911–1970 Evangelist Liver failure due to acute alcoholism.
Dennis Allen
Dennis Allen
Dennis Allen was a Melbourne based drug dealer who was reported to have murdered many victims. He was the oldest son of criminal matriarch Kath Pettingill. He died of heart disease in 1987 in prison custody awaiting trial for murder....

1951–1987 Drug dealer Heart failure. "Pieces of his heart actually broke off after decades of heavy drug abuse".
Ryūnosuke Akutagawa
Ryunosuke Akutagawa
was a Japanese writer active in the Taishō period in Japan. He is regarded as the "Father of the Japanese short story". He committed suicide at age of 35 through an overdose of barbital.-Early life:...

1892–1927 Writer Veronal overdose. Suicide.
William Barnsley Allen
William Barnsley Allen
Major William Barnsley Allen VC DSO MC and Bar was an English recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces....

1892–1933 Army officer Unspecified narcotic overdose. Accidental.
Pier Angeli
Pier Angeli
Pier Angeli was an Italian-born television and film actress. Her American cinematographic debut was in the starring role of the 1951 film Teresa, in which she won a Golden Globe Award...

1932–1971 Actress Died of anaphylactic shock after being given a tranquilizer by her doctor.
Matthew Ansara
Matthew Ansara
Matthew Michael Ansara was an actor and bodybuilder, who was the only son of Barbara Eden and her then-husband Michael Ansara. His first acting job was when he was 15 years old, in the pilot episode of Harper Valley PTA...

1965–2001 Actor Heroin overdose. Accidental.
Chris Antley
Chris Antley
Christopher Wiley Antley was a champion American jockey.He was born in Fort Lauderdale, Florida but grew up in Elloree, South Carolina. He left school at sixteen to ride horses professionally at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland. His first win was on a horse named Vaya Con Dinero...

1966–2000 Jockey Severe blunt trauma. The coroner's report concluded that Antley had died of a multiple drug overdose and the injuries were likely related to a fall caused by the drugs.
Jean Améry
Jean Améry
Jean Améry , born Hanns Chaim Mayer, was an Austrian-born essayist whose work was often informed by his experiences during World War II...

1912–1978 Writer Sleeping pill overdose. Suicide.
Diane Arbus
Diane Arbus
Diane Arbus March 14, 1923 – July 26, 1971) was an American photographer and writer noted for black-and-white square photographs of "deviant and marginal people or of people whose normality seems ugly or surreal." A friend said that Arbus said that she was "afraid.....

1923–1971 Photographer Consumed a number of barbiturates and then slit her wrists. Suicide.
West Arkeen
West Arkeen
Aaron West Arkeen , better known as West Arkeen, was an American musician best-known for co-writing several Guns N' Roses songs. He died in Los Angeles as a result of a drug overdose.-Biography:...

1960–1997 Musician Opiate overdose. Accidental
Howard Arkley
Howard Arkley
Howard Arkley was an Australian artist, born in Melbourne, known for his airbrushed paintings of houses, architecture and suburbia. His mothers side of the family was Jewish and his father was German...

1951–1999 Painter Heroin overdose. Accidental.
Kevyn Aucoin
Kevyn Aucoin
Kevyn Aucoin was an American make-up artist and photographer.-Early life:Aucoin was born in Shreveport, Louisiana and grew up in Lafayette, Louisiana, to parents Isidore Adrian Aucoin and Thelma Suzanne Melancon, who adopted him as an infant through Catholic Charities of Alexandria, Louisiana He...

1962–2002 Photographer, make-up artist Kidney and liver failure due to Tylenol
Tylenol
Tylenol is a North American brand of drugs advertised for reducing pain, reducing fever, and relieving the symptoms of allergies, cold, cough, and flu. The active ingredient of its original, flagship product, paracetamol , is marketed as an analgesic and antipyretic...

 toxicity, as a result of a prescription painkiller addiction.

B

Name Life Profession Cause of death Reference
Karen Bach, aka Karen Lancaume
Karen Lancaume
Karen Lancaume was a French pornographic film actress. She appeared in around 40 movies between 1996 and 2002. She is best known internationally for her starring role as Nadine in the controversial 2000 film, Baise-moi...

1973–2005 Pornographic actress Temazepam overdose. Suicide.
Chet Baker
Chet Baker
Chesney Henry "Chet" Baker, Jr. was an American jazz trumpeter, flugelhornist and singer.Though his music earned him a large following , Baker's popularity was due in part to his "matinee idol-beauty" and "well-publicized drug habit."He died in 1988 in Amsterdam, the...

1929–1988 Jazz trumpeter, singer, guitarist Fatal fall from a balcony while under the influence of cocaine and heroin.
Lester Bangs
Lester Bangs
Leslie Conway "Lester" Bangs was an American music journalist, author and musician. He wrote for Creem and Rolling Stone magazines, and was known for his leading influence in rock 'n' roll criticism....

1948–1982 Music critic, musician Overdose of Darvon, Valium and NyQuil
NyQuil
NyQuil is a brand of over the counter medication which is intended to relieve various symptoms of the common cold. Because all of the medications within the NyQuil imprint contain sedating antihistamines, hypnotics, and/or alcohol, they are intended to be taken before sleep...

.
Robert Barlow 1918–1951 Author Overdose of barbiturates. Suicide.
Sid Barnes
Sid Barnes
Sidney George Barnes was an Australian cricketer and cricket writer, who played 13 Test matches between 1938 and 1948. Able to open the innings or bat down the order, Barnes was regarded as one of Australia's finest batsmen in the period immediately following the Second World War...

1916–1973 Cricketer
Cricketer
A cricketer is a person who plays the sport of cricket. Official and long-established cricket publications prefer the traditional word "cricketer" over the rarely used term "cricket player"....

Barbiturate and bromide poisoning. Self-administered though intent could not be determined.
Jean-Michel Basquiat
Jean-Michel Basquiat
Jean-Michel Basquiat was an American artist. His career in art began as a graffiti artist in New York City in the late 1970s, and in the 1980s produced Neo-expressionist painting.-Early life:...

1960–1988 Painter Heroin overdose.
Michael Carl Baze 1987–2011 Jockey Cocaine and oxymorphone overdose. Accidental.
Jan Paul Beahm, aka Darby Crash
Darby Crash
Darby Crash was an American punk musician who, along with long time friend Pat Smear , co-founded The Germs...

1958–1980 Musician (The Germs
The Germs
The Germs are an American punk rock band from Los Angeles, California, originally active from 1977 to 1980. The band's early lineup consisted of singer Darby Crash, guitarist Pat Smear, bassist Lorna Doom, and their most consistent drummer Don Bolles. Germs have since reformed in 2005 with Shane...

)
Heroin overdose. Suicide.
Scotty Beckett
Scotty Beckett
Scott Hastings "Scotty" Beckett was an American child actor. He starred in the Our Gang and Rocky Jones, Space Ranger series.-Early career:...

1929–1968 Former child actor Suspected overdose. Pills and a note were found next to his body however the coroner's report was not released.
Steve Bechler
Steve Bechler
Steven Scott Bechler was a Major League Baseball pitcher for the Baltimore Orioles in 2002.Steve Bechler died of heatstroke at the beginning of spring training with the Orioles in 2003. An autopsy performed by Dr...

1979–2003 Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...

 pitcher
Heatstroke. The coroner indicated that "the toxicity of ephedra
Ephedra
Ephedra refers to the plant Ephedra sinica. E. sinica, known in Chinese as ma huang , has been used in traditional Chinese medicine for 5,000 years for the treatment of asthma and hay fever, as well as for the common cold...

 played a significant role" among many factors in contributing to his death.
Brendan Behan
Brendan Behan
Brendan Francis Behan was an Irish poet, short story writer, novelist, and playwright who wrote in both Irish and English. He was also an Irish republican and a volunteer in the Irish Republican Army.-Early life:...

1923–1964 Poet, writer Diabetes exacerbated by his refusal to stop drinking alcohol.
Gertrude Bell
Gertrude Bell
Gertrude Margaret Lowthian Bell, CBE was an English writer, traveller, political officer, administrator, and archaeologist who explored, mapped, and became highly influential to British imperial policy-making due to her extensive travels in Greater Syria, Mesopotamia, Asia Minor, and Arabia. Along...

1868–1926 Writer Overdose of sleeping pills. Whether it was an accident or suicide was undetermined.
John Belushi
John Belushi
John Adam Belushi was an American comedian, actor, and musician, best known as one of the original cast members of the NBC sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live, The Star of the Films National Lampoon's Animal House and the The Blues Brothers and for fronting the American blues and soul...

1949–1982 Actor, comedian Speedball
Speedball (drug)
Speedball is a term commonly referring to the hazardous intravenous use of heroin or morphine and cocaine together in the same syringe. The speedball can also be taken by insufflation. The original speedball used cocaine hydrochloride mixed with morphine sulfate, as opposed to heroin...

. Accidental.
Jay Bennett
Jay Bennett
Jay Walter Bennett was an American guitarist, multi-instrumentalist, engineer, producer, and singer-songwriter, best known for his work with the band Wilco.-Early life and work with Wilco:...

1963–2009 Guitarist (Wilco) Fentanyl overdose. Accidental
Wes Berggren
Wes Berggren
Wes Berggren was an American musician and former guitarist for the rock band Tripping Daisy.Berggren was found dead of a drug overdose in his apartment on October 27, 1999. The Dallas County Medical Examiner's office found traces of cocaine, propoxyphene, and benzodiazepine in his body...

1971–1999 Musician (Tripping Daisy
Tripping Daisy
Tripping Daisy was a neo psychedelic pop rock band that was formed in Dallas, Texas, USA by lead singer/guitarist Tim DeLaughter in 1990 along with Jeff Bouck , Wes Berggren and Mark Pirro .-History:...

)
Overdose. Traces of cocaine, propoxyphene, and benzodiazepine were found in his body.
George Best
George Best
George Best was a professional footballer from Northern Ireland, who played for Manchester United and the Northern Ireland national team. He was a winger whose game combined pace, acceleration, balance, two-footedness, goalscoring and the ability to beat defenders...

1946–2005 Football player Lung
Lung
The lung is the essential respiration organ in many air-breathing animals, including most tetrapods, a few fish and a few snails. In mammals and the more complex life forms, the two lungs are located near the backbone on either side of the heart...

 infection and multiple organ failure brought on by long-term alcoholism.
Leah Betts
Leah Betts
Leah Sarah Betts was a schoolgirl from Latchingdon in Essex, England, United Kingdom. She is notable for the extensive media coverage and moral panic that followed her death several days after her 18th birthday. On 11 November, she took an Ecstasy tablet, and then drank approximately 7 litres of...

1977–1995 Student Excessive water consumption
Water intoxication
Water intoxication, also known as water poisoning, is a potentially fatal disturbance in brain functions that results when the normal balance of electrolytes in the body is pushed outside of safe limits by over-consumption of water....

 exacerbated by ecstasy causing her body to release anti-diuretic hormones.
Len Bias
Len Bias
Leonard Kevin "Len" Bias was a first team All-American college basketball player at the University of Maryland. He was selected by the Boston Celtics as the second overall pick in the 1986 NBA Draft on June 17, but died two days later from cardiac arrhythmia induced by a cocaine overdose...

1963–1986 Basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...

 player
Cocaine
Cocaine
Cocaine is a crystalline tropane alkaloid that is obtained from the leaves of the coca plant. The name comes from "coca" in addition to the alkaloid suffix -ine, forming cocaine. It is a stimulant of the central nervous system, an appetite suppressant, and a topical anesthetic...

 overdose. Accidental.
Scott Charles Bigelow, aka Bam Bam Bigelow 1961–2007 Professional wrestler Overdose. Lethal levels of cocaine and an anxiolytic
Anxiolytic
An anxiolytic is a drug used for the treatment of anxiety, and its related psychological and physical symptoms...

 drug were found in his blood.
Robert Bingham 1966–1999 Writer Heroin overdose.
Ted Binion
Ted Binion
Lonnie Theodore "Ted" Binion was a wealthy U.S. gambling executive and one of the sons of famed Las Vegas casino magnate Lester Ben "Benny" Binion, owner of Binion's Horseshoe...

1943–1998 Gambling executive Heroin and Xanax overdose. Possible suicide.
Count Gottfried von Bismarck 1962–2007 Aristocrat Cocaine and morphine overdose.
Walter Patrick Bissell
Patrick Bissell
Walter Patrick Bissell was an American ballet dancer. He was a leading principal dancer with the American Ballet Theater...

1957–1987 Ballet dancer Overdose of cocaine, codeine, methadone and other drugs.
Erica Blasberg
Erica Blasberg
Erica Paige Blasberg was an American golfer who played on the LPGA Tour.-Early life:Blasberg was born in Orange, California, and raised in Corona, California. She attended Corona High School where she played on the boys' golf team.-Amateur career:As an amateur, Blasberg was the medalist at the...

1984–2010 Golfer Asphixia and toxic levels of "butalbital, temazepam, alprazolam, codeine, hydrocodone, and tramadol". Suicide.
Celia Ann Blaylock, aka Mattie Blaylock
Mattie Blaylock
Celia Ann "Mattie" Blaylock was a prostitute who became the romantic companion and common-law wife of Old West lawman and gambler Wyatt Earp for about 8 years...

1850–1888 Prostitute Opiate poisoning. Suicide.
Mike Bloomfield
Mike Bloomfield
Michael Bernard "Mike" Bloomfield was an American musician, guitarist, and composer, born in Chicago, Illinois, who became one of the first popular music superstars of the 1960s to earn his reputation almost entirely on his instrumental prowess, since he rarely sang before 1969–70...

1943–1981 Blues guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...

ist
Unspecified drug overdose.
Carl Böhm, aka Carl Crack
Carl Crack
Carl Crack was a Berlin-based techno artist best known for his membership in the digital hardcore band Atari Teenage Riot from 1992 to 2000....

1971–2001 Musician (Atari Teenage Riot
Atari Teenage Riot
'Atari Teenage Riot' is a German digital hardcore group formed in Berlin in 1992. The name was taken from a Portuguese Joe song 'Teenage Riot' from the 'Teen-age Riot' album, with the word 'Atari' added as an Atari ST computer was used to create compositions...

)
Overdose. Alcohol and unspecified pills were found in his stomach.
Tommy Bolin
Tommy Bolin
Thomas Richard "Tommy" Bolin was an American-born guitarist who played with Zephyr , The James Gang , and Deep Purple , in addition to doing solo work...

1951–1976 Musician (Deep Purple
Deep Purple
Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in Hertford in 1968. Along with Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, they are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal and modern hard rock, although some band members believe that their music cannot be categorised as belonging to any one genre...

)
Unspecified drug overdose.
John Bonham
John Bonham
John Henry Bonham was an English musician and songwriter, best known as the drummer of Led Zeppelin. Bonham was esteemed for his speed, power, fast right foot, distinctive sound, and "feel" for the groove...

1948–1980 Drummer (Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin were an English rock band, active in the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s. Formed in 1968, they consisted of guitarist Jimmy Page, singer Robert Plant, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham...

)
Choked on his own vomit after consuming forty shots of vodka.
Derek Boogaard
Derek Boogaard
Derek Leendert Boogaard was a Canadian professional ice hockey left winger who played for the Minnesota Wild and the New York Rangers of the National Hockey League . He was of Flemish descent. Known primarily as a fighter and enforcer, his nicknames included "Boogeyman" and "The Mountie"...

1982–2011 Ice hockey player Toxic mix of alcohol and oxycodone
Oxycodone
Oxycodone is an opioid analgesic medication synthesized from opium-derived thebaine. It was developed in 1916 in Germany, as one of several new semi-synthetic opioids in an attempt to improve on the existing opioids: morphine, diacetylmorphine , and codeine.Oxycodone oral medications are generally...

. Accidental.
Jennie Bosschieter
Jennie Bosschieter
Jennie Bosschieter was murdered in Paterson, New Jersey on October 19, 1900. -Biography:Jennie was the daughter of Dina Bosschieter from The Netherlands. She lived with her parents at 155 East Fifth Street in the Riverside section, and worked at the Paterson Ribbon Company on Vreeland Avenue...

1882–1900 Factory worker Overdose of drugged liquor.
Christopher Bowman
Christopher Bowman
Christopher Nicol' Bowman was an American figure skater. He was a two-time U.S. national champion and two-time World medalist. He won the 1983 World Junior Figure Skating Championships and competed in two Olympic Winter Games, placing 7th in 1988 and 4th in 1992.-Biography:Bowman was born in...

1967–2008 Former professional ice skater Overdose. Traces of cocaine, Valium, alcohol and cannabis were found in his blood. Accidental.
Charles Boyer
Charles Boyer
Charles Boyer was a French actor who appeared in more than 80 films between 1920 and 1976. After receiving an education in drama, Boyer started on the stage, but he found success in movies during the 1930s. His memorable performances were among the era's most highly praised romantic dramas,...

1899–1978 Actor Seconal overdose. Suicide.
Duncan Gordon Boyes
Duncan Gordon Boyes
Duncan Gordon Boyes VC was an English recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces...

1846–1869 Soldier Delirium tremens
Delirium tremens
Delirium tremens is an acute episode of delirium that is usually caused by withdrawal from alcohol, first described in 1813...

.
Elisa Bridges
Elisa Bridges
Elisa Rebeca Bridges was an American model and actress. She was Playboy magazine's Playmate of the Month for December 1994, and Playboy's Video Playmate of the Month for September 1996. She appeared in several video productions from Playboy Home Video from 1996 to 2000. She also appeared as a...

1973–2002 Model "Acute intoxication by the combined effects of heroin, methamphetamine, meperidine and alprazolam".
Dianne Brimble 1960–2002 Mother Combination of gamma-Hydroxybutyric acid
Gamma-Hydroxybutyric acid
γ-Hydroxybutyric acid , also known as 4-hydroxybutanoic acid and sodium oxybate when used for medicinal purposes, is a naturally occurring substance found in the central nervous system, wine, beef, small citrus fruits, and almost all animals in small amounts. It is also categorized as an illegal...

 (GHB) and alcohol.
Erik Brødreskift
Erik Brødreskift
Erik Brødreskift was a Norwegian drummer, who played in several black metal bands during his career...

1969–1999 Musician Overdose of unspecified pills. Suicide.
Lenny Bruce
Lenny Bruce
Leonard Alfred Schneider , better known by the stage name Lenny Bruce, was a Jewish-American comedian, social critic and satirist...

1925–1966 Comedian "Acute morphine poisoning caused by an accidental overdose."
Julia Bruns
Julia Bruns
Julia Eliza Bruns was a stage andsilent film actress from St. Louis, Missouri. Once called the most beautiful girl in the world, she eventually succumbed to alcoholism and drug addiction and died at 32....

1895–1927 Actress Alcohol poisoning.
Tim Buckley
Tim Buckley
Timothy Charles Buckley III was an American vocalist, and musician. His music and style changed considerably through the years; his first album was mostly folk oriented, but over time his music incorporated jazz, psychedelia, funk, soul, avant-garde and an evolving "voice as instrument," sound...

1947–1975 Musician "Acute heroin/morphine and ethanol intoxication due to inhalation and ingestion of overdose".
Richard Burton
Richard Burton
Richard Burton, CBE was a Welsh actor. He was nominated seven times for an Academy Award, six of which were for Best Actor in a Leading Role , and was a recipient of BAFTA, Golden Globe and Tony Awards for Best Actor. Although never trained as an actor, Burton was, at one time, the highest-paid...

1925–1984 Actor Alcohol related causes.
Chad Butler, aka Pimp C
Pimp C
Chad Lamont Butler , better known by his stage name Pimp C, was an American rapper, singer, and producer...

1973–2007 Rapper Respiratory depression due to an accidental overdose of promethazine and codeine mixed with a pre-existing medical condition, sleep apnea
Sleep apnea
Sleep apnea is a sleep disorder characterized by abnormal pauses in breathing or instances of abnormally low breathing, during sleep. Each pause in breathing, called an apnea, can last from a few seconds to minutes, and may occur 5 to 30 times or more an hour. Similarly, each abnormally low...

.
Paul Butterfield
Paul Butterfield
Paul Butterfield was an American blues vocalist and harmonica player, who founded the Paul Butterfield Blues Band in the early 1960s and performed at the original Woodstock Festival...

1942–1987 Musician Drug related heart failure.

C

Name Life Profession Cause of death Reference
Andrés Caicedo
Andrés Caicedo
Luis Andrés Caicedo Estela was a Colombian writer born in Cali, the city where he would spend most of his life. Despite his premature death, his work is considered one of the most original in Colombian literature...

1951–1977 Writer Secobarbital
Secobarbital
Secobarbital sodium is a barbiturate derivative drug that was first synthesized in 1928 in Germany. It possesses anaesthetic, anticonvulsant, sedative and hypnotic properties...

 overdose. Suicide.
Casey Calvert 1981–2007 Guitarist (Hawthorne Heights
Hawthorne Heights
Hawthorne Heights is an American rock band from Dayton, Ohio, formed in 2001. Their line-up currently consists of lead-singer and rhythm guitarist JT Woodruff, lead-guitarist and vocalist Micah Carli, bassist and backing vocalist Matt Ridenour, and drummer Eron Bucciarelli...

)
A rare lethal mixture of hydrocodone/APAP, citalopram, and clonazepam. Accidental.
Ken Caminiti
Ken Caminiti
Kenneth Gene Caminiti was an American third baseman in Major League Baseball and the 1996 National League Most Valuable Player. He was born in Hanford, California, and attended San Jose State University...

1963–2004 Former Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...

 player.
Cocaine and opiate overdose.
Max Cantor
Max Cantor
Michael 'Max' Cantor was an American journalist and actor in films such as Dirty Dancing and Fear, Anxiety and Depression ....

1959–1991 Actor, journalist Heroin overdose.
Truman Capote
Truman Capote
Truman Streckfus Persons , known as Truman Capote , was an American author, many of whose short stories, novels, plays, and nonfiction are recognized literary classics, including the novella Breakfast at Tiffany's and the true crime novel In Cold Blood , which he labeled a "nonfiction novel." At...

1924–1984 Writer Liver disease complicated by phlebitis
Phlebitis
Phlebitis is an inflammation of a vein, usually in the legs.When phlebitis is associated with the formation of blood clots , usually in the deep veins of the legs, the condition is called thrombophlebitis...

 and multiple drug intoxication.
John Cassavetes
John Cassavetes
John Nicholas Cassavetes was an American actor, screenwriter and filmmaker. He acted in many Hollywood films, notably Rosemary's Baby and The Dirty Dozen...

1929–1989 Writer, actor, director Cirrhosis
Cirrhosis
Cirrhosis is a consequence of chronic liver disease characterized by replacement of liver tissue by fibrosis, scar tissue and regenerative nodules , leading to loss of liver function...

 of liver due to alcoholism
Alcoholism
Alcoholism is a broad term for problems with alcohol, and is generally used to mean compulsive and uncontrolled consumption of alcoholic beverages, usually to the detriment of the drinker's health, personal relationships, and social standing...

Vic Chesnutt
Vic Chesnutt
James Victor "Vic" Chesnutt was an American singer-songwriter from Athens, Georgia. His first album, Little, was released in 1990, but his breakthrough to commercial success didn't come until 1996 with the release of Sweet Relief II: Gravity of the Situation, a tribute album of mainstream artists...

1964–2009 Musician Overdose of prescription medication. Suicide.
Maria Christina, aka Missy 1967–2008 Pornographic actress Unspecified prescription drug overdose. Accidental.
Diana Churchill
Diana Churchill
Diana Spencer-Churchill was the eldest daughter of Sir Winston Churchill and Clementine Churchill, Baroness Spencer-Churchill .- Personal life :...

1909–1963 Naval officer Barbiturate overdose. Suicide.
Sally Clark
Sally Clark
Sally Clark was a British solicitor who became the victim of an infamous miscarriage of justice when she was wrongly convicted of the murder of two of her sons in 1999...

1964–2007 Solicitor Alcohol poisoning.
Sonny Clark
Sonny Clark
Conrad Yeatis "Sonny" Clark was an American jazz pianist who mainly worked in the hard bop idiom.-Biography:...

1931–1963 Pianist Alcohol abuse; an attempt to conteract his heroin dependancy.
Steve Clark
Steve Clark
Stephen Maynard Clark was an English musician, co-lead guitarist for the British hard rock band Def Leppard up until his death in 1991 due to a combination of alcohol and multiple prescription drugs...

1960–1991 Musician (Def Leppard
Def Leppard
Def Leppard are an English rock band formed in 1977 in Sheffield as part of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal movement. Since 1992, the band have consisted of Joe Elliott , Rick Savage , Rick Allen , Phil Collen , and Vivian Campbell...

)
Lethal overdose of codeine, along with valium and morphine and alcohol at more than 3 times the legal British limit. Accidental.
Charmian Clift
Charmian Clift
Charmian Clift was an Australian writer and essayist during the mid 20th century. She was the second wife and literary collaborator of George Johnston.-Biography:...

1923–1969 Writer Unspecified drug overdose. Suicide.
Vander Clyde, aka Barbette
Barbette (performer)
Barbette was an American female impersonator, high wire performer and trapeze artist born in Texas on December 19, 1899...

1899–1973 Trapeze artist Unspecified drug overdose. Suicide.
Kurt Cobain
Kurt Cobain
Kurt Donald Cobain was an American singer-songwriter, musician and artist, best known as the lead singer and guitarist of the grunge band Nirvana...

1967–1994 Musician (Nirvana
Nirvana (band)
Nirvana was an American rock band that was formed by singer/guitarist Kurt Cobain and bassist Krist Novoselic in Aberdeen, Washington in 1987...

)
Self-inflicted shotgun wound to the head under the influence of a potentially lethal dose of heroin with traces of diazepam.
Bob Collins
Bob Collins (politician)
Robert Lindsay Collins AO was an Australian Labor Party member of the Australian Senate from July 1987 to March 1998, representing the Northern Territory. Prior to entering the Senate, Collins was a member of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly from 1977 to 1987, and Leader of the...

1946–2007 Politician Prescription drug and alcohol overdose. Suicide.
Natasha Collins
Natasha Collins
Natasha Louise Collins was an English actress and model.-Career:Educated at St. Michael's Catholic Grammar School in Finchley, north London, she initially worked as a model, and was still represented by Ugly Rage Models at the time of her death...

1973–2008 Actress Cocaine overdose. Accidental.
Brian Cole
Brian Cole
Brian Cole was the bass guitar player and one of the founding members of the 1960s folk rock band The Association....

1942–1972 Musician (the Association
The Association
The Association is a pop music band from California in the folk rock or soft rock genre. During the 1960s, they had numerous hits at or near the top of the Billboard charts and were the lead-off band at 1967's Monterey Pop Festival...

)
Heroin overdose.
Douglas Glenn Colvin, aka Dee Dee Ramone
Dee Dee Ramone
Dee Dee Ramone was an American songwriter and musician, best known as founding member, bassist and main songwriter of the punk rock band the Ramones....

1951–2002 Musician (the Ramones) Heroin overdose.
Michael Cooper
Michael Cooper (photographer)
Michael Cooper was a British photographer who is remembered for his photographs of leading rock musicians of the 1960s and early 1970s, most notably the many photos he took of The Rolling Stones in the mid-1960s....

1941–1973 Photographer Heroin overdose.
Megan Connolly
Megan Connolly
Megan Jennifer Connolly was an Australian actress.-Career:Connolly's film debut was 1990's The Crossing with Russell Crowe. She later played Tori Hayden in the soap opera Paradise Beach Later she hosted the television shows The Zone and Body Corp...

1974–2001 Actress Heroin overdose.
Nancy Ann Coursey, aka Paige Summers
Paige Summers
Paige Summers was an American adult model. She was a former Penthouse dog and Pet of the Year...

1976–2003 Pornographic actress Codeine and oxycodone overdose.
Pamela Courson
Pamela Courson
Pamela Susan Courson was the long-term companion of Jim Morrison, vocalist of The Doors. After the deaths of Morrison and Courson, her parents petitioned an out-of-state court to declare that the couple had a common-law marriage.-Early life and involvement with Morrison:Courson was born in Weed,...

1946–1974 Retail. Wife of Jim Morrison
Jim Morrison
James Douglas "Jim" Morrison was an American musician, singer, and poet, best known as the lead singer and lyricist of the rock band The Doors...

Heroin overdose.
Nancy Crick
Nancy Crick
Nancy Crick was an Australian woman who took her own life by drinking a solution of Nembutal, while surrounded by 21 voluntary euthanasia supporters and family. Nancy was supported in her decision by euthanasia activist Dr. Philip Nitschke. Nancy's death became highly politicised after her...

1932–2002 Euthanasia activist Overdose of nembutal. Euthanasia.
Robbin Crosby
Robbin Crosby
Robbin Crosby was an American guitarist who was a member of glam metal band Ratt, earning several platinum albums in the U.S. in the mid-to-late 1980s. Crosby was HIV positive, but died from a heroin overdose in 2002....

1959–2002 Musician (Ratt
Ratt
Ratt is an American heavy metal band that had significant commercial success in the 1980s. The band is best known for songs such as "Round and Round," "Wanted Man," "Lay It Down," "You're in Love", "Slip of the Lip", "Back For More", "Dance", "Body Talk", "I Want a Woman", and "Way Cool Jr." Ratt...

)
Reported causes of his death include heroin overdose, and AIDS-related complications, which he admitted to contracting from shooting drugs.
Bartley Crum
Bartley Crum
Bartley Cavanaugh Crum was a prominent American lawyer.Bartley Crum was a confidant of William Randolph Hearst and the 1940 U.S. Presidential candidate Wendel Willkie...

1900–1959 Lawyer Washed down an entire bottle of Seconal with whisky. Suicide.
William Cuppy
Will Cuppy
William Jacob "Will" Cuppy was an American humorist and literary critic, known for his satirical books about nature and historical figures.-Early life:...

1884–1949 Literary critic Sleeping pill overdose. Suicide.
Patricia Cutts
Patricia Cutts
Patricia Cutts was an English film and television actress.-Biography:Born in London, Cutts was the daughter of the writer-director Graham Cutts. Her first roles were small parts in American films such as I Was a Male War Bride and The Man Who Loved Redheads and the television shows Alfred...

1926–1974 Actress Barbiturate overdose. Suicide.

D

Name Life Profession Cause of death Reference
Lin Dai
Lin Dai
Linda Lin Dai was a Chinese actress of Hong Kong films made in Mandarin during 1950s–60s. She was a star actress in the Shaw Brothers Studio stable....

1934–1964 Actress Sleeping pill overdose combined with gas inhalation.
Jacques Damala
Jacques Damala
Aristides Damalas , known in France by the stage name Jacques Damala, , was a Greek military officer-turned-actor, who is mostly remembered as being husband to Sarah Bernhardt for a number of years. Damala's characterization by modern researchers is far from positive...

1855–1889 Actor Cocaine and morphine overdose.
Dorothy Dandridge
Dorothy Dandridge
Dorothy Jean Dandridge was an American actress and popular singer, and was the first African-American to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress...

1922–1965 Actress, singer Overdose of Imipramine
Imipramine
Imipramine , also known as melipramine, is an antidepressant medication, a tricyclic antidepressant of the dibenzazepine group...

. Accidental.
Robert Earl Davis, Jr., aka DJ Screw
DJ Screw
Robert Earl "DJ Screw" Davis, Jr. was a Houston, Texas-based DJ. He was known as a central figure in the Houston hip-hop community and was the creator of the now-famous Chopped and Screwed DJ technique...

1971–2000 Musician Overdose of codeine
Codeine
Codeine or 3-methylmorphine is an opiate used for its analgesic, antitussive, and antidiarrheal properties...

 and other drugs. Accidental.
Jesse Ed Davis
Jesse Ed Davis
Jesse Edwin Davis was an American guitarist. He was well regarded as a session artist. His death in 1988 is attributed to a drug overdose.-Biography:...

1944–1988 Guitarist Heroin overdose.
Jeanine Deckers, aka The Singing Nun
The Singing Nun
Jeanine Deckers , known in English as The Singing Nun, was a Belgian nun, and a member of the Dominican Fichermont Convent in Belgium. She became internationally famous in 1963 as Sœur Sourire when she scored a hit with the song "Dominique"...

1933–1985 Nun Overdose of barbiturates and alcohol. Suicide.
Thierry de la Villehuchet
René-Thierry Magon de la Villehuchet
René-Thierry Magon de la Villehuchet, also known as Thierry de la Villehuchet for short was a French aristocrat, money manager, and businessman, and one of the founders of Access International Advisors .The AIA Group is a research analyst investment agency that specializes in managing hedged and...

1943–2008 Businessman Swallowed sleeping pills and slit his left arm. Suicide.
Paul DeMayo
Paul Demayo
Paul DeMayo was a former IFBB professional bodybuilder.Paul DeMayo was nicknamed "Quadzilla" for the size of his quadriceps. Born in California, United States and raised in suburban Boston, DeMayo first competed in bodybuilding when he placed 1st in the Teenage Massachusetts State championships...

1967–2005 Former bodybuilder
Bodybuilding
Bodybuilding is a form of body modification involving intensive muscle hypertrophy. An individual who engages in this activity is referred to as a bodybuilder. In competitive and professional bodybuilding, bodybuilders display their physiques to a panel of judges, who assign points based on their...

Heroin overdose.
Ted Demme
Ted Demme
Edward K. "Ted" Demme was an American film director and producer.- Early life and career :Born in New York City, Demme grew up in Rockville Centre on Long Island, New York and attended South Side Senior High School. He graduated from SUNY-Cortland in 1985. His media career likely began with a...

1963–2002 Director Heart attack. Cocaine was found in his system which the coroner stated may have been a factor in his death. Accidental.
Daniel Deniehy
Daniel Deniehy
Daniel Henry Deniehy was an Australian journalist, orator and politician; and early advocate of democracy in colonial New South Wales.-Early life:...

1828–1865 Politician "[L]oss of blood and fits induced by habits of intemperance"
Teri Diver
Teri Diver
Teri Diver was an American pornstar and director. She died of an accidental drug overdose.- Biography :Diver starred in over 200 movies in the 1990s....

1971–2001 Pornographic actress Migraine medication overdose. Accidental.
Kiki Djan
Kiki Djan
Kiki Djan was a Ghanaian musician who was the keyboardist with the band Osibisa, once popular in the 1970s. Djan's career peaked when he went solo and recorded "24 Hours in a Disco" which hit the charts in the United States and the U.K...

1957–2004 Musician AIDS and narcotic related complications.
Desmond Donnelly
Desmond Donnelly
Desmond Louis Donnelly was a British politician, author and journalist who was a member of four different political parties during the course of his career, and moved between parties on five occasions.- Origins :...

1920–1974 Politician, journalist Barbiturate and alcohol overdose. Suicide.
Tommy Dorsey
Tommy Dorsey
Thomas Francis "Tommy" Dorsey, Jr. was an American jazz trombonist, trumpeter, composer, and bandleader of the Big Band era. He was known as "The Sentimental Gentleman of Swing", due to his smooth-toned trombone playing. He was the younger brother of bandleader Jimmy Dorsey...

1905–1956 Jazz musician Choked to death while sleeping. He was so sedated on sleeping pills that he was unable to awaken.
John Dougherty 19??–1997 Musician (Flipper
Flipper (band)
Flipper is a punk band formed in San Francisco, California in 1979, continuing in often erratic fashion until the mid-1990s, then reuniting in 2005. The band influenced a number of grunge,, punk rock and noise rock bands...

)
Heroin overdose.
Eric Douglas
Eric Douglas
Eric Anthony Douglas was an American actor who appeared in several movies and television shows and was also a stand-up comedian.-Early life and career:...

1958–2004 Comedian Acute intoxication by the effects of alcohol, tranquilizers and painkillers.
Nick Drake
Nick Drake
Nicholas Rodney "Nick" Drake was an English singer-songwriter and musician. Though he is best known for his sombre guitar based songs, Drake was also proficient at piano, clarinet and saxophone...

1948–1974 Musician Anti-depressant overdose. Disputed suicide.
Michael Dransfield
Michael Dransfield
Michael Dransfield was an Australian poet active in the 1960s and early 1970s who wrote close to 1000 poems. He has been described as "one of the most widely read poets of his generation." -Early life:...

1948–1973 Poet Sources report conflicting causes of death, including infection related to drug use and "acute broncho-pneumonia and brain damage".
Jonathan Drummond-Webb
Jonathan Drummond-Webb
Jonathan Drummond-Webb was a South African pediatric heart surgeon.He gained national attention by way of a TV series produced by ABC NEWS called "ICU: Arkansas Children's Hospital" , which showcased complicated operations during the summer of 2002...

1959–2009 Pediatric heart surgeon Unspecified prescription drug overdose. Suicide.
Kevin DuBrow
Kevin DuBrow
Kevin Mark DuBrow was an American rock singer best known as the lead vocalist of the Heavy Metal band Quiet Riot from 1975 until his death in 2007...

1955–2007 Singer Cocaine overdose. Accidental.
Bobby Duncum, Jr.
Bobby Duncum, Jr.
Bobby Duncum, Jr. was an American professional wrestler. He was best known for his stint in World Championship Wrestling as a member of the West Texas Rednecks.-Professional wrestling career:...

1965–2000 Professional wrestler Prescription painkiller overdose. Accidental.
Theresa Duncan
Theresa Duncan
Theresa Duncan was an American game designer, blogger, filmmaker and critic.- Life :Theresa Lee Duncan was born in Lapeer, Michigan, near Detroit to Donnie and Mary Duncan. She had a sister, Deanna and a brother, Scott...

1966–2007 Video game designer Combined ingestion of Tylenol PM and alcohol. Suicide.
Ryan Dunn
Ryan Dunn
Ryan Matthew Dunn was an American reality television personality and daredevil best known for being a member of the Jackass and Viva La Bam crew. He hosted Homewrecker and Proving Ground...

1977–2011 Actor, stunt man Car crash. Dunn had a blood alcohol level of 0.196%, more than twice the legal limit where he was killed.
Anthony Durante
Anthony Durante
Anthony Durante was a professional wrestler best known as "Pitbull #2" as one half of the tag team The Pitbulls, with "Pitbull #1" Gary Wolfe.-WWF:...

1967–2003 Professional wrestler Fentanyl overdose.
Guru Dutt
Guru Dutt
Vasanth Kumar Shivashankar Padukone , popularly known as Guru Dutt, was an Indian film director, producer and actor. He is often credited with ushering in the golden era of Hindi cinema...

1925–1964 Actor Overdose of sleeping pills and alcohol.

E

Name Life Profession Cause of death Reference
Jeanne Eagels
Jeanne Eagels
Jeanne Eagels was an American actress on Broadway and in several motion pictures. She was a former Ziegfeld Follies Girl who went on to greater fame on Broadway and in the emerging medium of sound films....

1890–1929 Actress Alcohol and/or heroin abuse.
John Entwistle
John Entwistle
John Alec Entwistle was an English bass guitarist, songwriter, singer, horn player, and film and record producer who was best known as the bass player for the rock band The Who. His aggressive lead sound influenced many rock bass players...

1944–2002 Musician (the Who
The Who
The Who are an English rock band formed in 1964 by Roger Daltrey , Pete Townshend , John Entwistle and Keith Moon . They became known for energetic live performances which often included instrument destruction...

)
Cocaine-induced heart attack.
Brian Epstein
Brian Epstein
Brian Samuel Epstein , was an English music entrepreneur, and is best known for being the manager of The Beatles up until his death. He also managed several other musical artists such as Gerry & the Pacemakers, Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas, Cilla Black, The Remo Four & The Cyrkle...

1934–1967 Manager of The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...

Sleeping pill overdose. Accidental.
Howie Epstein
Howie Epstein
Howard Norman Epstein , was a musician best known for his work with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.-Early life:...

1955–2003 Musician (Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers are an American rock band from Gainesville, Florida. They were formed in 1976 by Tom Petty , Mike Campbell , Benmont Tench , , Ron Blair and Stan Lynch...

)
Suspected drug overdose. It was reported he took heroin and prescription drugs shortly before his death.

F

Name Life Profession Cause of death Reference
Chris Farley
Chris Farley
Christopher Crosby "Chris" Farley was an American comedian and actor. Farley was a member of Chicago's Second City Theatre and cast member of the NBC sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live from 1990 to 1995....

1964–1997 Comedian, actor Cocaine and morphine overdose.
Pete Farndon
Pete Farndon
Pete Farndon was an English bassist and founding member of the rock band The Pretenders. Farndon attended Hereford Cathedral School in his home town of Hereford, before embarking on his musical legacy with The Pretenders...

1952–1983 Musician (the Pretenders
The Pretenders
The Pretenders are an English rock band formed in Hereford, England in March 1978. The original band consisted of initiator and main songwriter Chrissie Hynde , James Honeyman-Scott , Pete Farndon , and Martin Chambers...

)
Passed out in his bath due to a heroin overdose and subsequently drowned.
Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Rainer Werner Maria Fassbinder was a German movie director, screenwriter and actor. He is considered one of the most important representatives of the New German Cinema.He maintained a frenetic pace in film-making...

1945–1982 Playwright, director Cocaine overdose. Possibly suicide.
Brenda Fassie
Brenda Fassie
Brenda Fassie , was a South African pop singer. She was known for her "outrageousness" and widely considered a voice for disenfranchised blacks during apartheid. She was affectionately known as the Queen of African Pop and her nickname amongst fans was Mabrr.-Biography:Brenda was born in Langa,...

1964–2004 Singer Initial press reports cited complications of asthma attack while a later autopsy "mentioned cocaine overdose".
Edward Fatu
Eddie Fatu
Edward Smith "Eki" Fatu was a Samoan-American professional wrestler better known by his ring name Umaga...

, aka Umaga
1973–2009 Professional wrestler "Acute toxicity due to combined effects of hydrocodone, carisoprodol, and diazepam." Accidental.
Althea Flynt
Althea Flynt
Althea Flynt , née Leasure, was the fourth wife of Larry Flynt and the co-publisher of Flynt's adult pornography magazine, Hustler....

1953–1987 Co-publisher of Hustler
Hustler
Hustler is a monthly pornographic magazine aimed at men and published in the United States. It was first published in 1974 by Larry Flynt. It was a step forward from the Hustler Newsletter which was cheap advertising for his strip club businesses at the time. The magazine grew from a shaky start to...

 magazine
Drowned in the bath after passing out due to a heroin overdose.
Steve Foley
Steve Foley (drummer)
Steven Foley was an American drummer who played for Curtiss A, Things That Fall Down, The Replacements, Bash & Pop, Wheelo and several other bands in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He played live for the most part but he recorded with songwriter Peter Lack and he appears in a Replacements video, "When It...

1959–2008 Drummer Unspecified drug overdose. Accidental.
Zac Foley 1971–2002 Musician (EMF
EMF (band)
EMF were an indie dance band from the United Kingdom. The band, from the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire, came to prominence at the beginning of the 1990s. During its initial eight year run , EMF had released three studio albums and had gone on hiatus and reformed twice...

)
Overdose. Heroin, cocaine, ecstasy, barbiturates and alcohol were found in his blood.
Rosemarie Frankland
Rosemarie Frankland
Rosemarie Frankland was a Welsh beauty pageant contestant who won the 1961 Miss United Kingdom and Miss World titles before becoming an actress.-Biography:...

1943–2000 Actress Unspecified prescription drug overdose. Suicide.
Seán Fortune
Seán Fortune
Fr. Seán Fortune was an Irish priest accused of child molestation, who allegedly used his position to gain access to his victims. He was never tried, but committed suicide before any charges were proved against him,...

1954–1999 Priest Overdose of alcohol and unspecified drugs. Suicide.
Katy French
Katy French
Katy Ellen French was an Irish socialite, model, writer, television personality and charity worker. According to the BBC, "in the space of less than two years, she had become one of Ireland's best-known models and socialites." She collapsed at a friend's house on 2 December 2007 and died on 6...

1983–2007 Model, socialite Brain damage most likely caused by cocaine use.
Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud , born Sigismund Schlomo Freud , was an Austrian neurologist who founded the discipline of psychoanalysis...

1856–1939 Neurologist Physician assisted morphine overdose. Euthanasia
Euthanasia
Euthanasia refers to the practice of intentionally ending a life in order to relieve pain and suffering....

.
Gary Frisch
Gary Frisch
Gary Frisch was co-founder of the Gaydar website. He was one of the UK's leading gay businessmen.Frisch was born in South Africa. His father, Eric, worked in engineering, and his mother, Rona, was an accountant...

1969–2007 Website founder Jumped from a balcony while under the influence of ketamine. Officially ruled as misadventure.

G

Name Life Profession Cause of death Reference
Danny Gans
Danny Gans
Daniel Davies Gans was an American singer and comedian who found regional success as a vocal impressionist.-Career:...

1956–2009 Impressionist, entertainer. Prescription hydromorphone
Hydromorphone
Hydromorphone, a more common synonym for dihydromorphinone, commonly a hydrochloride is a very potent centrally-acting analgesic drug of the opioid class. It is a derivative of morphine, to be specific, a hydrogenated ketone thereof and, therefore, a semi-synthetic drug...

 use combined with pre-existing heart condition. Accidental.
Paul Gardiner
Paul Gardiner
Paul Gardiner was a British musician who played bass guitar with Gary Numan and Tubeway Army as well as material under his own name.-Biography:...

1958–1984 Musician (Tubeway Army
Tubeway Army
Tubeway Army were a London-based punk rock and new wave band led by lead singer Gary Numan. They were the first band of the post-punk era to have a synthesizer-based hit, with their single Are 'Friends' Electric? and its parent album Replicas both topping the UK Album Chart in mid-1979.-Line-up:The...

)
Heroin overdose.
Judy Garland
Judy Garland
Judy Garland was an American actress and singer. Through a career that spanned 45 of her 47 years and for her renowned contralto voice, she attained international stardom as an actress in musical and dramatic roles, as a recording artist and on the concert stage...

1922–1969 Singer and actress Secobarbital overdose. Her death certificate states the overdose was "accidental" however there is speculation it was intentional.
Lowell George
Lowell George
Lowell Thomas George was an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer, who was the main guitarist and songwriter for the rock band Little Feat.- Early years :...

1945–1979 Musician (Little Feat
Little Feat
Little Feat is an American rock band formed by singer-songwriter, lead vocalist and guitarist Lowell George and keyboardist Bill Payne in 1969 in Los Angeles....

)
Unspecified drug overdose. Accidental.
Talitha Getty
Talitha Getty
Talitha Getty was an actress of Dutch extraction, born in the former Dutch East Indies, who was regarded as a style icon of the late 1960s. She lived much of her adult life in Britain and, in her final years, was closely associated with the Moroccan city of Marrakesh...

1940–1971 Actress Heroin overdose.
Iolanda Christina Gigliotti, aka Dalida
Dalida
Dalida , born with Italian name of Iolanda Cristina Gigliotti, was a world-famous singer and actress born in Egypt with Italian origins but naturalised French with the name Yolanda Gigliotti. She spent her early years in Egypt amongst the Italian Egyptian community, but she lived most of her adult...

1933–1987 Singer Barbiturate overdose. Suicide.
Harold Gimblett
Harold Gimblett
Harold Gimblett was a cricketer who played for Somerset and England. He was known for his fast scoring as an opening batsman and for the much-repeated story of his debut...

1914–1978 Cricketer Overdose of unspecified pills.
Trevor Goddard
Trevor Goddard
Trevor Goddard was an English actor. He played Kano in the first Mortal Kombat movie and Lieutenant Commander Mic Brumby on JAG.-Career:Goddard was born in Croydon, Surrey, England, in 1962...

1962–2003 Actor Overdose of heroin, cocaine, valium and vicodin. Accidental.
Greg Giraldo
Greg Giraldo
Greg Giraldo was an American stand-up comedian, television personality, and retired lawyer. Giraldo was best known for his appearances on Comedy Central's televised roast specials, and for his work on that network's television shows Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn, Lewis Black's Root of All Evil, and...

1965–2010 Comedian Overdose of prescription medication. Accidental.
Dwayne Goettel
Dwayne Goettel
Dwayne Rudolph Goettel was a member of the industrial band Skinny Puppy. He played keyboards for an early incarnation of the Canadian gothic/synthpop band Psyche, as well as a band called Water, who opened for Skinny Puppy in 1985...

1964–1995 Musician (Skinny Puppy
Skinny Puppy
Skinny Puppy is a Canadian industrial musical group, formed in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada in 1982. The group is widely considered to be the founders of the electro-industrial genre....

)
Heroin overdose.
Adam Goldstein
Adam Goldstein
Adam Michael Goldstein was an American DJ, remixer, record producer and musician better known as DJ AM. Goldstein was a member of the rock band Crazy Town, co-owner of a management company called Deckstar and worked on albums for Papa Roach, Madonna and Will Smith, among others...

, aka DJ AM
1973–2009 Disc Jockey Overdose of cocaine/levamisole, oxycodone, hydrocodone, lorazepam, clonazepam, alprazolam and diphenhydramine. Accidental.
Paul Gray 1972–2010 Musician (Slipknot
Slipknot (band)
Slipknot is an American heavy metal band from Des Moines, Iowa. Formed in 1995, the group was founded by percussionist Shawn Crahan and bassist Paul Gray...

)
Morphine and fentanyl overdose. Accidental.
Lucy Grealy
Lucy Grealy
Lucinda Margaret Grealy was an American poet and memoirist who wrote Autobiography of a Face in 1994. This critically acclaimed book describes her childhood and early adolescence experience with cancer of the jaw, which left her with some facial disfigurement...

1963–2002 Poet Heroin overdose.
Eddie Guerrero
Eddie Guerrero
Eduardo Gory "Eddie" Guerrero was a Mexican-American professional wrestler born into the Guerrero wrestling family. He wrestled in Mexico and Japan for several major professional wrestling promotions...

1967–2005 Professional wrestler "Heart disease, complicated by an enlarged heart resulting from a history of anabolic steroid use."

H

Name Life Profession Cause of death Reference
Clinton Haines
Clinton Haines
Clinton 'Clint' Haines was an Australian computer hacker. He was also known as Harry McBungus, TaLoN and Terminator-Z.Haines attended Ipswich Grammar School...

1976–1997 Computer hacker Heroin overdose. Accidental.
Kenneth Halliwell
Kenneth Halliwell
Kenneth Halliwell was a British actor and writer. He was the mentor, boyfriend and eventual murderer of playwright Joe Orton.- Childhood :...

1926–1967 Actor Pentobarbital overdose. Suicide.
William Hamilton
William Rowan Hamilton
Sir William Rowan Hamilton was an Irish physicist, astronomer, and mathematician, who made important contributions to classical mechanics, optics, and algebra. His studies of mechanical and optical systems led him to discover new mathematical concepts and techniques...

1805–1865 Physicist, astronomer, mathematician "A severe attack of gout precipitated by excessive drinking..."
Edward A. Hannegan
Edward A. Hannegan
Edward Allen Hannegan was a United States Representative and Senator from Indiana.-Early life and education:...

1807–1857 Senator Morphine overdose.
Tony Hancock
Tony Hancock
Anthony John "Tony" Hancock was an English actor and comedian.-Early life and career:Hancock was born in Southam Road, Hall Green, Birmingham, England, but from the age of three was brought up in Bournemouth, where his father, John Hancock, who ran the Railway Hotel in...

1924–1968 Actor Lethal mixture of amphetamines and liquor. Suicide.
James Harden-Hickey
James Harden-Hickey
James Harden-Hickey was a Franco-American author, newspaper editor, duellist, adventurer and self-proclaimed Prince.-Early life:James Aloysius Harden was born in San Francisco, California on December 8, 1854...

1854–1898 Author, adventurer Morphine overdose. Suicide.
Bobby Hatfield
Bobby Hatfield
Robert Lee "Bobby" Hatfield was an American singer, best known as one half of the Righteous Brothers.-Early life:...

1940–2003 Musician (The Righteous Brothers
The Righteous Brothers
The Righteous Brothers were the musical duo of Bill Medley and Bobby Hatfield. They recorded from 1963 through 1975, and continued to perform until Hatfield's death in 2003...

)
Cocaine-induced heart attack.
Malcolm Hardee
Malcolm Hardee
Malcolm Hardee was an English comedian, author, comedy club proprietor, compère, agent, manager and "amateur sensationalist"....

1950–2005 Comedian Drowned after he fell into the water whilst drunk.
Tim Hardin
Tim Hardin
James Timothy "Tim" Hardin was an American folk musician and composer. He wrote the Top 40 hits "If I Were a Carpenter", covered by, among others, Joan Baez, Bobby Darin, Johnny Cash, Ramblin' Jack Elliot, and Robert Plant, and "Reason to Believe", covered by many, including Rod Stewart, as well...

1941–1980 Musician Heroin overdose.
Brynn Hartman 1958–1998 Wife and murderer of comedian Phil Hartman
Phil Hartman
Philip Edward "Phil" Hartman was a Canadian-American actor, comedian, screenwriter, and graphic artist. Born in Brantford, Ontario, Hartman and his family moved to the United States when he was 10...

Self-inflicted gunshot wound to her head under the influence of cocaine, alcohol and Zoloft
Sertraline
Sertraline hydrochloride is an antidepressant of the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor class. It was introduced to the market by Pfizer in 1991. Sertraline is primarily used to treat major depression in adult outpatients as well as obsessive–compulsive, panic, and social anxiety disorders in...

.
Domino Harvey
Domino Harvey
Domino Harvey was an English bounty hunter, notable within that field for being female and from a privileged background. Though there is speculation as to whether she really was a model, there are in fact photographs which show her involved in what would appear to be modeling-related work...

1969–2005 Bounty hunter
Bounty hunter
A bounty hunter captures fugitives for a monetary reward . Other names, mainly used in the United States, include bail enforcement agent and fugitive recovery agent.-Laws in the U.S.:...

Fentanyl overdose.
Rodney Harvey
Rodney Harvey
Rodney Michael Harvey was an American actor and model.-Career:Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Harvey was discovered by director Paul Morrissey in 1984. Morrissey cast Harvey in two of his films Mixed Blood and Spike of Bensonhurst...

1967–1998 Actor, model Heroin overdose.
Phyllis Haver
Phyllis Haver
Phyllis Haver was an American actress of the silent film era.-Early life:She was born Phyllis Haver in Douglass, Kansas. When she was young, her family moved to Los Angeles, California, then a city of less than half a million people. Haver attended Los Angeles Polytechnic High...

1899–1960 Actress Barbiturate overdose. Suspected suicide.
Elizabeth Hawes
Elizabeth Hawes
Elizabeth Hawes was an American clothing designer, outspoken critic of the fashion industry, and champion of ready to wear and people's right to have the clothes they desired, rather than the clothes dictated to be fashionable...

1903–1971 Clothing designer "Alcohol-related causes".
James Hayden
James Hayden
James Hayden was a young, handsome American actor from Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, with a very promising career ahead of him. Apart from starring on Broadway, he is perhaps best known for playing Patrick 'Patsy' Goldberg in the 1984 film Once Upon a Time in America...

1953–1983 Actor Heroin overdose.
Paul Hayward
Paul Hayward
Paul Hayward was a former professional rugby league player and boxer who played for the Newtown Jets between 1973 and 1978. Hayward had been selected to represent Australia as a boxer at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal...

19??–1992 Rugby league
Rugby league
Rugby league football, usually called rugby league, is a full contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular grass field. One of the two codes of rugby football, it originated in England in 1895 by a split from Rugby Football Union over paying players...

 player
Heroin overdose.
Mitch Hedberg
Mitch Hedberg
Mitchell Lee "Mitch" Hedberg was an American stand-up comedian known for his surreal humor and unconventional comedic delivery. His comedy typically featured short, sometimes one-line jokes, mixed with absurd elements and non sequiturs...

1968–2005 Comedian Cocaine and heroin overdose.
Tim Hemensley
Tim Hemensley
Tim Hemensley was a bass player and singer from Melbourne, Australia who was best known for his role as the leader of highly respected punk / garage / hard rock band, Powder Monkeys. Also known for his time in teenage band GOD, Geelong's Bored! and the Yes-Men, Tim Hemensley was in his first band,...

1972–2003 Musician (GOD) Heroin overdose.
Margaux Hemingway
Margaux Hemingway
Margaux Hemingway was an American fashion model and actress.- Early life :Margot Louise Hemingway was born in Portland, Oregon, and was the older sister of actress Mariel Hemingway and the granddaughter of writer Ernest Hemingway...

1954–1996 Actress Phenobarbital
Phenobarbital
Phenobarbital or phenobarbitone is a barbiturate, first marketed as Luminal by Friedr. Bayer et comp. It is the most widely used anticonvulsant worldwide, and the oldest still commonly used. It also has sedative and hypnotic properties but, as with other barbiturates, has been superseded by the...

 overdose. Disputed suicide.
Jimi Hendrix
Jimi Hendrix
James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix was an American guitarist and singer-songwriter...

1942–1970 Musician Respiratory arrest caused by alcohol and barbiturate overdose and vomit inhalation.
Curt Hennig
Curt Hennig
Curtis Michael "Curt" Hennig , also known by the ring name Mr. Perfect, was an American professional wrestler, manager and color commentator who worked for, among other promotions, Total Nonstop Action Wrestling , the American Wrestling Association , World Championship Wrestling and the World...

1958–2003 Professional wrestler Cocaine overdose.
James Leo Herlihy
James Leo Herlihy
James Leo Herlihy was an American novelist, playwright and actor.Born into a working class family in Detroit, Michigan, Herlihy is known for his novels Midnight Cowboy and All Fall Down and his play Blue Denim, all of which were adapted for cinema...

1927–1993 Novelist, actor Overdose of sleeping pills. Suicide.
Gino Hernandez
Gino Hernandez
Charles Eugene Wolfe, Jr. was a professional wrestler better known by his ring name Gino Hernandez. His in-ring nickname was "The Handsome Half-Breed" -Career:...

1957–1986 Professional wrestler Cocaine overdose.
George Hickenlooper 1963–2010 Documentary filmmaker Oxymorphone and alcohol overdose. Accidental.
Ureli Hill
Ureli Corelli Hill
Ureli Corelli Hill was an American conductor, and the first president and conductor of the New York Philharmonic Society. His grandfather, Frederick Hill, was a fifer in the Revolutionary army. His father, Uri Keeler Hill, was a music teacher and composer...

1802–1875 Conductor
Conducting
Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. The primary duties of the conductor are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, and to listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble...

Morphine overdose. Suicide.
Virginia Hill
Virginia Hill
Virginia Hill was a Chicago Outfit courier who was famous for being the girlfriend of Genovese crime family mobster Bugsy Siegel, following the breakdown of his marriage.- The Kefauver hearings :...

1916–1966 Chicago Outfit
Chicago Outfit
The Chicago Outfit, also known as the Chicago Syndicate or Chicago Mob and sometimes shortened to simply the Outfit, is a crime syndicate based in Chicago, Illinois, USA...

 courier
Courier
A courier is a person or a company who delivers messages, packages, and mail. Couriers are distinguished from ordinary mail services by features such as speed, security, tracking, signature, specialization and individualization of express services, and swift delivery times, which are optional for...

Sleeping pill overdose.
Jane Aiken Hodge
Jane Aiken Hodge
Jane Aiken Hodge was an American-born British writer.-Life:Born near Cambridge, Massachusetts to Pulitzer prize-winning poet Conrad Aiken and his first wife, the writer Jessie McDonald...

1917–2009 Writer Unspecified drug overdose. Suicide.
Abbie Hoffman
Abbie Hoffman
Abbot Howard "Abbie" Hoffman was a political and social activist who co-founded the Youth International Party ....

1936–1989 Political activist Phenobarbital overdose. Suicide.
Billie Holiday
Billie Holiday
Billie Holiday was an American jazz singer and songwriter. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and musical partner Lester Young, Holiday had a seminal influence on jazz and pop singing...

1915–1959 Jazz singer Cirrhosis of the liver caused by alcoholism.
John Curtis Holder, Jr., aka Jackie Curtis
Jackie Curtis
John Curtis Holder, Jr. , better known as Jackie Curtis, was an actor, writer, singer and Warhol Superstar.-Early life and career:...

1947–1985 Actor Heroin overdose.
Gary Holton
Gary Holton
Gary Frederick Holton was an English singer-songwriter, musician and actor from London. He was the frontman of the band Heavy Metal Kids, for whom he played lead vocals, guitar, rhythm guitar, keyboards and harmonica, and played the part of Wayne in the UK television comedy Auf Wiedersehen, Pet...

1952–1985 Actor and musician Heroin overdose.
James Honeyman-Scott
James Honeyman-Scott
James Honeyman-Scott , commonly referred to as "Jimmy", was an English rock guitarist, songwriter and founding member of the band The Pretenders....

1956–1982 Musician (the Pretenders
The Pretenders
The Pretenders are an English rock band formed in Hereford, England in March 1978. The original band consisted of initiator and main songwriter Chrissie Hynde , James Honeyman-Scott , Pete Farndon , and Martin Chambers...

)
Cocaine-induced heart attack.
Shannon Hoon
Shannon Hoon
Richard Shannon Hoon was an American singer-songwriter and musician. He was the frontman and lead singer of the band Blind Melon until his death from a cocaine overdose in 1995.-Early life:...

1967–1995 Musician, singer (Blind Melon
Blind Melon
Blind Melon is an American rock band active from 1989 to 1999, and from 2006 onward.Best remembered for their 1993 single "No Rain", the group enjoyed critical and commercial success in the early 1990s with their neo-psychedelic take on alternative rock...

)
Cocaine overdose.
Sebastian Horsley
Sebastian Horsley
Sebastian Horsley was a London artist best known for having undergone a voluntary crucifixion. Horsley's writing often revolved around his dysfunctional family, his drug addictions, sex, and his reliance on prostitutes.-Background:Horsley was born in Holderness in the East Riding of Yorkshire...

1962–2010 Artist Heroin and cocaine overdose.
Lisa Howard
Lisa Howard (reporter)
Lisa Howard was a pioneering female journalist and television news anchor who also had a career as an off-Broadway theater and TV soap opera actress....

1930–1965 Reporter Phenobarbital overdose. Officially listed as suicide but speculated as murder.
Howard Hughes
Howard Hughes
Howard Robard Hughes, Jr. was an American business magnate, investor, aviator, engineer, film producer, director, and philanthropist. He was one of the wealthiest people in the world...

1905–1976 Aviator, engineer, industrialist, movie producer Liver failure. Physician administered an overdose of codeine at "the highest clinical level ever recorded" at the time.
Gertrude Hullett
Gertrude Hullett
Gertrude "Bobby" Hullett , a resident of Eastbourne, East Sussex, England, was a patient of the suspected serial killer Dr John Bodkin Adams, who was charged with her murder but never tried for it.-Jack Hullett:...

1906–1956 Patient of Dr. John Bodkin Adams
John Bodkin Adams
John Bodkin Adams was an Irish-born British general practitioner, convicted fraudster and suspected serial killer. Between the years 1946 and 1956, more than 160 of his patients died in suspicious circumstances. Of these, 132 left him money or items in their will. He was tried and acquitted for...

Twice the fatal dose of sodium barbitone was found in her blood.
Elizabeth Hulette, aka Miss Elizabeth
Miss Elizabeth
Elizabeth Ann Hulette , best known as Miss Elizabeth, was an American professional wrestling manager. She gained international fame from the mid-1980s to the early 1990s in the World Wrestling Federation, and the mid-1990s in World Championship Wrestling in her role as the manager to the late...

1960–2003 Professional wrestling manager Acute toxicity. Autopsy revealed pain killers, nausea medication and tranquilizers were found in her blood, along with an alcohol level of 0.29.
Harold Hunter
Harold Hunter
__notoc__Harold Atkins Hunter was an American professional skateboarder and actor. He was best known on screen for his part in Larry Clark's 1995 film Kids, playing the role of Harold....

1974–2006 Professional skateboarder, actor Cocaine-induced heart attack.
Michael Hutchence
Michael Hutchence
Michael Kelland John Hutchence was an Australian musician and actor. He was the founding lead singer-songwriter of rock band :INXS from 1977 to his death in 1997, a period of twenty years. Hutchence was a member of short-lived pop rock group Max Q and recorded solo material which was released...

1960–1997 Musician, singer (INXS
INXS
INXS are an Australian rock band, formed as The Farriss Brothers in 1977 in Sydney, New South Wales. Mainstays are Garry Gary Beers on bass guitar, Andrew Farriss on guitar/keyboards, Jon Farriss on drums, Tim Farriss on lead guitar and Kirk Pengilly on guitar/sax...

), actor
Self-induced asphyxiation while under the influence of alcohol, cocaine, Prozac and other prescription drugs.
Phyllis Hyman
Phyllis Hyman
Phyllis Linda Hyman was an American soul singer and actress.-Early years:Phyllis Hyman was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and grew up in the St. Clair Village, the South Hills section of Pittsburgh...

1949–1995 Singer Pentobarbital and secobarbital overdose. Suicide.

I

Name Life Profession Cause of death Reference
Nicholas Anthony Iacona, Jr., aka Joey Stefano
Joey Stefano
Joey Stefano was an American pornographic actor who appeared in gay adult films.-Early life and career:...

1968–1994 Pornographic actor Cocaine, morphine, heroin and ketamine overdose.
Andy Irons
Andy Irons
Philip Andrew "Andy" Irons was a professional surfer. Irons learned to surf on the dangerous and shallow reefs of the North Shore in Kauai, Hawaii...

1978–2010 Surfer Cardiac arrest. His autopsy lists secondary cause of death as "acute mixed drug ingestion." Traces of cocaine, methamphetamine, alprazolam and methadone were found in his system.
Bruce Edwards Ivins
Bruce Edwards Ivins
Bruce Edwards Ivins was an American microbiologist, vaccinologist, senior biodefense researcher at the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases in Fort Detrick, Maryland and the key suspect in the 2001 anthrax attacks.On Tuesday, July 29, 2008 he died of an overdose of...

1946–2008 Microbiologist Tylenol overdose.

J

Name Life Profession Cause of death Reference
Jennifer Lyn Jackson 1969–2010 Playboy Playmate Heroin overdose.
Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson
Michael Joseph Jackson was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records...

1958–2009 Pop singer Cardiac arrest. Personal physician administered lethal dose of propofol
Propofol
Propofol is a short-acting, intravenously administered hypnotic agent. Its uses include the induction and maintenance of general anesthesia, sedation for mechanically ventilated adults, and procedural sedation. Propofol is also commonly used in veterinary medicine...

 along with lorazepam
Lorazepam
Lorazepam is a high-potency short-to-intermediate-acting 3-hydroxy benzodiazepine drug that has all five intrinsic benzodiazepine effects: anxiolytic, amnesic, sedative/hypnotic, anticonvulsant, antiemetic and muscle relaxant...

, diazepam
Diazepam
Diazepam , first marketed as Valium by Hoffmann-La Roche is a benzodiazepine drug. Diazepam is also marketed in Australia as Antenex. It is commonly used for treating anxiety, insomnia, seizures including status epilepticus, muscle spasms , restless legs syndrome, alcohol withdrawal,...

 and midazolam
Midazolam
Midazolam is a short-acting drug in the benzodiazepine class developed by Hoffmann-La Roche in the 1970s. The drug is used for treatment of acute seizures, moderate to severe insomnia, and for inducing sedation and amnesia before medical procedures. It possesses profoundly potent anxiolytic,...

.
Peter Jackson
Peter Jackson (rugby league)
Peter Jackson was an Australian professional rugby league footballer of the 1980s and '90s. A Queensland State of Origin and Australian international representative back, he played club football in both Queensland and New South Wales as well as a season in England...

1964–1997 Rugby league player Heroin overdose.
Joyce Jameson
Joyce Jameson
Joyce Jameson was an American actress best remembered for her blonde bimbo roles during the Marilyn Monroe period...

1932–1987 Actress Overdose of unspecified pills. Suicide.
Steven Ronald Jensen 1959–2005 Musician (The Vandals
The Vandals
The Vandals are an American rock band established in 1980 in Huntington Beach, California. They have released ten full-length studio albums and two live albums and have toured the world extensively, including performances on the Vans Warped Tour...

)
Unspecified prescription drug overdose.
Anissa Jones
Anissa Jones
Mary Anissa Jones was an American child actress known for her role as Buffy on the CBS sitcom Family Affair. She died from combined drug intoxication at the age of 18.-Early years:...

1958–1976 Actress Overdose of barbiturates, cocaine, quaaludes, and PCP. Accidental.
Brian Jones
Brian Jones
Lewis Brian Hopkins Jones , known as Brian Jones, was an English musician and a founding member of the Rolling Stones....

1942–1969 Musician (The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English rock band, formed in London in April 1962 by Brian Jones , Ian Stewart , Mick Jagger , and Keith Richards . Bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts completed the early line-up...

).
Drowning under the influence of alcohol and drugs.
Chloe Jones
Chloe Jones
Chloe Jones was an American pornographic actress.-Early life and career:...

1975–2005 Pornographic actress Prescription drug overdose. Accidental.
Rob Jones, aka The Bass Thing 1964–1993 Musician (The Wonder Stuff
The Wonder Stuff
The Wonder Stuff are a British alternative rock band, originally based in Stourbridge, West Midlands, in the Black Country, England.-Origins:...

).
Sources report contradictory information which include: heart problems, heart attack potentially caused by heroin, or simply "drug related causes".
Russell Jones, aka Ol' Dirty Bastard
Ol' Dirty Bastard
Russell Tyrone Jones was an American rapper and occasional producer, who went by the stage name Ol' Dirty Bastard or simply ODB...

.
1968–2004 Rapper Overdose of cocaine and a prescription painkiller. Accidental.
Janis Joplin
Janis Joplin
Janis Lyn Joplin was an American singer, songwriter, painter, dancer and music arranger. She rose to prominence in the late 1960s as the lead singer of Big Brother and the Holding Company and later as a solo artist with her backing groups, The Kozmic Blues Band and The Full Tilt Boogie Band...

1943–1970 Musician Heroin overdose.

K

Name Life Profession Cause of death Reference
John Kahn
John Kahn
John Kahn was an American rock bass player. For a period of about twenty five years Kahn was Jerry Garcia's principal collaborator outside of the Grateful Dead.-Biography:...

1947–1996 Musician (Jerry Garcia Band
Jerry Garcia Band
The Jerry Garcia Band was a San Francisco Bay Area rock band led by Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead. Garcia founded the band in 1975; it remained the most important of his various side-projects until his death in 1995...

)
Heroin overdose.
Chris Kanyon
Chris Kanyon
Christopher Klucsarits was an American professional wrestler, best known for his work in World Championship Wrestling and the World Wrestling Federation, under the ring names Chris Kanyon and Mortis.-Early career:After college, he began training under Pete McKay Gonzalez, Ismael Gerena and Bobby...

1970–2010 Professional wrestler Antidepressants overdose. Suicide.
Phil Katz
Phil Katz
Phillip Walter Katz was a computer programmer best known as the co-creator of the zip file format for data compression, and the author of PKZIP, a program for creating zip files which ran under DOS.- Career :...

1962–2000 Computer programmer Acute pancreatic bleeding caused by chronic alcoholism
David Kennedy
David Kennedy
David Anthony Kennedy was the fourth of eleven children of Robert F. Kennedy and Ethel Skakel Kennedy.-Life:...

1955–1984 University drop-out Overdose of cocaine, Demerol, and Mellaril.
Beverly Kenney
Beverly Kenney
Beverly Kenney was an American jazz singer.-Biography:Kenney worked early in life for Western Union as a telephone birthday singer...

1932–1960 Singer Alcohol and Seconal overdose. Suicide.
Bernard Kettlewell
Bernard Kettlewell
Henry Bernard Davis Kettlewell was a British geneticist, lepidopterist and medical doctor, who carried out research into the influence of industrial melanism on natural selection in moths, showing why moths are darker in polluted areas.-Early life:Kettlewell was born in Howden, Yorkshire, and...

1907–1979 Lepidopterist
Lepidopterist
A lepidopterist is a person who specialises in the study of Lepidoptera, members of an order encompassing moths and the three superfamilies of butterflies, skipper butterflies, and moth-butterflies...

, medical doctor
Unspecified drug overdose. Accidental.
David Kelly 1944–2003 Weapons expert Consumed around 30 dextropropoxyphene
Dextropropoxyphene
Dextropropoxyphene, manufactured by Eli Lilly and Company, is an analgesic in the opioid category. It is intended to treat mild pain and has, in addition, anti-tussive and local anesthetic effects. It has been taken off the market in Europe and the US due to concerns of fatal overdoses and...

 pills. Disputed suicide.
Jack Kerouac
Jack Kerouac
Jean-Louis "Jack" Lebris de Kerouac was an American novelist and poet. He is considered a literary iconoclast and, alongside William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, a pioneer of the Beat Generation. Kerouac is recognized for his spontaneous method of writing, covering topics such as Catholic...

1922–1969 Author Cirrhosis, caused by a lifetime of heavy drinking.
Dorothy Kilgallen
Dorothy Kilgallen
Dorothy Mae Kilgallen was an American journalist and television game show panelist. She started her career early as a reporter for the Hearst Corporation's New York Evening Journal after spending only two semesters at The College of New Rochelle in New Rochelle, New York...

1913–1965 Journalist Fatal combination of alcohol and barbiturates. Whether it was suicide or accidental is undetermined.
Richard Charles Knellar, aka Dickie Pride
Dickie Pride
Dickie Pride was a British rock and roll singer. He was one of Larry Parnes' stable of pop music stars, who did not enjoy as successful a career as most of his contemporaries.-Life and career:...

1941–1969 Singer Sleeping pill overdose.
Arthur Koestler
Arthur Koestler
Arthur Koestler CBE was a Hungarian author and journalist. Koestler was born in Budapest and, apart from his early school years, was educated in Austria...

1905–1983 Author Sleeping pill overdose. Suicide.
John Kordic
John Kordic
John "Rambo" Kordic was a Canadian hockey player in the National Hockey League.Kordic played for the Montreal Canadiens, Toronto Maple Leafs, Washington Capitals, and Quebec Nordiques, for a total of seven seasons in the NHL. He won the Calder Cup with Sherbrooke Canadiens in 1985, and a Stanley...

1965–1992 Hockey player Unspecified drug overdose.

L

Name Life Profession Cause of death Reference
Deborah Laake
Deborah Laake
Deborah Laake was a columnist at the Dallas Morning News in the 1980s and later a staff writer, columnist, editor, and executive at the Phoenix New Times...

1953–2000 Writer Overdose of unspecified pills. Suicide.
Alan Ladd
Alan Ladd
-Early life:Ladd was born in Hot Springs, Arkansas. He was the only child of Ina Raleigh Ladd and Alan Ladd, Sr. He was of English ancestry. His father died when he was four, and his mother relocated to Oklahoma City where she married Jim Beavers, a housepainter...

1913–1964 Actor Overdose of alcohol and three unspecified drugs. Accidental.
Josiah Lamborn
Josiah Lamborn
Josiah Lamborn was the Attorney General of Illinois from 1840 to 1843 and was the chief prosecuting attorney in the trial of five defendants accused of murdering Latter Day Saint leaders Joseph Smith, Jr. and Hyrum Smith....

1809–1847 Attorney General
Attorney General
In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general, or attorney-general, is the main legal advisor to the government, and in some jurisdictions he or she may also have executive responsibility for law enforcement or responsibility for public prosecutions.The term is used to refer to any person...

Delirium tremens.
Carole Landis
Carole Landis
Carole Landis was an American film and stage actress whose break-through role was as the female lead in the 1940 film One Million B.C.. Landis has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, at 1765 Vine Street....

1919–1948 Actress Seconal overdose. Suicide.
Michael Larsen aka Eyedea
Eyedea
Micheal Larsen , known by his stage name Eyedea, was a well-known freestyle battle champion and underground rapper. His notable wins included the televised Blaze Battle sponsored by HBO and a victory at Scribble Jam...

1981–2010 Rapper Unspecified opiate toxicity. Ruled accidental.
Heath Ledger
Heath Ledger
Heath Andrew Ledger was an Australian television and film actor. After performing roles in Australian television and film during the 1990s, Ledger moved to the United States in 1998 to develop his film career...

1979–2008 Actor Combined drug intoxication of oxycodone, hydrocodone, alprazolam, diazepam, temazepam and doxylamine. Accidental.
Bruce Lee
Bruce Lee
Bruce Lee was a Chinese American, Hong Kong actor, martial arts instructor, philosopher, film director, film producer, screenwriter, and founder of the Jeet Kune Do martial arts movement...

1940–1973 Actor, martial artist Acute cerebral edema due to a reaction to compounds present in the prescription pain killing drug Equagesic.
Gerald Levert
Gerald Levert
Gerald Levert was an American R&B singer. Gerald Levert sang with his brother, Sean Levert, and friend Marc Gordon in the R&B trio LeVert. He was also a part of LSG, an R&B supergroup comprising Keith Sweat, Johnny Gill, and Levert...

1966–2006 Singer Acute intoxication of Percocet, Vicodin, Darvocet, Xanax and two antihistamines. Accidental.
Frank X. Leyendecker 1877–1924 Illustrator Highly suspected morphine overdose. Suicide.
Debbie Linden
Debbie Linden
Debbie Linden was a British glamour model and actress best known for her role as Old Mr. Grace's secretary in the sitcom Are You Being Served?...

1961–1997 Model, actress Heroin overdose.
Max Linder
Max Linder
Max Linder was an influential French pioneer of silent film.-Birth and early career:Born Gabriel-Maximilien Leuvielle in Saint-Loubès, Gironde, France to a Catholic wine-growing family, he grew up with a passion for the theatre and as a young man joined a theatre troupe touring the country...

1883–1925 Actor Linder and his wife both drank Veronal, injected morphine and cut open the veins in their arms.
Eugene Lipscomb
Eugene Lipscomb
Eugene Allen Lipscomb was an American football defensive lineman in the National Football League and a professional wrestler.-Early life:...

1931–1963 American football player Heroin overdose.
Eugenia Livanos
Eugenia Livanos
Eugenia Livanos was the third wife of Stavros Niarchos.She was the daughter of shipping magnate Stavros G. Livanos and his wife Arietta Zafirakis. Her sister was Athina Livanos, the wife successively of Aristotle Onassis and Stavros Niarchos. In 1947 she married Stavros Niarchos...

1927–1970 Wife of Stavros Niarchos
Stavros Niarchos
Stavros Spyros Niarchos was a Greek shipping tycoon, sometimes known as "The Golden Greek." In 1952, Stavros Niarchos built the first supertankers capable of transporting large quantities of oil, and subsequently earned millions of dollars as global demand for his ships increased.- Early life :He...

Barbiturate overdose.
Mike Lockwood
Mike Lockwood
Michael John "Mike" Lockwood was an American professional wrestler best known for his time with World Wrestling Federation / Entertainment under the ring name Crash Holly....

, aka Crash Holly
1971–2003 Professional wrestler Carisprodol and alcohol intoxication. Suicide.
Philip Loeb
Philip Loeb
Philip Loeb , was an American stage, film, and television actor who was blacklisted under McCarthyism and committed suicide.- Background :...

1891–1955 Actor Sleeping pill overdose. Suicide.
Trinity Loren
Trinity Loren
Trinity Loren was a porn star, model, and stripper.- Career and life :...

, aka Roxanne McPherson
1964–1998 Pornographic actress Prescription painkillers overdose. In a possible suicide.
Zoe Tamerlis Lund
Zoë Tamerlis Lund
Zoë Tamerlis Lund , also known as Zoë Tamerlis and Zoë Tamerlaine, was a former American musician turned model, actress, and screenwriter. She was best known for her association with Abel Ferrara, in whose movie Ms. 45 she starred...

1962–1999 Model, actress Cocaine-induced heart attack.
Donyale Luna
Donyale Luna
Donyale Luna was an American model and cover girl. She also appeared in several films, in Camp by Andy Warhol, Qui êtes-vous, Polly Maggoo? by William Klein, as Groucho Marx's companion in Otto Preminger's Skidoo, and most notably as Oenothea in Federico Fellini's Satyricon and as the title...

1945–1979 Supermodel, actress Unspecified drug overdose. Accidental.
Frankie Lymon
Frankie Lymon
Franklin Joseph "Frankie" Lymon was an American rock and roll/rhythm and blues singer and songwriter, best known as the boy soprano lead singer of a New York City-based early rock and roll group, The Teenagers. The group was composed of five boys, all in their early to mid teens...

1942–1968 Singer Heroin overdose.
Phil Lynott
Phil Lynott
Philip Parris "Phil" Lynott was an Irish musician who first came to prominence as a founding member, principal songwriter, and frontman of the Irish rock band Thin Lizzy....

1949–1986 Musician (Thin Lizzy
Thin Lizzy
Thin Lizzy are an Irish hard rock band formed in Dublin in 1969. Two of the founding members, drummer Brian Downey and bass guitarist/vocalist Phil Lynott met while still in school. Lynott assumed the role of frontman and led them throughout their recording career of thirteen studio albums...

)
Conflicting sources report various causes of death, including: heart and liver failure, heart failure and pneumonia after a drug overdose, and blood poisoning from heroin addiction.

M

Name Life Profession Cause of death Reference
Billy Mackenzie
Billy Mackenzie
William MacArthur "Billy" Mackenzie was a Scottish singer, with a distinctive falsetto voice best known as a member of The Associates.- Biography :...

1957–1997 Musician (the Associates) Overdose of amitriptyline, paracetamol and other prescription drugs. Suicide.
Chris Mainwaring
Chris Mainwaring
Chris Douglas Mainwaring was an Australian rules footballer. He played for the West Coast Eagles in the Victorian Football League/Australian Football League and East Fremantle in the West Australian Football League...

1965–2007 Australian football player
Australian rules football
Australian rules football, officially known as Australian football, also called football, Aussie rules or footy is a sport played between two teams of 22 players on either...

Cocaine overdose. Accidental.
Bibek Maitra
Bibek Maitra
Bibek Biman Maitra was Bharatiya Janata Party's General Secretary Pramod Mahajan's secretary. The media used to pronounce Bibek Maitra's name as Vivek Moitra He always insisted that his name be pronounced as Bibek.-Life:...

19??–2006 Politician Unspecified drug overdose.
Jesse Mahelona
Jesse Mahelona
Jesse Steven Kahuanani Mahelona was an American football defensive tackle in the National Football League. He was drafted by the Tennessee Titans in the fifth round of the 2006 NFL Draft...

1983–2009 American football player Motor-vehicle collision. Malehona was under the influence of alcohol.
Vickie Lynn Marshall, aka Anna Nicole Smith
Anna Nicole Smith
In 1992 Smith was chosen by Hugh Hefner to appear on the cover of the March issue of Playboy, where she was listed as Vickie Smith, wearing a low-cut evening gown. The centerfold was photographed by Stephen Wayda. Smith said she planned to be "the next Marilyn Monroe". Becoming one of Playboys...

1967–2007 Playboy
Playboy
Playboy is an American men's magazine that features photographs of nude women as well as journalism and fiction. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. The magazine has grown into Playboy Enterprises, Inc., with...

 playmate, actress
Lethal combination of chloral hydrate
Chloral hydrate
Chloral hydrate is a sedative and hypnotic drug as well as a chemical reagent and precursor. The name chloral hydrate indicates that it is formed from chloral by the addition of one molecule of water. Its chemical formula is C2H3Cl3O2....

 and various benzodiazepines.
Adrienne Nicole Martin 1983–2010 Model, Spouse of August Busch IV
August Busch IV
August Anheuser Busch IV is the former CEO of Anheuser-Busch who ended the family control of the company in 2008 when it was sold to InBev.-Early life:...

Cocaine and oxycodone overdose.
Andrew Martin, aka Test 1975–2009 Professional wrestler Oxycodone overdose. Accidental.
Thalia Massie 1911–1963 Wife Barbiturate overdose.
Lisa Matsumoto
Lisa Matsumoto
Lisa Matsumoto 1964 - December 14, 2007) was a playwright and children's author in Hawaii. Her use of Hawaiian Pidgin in her works propelled her to her status as one of the state's most popular resident playwrights.-Career:...

1964–2007 Children's author Motor-vehicle collision. Matsumoto's blood alcohol level was .242, more than 3 times the legal limit.
Billy Mays
Billy Mays
William Darrell "Billy" Mays, Jr. was an American television direct-response advertisement salesperson most notable for promoting OxiClean, Orange Glo, and other cleaning, home-based, and maintenance products on the Home Shopping Network, and through his company, Mays Promotions, Inc...

1958–2009 Salesperson Heart disease with cocaine use being a "contributory cause".
Joseph McCarthy
Joseph McCarthy
Joseph Raymond "Joe" McCarthy was an American politician who served as a Republican U.S. Senator from the state of Wisconsin from 1947 until his death in 1957...

1908–1957 Senator Hepatitis exacerbated by alcoholism.
Jimmy McCulloch
Jimmy McCulloch
James 'Jimmy' McCulloch was a Scottish musician and songwriter, born in Dumbarton and raised in Clydebank and Cumbernauld, Scotland, who was best known for playing lead guitar in Paul McCartney's Wings from 1974 to 1977...

1953–1979 Musician (Wings
Wings (band)
Wings were a British-American rock group formed in 1971 by Paul McCartney, Denny Laine and Linda McCartney that remained active until 1981....

)
Heroin overdose.
Marie McDonald
Marie McDonald
Marie McDonald was an American singer and actress known as "The Body Beautiful" and later nicknamed "The Body".- Early life :...

1923–1965 Actress Unspecified drug overdose.
Robbie McIntosh
Robbie McIntosh (drummer)
Robbie McIntosh was a Scottish drummer from Dundee, who was a founder-member of the Average White Band. His father was American born actor, Bonar Colleano, who had a successful career in films,especially in the U.K...

1950–1974 Musician (Average White Band) Heroin overdose.
Stephen McKeag
Stephen McKeag
Stephen McKeag , known as Topgun or Top Gun, was a Northern Irish loyalist who became one of the most notorious figures within the Ulster Defence Association's 'C' Company in the 1990s...

1970–2000 Ulster Defence Association
Ulster Defence Association
The Ulster Defence Association is the largest although not the deadliest loyalist paramilitary and vigilante group in Northern Ireland. It was formed in September 1971 and undertook a campaign of almost twenty-four years during "The Troubles"...

 member
Cocaine overdose.
Marguerite McNamara
Maggie McNamara
Marguerite "Maggie" McNamara was an American stage, film, and television actress.-Early life:Born in New York City, McNamara was one of four children born to Irish American parents. Her mother was born in England to Irish parents. She attended Textile High School in New York and worked as a teen...

1928–1978 Actress Sleeping pill overdose. Suicide.
Aimee Semple McPherson
Aimee Semple McPherson
Aimee Semple McPherson , also known as Sister Aimee, was a Canadian-American Los Angeles, California evangelist and media celebrity in the 1920s and 1930s. She founded the Foursquare Church...

1890–1944 Evangelist Shock and respiratory failure due to overdose of prescription barbiturates.
Jonathan Melvoin
Jonathan Melvoin
Jonathan Melvoin was an American musician active in the 1980s and 1990s.He was the brother of Susannah and Wendy Melvoin of Prince and the Revolution. He first learned to play drums, and was cited by friends and relatives as one of those people who could play anything...

1961–1996 Keyboardist Heroin overdose.
Mary Millington
Mary Millington
Mary Millington was a British model and pornographic actress. She has been described as one of the "two hottest British sex film stars of the seventies", the other being Fiona Richmond....

1945–1979 Model, pornographic actress Paracetamol overdose. Suicide.
Keith Moon
Keith Moon
Keith John Moon was an English musician, best known for being the drummer of the English rock group The Who. He gained acclaim for his exuberant and innovative drumming style, and notoriety for his eccentric and often self-destructive behaviour, earning him the nickname "Moon the Loon". Moon...

1946–1978 Musician (the Who
The Who
The Who are an English rock band formed in 1964 by Roger Daltrey , Pete Townshend , John Entwistle and Keith Moon . They became known for energetic live performances which often included instrument destruction...

)
Overdose on anti-seizure medication prescribed for alcoholism. Accidental.
Odas Moon
Odas Moon
Odas Moon was an American aviation pioneer who was among a team of United States Army Air Corps aviators to break endurance records by performing aerial refueling. Moon was a founding member of the Order of Daedalians...

1892–1937 Pilot Reportedly "drank himself to death".
Kenneth Moore
Big Moe
Kenneth Moore , better known by his stage name Big Moe, was an American rapper/singer from Houston, Texas...

 a.k.a Big Moe
1974–2004 Rapper Heart attack with Purple Drank
Purple drank
Purple drank is a slang term for a recreational drug popular in the hip hop community in the southern United States, originating in Houston, Texas. Its main ingredient is prescription-strength cough syrup containing codeine and promethazine. Cough syrup is typically mixed with ingredients such as...

 as a contributing factor
Chester Morris
Chester Morris
Chester Morris was an American actor, who starred in the Boston Blackie detective series of the 1940s.-Career:...

1901–1970 Actor Barbiturate overdose.
Jim Morrison
Jim Morrison
James Douglas "Jim" Morrison was an American musician, singer, and poet, best known as the lead singer and lyricist of the rock band The Doors...

1943–1971 Musician (The Doors
The Doors
The Doors were an American rock band formed in 1965 in Los Angeles, California, with vocalist Jim Morrison, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, drummer John Densmore, and guitarist Robby Krieger...

)
Official cause of death is recorded as heart failure, though Sam Bernett claims that Morrison died in Bernett's club, with heroin overdose as the suspected cause.
Norma Mortenson, aka Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe was an American actress, singer, model and showgirl who became a major sex symbol, starring in a number of commercially successful motion pictures during the 1950s....

1926–1962 Actress Barbiturate overdose. Officially listed as "probable suicide" though several conspiracy theories exist.
Louis Mucciolo, Jr., aka Louie Spicolli
Louie Spicolli
Louis Mucciolo, Jr. was an American professional wrestler. He performed in Mexico under the ring name Madonna's Boyfriend, for the World Wrestling Federation as Rad Radford, and in Extreme Championship Wrestling and World Championship Wrestling in the 1990s as Louie Spicolli...

1971–1998 Professional wrestler Conflicting sources indicate drug overdose while some indicate coronary disease that might have been impacted by drug use.
Billy Murcia
Billy Murcia
Billy Murcia, born in Bogotá, Colombia and raised in Jackson Heights, New York, was the original drummer for the New York Dolls.Billy Murcia and Sylvain Sylvain both attended Quintano's School for Young Professionals, in the late sixties. It was at Quintano's that they met Johnny Thunders, also a...

1951–1972 Musician (New York Dolls
New York Dolls
The New York Dolls is an American rock band, formed in New York in 1971. The band's protopunk sound prefigured much of what was to come in the punk rock era; their visual style influenced the look of many new wave and 1980s-era glam metal groups, and they began the local New York scene that later...

)
Contradicting sources report the death as alcohol related, or drowning after a drug overdose or as a drug overdose.
Brittany Murphy
Brittany Murphy
Brittany Anne Murphy-Monjack , known professionally as Brittany Murphy, was an American actress and singer. She starred in films such as Clueless, Just Married, Girl Interrupted, Spun, 8 Mile, Uptown Girls, Sin City, Happy Feet, and Riding in Cars with Boys...

1977–2009 Actress "[C]ombination of pneumonia, an iron deficiency and 'multiple drug intoxication.'"
Brent Mydland
Brent Mydland
Brent Mydland was the fourth keyboardist to play for the American rock band the Grateful Dead. He was with the band for eleven years, longer than any other keyboardist.- Early life :...

1952–1990 Musician (the Grateful Dead) Cocaine and morphine overdose.

N

Name Life Profession Cause of death Reference
Henry Nasiff Jr, aka Hank the Angry Drunken Dwarf
Hank the Angry Drunken Dwarf
Henry Joseph Nasiff Jr. , better known as Hank the Angry Drunken Dwarf, was an American entertainer. He appeared numerous times on The Howard Stern Show as a member of the show's Wack Pack. He began August 16, 1996 when he entered the studio of radio station WXRK in New York City...

1962–2001 Entertainer Advanced alcoholism and a seizure disorder, complicated by a genetic condition.
Yves Navarre
Yves Navarre
Yves Navarre was a French writer. A gay man, most of his work concerned homosexuality and associated issues, such as AIDS. In his romantic works, Navarre was noted for his tendency to emphasize sensuality and "the mystical qualities of love" rather than sexuality or sensationalism...

1940–1994 Writer Barbiturate overdose. Suicide.
Filip Nikolic
Filip Nikolic
Filip Nikolic was a French actor and singer of Serbian extraction, best known as the lead of the French boy-band 2Be3.-Personal:...

1974–2009 Singer Heart attack induced by sleeping pills.
Bradley Nowell
Bradley Nowell
Bradley James Nowell was an American musician who served as lead singer and guitarist of the Californian band Sublime. He died at the age of 28 from a heroin overdose shortly before the release of Sublime's self-titled major label debut.Raised in Long Beach, California, Nowell developed an...

1968–1996 Musician (Sublime
Sublime (band)
Sublime was an American ska punk band from Long Beach, California, formed in 1988. The band's line-up, unchanged until their breakup, consisted of Bradley Nowell , Eric Wilson and Bud Gaugh . Michael "Miguel" Happoldt also contributed on a few Sublime songs, such as "New Thrash." Lou Dog, Nowell's...

)
Heroin overdose.

O

Name Life Profession Cause of death Reference
Hugh O'Connor
Hugh O'Connor
Not to be confused with Hugo Oconór.Hugh Edward Ralph O'Connor was an American actor. The son of actor Carroll O'Connor, he portrayed Det./ Lt. Lonnie Jamison on the television drama In the Heat of the Night from 1988-1995. O'Connor committed suicide in 1995. - Biography...

1962–1995 Actor Suicide under influence of cocaine.
Lani O'Grady
Lani O'Grady
Lani O'Grady was an American actress and the sister of actor/musician Don Grady. O'Grady is best-remembered for her role as Mary Bradford, the eldest sister from Eight Is Enough.-Career:...

1954–2001 Actress Multiple drug intoxication. Vicodin and Prozac were found in her bloodstream
Johnny O'Keefe
Johnny O'Keefe
John Michael O'Keefe, known as Johnny O'Keefe was an Australian rock and roll singer whose career began in the 1950s. Some of his hits include "Wild One" , "Shout!" and "She's My Baby"...

1935–1978 Singer Conflicting sources indicate drug overdose, or simply heart attack.
Pascale Ogier
Pascale Ogier
Pascale Ogier was a French actress.Born Pascale Marguerite Cécile Claude Colette Nicolas in Paris, she was the daughter of a musician father and actress Bulle Ogier. Pascale also chose an acting career, first with appearances on stage...

1958–1984 Actress Unspecified drug overdose.
Alice Ormsby-Gore
Alice Ormsby-Gore
Alice Magdalen Sarah Ormsby Gore was a British socialite.She was the youngest daughter of William David Ormsby-Gore, 5th Baron Harlech and his first wife Sylvia Thomas. She became engaged to guitarist Eric Clapton but never married...

1952–1995 Socialite Heroin overdose.
John Patrick Oswald aka Jani Lane
Jani Lane
Jani Lane , born John Kennedy Oswald, later changed to John Patrick Oswald, was an American recording artist and the lead vocalist, frontman, lyricist and main songwriter for the hard rock band Warrant....

1964–2011 Singer-songwriter Alcohol poisoning.
Bryan Ottoson 1978–2005 Musician (American Head Charge
American Head Charge
American Head Charge is an industrial metal band from Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA, earning nominations at the Kerrang! Awards on two occasions.-Formation:...

)
Prescription-drug overdose. Accidental.

P

Name Life Profession Cause of death Reference
Haley Paige
Haley Paige
Maryam Irene Haley , better known by her stage name Haley Paige, was a Mexican-born American pornographic actress.- Career:...

1981–2007 Pornographic actress Methadone overdose. Possibly suicide.
Marco Pantani
Marco Pantani
Marco Pantani was an Italian road racing cyclist, widely considered one of the best climbers in professional road bicycle racing...

1970–2004 Cyclist Cerebral and pulmonary edema potentially brought on by "tranquillisers, antidepressants and sedatives ... against a background of prolonged cocaine abuse".
Robert Pastorelli
Robert Pastorelli
Robert Joseph Pastorelli was an American actor. He had many roles on TV, in movies, and on the stage, including the seven years he played the portly painter Eldin Bernecky on the television series Murphy Brown. His last role was as an oddball hit man in Be Cool, reuniting him with Michael star...

1954–2004 Actor Heroin overdose.
Gram Parsons
Gram Parsons
Gram Parsons was an American singer, songwriter, guitarist and pianist. Parsons is best known for his work within the country genre; he also mixed blues, folk, and rock to create what he called "Cosmic American Music"...

1946–1973 Musician (the Byrds
The Byrds
The Byrds were an American rock band, formed in Los Angeles, California in 1964. The band underwent multiple line-up changes throughout its existence, with frontman Roger McGuinn remaining the sole consistent member until the group disbanded in 1973...

)
Morphine overdose.
Cesare Pavese
Cesare Pavese
Cesare Pavese was an Italian poet, novelist, literary critic and translator; he is widely considered among the major authors of the 20th century in his home country.- Early life and education :...

1908–1950 Poet, novelist Consumed "twelve sachets of sleeping drugs".
Chris Penn
Chris Penn
Christopher Shannon "Chris" Penn was an American film and television actor known for his roles in such films as The Wild Life, Reservoir Dogs, Footloose, Rush Hour, True Romance, All the Right Moves and Pale Rider.-Early life:Penn was born in Los Angeles, California, the youngest son of Leo Penn,...

1965–2006 Actor Enlarged heart through drug use and a high level of codeine.
Christopher Pettiet
Christopher Pettiet
Christopher Lee Pettiet was an American television and film actor best known for his role as Jesse James in the Western TV series The Young Riders and as Zach Crandell in the cult comedy film Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead .-Career:Pettiet began his career as a child actor making...

1976–2000 Actor Unspecified drug overdose. Accidental.
Kristen Pfaff
Kristen Pfaff
Kristen Marie Pfaff was an American bass guitarist, best known for her work with Hole.-Early life and career:Pfaff was born and raised in Buffalo, New York, attending Buffalo Academy of the Sacred Heart. She spent a short time in Europe and briefly attended Boston College before ultimately...

1967–1994 Musician (Hole
Hole (band)
Hole is an American alternative rock band that originally formed in Los Angeles in 1989. The band is fronted by vocalist/songwriter and rhythm guitarist Courtney Love, who co-founded Hole with former songwriter/lead guitarist Eric Erlandson...

)
Heroin overdose.
Esther Phillips
Esther Phillips
Esther Phillips was an American singer. Phillips was known for her R&B vocals, but she was a versatile singer, also performing pop, country, jazz, blues and soul music.-Early life:...

1935–1984 Musician, singer Liver and kidney failure due to long-term drug use.
River Phoenix
River Phoenix
River Jude Phoenix was an American film actor, musician, and teen icon. He was the oldest brother of fellow actors Rain, Joaquin, Liberty, and Summer Phoenix.Phoenix began acting at age 10 in television commercials...

1970–1993 Actor Heroin and cocaine overdose.
Rob Pilatus
Rob Pilatus
Robert "Rob" Pilatus was a German-American model, dancer and singer. Pilatus was best known as half of the pop music duo Milli Vanilli.-Early life:...

1965–1998 Musician (Milli Vanilli
Milli Vanilli
Milli Vanilli was a pop/dance music project formed by Frank Farian in Germany in 1988, visually fronted by Fab Morvan and Rob Pilatus. The group's debut album achieved international success and earned them a Grammy Award for Best New Artist on Feb. 21, 1990. Milli Vanilli became one of the most...

)
Prescription drug and alcohol overdose.
Jesse Pintado
Jesse Pintado
Jesse Pintado was a lead guitar player born in Mexico who at an early age moved to the US. He started in the band Terrorizer where he recorded the grindcore album World Downfall, the first album to feature Pete Sandoval who would later leave the band to join Morbid Angel...

1969–2006 Musician Liver failure caused by diabetes and alcoholism.
Dana Plato
Dana Plato
Dana Michelle Plato was an American actress notable for playing the role of Kimberly Drummond in the U.S. television sitcom Diff'rent Strokes.Plato appeared in over 100 television commercials as a young girl...

1964–1999 Actress Vanadom and Lortab overdose. Suicide.
Darrell Porter
Darrell Porter
Darrell Ray Porter was a former American professional baseball catcher. He played in Major League Baseball for the Milwaukee Brewers, Kansas City Royals, St. Louis Cardinals and the Texas Rangers. He was known for his excellent defensive skills and power hitting...

1952–2002 Major League Baseball catcher Cocaine overdose.
Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....

1935–1977 Singer Cardiac arrhythmia. Autopsy founds in his system "significant" levels of ethinamate, methaqualone, codeine and different barbiturates, including amobarbital, pentobarbital, and phenobarbital.
Gary Primich
Gary Primich
Gary Primich was an American blues harmonica player, singer, guitarist and songwriter. He is best known for his 1995 album, Mr. Freeze.-Biography:...

1958–2007 Singer "Acute heroin intoxication."
Freddie Prinze
Freddie Prinze
Freddie Prinze was an American actor and stand-up comedian. He was known as the star of Chico and the Man. He is the father of actor Freddie Prinze, Jr.-Early life:...

1954–1977 Actor Self-inflicted gunshot wound while under the influence of methaqualone
Methaqualone
Methaqualone is a sedative-hypnotic drug that is similar in effect to barbiturates, a general central nervous system depressant. The sedative-hypnotic activity was first noted by Indian researchers in the 1950s and in 1962 methaqualone itself was patented in the US by Wallace and Tiernan...

 and alcohol. Initially ruled suicide but later determined accidental.
Promachus
Promachus of Macedon
Promachus was a common soldier in Alexander's army. In 324 BC at Susa, when a drinking contest was held in connection with the funeral of Indian Calanus, Promachus drank the equivalent of 13 litres of unmixed wine and won the first prize of a golden crown worth a talent. He died three days later...

???–324 BCE Soldier Alcohol poisoning.

Q

Name Life Profession Cause of death Reference
Robert Quine
Robert Quine
Robert Wolfe Quine was an American guitarist, known for his innovative guitar solos.A native of Akron, Ohio, Quine worked with a wide range of musicians, though he himself remained relatively unknown in comparison...

1942–2004 Guitarist Heroin overdose. Suicide.
Glenn Quinn
Glenn Quinn
Glenn Martin Christopher Francis Quinn was an Irish actor in television and film, known for playing Mark Healy in the American sitcom Roseanne, and Doyle, a half-demon, on the 1999–2004 television series Angel, a spin-off series of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer.-Early life:Quinn...

1970–2002 Actor Unspecified drug overdose. Accidental.

R

Name Life Profession Cause of death Reference
Jay Reatard
Jay Reatard
Jimmy Lee Lindsey Jr. , better known by the stage name Jay Reatard, was an American musician from Memphis, Tennessee. Lindsey was signed to Matador Records...

1980–2010 Musician Cocaine toxicity, with alcohol as a contributing factor.
Michael Reeves
Michael Reeves
Michael Reeves was an English film director and screenwriter. He is best known for the 1968 American International Pictures/Tigon motion picture Witchfinder General...

1943–1969 Film director Alcohol and barbiturate overdose.
Wallace Reid
Wallace Reid
Wallace Reid was an actor in silent film referred to as "the screen's most perfect lover".-Early life:Born William Wallace Reid in St...

1891–1923 Actor Prescription morphine overdose.
Elis Regina
Elis Regina
Elis Regina Carvalho Costa, known simply as Elis Regina was an important singer of Brazilian popular music. She became nationally renowned in 1965, after singing Arrastão in the first edition of TV Excelsior festival song contest, and soon joined O Fino da Bossa, a television program on TV Record...

1945–1982 Singer Cocaine alcohol, and temazepam overdose. Accidental.
Willy Rey
Willy Rey
Willy Rey was a Dutch-Canadian model. She was Playboy magazine's Playmate of the Month for its February 1971 issue...

1949–1973 Model Barbiturate overdose.
John Simon Ritchie, aka Sid Vicious
Sid Vicious
Sid Vicious was an English musician best known as the bassist of the influential punk rock group Sex Pistols...

1957–1979 Musician (Sex Pistols
Sex Pistols
The Sex Pistols were an English punk rock band that formed in London in 1975. They were responsible for initiating the punk movement in the United Kingdom and inspiring many later punk and alternative rock musicians...

)
Heroin overdose. Suicide.
Elisabeth Rivers-Bulkeley
Elisabeth Rivers-Bulkeley
Elisabeth Charlotte Marie Rivers-Bulkeley was a stock broker. Born in Austria, she lived most of her life in the United Kingdom. She was one of the first ten women to become a member of the London Stock Exchange, on 26 March 1973...

1924–2006 Stock-broker Barbiturate overdose. Euthanasia.
Brad Renfro
Brad Renfro
Brad Barron Renfro was an American actor. He made his film debut in 1994 at age 12 in the lead role of Joel Schumacher's The Client, going on to star in 21 feature films, several short films, and two television episodes during his career. Much of his later career was marred by a pattern of...

1982–2008 Actor Heroin and morphine overdose.
Rachel Roberts
Rachel Roberts (British actress)
Rachel Roberts was a Welsh actress noted for her fervour and passion; Roberts is best remembered for her forthright screen performances in two key films of the 1960s, Saturday Night and Sunday Morning and This Sporting Life, in both of which she played the older mistress of the central male...

1927–1980 Actress Barbiturate overdose. Suicide.
Don Rogers 1962–1986 American football player Cocaine-induced heart attack.
Steve Rogers 1954–2006 Rugby league player Lethal combination of anti-depressants and alcohol. Accidental.
Monica Rose
Monica Rose
Monica Rose was a British TV quiz show hostess on Double Your Money and The Sky's the Limit both hosted by Hughie Green. Originally a contestant on Double Your Money, she was invited to become a hostess on the show by Green, impressed by her cockney charm and manner, and stayed for three years...

1948–1994 TV show hostess Antidepressants and tranquillisers overdose. Suicide.
Alma Rubens
Alma Rubens
Alma Rubens was an American silent film actress and stage performer.-Early life:Born to John B. and Theresa Hayes Rueben in San Francisco, California, she performed since youth and became a star at the age of 19. She was educated at the Sacred Heart Convent in San Francisco...

1897–1931 Actress Illness caused by heroin and cocaine addiction.
David Ruffin
David Ruffin
Davis Eli "David" Ruffin was an American soul singer and musician most famous for his work as one of the lead singers of the Temptations from 1964 to 1968...

1941–1991 Musician (the Temptations
The Temptations
The Temptations is an American vocal group having achieved fame as one of the most successful acts to record for Motown Records. The group's repertoire has included, at various times during its five-decade career, R&B, doo-wop, funk, disco, soul, and adult contemporary music.Formed in Detroit,...

)
Cocaine overdose.
Gail Russell
Gail Russell
Gail Russell was an American film and television actress.-Career:She was born Elizabeth L. Russell to George and Gladys Russell in Chicago, Illinois, and then moved to the Los Angeles, California, area when she was a teenager. Russell's extraordinary beauty brought her to the attention of...

1924–1961 Actress Alcoholism.
Sherri Russell, aka Sherri Martel
Sherri Martel
Sherri Schrull was an American professional wrestler and manager, better known by her ring names, Sherri Martel and Sensational Sherri....

1958–2007 Professional wrestler Overdose of multiple, including high amounts of oxycodone. Accidental.

S

Name Life Profession Cause of death Reference
George Sanders
George Sanders
George Sanders was a British actor.George Sanders may also refer to:*George Sanders , Victoria Cross recipient in World War I...

1906–1972 Actor Nembutal overdose. Suicide.
John Saunders
John Baker Saunders
John Baker Saunders was a founding member and bassist for the American grunge rock supergroup Mad Season, as well as a member of The Walkabouts. He was born in Montgomery, Alabama and later attended Providence College...

1954–1999 Musician (Mad Season
Mad Season
Mad Season was an American rock supergroup formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1994 by members of three popular Seattle-based bands: Alice in Chains, Pearl Jam and Screaming Trees. Mad Season only released one album, Above, and is best known for the single "River of Deceit"...

)
Heroin overdose.
Catya Sassoon
Catya Sassoon
-External links:...

1968–2002 Model, actress Hydromorphone and cocaine overdose.
Sonja Savić
Sonja Savic
Sonja Savić was a cult Serbian actress, famous for her husky voice and series of impressive roles in some of the more memorable 1980s films made in former Yugoslavia. Sonja appeared in Miroslav Ilić video Voleo sam devojku iz grada...

1961–2008 Actress Unspecified drug overdose.
Sybille Schmitz
Sybille Schmitz
Sybille Schmitz was a German actress.-Biography:Schmitz attended an acting school in Cologne and got her first engagement at Max Reinhardt's Deutsches Theater in Berlin in 1927. Only one year later, she made her film debut with Freie Fahrt , which attracted her first attention from the critics...

1909–1955 Actress Sleeping pill overdose. Suicide.
Bon Scott
Bon Scott
Ronald Belford "Bon" Scott was a Scottish-born Australian rock musician, best known for being the lead singer and lyricist of Australian hard rock band AC/DC from 1974 until his death in 1980...

1946–1980 Musician (AC/DC
AC/DC
AC/DC are an Australian rock band, formed in 1973 by brothers Malcolm and Angus Young. Commonly classified as hard rock, they are considered pioneers of heavy metal, though they themselves have always classified their music as simply "rock and roll"...

)
Official cause of death listed as "acute alcohol poisoning".
Ronnie Scott
Ronnie Scott
Ronnie Scott was an English jazz tenor saxophonist and jazz club owner.-Life and career:Ronnie Scott was born in Aldgate, east London, into a family of Russian Jewish descent on his father's side, and Portuguese antecedents on his mother's. Scott began playing in small jazz clubs at the age of...

1927–1996 Jazz tenor saxophonist
Tenor saxophone
The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor, with the alto, are the two most common types of saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B, and written as a transposing instrument in the treble...

Prescription barbiturate overdose. Accidental.
Pat Screen
Pat Screen
James Patrick Screen, Jr., known as Pat Screen , was a Louisiana State University quarterback from New Orleans, Louisiana, who served as the Democratic Mayor-President of East Baton Rouge Parish from 1981–1988....

1943–1994 American football player Unspecified drug overdose.
Rod Scurry
Rod Scurry
Rodney Grant Scurry was a Major League pitcher for eight seasons, and was the first Major League Baseball player directly linked to the Pittsburgh drug trials that dogged baseball during the mid-1980s...

1956–1992 Major League Baseball pitcher Cocaine-induced heart attack.
Jean Seberg
Jean Seberg
Jean Dorothy Seberg was an American actress. She starred in 37 films in Hollywood and in France, including Breathless , the musical Paint Your Wagon and the disaster film Airport ....

1938–1979 Actress Barbiturate and alcohol overdose. Suicide.
Chantal Sébire
Chantal Sébire
Chantal Sébire was a retired French teacher who suffered from esthesioneuroblastoma, a rare form of cancer, and fought for the right to die through euthanasia.-Background:...

1955–2008 Teacher Pentobarbital overdose. Euthanasia.
Edie Sedgwick
Edie Sedgwick
Edith Minturn "Edie" Sedgwick was an American actress, socialite, model and heiress. She is best known for being one of Andy Warhol's superstars. Sedgwick became known as "The Girl of the Year" in 1965 after starring in several of Warhol's short films in the 1960s...

1943–1971 Actress Barbiturate and alcohol overdose. Undetermined.
Bobby Sheehan 1968–1999 Musician (Blues Traveler
Blues Traveler
Blues Traveler is a rock band, formed in Princeton, New Jersey in 1987. The band has been influenced by a variety of genres, including blues-rock, psychedelic rock, folk rock, soul, and Southern rock...

)
Unspecified drug overdose.
Eric Show
Eric Show
Eric Vaughn Show was a Major League Baseball player who played for most of his career with the San Diego Padres. On September 11, 1985, Show gave up Pete Rose's record-breaking 4,192nd career hit...

1956–1994 Baseball player Cocaine and heroin overdose.
Elizabeth Siddal
Elizabeth Siddal
Elizabeth Eleanor Siddal was an English artists' model, poet and artist who was painted and drawn extensively by artists of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, including Walter Deverell, William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais and most of Dante Gabriel Rossetti's early paintings of women.-Early...

1829–1862 Model, poet, artist Laudanum
Laudanum
Laudanum , also known as Tincture of Opium, is an alcoholic herbal preparation containing approximately 10% powdered opium by weight ....

 overdose.
Judee Sill
Judee Sill
Judee Sill was an American singer and songwriter. The first artist signed to David Geffen's Asylum label, she released two albums, then worked briefly as a cartoonist before dying of drug abuse in 1979.Her eponymous debut album was released in late 1971 and was followed around eighteen months...

1944–1979 Musician Cocaine and heroin overdose.
Don Simpson
Don Simpson
Donald Clarence "Don" Simpson was an American film producer, screenwriter, and actor. He is known for producing such hits as Flashdance, Beverly Hills Cop, Top Gun and The Rock...

1943–1996 Film producer Cocaine-induced heart attack. Twenty other drugs were found in his blood.
Tom Simpson
Tom Simpson
Tom Simpson was the most successful English road racing cyclist of the post-war years. He infamously died of exhaustion on the slopes of Mont Ventoux during the 13th stage of the Tour de France in 1967...

1937–1967 Cyclist Dehydration and exhaustion while cycling exacerbated by amphetamines and alcohol use.
Hillel Slovak
Hillel Slovak
Hillel Slovak ‏ was an Israeli-American musician best known as the original guitarist and founding member of the Los Angeles rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers...

1962–1988 Musician (Red Hot Chili Peppers
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Red Hot Chili Peppers is an American rock band, formed in Los Angeles in 1983. The group's musical style primarily consists of rock with an emphasis on funk, as well as elements from other genres such as punk, hip hop and psychedelic rock...

)
Heroin overdose.
Alvim Smith
Alvin Smith (brother of Joseph Smith, Jr.)
Alvin Smith was the older brother of Joseph Smith Jr., the founder of the Latter Day Saint movement. Alvin took a leading role in helping the Smith family work toward paying their debts and building their home. His death in 1823 at age 25 resulted in his younger brother Joseph taking more of a...

1798–1823 Carpenter's assistant Mercury(I) chloride
Mercury(I) chloride
Mercury chloride is the chemical compound with the formula Hg2Cl2. Also known as calomel or mercurous chloride, this dense white or yellowish-white, odorless solid is the principal example of a mercury compound...

 overdose. Officially administered to cure bilious colic; speculated murder.
Daniel Smith
Daniel Wayne Smith
Daniel Wayne Smith was the son of the model and actress Anna Nicole and Billy Smith. He infrequently appeared in his mother's E! Network reality TV show, The Anna Nicole Show...

1986–2006 Actor, director Cardiac dysrhythmia caused by combination of methadone, Lexapro and Zolof.
Dash Snow
Dash Snow
Dashiel "Dash" Snow was an American artist, based in New York.-Life:Dashiel A. Snow was born in 1981, the son of Taya Thurman and Christopher Snow...

1981–2009 Artist Heroin overdose.
Robert Soblen
Robert Soblen
Dr. Robert Soblen , was a prominent member of the pro-Trotsky Left Opposition in Germany in the 1930s. He moved to the United States in 1941 with his brother Jack Soble, and was arrested in 1960 as a Soviet spy. Convicted and sentenced to life in prison, he fled the U.S...

1900–1962 Psychiatrist Barbiturate overdose.
Erin Spanevello
Erin Spanevello
Erin Jean Maria Spanevello was a Canadian fashion model active in the late 2000s before dying from a drug overdose at the age of 21....

1987–2008 Fashion model Overdose of MDMA and GHB
Gamma-Hydroxybutyric acid
γ-Hydroxybutyric acid , also known as 4-hydroxybutanoic acid and sodium oxybate when used for medicinal purposes, is a naturally occurring substance found in the central nervous system, wine, beef, small citrus fruits, and almost all animals in small amounts. It is also categorized as an illegal...

.
Layne Staley
Layne Staley
Layne Thomas Staley was an American musician who served as the lead singer and co-lyricist of the rock group Alice in Chains, which was formed in Seattle, Washington in 1987 by Staley and guitarist Jerry Cantrell. Alice in Chains rose to international fame as part of the grunge movement of the...

1967–2002 Musician (Alice in Chains
Alice in Chains
Alice in Chains is an American rock band formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1987 by guitarist and songwriter Jerry Cantrell and original lead vocalist Layne Staley. The initial lineup was rounded out by drummer Sean Kinney, and bassist Mike Starr...

)
Cocaine, heroin and codeine overdoses.
Miroslava Stern
Miroslava Stern
Miroslava was a Czechoslovakian-born Mexican film actress who appeared in thirty two films.- Biography :...

1926–1955 Actress Overdose of sleeping pills. Suicide.
Inger Stevens
Inger Stevens
Inger Stevens was a Swedish-American movie and TV actress.- Early life :Inger Stevens was born Inger Stensland in Stockholm, Sweden. She was an insecure child and was often ill. When she was nine, her parents divorced and she moved with her father to New York City...

1934–1970 Actress Barbiturate overdose. Suicide.
Bradley Stewart, aka Gidget Gein
Gidget Gein
Gidget Gein was an American musician and artist. He was the second bassist and co-founder of the alternative metal band Marilyn Manson. His stage name references and dichotomises serial killer Ed Gein and the novel Gidget.-Early life:Bradley Stewart was born in Hollywood, Florida...

1969–2008 Musician (Marilyn Manson
Marilyn Manson (band)
Marilyn Manson is an American metal band from Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Formed in 1989 by Brian Warner and Scott Putesky, the group was originally named Marilyn Manson & the Spooky Kids with their uniquely theatrical performances gathering a local cult following in the early '90s. This attention...

)
Heroin overdose.
Rory Storm
Rory Storm
Rory Storm was an English singer and musician. Born Alan Caldwell in Liverpool, Storm was the singer and leader of Rory Storm and The Hurricanes, a Liverpudlian band who were contemporaries of The Beatles in the late 1950s, and early 1960s...

1939–1972 Musician Alcohol and sleeping pill overdose.
Margaret Sullavan
Margaret Sullavan
Margaret Brooke Sullavan was an American stage and film actress. Sullavan started her career on the stage in 1929. In 1933 she caught the attention of movie director John M. Stahl and had her debut on the screen that same year in Only Yesterday...

1909–1960 Actress Barbiturate overdose. Suicide.
James Owen Sullivan, aka The Rev 1981–2009 Musician (Avenged Sevenfold) "[A]cute polydrug intoxication due to combined effects of oxycodone, oxymorphone, diazepam, nordiazepam and ethanol."
Royce Surdam 1835–1891 Real-estate agent Laudanum overdose. Accidental.
Jennifer Syme
Jennifer Syme
Jennifer Maria Syme was an American actress and production assistant. She was best known for her role in Lost Highway, and for her relationship with actor Keanu Reeves.-Early life and career:...

1972–2001 Actress Crashed her car while under the influence of cocaine, clonazepam and cyclobenzaprine.

T

Name Life Profession Cause of death Reference
Warren Tartaglia, aka Walid al-Taha 1944–1965 Jazz musician Heroin overdose.
Chase Tatum
Chase Tatum
Chase Tatum was a wrestler for World Championship Wrestling.- Career :At age 19, Tatum won the Mr. Georgia bodybuilding competition. He signed with the Atlanta-based World Championship Wrestling promotion. After beginning his career as a jobber, Tatum became a member of rapper Master P's No Limit...

1973–2008 Former professional wrestler Apparent drug overdose following years of addiction to painkillers.
Vinnie Taylor 1949–1974 Musician (Sha Na Na
Sha Na Na
Sha Na Na is an American rock and roll group. The name is taken from a part of the long series of nonsense syllables in the doo-wop hit song "Get a Job", originally recorded in 1957 by the Silhouettes....

)
Unspecified drug overdose.
Sara Teasdale
Sara Teasdale
Sara Teasdale , was an American lyrical poet. She was born Sara Trevor Teasdale in St. Louis, Missouri, and after her marriage in 1914 she went by the name Sara Teasdale Filsinger.-Biography:...

1884–1933 Poet Sleeping pill overdose. Suicide.
Gary Thain
Gary Thain
Gary Mervin Thain was a rock bassist, best known for his work with British band, Uriah Heep.-Biography:Born in Christchurch, New Zealand, Thain was part of the rock trio The New Nadir, and with the drummer Peter Dawkins, he travelled from New Zealand to London, and once jammed with Jimi Hendrix...

1948–1975 Musician (Uriah Heep
Uriah Heep (band)
Uriah Heep are an English rock band formed in London in 1969 and regarded as a seminal classic hard rock act of the 1970s. Uriah Heep's progressive/art rock/heavy metal fusion's distinctive features have always been massive keyboards sound, strong vocal harmonies and David Byron's operatic vocals...

)
Respiratory failure due to a heroin overdose.
Ada Thompson, aka Vivien Merchant
Vivien Merchant
Vivien Merchant was a British actress.-Career:Merchant performed in many stage productions and several films, including Alfie and Frenzy...

1929–1982 Actress Alcoholism. The coroner stated Merchant "drank herself to death."
John Thompson
John Thompson (poet)
John Thompson was an English-born Canadian poet.John Thompson was born in Timperley in 1938. Following the death of his father and abandonment by his mother, he was educated at various boarding schools and the Manchester Grammar School. He received his B.A. in honours psychology from the...

1938–1976 Poet Overdose of barbiturates and alcohol.
Jotie T'Hooft
Jotie T'Hooft
Johan Geeraard Adriaan T'Hooft was a Flemish Belgian neo-romantic poet.His life and death by overdose were made into a movie, the English title Junkie's Sorrow.-Life:Jotie T'Hooft was born in Oudenaarde, Belgium...

1956–1977 Poet Unspecified drug overdose.
Johnny Thunders
Johnny Thunders
Johnny Thunders, born John Anthony Genzale, Jr. , was an American protopunk guitarist, singer and songwriter.He came to prominence in the early '70s as a member of the New York Dolls...

1952–1991 Musician (the New York Dolls) Conflicting sources report heroin overdose or methadone and cocaine poisoning or that the autopsy did not disclose a cause of death.
Georg Trakl
Georg Trakl
Georg Trakl was an Austrian poet. He is considered one of the most important Austrian Expressionists.- Life and work :Trakl was born and lived the first 18 years of his life in Salzburg, Austria...

1887–1914 Poet Cocaine overdose. Suicide.
Chögyam Trungpa
Chögyam Trungpa
Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche was a Buddhist meditation master and holder of both the Kagyu and Nyingma lineages, the eleventh Trungpa tülku, a tertön, supreme abbot of the Surmang monasteries, scholar, teacher, poet, artist, and originator of a radical re-presentation of Shambhala vision.Recognized...

1939–1987 Buddhist meditation master Cardiac arrest exacerbated by heavy alcohol use.
D. M. Turner
D. M. Turner
D.M. Turner was an author, psychedelic researcher and psychonaut who wrote two books on psychoactives and entheogens...

1962–1996 Author Drowned in a bathtub while under the influence of ketamine
Ketamine
Ketamine is a drug used in human and veterinary medicine. Its hydrochloride salt is sold as Ketanest, Ketaset, and Ketalar. Pharmacologically, ketamine is classified as an NMDA receptor antagonist...

.
Ike Turner
Ike Turner
Isaac Wister Turner was an American musician, bandleader, songwriter, arranger, talent scout, and record producer. In a career that lasted more than half a century, his repertoire included blues, soul, rock, and funk...

1931–2007 Musician, producer Cocaine overdose with high blood pressure and emphysema
Emphysema
Emphysema is a long-term, progressive disease of the lungs that primarily causes shortness of breath. In people with emphysema, the tissues necessary to support the physical shape and function of the lungs are destroyed. It is included in a group of diseases called chronic obstructive pulmonary...

 as contributing factors.
Dick Twardzik
Dick Twardzik
Richard Twardzik was a jazz pianist known for bebop who worked for the bulk of his career in Boston.He trained in classical piano as a child and made his professional debut at 14...

1931–1955 Jazz pianist Heroin overdose.
Helen Twelvetrees
Helen Twelvetrees
Helen Twelvetrees was an American stage and screen performer, considered a top female star in the early days of sound films.- Early life and career :...

1908–1958 Actor Unspecified drug overdose. Suicide.
John Tyndall
John Tyndall
John Tyndall FRS was a prominent Irish 19th century physicist. His initial scientific fame arose in the 1850s from his study of diamagnetism. Later he studied thermal radiation, and produced a number of discoveries about processes in the atmosphere...

1820–1893 Physicist Overdose of chloral hydrate
Chloral hydrate
Chloral hydrate is a sedative and hypnotic drug as well as a chemical reagent and precursor. The name chloral hydrate indicates that it is formed from chloral by the addition of one molecule of water. Its chemical formula is C2H3Cl3O2....

. Accidental.

U

Name Life Profession Cause of death Reference
Dorothy Uhnak
Dorothy Uhnak
Dorothy Uhnak was an American novelist.-Biography:Uhnak was born in New York City. She attended City College of New York and the John Jay College of Criminal Justice....

1930–2006 Author Unspecified drug overdose. Suicide.
Stu Ungar
Stu Ungar
Stuart Errol "Stu" Ungar was a professional poker and gin rummy player, widely regarded to have been the greatest Texas hold 'em and gin rummy player of all time....

1953–1998 Professional poker player Heart condition caused by long-term cocaine abuse.
Enrique Urquijo
Enrique Urquijo
Enrique Urquijo was a Spanish singer, songwriter, and guitarist.Born in Madrid, Spain, Urquijo is best known as one of three brothers in the Spanish New Wave music group Los Secretos formed in 1980. Later in the career of Los Secretos, he formed his parallel band Los Problemas.Urquijo died in...

1960–1999 Singer Unspecified drug overdose.

V

Name Life Profession Cause of death Reference
Paul Vaessen
Paul Vaessen
Paul Leon Vaessen was an English footballer.Vaessen was born in Gillingham to a footballing family – his father Leon had played for Millwall and Gillingham. A centre-forward, he joined Arsenal in 1977 as an apprentice, and made his debut aged 16 against Lokomotive Leipzig in the UEFA Cup on 27...

1961–2001 Former professional footballer Unspecified drug overdose.
Brandon Vedas
Brandon Vedas
Brandon Carl Vedas , also known by his nickname ripper on IRC, of Phoenix, Arizona, United States, was a computer enthusiast, recreational drug user and member of the Shroomery.org community who died of an overdose of prescription drugs while discussing what he was doing via chat and webcam...

1981–2003 Computer expert Multiple drug overdose, incluide "alcohol, cannabis, psilocybin mushroom, clonazepam, temazepam, methadone, hydrocodone and propanolol".
Lupe Vélez
Lupe Vélez
Lupe Vélez was a Mexican film actress. Vélez began her career in Mexico as a dancer, before moving to the U.S. where she worked in vaudeville. She was seen by Fanny Brice who promoted her, and Vélez soon entered films, making her first appearance in 1924. By the end of the decade she had...

1908–1944 Actress Secobarbital overdose. Suicide.
Michael VerMeulen
Michael VerMeulen
Michael VerMeulen was an American magazine editor.Born in [Lake Forest, Illinois], VerMeulen was a journalist and editor, who came into contact during his late adolescence with playwright David Mamet and the circle of actors surrounding him in Chicago at that time...

1956–1995 Magazine editor Cocaine overdose.
Jeffrey James Vickers, aka Jon Vincent
Jon Vincent
Jon Vincent a.k.a. Dave Phillips, real name: Jeffrey James Vickers was an American gay pornographic actor. Though he performed in fewer than 40 films, he is considered a porn legend.-Background:...

1962–2000 Pornographic actor Heroin overdose.

W

Name Life Profession Cause of death Reference
Marie Walcamp
Marie Walcamp
Marie Walcamp was an American actress of the silent film era.-Biography:Born in Dennison, Ohio, Walcamp headed to the East Coast in search of acting jobs on the stage after she finished her formal education. After landing various roles in New York, she eventually landed a role in 1913's The...

1894–1936 Actress Pain killer overdose. Suicide.
Robert Walker 1918–1951 Actor Reaction to a sedative administered by his doctor.
Dinah Washington
Dinah Washington
Dinah Washington, born Ruth Lee Jones , was an American blues, R&B and jazz singer. She has been cited as "the most popular black female recording artist of the '50s", and called "The Queen of the Blues"...

1924–1963 Singer Secobarbital and amobarbital overdose.
Dave Waymer
Dave Waymer
David Benjamin Waymer, Jr. was an American football defensive back in the NFL.Waymer graduated from West Charlotte High School in 1976. He played college football at Notre Dame, graduating in 1980, and was drafted in the 1980 NFL Draft in the second round by the New Orleans Saints, where he...

1958–1993 American football player Cocaine-induced heart attack.
George Webley
George Webley
George Webley , better known by the stage name Big George, was a British musician, composer, bandleader, and broadcaster who has been described as one of Britain's most successful theme music writers.-Early life:...

 aka Big George
1957–2011 Broadcaster
Presenter
A presenter, or host , is a person or organization responsible for running an event. A museum or university, for example, may be the presenter or host of an exhibit. Likewise, a master of ceremonies is a person that hosts or presents a show...

Heart attack after mephedrone use.
Mikey Welsh
Mikey Welsh
Michael Edward "Mikey" Welsh was an American artist and musician, best known as the former bassist of Weezer. He played with Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo during Cuomo's time in Boston during the hiatus in the band Homie...

1971–2011 Musician
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....

 with the group Weezer
Weezer
Weezer is an American alternative rock band. The band currently consists of Rivers Cuomo , Patrick Wilson , Brian Bell , and Scott Shriner . The band has changed lineups three times since its formation in 1992...

"Overdose"
Daniel Webster
Daniel Webster
Daniel Webster was a leading American statesman and senator from Massachusetts during the period leading up to the Civil War. He first rose to regional prominence through his defense of New England shipping interests...

1782–1852 Statesman
Statesman
A statesman is usually a politician or other notable public figure who has had a long and respected career in politics or government at the national and international level. As a term of respect, it is usually left to supporters or commentators to use the term...

Cerebral hemorrhage, caused by a blow to the head and complicated by alcohol-induced cirrhosis of the liver.
Willie Wilde
Willie Wilde
William 'Willie' Charles Kingsbury Wilde was an Irish journalist and poet of the Victorian era and the older brother of Oscar Wilde.-Background:...

1852–1899 Journalist "Complications related to his alcoholism."
Ellen Wilkinson
Ellen Wilkinson
Ellen Cicely Wilkinson was the Labour Member of Parliament for Middlesbrough and later for Jarrow on Tyneside. She was one of the first women in Britain to be elected as a Member of Parliament .- History :...

1891–1947 Politician Barbiturate overdose.
Gertrude Elizabeth Wilkerson, aka Luna Vachon 1962–2010 Professional wrestler Overdose of oxycodone and benzodiazepine. Accidental.
Kenneth Williams
Kenneth Williams
Kenneth Charles Williams was an English comic actor and comedian. He was one of the main ensemble in 26 of the Carry On films, and appeared in numerous British television shows, and radio comedies with Tony Hancock and Kenneth Horne.-Life and career:Kenneth Charles Williams was born on 22 February...

1926–1988 Actor, author Barbiturate overdose. It was not possible to establish whether his death was suicide or accidental.
Alan Wilson
Alan Wilson (musician)
Alan "Blind Owl" Christie Wilson was the leader, singer, and primary composer in the American blues band Canned Heat. He played guitar and harmonica, and wrote most of the songs for the band.-Early years:...

1943–1970 Musician (Canned Heat
Canned Heat
Canned Heat is a blues-rock/boogie rock band that formed in Los Angeles, California in 1965. The group has been noted for its own interpretations of blues material as well as for efforts to promote the interest in this type of music and its original artists...

)
Unspecified drug overdose. Possibly suicide.
Amy Winehouse
Amy Winehouse
Amy Jade Winehouse was an English singer-songwriter known for her powerful deep contralto vocals and her eclectic mix of musical genres including R&B, soul and jazz. Winehouse's 2003 debut album, Frank, was critically successful in the UK and was nominated for the Mercury Prize...

1983–2011 Singer-Songwriter Alcohol poisoning.
Sheree Winton
Sheree Winton
Sheree Winton was an English actress, and the mother of television presenter Dale Winton. She made many film and television appearances throughout her career, often referred to as 'the English Jayne Mansfield'...

1935–1976 Singer-songwriter Alcohol poisoning.
Rachel Whitear
Rachel Whitear
Rachel Whitear was a British student from Ledbury, Herefordshire who died following a heroin overdose. Her death in May 2000 led to a large-scale anti-drugs campaign in Britain, particularly in secondary schools, when her parents allowed a police photograph to be shown publicly – it showed...

1979–2000 Student Heroin overdose. Accidental.
Brett Whiteley
Brett Whiteley
Brett Whiteley, AO was an Australian artist. He is represented in the collections of all the large Australian galleries, and was twice winner of the Archibald Prize...

1939–1992 Artist Heroin overdose.
Grant Withers
Grant Withers
Grant Withers was an American film actor. With early beginnings in the silent era, Withers moved into talkies establishing himself with a list of headlined features as a young and handsome male lead...

1905–1959 Actor Sleeping pill overdose. Suicide.
Keith Whitley
Keith Whitley
Jackie Keith Whitley , known professionally as Keith Whitley, was an American country music singer. Whitley's brief career in mainstream country music lasted from 1984 until his death in 1989, but he continues to influence an entire generation of singers and songwriters...

1954–1989 Singer Alcohol poisoning.
Frances Wollstonecraft, aka Fanny Imlay
Fanny Imlay
Frances "Fanny" Imlay , also known as Fanny Godwin, was the illegitimate daughter of the British feminist Mary Wollstonecraft and the American commercial speculator Gilbert Imlay.Although Mary Wollstonecraft and Gilbert Imlay lived together happily for brief periods before and after the birth...

1794–1816 Wife Laudanum overdose. Suicide.
Linda Wong 1951–1987 Pornographic actress Overdose of Xanax, chloral hydrate
Chloral hydrate
Chloral hydrate is a sedative and hypnotic drug as well as a chemical reagent and precursor. The name chloral hydrate indicates that it is formed from chloral by the addition of one molecule of water. Its chemical formula is C2H3Cl3O2....

, and alcohol.
Andrew Wood 1966–1990 Singer (Mother Love Bone
Mother Love Bone
Mother Love Bone was an American rock band that formed in Seattle, Washington in 1988. The band was active from 1988 to 1990. Frontman Andrew Wood's personality and compositions helped to catapult the group to the top of the burgeoning late 1980s/early 1990s Seattle music scene...

)
Heroin overdose.
Anna Wood 1980–1995 Student Water intoxication secondary to use of MDMA.

Y

Name Life Profession Cause of death Reference
Paula Yates
Paula Yates
Paula Elizabeth Yates was a British television presenter and writer, best known for her work on two television programmes, The Tube and The Big Breakfast.-Early life:...

1959–2000 TV presenter, author Heroin overdose. Accidental.
Kelly Yeomans
Kelly Yeomans
Kelly Yeomans was an English school girl from the Allenton suburb near Derby. Her 1997 suicide, at the age of 13, became widespread news when the cause was traced to excessive bullying to which she had been subjected by other local children.In evidence to court, Yeomans was described as a...

1984–1997 Student Unspecified drug overdose. Suicide.

Z

Name Life Profession Cause of death Reference
Stefan Zweig
Stefan Zweig
Stefan Zweig was an Austrian novelist, playwright, journalist and biographer. At the height of his literary career, in the 1920s and 1930s, he was one of the most famous writers in the world.- Biography :...

1881–1942 Playwright Sleeping pill overdose. Suicide.
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