Famous Deaths

Died: 31 March , 1993

Born: 1 February , 1965

Cause of death: Accidental gunshot wound from faulty prop revolver

Death Summary: Brandon died at the same time as filming the movie "The Crow". He was doing a scene were the actor Michael Massee was supposed to kill him using blanks. Something went wrong and a real bullet came out of the gun that shoot Brandon.

Who was : He was the son of the late legendary martial arts film star Bruce Lee and was an american actor.

On March 31, 1993, the film crew filmed a scene in which Lee's character walked into his apartment and discovered his girlfriend being raped by thugs. Actor Michael Massee, who played one of the film's villains, was supposed to fire a gun at Lee as he walked into his apartment with groceries.

Because the movie's second unit team were running behind schedule, it was decided that dummy cartridges (cartridges that outwardly appear to be functional, but contain no gunpowder) would be made from real cartridges. A cartridge with only a primer and a bullet was fired in the pistol prior to the scene. It caused a squib load, in which the primer provided enough force to push the bullet out of the cartridge and into the barrel of the revolver, where it became stuck.

The malfunction went unnoticed by the crew, and the same gun was used again later to shoot the death scene, having been re-loaded with blanks. However, the squib load was still lodged in the barrel, and was propelled by the blank cartridge's explosion out of the barrel and into Lee's body. Although the bullet was traveling much more slowly than a normally fired bullet would be, the bullet's large size and the nearly point-blank firing distance made it powerful enough to mortally wound Lee. As the scene was being filmed, Brandon Lee was killed after the gun was fired at Lee as intended. When the blank was fired, the bullet shot out and hit Lee in the abdomen. He fell down instantly and the director shouted "CUT!," but Lee did not respond. The cast and crew filming rushed to him and noticed he was wounded. He was immediately rushed to the hospital where the doctors fought to revive him for five hours. It was too late however and he was pronounced dead at 1.00am.

His funeral was held several days later; he was buried next to his father in Lake View Cemetery, Seattle. The following day, a memorial service was held in Los Angeles.

The shooting was ruled as an accident, although many fans suspected foul play. (Bruce Lee's own death in 1973, at the age of 32, apparently from a reaction to an analgesic he had taken, was also considered suspicious.) The theory of the Lee "family curse" was also carried over from Bruce Lee's death to Brandon's death as he had died almost 20 years after his father and before the release of the film which could have potentially catapulted him to stardom.

At the time of his death, he was allegedly in talks with filmmakers about making sequels to Rapid Fire and The Crow.

Source : www.wikipedia.org

Died: 22 November , 1997

Born: 22 January , 1960

Cause of death: Suicide

Death Summary: Was found dead in his room at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Double Bay, Sydney (now the Stamford Plaza Double Bay). A belt found at the scene suggested that he had hanged himself.

Who was : Was the original lead singer of the Australian rock band INXS.


The new INXS album, Elegantly Wasted, was released in April 1997. Hutchence and INXS went on a world tour. The final leg of the tour was to be in Australia in November and December. However, on the morning of November 22, 1997, Hutchence, aged 37, was found dead in his room at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Double Bay, Sydney (now the Stamford Plaza Double Bay). A belt found at the scene suggested that he had hanged himself.

The New South Wales Coroner initially determined that Hutchence's death was suicide, but analysis of the witness statements in the Coroner's report, the lack of a suicide note and other anecdotal evidence has since come forward to suggest that the cause of death may have resulted from autoerotic asphyxiation (strangling himself during a sex act). The conclusions in the Coroner's report have never supported this suggestion.

Kym Wilson and her then boyfriend Andrew Reyment were the last people to see Michael alive. Kym became known as the "Suicide Blonde", after one of INXS' hits, originally written for Kylie Minogue.

Michael Hutchence's coffin was carried out of St. Andrews Cathedral by the remaining members of INXS and younger brother Rhett, as "Never Tear Us Apart" was played in the background. The song is now known to many original fans as his anthem.

The Sydney Morning Herald reported on 20 August 2005 that no trace of Hutchence's estimated multi-million dollar fortune could be found by his family after his death.

Hutchence's long-in-the-works solo album, Michael Hutchence, was finally released in 1999. He had begun working on the album in 1995 and had last worked on it 3 days prior to his untimely death. The last song he recorded was "Possibilities". It was co written and co produced by Hutchence and a gaggle of collaborators - Andy Gill from Gang of Four, Tim Simenon of Bomb The Bass, and Danny Saber from Black Grape. It featured a duet with U2's Bono called "Slide Away"; Bono actually recorded his vocals after Hutchence's death. The movie, Limp, was also released in 1999 and featured a cameo by Hutchence, playing a record company A & R man. (Hutchence had filmed the scene in 1996 on a day off from working on INXS' Elegantly Wasted.)

From July to September 2005, a television show featured the members of INXS looking for a new singer to succeed Michael. The show, which aired on CBS, was called Rock Star: INXS. The winner was Canadian singer J.D. Fortune.

Source : www.wikipedia.org

Died: 09-13-1996

Born: 06-16-1971

Cause of death: killed

Death Summary: Tupac was killed in a drive-by shooting.

Who was Tupac Shakur: Rapper, actor. One of the most popular rap/hip-hop artists.


On September 7, 1996, Shakur attended the Mike Tyson - Bruce Seldon boxing match at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. After the boxing match, Shakur spotted twenty-one year-old Orlando "Baby Lane" Anderson, a member of the Southside Crips in the MGM Grand lobby. Shakur rushed him and knocked Anderson down, and Shakur's entourage beat him. The incident was captured on the hotel's video surveillance. Anderson and a group of Crips had beaten up a member of Death Row's entourage in a Foot Locker store a few weeks earlier, precipitating Shakur's attack. After the fight with Anderson, Shakur rendezvous with Suge Knight to go to Death Row-owned Club 662 (now known as restaurant/club Seven). Shakur rode with Knight in Knight's 1996 black BMW 750i sedan as part of a larger convoy of cars including some of Shakur's friends, The Outlawz, and bodyguards.

At 10:55 p.m., while paused at a red light, Shakur rolled down his window and a photographer took their picture.At about 11:00-11:05 p.m., they were halted on Las Vegas Blvd. by Metro bicycle cops for playing the car stereo too loud and not having license plates, which were then found in the trunk of Knight's vehicle and he was not fined, being released a few minutes later.At approximately 11:10 p.m., while stopped by a red light at Flamingo Road near the intersection of Koval Lane in front of the Maxim Hotel, a vehicle accompanied by two women pulled over to an intersection on the right side of Shakur, whom was standing up through the sunroof, and exchanged words with the two women further inviting them to go to Club 662.At approximately 11:15 p.m., a white, four-door, late-model, Cadillac turned over to Shakur's side and rapidly fired thirteen shots; Shakur was shot several times in a drive-by shooting, being struck by four bullets out of the thirteen fired at him; he was hit twice in the chest, and once each in his left arm and thigh.Knight was grazed in the head by shrapnel, though some sources claim that a bullet grazed him.According to Knight, a bullet from the gunfire had been lodged in his skull, which medical reports later contradicted.

At the time of the shooting, Shakur was riding alongside with Suge Knight, with his bodyguard following behind in a vehicle belonging to Kidada Jones, Shakur's then-fiancée. The bodyguard, Frank Alexander, stated that when he was about to ride along with the rapper in Suge Knight's car, Shakur asked him to drive Kidada Jones' car instead just in case they were too drunk and needed additional vehicles from Club 662 back to the hotel. Shortly after the shootings, the bodyguard reported in his documentary, Before I Wake, that one of the convoy's cars drove off after the assailant but he never heard back from the occupants.

After arriving on the scene, police and paramedics took Shakur and Knight to the University Medical Center. According to one of Shakur's closest friends and music video director Gobi, while at the hospital he received news that the shooters were sending death threats aimed at Shakur; one of Death Row's marketing employees received a call from the shooters, who told him they were coming to the hospital to kill Shakur and upon hearing this, he immediately alerted the Las Vegas police, but the police were understaffed and no one could be sent. Although the shooters never came to the hospital, Shakur was later placed on life support until his death six days later, on September 13, 1996, at 4:03 p.m. PDT at the age of twenty-five. The official cause of death was respiratory failure and cardiac arrest. After his death, Shakur's body was cremated. His ashes were spread over Los Angeles, the Pacific Ocean, Shakur's aunt's land, and his mother's land in North Carolina, and some was mixed with cannabis and smoked by The Outlawz.Family and friends spread the remaining ashes during a ceremony in Soweto, South Africa. The ceremony was delayed from September 13, 2006 to June 16, 2007, which would have been Shakur's 36th birthday.

Due largely to the perceived lack of progress on the case by law enforcement, many independent investigations and theories of the crime have emerged. Because of the acrimony between Christopher Wallace (aka The Notorious B.I.G.) and Shakur, there was speculation from the outset about the possibility of Wallace's involvement in the murder. Wallace vehemently denied involvement. However, in a notable 2002 investigation by the Los Angeles Times, writer Chuck Phillips claimed to have uncovered evidence implicating Wallace, in addition to Anderson and the Southside Crips, in the murder.In the article, Phillips quoted unnamed gang-member sources who claimed Wallace had ties to the Crips, often hiring them for security during West Coast appearances. Phillips' informants also state that Wallace gave the gang members one of his own guns for use in the attack on Shakur, and that he put out a $1 million contract on Tupac's life. By the time Phillips' specific allegations were published, however, Wallace himself had been murdered.

Wallace's family and associates have vehemently denied Wallace's involvement in Shakur's death.In support of their claims, Wallace's family submitted documentation to MTV indicating that Wallace was working in a New York recording studio the night of Shakur's murder. Wallace's manager Wayne Barrow and rapper James "Lil' Cease" Lloyd made public announcements denying Wallace's involvement in the murder and claiming further that they were both with Wallace in the recording studio the night of the shooting.

The high profile nature of the killing and ensuing gang violence caught the attention of British filmmaker Nick Broomfield, who made the documentary film Biggie & Tupac which examines the lack of progress in the case by speaking to those close to Wallace, Shakur, and the investigation. Shakur's close childhood friend and member of The Outlawz, Yafeu "Yaki Kadafi" Fula, was in the convoy when the shooting happened and indicated to police that he might be able to identify the assailants. He was killed shortly thereafter in a housing project in Irvington, New Jersey.

In the first few seconds of the song "Intro/Bomb First (My Second Reply)" on the album The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory, Shakur can be heard saying "Shoulda shot me".Many theorists mistook the statement as "Suge shot me" or "Suge shot 'em" until confirmation by multiple audio tests and confirmation from members of The Outlawz. This, along with reports of Knight's strong-arm tactics with artists and other illegal business tactics including involvement with the Mob Piru Bloods street gang gave rise to a theory that Knight was complicit in Shakur's murder, as it was reported that Suge Knight owed Tupac up to seventeen million dollars in back royalties, but no evidence has been provided to support this theory.

Other theories have been put forth, including a conspiracy theory that Shakur is alive and well, but in hiding. Many supporters of these theories point to the symbolism in Shakur's The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory album and in the video for the single "I Ain't Mad at Cha". Efforts exposing these conspiracy theories include 2Pac Lives The Death of Makaveli / The Resurrection of Tupac Amaru (Volume 1) released in 2005.

A new DVD, titled, Tupac Revelation will be released on September 7, 2007, eleven years after the shooting. It explores the murder and provide new information about the murder case with the help of Shakur's bodyguard, Frank Alexander.

Source : www.wikipedia.org

Died: 31 August 1997

Born: 1 July 1961

Cause of death: Car crash

Death Summary: Diana died after a high speed car accident;Her death sparked an amazing public response of grief, and the accident itself is an ongoing controversy.

Who was : The former wife of Prince Charles and mother of Princes William and Harry.She became internationally known and widely loved, especially for her beauty, fashion sense and charity work.

On 31 August 1997, Diana died after a high speed car accident in the Pont d'Alma road tunnel in Paris along with Dodi Al-Fayed and the Acting Security Manager of the Hotel Ritz Paris, Henri Paul, who was instructed to drive the hired Mercedes-Benz through Paris secretly eluding the paparazzi.Blood analysis showed that Henri Paul was illegally intoxicated with alcohol whilst driving. He drove at high speed in order to evade the pursuing paparazzi. Tests confirmed that original postmortem blood samples were from Henri Paul, and that he had consumed amounts of alcohol three times that of the French legal limit. Conspiracy theorists had claimed that Paul's blood samples were swapped with blood from someone else — who was drunk — and contended that the driver had not been drinking on the night Diana died. Their black 1994 Mercedes-Benz S280 (registration no. 688 LTV 75) crashed into the thirteenth pillar of the tunnel. The two-lane tunnel was built without metal barriers between the pillars, so a slight change in vehicle direction could easily result in a head-on collision with a tunnel pillar. None of the four occupants wore seatbelts. Fayed's bodyguard Trevor Rees-Jones was closest to the point of impact and yet the only survivor of the crash. Henri Paul and Dodi Fayed were killed instantly, and Diana — unbelted in the back seat- slid forward during the impact and, having been violently thrown around the interior, "submarined" under the seat in front of her, suffering massive damage to her heart and subsequent internal bleeding. She was eventually, after considerable delay, transported by ambulance to the Hôpital Pitié-Salpêtrière, but on the way she went into cardiac arrest twice.Despite lengthy resuscitation attempts, including internal cardiac massage, she died at 4 a.m. local time.Her funeral on 6 September 1997 was broadcast and watched by an estimated 2.5 billion people worldwide.

The death of Diana has been the subject of widespread conspiracy theories, supported by Mohamed Fayed, whose son died in the accident. Her former father in law, Prince Philip, seems to be at the heart of most of them but her ex-husband has also been named, and was questioned by the Metropolitan Police in 2005. Some other theories have included claims that MI6 or the CIA were involved. Mossad involvement has also been suspected, and this theory has been supported on US television by the intelligence specialist barrister Michael Shrimpton. One particular claim, appearing on the internet, has stated that the princess was battered to death in the back of the ambulance, by assassins disguised as paramedics. These were all rejected by French investigators and British officials, who claimed that the driver, Henri Paul, was drunk and on drugs, although CCTV footage of Paul leaving the Ritz hotel with the Princess and Dodi Fayed does not appear to depict a man in a drunken or incapable state.Nonetheless, in 2004 the authorities ordered an independent inquiry by Lord Stevens, former Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, and he suggested that the case was "far more complex than any of us thought" and reported "new forensic evidence" and witnesses.The French authorities have also decided to reopen the case.Lord Stevens' report, Operation Paget, was published on December 14, 2006 and dismissed all allegations of conspiracy as without foundation.

The paparazzi arrived at the Alma underpass at different stages. Serge Arnal, Christian Martinez and Stéphane Darmon appear to have arrived first, quickly followed by Serge Benhamou. Records supplied by mobile telephone operators Itinéris and SFR supports Serge Arnal's claim that he attempted to call the emergency services. Film seized from the cameras of Christian Martinez and Serge Arnal showed that they were taking photographs of the car and/or the occupants almost immediately after arrival at the scene – there were no emergency services near the car visible in their photographs.

On 13 July 2006 Italian magazine Chi published photographs showing the princess receiving oxygen in the wreckage of the car crash,despite an unofficial blackout on such photographs being published.The photographs were taken minutes after the accident, and show the Princess slumped in the back seat while a paramedic attempts to fit an oxygen mask over her face. The photographs were also published in other Italian and Spanish magazines and newspapers.

The editor of Chi defended his decision by saying that he published the photographs for the "very simple reason" that they had not been seen before, and that he felt the images do not disrespect the memory of the Princess.The British media publicly refused to publish the images, with the exception of the tabloid newspaper, The Sun, which printed the picture with the face blacked out.

Fresh controversy arose over the issue of these photographs when it was disclosed that Britain's Channel 4 intended to broadcast them during a documentary to screen in June 2007.

July 1, 2007 marked a concert held by her two sons celebrating the 46th anniversary of her birth. The concert was held at Wembley Stadium and featured many well known and popular acts on the bill.

The 2007 docudrama Diana: Last Days of a Princess details the final two months of her life.

Source : www.wikipedia.org