Every single one of us is born with a death sentence. That's just life. We all have to die sometime. But will we all have something profound and wise to say at the end of our lives? The deathbed can lead a person to mutter some pretty profound stuff - or not.
Although these prolific stars may no longer be with us, their legacy will always live on through their movies, music, speeches, and how they treated their fans. In some cases they continue to release work posthumously too. Get a glimpse into their final moments on Earth with their eerie, thoughtful, or even funny final words.
Here's a shocking list of last words from 50 famous people. Hopefully your favorite star isn't on this list (because that would mean they are dead), but if they are on the list, that's just life, right? You will be absolutely stunned at the last words of Paul Walker and Tupac Shakur.
The King of Pop's final last words were: "More milk." Conrad Murray, his personal physician, said: "He was pleading and begging to please please let him have some milk because that was the only thing that would work". The disgraced doctor was referring to propofol, the powerful hospital anaesthetic Jackson overdosed on the day he died. On June 25, 2009, Jackson fell unconscious while lying in bed at his rented mansion in Los Angeles. Jackson was reportedly not breathing and CPR was performed. Resuscitation efforts continued en route to Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, and for more than an hour after arriving there at 1:13 pm. He was pronounced dead at 2:26 pm Pacific time.
Michael Jackson was an American singer, songwriter, record producer, dancer, and actor. Called the King of Pop, his contributions to music, dance and fashion along with his publicized personal life made him a global figure in popular culture for over four decades. Jackson's death triggered a global outpouring of grief. The news spread quickly online, causing websites to slow down and crash from user overload. Both TMZ and the Los Angeles Times suffered outages. Google initially believed that the millions of search requests meant their search engine was under DDoS attack, and blocked searches related to Michael Jackson for 30 minutes. Twitter reported a crash, as did Wikipedia.
Bob Marley's values and beliefs were such that Jamaica's most famous son refused the toe-amputation that might well have saved his life following diagnosis with cancer in 1977 - instead, strict Rastafarian Bob Marley faced up to the inevitable with few complaints or regrets. When his time came, the reggae great summed up his philosophies in a heartfelt bedside message to his musician son Ziggy: "Money can't buy life."
While Marley was flying home from Germany to Jamaica, when his vital functions took a bad turn. After landing in Miami, Florida, he was taken to the hospital for immediate medical attention. Bob Marley died on 11 May 1981 at Cedars of Lebanon Hospital in Miami (now University of Miami Hospital) at the age of 36. The spread of melanoma to his lungs and brain caused his death.
Music Diva Whitney Houston's last words were: "I'm gonna go see Jesus, want to see Jesus." On February 9, 2012, Houston visited singers Brandy and Monica, together with Clive Davis, at their rehearsals for Davis' pre-Grammy Awards party at The Beverly Hilton hotel in Beverly Hills. That same day, she made her last public performance, when she joined Kelly Price on stage in Hollywood, California, and sang "Jesus Loves Me".
Two days later, on February 11, Houston was found unconscious in Suite 434 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, submerged in the bathtub. Beverly Hills paramedics arrived at approximately 3:30 p.m. and found the singer unresponsive and performed CPR. Houston was pronounced dead at 3:55 p.m. PST. The cause of death was not immediately known. Local police said there were "no obvious signs of criminal intent". On March 22, 2012, the Los Angeles County coroner's office reported the cause of Houston's death was drowning and the "effects of atherosclerotic heart disease and cocaine use". The office stated the amount of cocaine found in Houston's body indicated that she used the substance shortly before her death. Toxicology results revealed additional drugs in her system: diphenhydramine, alprazolam, cannabis and cyclobenzaprine. The manner of death was listed as an "accident".
Comedian and Actor Robin William's last known message was addressed to his daughter Zelda on the social media site Instagram. It read: "#tbt and Happy Birthday to Ms .Zelda Rae Williams! Quarter of a century old today but always my baby girl. Happy Birthday @zeldawilliams Love you!". Williams committed suicide on August 11, 2014, at his home in California, at the age of 63. In the initial report released on August 12, the Marin County Sheriff's Office deputy coroner stated Williams had hanged himself with a belt and died from asphyxiation. It was revealed, following his death, that Williams had been suffering from severe depression, and had been sleeping in a different room from his wife due to restlessness and anxiety caused by his Parkinson's.
Robin Williams' only daughter tweeted back to her father's final public words in which he pledged his love for his little girl. She reciprocated with: "I love you. I miss you. I'll keep trying to look up." In her tweet, she quotes from The Little Prince, a French illustrated book for children by Antoine De Saint-Exupery. "You - you alone will have the stars as no one else has them ... In one of them I shall be laughing. And so it will be as if all the stars were laughing, when you look at the sky at night ... You - only you - will have stars that can laugh."
Actor Heath Ledger's last words were: "Katie, Katie, look...it'll be fine, you know, I just need to get some sleep." Ledger said this over the phone to his sister Katie when he was anxious about not being able to sleep (he was going to take sleeping pills on top of his prescriptions for a chest cold and his sister warned him not to). On 22 January 2008, Ledger was found unconscious in his bed by his housekeeper, Teresa Solomon, and his masseuse, Diana Wolozin, in his fourth-floor loft apartment in Manhattan.
Two weeks later on 6 February 2008, the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner of New York released its conclusions, based on an initial autopsy of 23 January 2008 and a subsequent complete toxicological analysis. The report concludes, in part, "Mr. Heath Ledger died as the result of acute intoxication by the combined effects of oxycodone, hydrocodone, diazepam, temazepam, alprazolam and doxylamine." It states definitively: "We have concluded that the manner of death is accident, resulting from the abuse of prescribed medications.
Apple founder Steve Jobs died at his Palo Alto, California home around 3 p.m. on October 5, 2011, because of complications from a relapse of his previously treated islet-cell neuroendocrine pancreatic cancer, resulting in respiratory arrest. He had lost consciousness the day before and died with his wife, children, and sisters at his side. His sister, Mona Simpson, described his death thus: "Steve's final words, hours earlier, were monosyllables, repeated three times. Before embarking, he'd looked at his sister Patty, then for a long time at his children, then at his life's partner, Laurene, and then over their shoulders past them. Steve's final words were: "OH WOW. OH WOW. OH WOW." He then lost consciousness and died several hours later.
Governor Jerry Brown of California declared Sunday, October 16, 2011, to be "Steve Jobs Day." On that day, an invitation-only memorial was held at Stanford University. Those in attendance included Apple and other tech company executives, members of the media, celebrities, close friends of Jobs, and politicians, along with Jobs's family. Bono, Yo Yo Ma, and Joan Baez performed at the service, which lasted longer than an hour. The service was highly secured, with guards at all of the university's gates, and a helicopter flying overhead from an area news station.
Comedian/Actor Chris Farley last day was Wednesday, December 17th, 1997. He spent it primarily with a hooker named Heidi. She joined Farley at a party in Lincoln Park (in Chicago) at 11 a.m. There were drugs going around. Later that day, Heidi took Farley back to her apartment - where they continued to smoke crack and snort heroin. Farley was clearly inebriated, and as she was leaving his apartment, he collapsed about 10 feet from the door. Heidi claimed she could hear that he was having difficulty breathing. He said to her, "Don't leave me." Figuring he had finally passed out, she snapped a photograph of him lying there and then left.
Chris Farley's brother John found him the next afternoon. Chris was still lying 10 feet from the door, wearing sweat pants and an open button down shirt. He was supposedly clutching a baseball cap and rosary beads. There was a blood-tinged fluid coming from his nose, and a white, frothy fluid coming from his mouth. John called 911. Chicago Fire Fighters received the call just after 2 p.m., and Farley was pronounced dead at the scene. He was 33 years old. When the toxicology results came back, his death was ruled as accidental. "Chris Farley died of opiate (morphine) and cocaine intoxication and his death was determined to be accident." Other things in his system that did not contribute to his death include Prozac, morphine, and marijuana.
Nirvana Rock Musician Kurt Cobain's final last words on his suicide note were: "It's better to burn out than to fade away." On April 8, Cobain's body was discovered at his Lake Washington Boulevard home by an electrician named Gary Smith who had arrived to install a security system. Apart from a minor amount of blood coming out of Cobain's ear, the electrician reported seeing no visible signs of trauma, and initially believed that Cobain was asleep until he saw the shotgun pointing at his chin.
A note was found, addressed to Cobain's childhood imaginary friend "Boddah", that stated that Cobain had not "felt the excitement of listening to as well as creating music, along with really writing... for too many years now". A high concentration of heroin and traces of diazepam were also found in his body. Cobain's body had been lying there for days; the coroner's report estimated Cobain to have died on April 5, 1994.
While filming a segment for his show, Steve "The Crocodile Hunter" Irwin was stabbed in the chest by a stingray. He said these words to his cameraman as he realized what was happening: "I'm dying." According to the incident's only witness, "All of a sudden [the stingray] propped on its front and started stabbing wildly with its tail. Hundreds of strikes in a few seconds". Irwin initially believed he only had a punctured lung; the stingray's barb pierced his heart, causing him to bleed to death. The stingray's behaviour appeared to have been a defensive response to being boxed in.
Crew members aboard Irwin's boat administered CPR and rushed him to shore. Medical staff pronounced him dead at the scene. Irwin's death is believed to be the only fatality from a stingray ever captured on video. News of Irwin's death prompted reactions around the world. Then-Prime Minister John Howard expressed "shock and distress" at the death, saying that "Australia has lost a wonderful and colourful son."
English Singer Amy Winehouse's last words were: "I don't want to die." Winehouse said this over the phone to her doctor two hours before she was found dead. Winehouse's bodyguard said that he arrived at her residence three days before her death and felt she was somewhat intoxicated. He observed moderate drinking over the next few days. He observed her "laughing, listening to music and watching TV at 2 a.m. the day of her death". According to the bodyguard, at 10 a.m. he observed her lying on her bed and tried unsuccessfully to rouse her. This did not raise much suspicion because she usually slept late after a night out. According to the bodyguard, shortly after 3 p.m., he checked on her again and observed her lying in the same position as before, leading to a further check, in which he concluded that she was not breathing and had no pulse. He said he subsequently called emergency services.
A coroner's inquest reached a verdict of misadventure. The report released on 26 October 2011 explained that Winehouse's blood alcohol content was 416 mg per 100 ml (0.416%) at the time of her death, more than five times the legal drink-drive limit. According to the coroner, "The unintended consequences of such potentially fatal levels was her sudden death."
Prince was an American singer, songwriter, record producer, multi-instrumentalist, actor, and director. He was known for his electric work, flamboyant stage presence, extravagant dress and makeup, and wide vocal range. His innovative music integrated a wide variety of styles, including funk, rock, R&B, new wave, soul, psychedelia, and pop. He sold over 100 million records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling music artists of all time. He won eight Grammy Awards, six American Music Awards, a Golden Globe Award, and an Academy Award for the 1984 film Purple Rain. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004.
Prince died April 21 at age 57, after being found unresponsive in an elevator at Paisley Park, his home and recording studio in Chanhassen, Minnesota. oxicology tests for Prince concluded that the entertainer died from an accidental overdose of the opioid fentanyl, according to a report on his death by the Midwest Medical Examiner's Office. Prince's Lawyer L. Londell McMillan spoke to Prince the Sunday before he died, after it was reported that his plane made an emergency landing to deal with a medical emergency involving the singer. Prince assured McMillan he was fine. "He said he was doing perfect," McMillan recalled. "He said, 'OK, I'll call you soon."'
"I'm going to the bathroom to read." Those were the words musician Elvis Presley said to his fiancee, Ginger Alden, early in the morning of August 16, 1977, at his Memphis mansion, Graceland. They were the last words he ever spoke. Hours later, at 2pm, she woke and noticed Presley hadn't returned to bed. She knocked on the bathroom door, calling his name, and then opened it. In it, she reveals how she found the singer slumped over on the bathroom floor. When she bent down to touch him, his skin was cold, and was not breathing. It was a tragic event.
Elvis suffered from multiple ailments: glaucoma, high blood pressure, liver damage, and an enlarged colon, each aggravated-and possibly caused-by drug abuse. Genetic analysis of a hair sample in 2014 found evidence of genetic variants that could have caused his glaucoma, migraines and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.
Rock Musician John Lennon's last words were "I'm Shot" which he said to the receptionist of the building he was entering. John Lennon was an English musician who gained worldwide fame as one of the members of the Beatles, for his subsequent solo career, and for his political activism and pacifism. He was shot by Mark David Chapman in the archway of The Dakota, his residence in New York City, on 8 December 1980. Lennon, aged 40 at the time, had just returned from Record Plant Studio with his wife, Yoko Ono.
After sustaining four major gunshot wounds, Lennon was pronounced dead on arrival at Roosevelt Hospital. At the hospital, it was stated that nobody could have lived for more than a few minutes after sustaining such injuries. Shortly after local news stations reported Lennon's death, crowds gathered at Roosevelt Hospital and in front of the Dakota. Lennon was cremated on December 10, 1980, at the Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale, New York; the ashes were given to Ono, who chose not to hold a funeral for him.
American actor Desi Arnaz final words which were said to his good friend and ex-wife, Lucille Ball. She said Desi said the following kind-hearted words to her before hanging up: "I love you too, Honey. Good luck with your show." He is best remembered for his role as Ricky Ricardo on the American television series sitcom I Love Lucy, starring with Lucille Ball, to whom he was married at the time. Arnaz was also internationally renowned for leading his Latin music band, the Desi Arnaz Orchestra.
Arnaz was a regular smoker for much of his life and often smoked cigarettes on the set, as well as on-camera in I Love Lucy. He smoked Cuban cigars into his sixties. Arnaz was diagnosed with lung cancer in 1986. He died several months later on December 2, 1986, at the age of 69. Lucille Ball telephoned him two days before he died.
Tom Petty was an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer, and actor. He was the lead singer of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, formed in 1976. Petty recorded a number of hit singles with the Heartbreakers and as a solo artist. In his career, he sold more than 80 million records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling music artists of all time. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001.
Petty was found unconscious at his home, not breathing and in full cardiac arrest, early in the morning of October 2, 2017. He was taken to the UCLA Medical Center in Santa Monica, California, where he died at 8:40 pm PDT that evening. On January 19, 2018, the Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner-Coroner announced that Petty had died from an accidental overdose of prescription pain medication. Petty's family revealed that he had suffered from multiple medical problems; those medical problems included emphysema, knee difficulties, and a hip fracture that occurred on Petty's final tour. Tom's final last words at a performance before playing his hit song "American Girl" was: "We love you dearly. I want to thank you for 40 years of a really great time. We're almost out of time. We got time for this, right here."
Hugh Hefner was an American businessman, magazine publisher and playboy. He was the founder of Playboy and editor-in-chief of the magazine, which he founded in 1953. He was also the chief creative officer of Playboy Enterprises, which is the publishing group that operates the magazine. An advocate of sexual liberation and freedom of expression, Hefner was a political activist and philanthropist in several other causes and public issues.
Hefner died at his home in Holmby Hills, Los Angeles, California, on September 27, 2017, at the age of 91. According to his death certificate, the 91-year-old passed away after going into cardiac arrest and suffering from respiratory failure. The certificate also notes that Hefner suffered from a recent bout of E. coli and Septicemia (a severe blood infection), listing them as contributing factors to his declining health and eventual passing. In his last interview before death, he stated: "It's nice to look back on very sweet moments," Hefner told People magazine. "I just think I'm very, very blessed.""
"I'm losing." were the final last words of iconic singer Frank Sinatra according to on of the nurses by his bedside. Sinatra died with his wife at his side at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles on May 14, 1998, aged 82, after suffering a severe heart attack. Sinatra suffered from ill health during the last few years of his life, and was frequently hospitalized for heart and breathing problems, high blood pressure, pneumonia and bladder cancer. He was further diagnosed as suffering from dementia.
His close friends, Jilly Rizzo and Jimmy Van Heusen, are buried nearby. The words "The Best Is Yet to Come", plus "Beloved Husband & Father" are imprinted on Sinatra's grave marker. Significant increases in sales worldwide were reported by Billboard in the month of his death.
Actor Ryan Dunn's finals words were "Stopping for a beer, be there when I can." That was Dunn's last text to fellow actor Bam Margera before his crash. On June 20, 2011, Dunn and Zachary Hartwell, a production assistant on Jackass Number Two, were killed when Dunn's Porsche 911 GT3 veered off the road, hit a tree and burst into flames in West Goshen Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania. Dunn was 34 years old. He was buried at Highland Drive Cemetery, Brecksville, OH.
Dunn is remembered by friends and fans alike as the "go-to guy for outrageous stunts that even such stalwarts as Steve-O weren't willing to try" and "the kind of guy who would do anything for a friend," gaining the nickname "Random Hero". Many celebrities expressed their grief and condolences on Twitter including Sofia Coppola, Tom Green, Carey Hart, Dwayne Johnson, Tony Hawk and his Jackass cast members.
Actor Paul Walker's last words were: "We will be back in five minutes." This was said to Jim Torp, an engineer at the charity event where Walker was raising money for typhoon victims. On November 30, 2013, Walker and Roger Rodas, 38, left the charity event in Rodas's red 2005 Porsche Carrera GT. The car crashed into a concrete lamppost and two trees on Hercules Street, in a 45 miles per hour speed zone near Kelly Johnson Parkway in Valencia, Santa Clarita, California, after which the vehicle burst into flames.
Authorities determined that Rodas was driving the car while Walker was the passenger. The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department declared both victims dead at the scene. Rodas died of multiple traumatic injuries while Walker died from the combined effects of traumatic and thermal trauma, according to the Los Angeles County Coroner's office. Both of their bodies were burned beyond recognition.
The first police officer at the scene of Rap Artist Tupac Shakur's 1996 drive-by murder has revealed the last words spoken by the late rap legend. And they're not exactly peaceful. "He looked at me, and he took a breath to get the words out, and he opened his mouth," says Chris Carroll, a retired sergeant with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, "And then the words came out: 'F**k you.'"
Shakur was shot multiple times on September 7th, 1996. After leaving a boxing match with former Death Row Records CEO Suge Knight, the rapper and his bodyguards got into a scuffle with 21-year-old Crips gang member Orlando Anderson in the lobby of the MGM Grand casino. Carroll, who worked with the city's bike patrol unit, had also been watching the same Mike Tyson fight, but was unaware of the brawl taking place in the lobby.
Fashion designer Coco Chanel's last words were "You see, this is how you die." Chanel was 87 years old, tired, and ailing. She carried out her usual routine of preparing the spring catalog. She had gone for a long drive the afternoon of Saturday, January 9. Soon after, feeling ill, she went to bed early. She died on Sunday, January 10, 1971 at the Hotel Ritz, where she had resided for more than 30 years.
Her funeral was held at the ?glise de la Madeleine; her fashion models occupied the first seats during the ceremony and her coffin was covered with white flowers - camellias, gardenias, orchids, azaleas and a few red roses. Her grave is located in the Bois-de-Vaux Cemetery, Lausanne, Switzerland - one of the most prestigious burials in the world.
American actor James Dean's final words were: "That guy's gotta stop... He'll see us." This was said to his friend Rolf Wütherich, moments before the car crash that killed Dean. As his group of friends traveled to an event via U.S. Route 466, (currently SR 33) at approximately 5:15 p.m. a 1950 Ford Tudor was passing through an intersection while turning, ahead of the Dean's Porsche. Dean, unable to stop in time, slammed into the driver's side of the Ford resulting in Dean's car bouncing across the pavement onto the side of the highway. Dean's passenger, Wütherich, was thrown from the Porsche, while Dean was trapped in the car and sustained numerous fatal injuries, including a broken neck.
The driver of the Ford, Donald Turnupseed, exited his damaged vehicle with minor injuries. The accident was witnessed by a number of passersby who stopped to help. A woman with nursing experience attended to Dean and detected a weak pulse, but "death appeared to have been instantaneous". Dean was pronounced dead on arrival shortly after he arrived by ambulance at the Paso Robles War Memorial Hospital at 6:20 p.m.
was an English singer-songwriter and actor. He was a leading figure in popular music for over five decades, acclaimed by critics and fellow musicians for his innovative work. His career was marked by reinvention and visual presentation, his music and stagecraft significantly influencing popular music. During his lifetime, his record sales, estimated at 140 million albums worldwide, made him one of the world's best-selling music artists.
On 10 January 2016, two days after his 69th birthday and the release of the album Blackstar, Bowie died from liver cancer in his New York City apartment. He had been diagnosed 18 months earlier but had not made the news of his illness public. The Belgian theatre director Ivo van Hove, who had worked with the singer on his Off-Broadway musical Lazarus, explained that Bowie was unable to attend rehearsals due to the progression of the disease. He noted that Bowie had kept working during the illness. According to a speech given by long time friend and actor Gary Oldman, his final words were: "Music has been my doorway of perception and the house that I live in."
"Mother, I'm going to get my things and get out of this house. Father hates me and I'm never coming back." Singer Marvin Gaye said just moments before his father shot him. At around 12:38PM on April 1, 1984, while Gaye was talking with his mother, his father Marvin Gay Sr. shot Gaye twice: in the heart and on his left shoulder respectively, the latter shot taken at point-blank range. The first shot proved to be fatal. Gaye was pronounced dead at 1:01PM after his body arrived at California Hospital Medical Center. Minutes earlier, the two men were involved in a physical altercation after Gaye intervened in an argument between his parents.
After Gaye's funeral, his body was cremated at Forest Lawn Memorial Park at the Hollywood Hills, his ashes were later scattered at the Pacific Ocean. Initially charged with first-degree murder, Gay Sr.'s charges dropped to voluntary manslaughter following a diagnosis of a brain tumor and Gaye's autopsy revealing the singer had drugs in his system. Marvin Gay Sr. was later sentenced to a suspended six-year sentence and probation. He died at a nursing home in 1998.
Singer Barry White's last words were "Leave me alone. I'm fine." White was overweight for most of his adult life-weighing 375 pounds - and suffered from related health problems. In October 1995, he was admitted to a hospital as a result of high blood pressure. In August 1999, White was forced to cancel approximately a month's worth of tour dates owing to exhaustion, high blood pressure, and a hectic schedule. In September 2002, he was hospitalized with kidney failure attributed to chronic diabetes mellitus and high blood pressure.
While undergoing dialysis and awaiting a kidney transplant in May 2003, he suffered a severe stroke, which forced him to retire from public life. At around 9:30AM on July 4, 2003, 29 years to the day after he married Glodean, White died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles at the age of 58. His remains were cremated, and the ashes were scattered by his family off the California coa
On the morning of July 27, 2003, two months after his 100th birthday, Hope died of pneumonia at his home in Toluca Lake, California. His grandson, Zach Hope, told Soledad O'Brien that when asked on his deathbed where he wanted to be buried, Hope had told his wife, "Surprise me," and those were supposedly his last words. He was interred in the Bob Hope Memorial Garden at San Fernando Mission Cemetery in Los Angeles, joined in 2011 by wife Dolores, when she died four months after her 102nd birthday. After his death, newspaper cartoonists worldwide paid tribute to his work for the USO or featured Bing Crosby (who died in 1977) welcoming Hope into heaven.
With a career spanning nearly 80 years, Hope appeared in over 70 films and shorts, including a series of "Road" movies also starring Bing Crosby and Dorothy Lamour. In addition to hosting the Academy Awards 19 times (more than any other host), he appeared in many stage productions and television roles and was the author of fourteen books. The song "Thanks for the Memory" is widely regarded as Hope's signature tune.
Walt Disney's last words were: "Kurt Russell." The famed animator supposedly wrote the actor's name on a slip of paper just before he died. Even Russell, who was 15 when Disney died, isn't sure why (or if it's even true). Disney had been a heavy smoker since World War I. He did not use cigarettes with filters, and had smoked a pipe as a young man. In November 1966, he was diagnosed with lung cancer and treated with cobalt therapy. On November 30 he felt unwell and was taken to St. Joseph Hospital where, on December 15, ten days after his 65th birthday, he died of circulatory collapse caused by lung cancer. Disney's remains were cremated two days later, and his ashes interred at the Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California.
His estate included a 14 percent holding in Walt Disney Productions worth $20 million. He left 45 percent of his estate to his wife and children?-??much in a family trust?-??and 10 percent to his sister, nieces and nephews. The remaining 45 percent went into a charitable trust, 95 percent of which was designated for CalArts, to build a new campus (a figure of around $15 million); he also donated 38 acres of the Golden Oaks ranch in Valencia for construction of that school. The university moved there in November 1971.
On December 23, 2006, American Singer James Brown became very ill and arrived at his dentist's office in Atlanta, Georgia several hours later than his appointment for dental implant work. During that visit, Brown's dentist observed that Brown looked "very bad ... weak and dazed." Instead of performing the dental work, the dentist advised Brown to see a doctor right away about his medical condition. His last words were "I'm going away tonight."
Brown recorded 16 singles that reached number one on the Billboard R&B charts. He also holds the record for the most singles listed on the Billboard Hot 100 chart which did not reach number one. Brown has received honors from many institutions, including inductions into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Songwriters Hall of Fame. In Joel Whitburn's analysis of the Billboard R&B charts from 1942 to 2010, James Brown is ranked as number one in The Top 500 Artists. He is ranked seventh on the music magazine Rolling Stone's list of its 100 greatest artists of all time. Rolling Stone has also cited Brown as the most sampled artist of all time.
Although the details of Rock Musician Jimi Hendrix's last day and death are widely disputed, he spent much of September 17, 1970, in London with his girlfriend Monika Dannemann, the only witness to his final hours. Dannemann said that she prepared a meal for them at her apartment in the Samarkand Hotel, 22 Lansdowne Crescent, Notting Hill, sometime around 11 p.m., when they shared a bottle of wine. She drove Hendrix to the residence of an acquaintance at approximately 1:45 a.m., where he remained for about an hour before she picked him up and drove them back to her flat at 3 a.m.
Dannemann said they talked until around 7 a.m., when they went to sleep. His last words were "I need help bad, man!". She awoke around 11 a.m., and found Hendrix breathing, but unconscious and unresponsive. She called for an ambulance at 11:18 a.m.; they arrived on the scene at 11:27 a.m. Paramedics then transported Hendrix to St Mary Abbot's Hospital where Dr. John Bannister pronounced him dead at 12:45 p.m. on September 18, 1970.
Beatles musican George Harrison's last words were: "Love one another." There was something in the way George moved us: he was certainly the quietest Beatle by nature, and perhaps the most peaceful in other ways, too. Of course, it makes complete sense that such a serene individual might find the simplest and most touching message with which to bid us farewell. Harrison had bravely battled cancer for some years, and chose these words with which to depart for that all-too-early date with inspiration.
In 1997, Harrison was diagnosed with throat cancer and treated with radiotherapy, which was thought at the time to be successful. He publicly blamed years of smoking for the illness. In May 2001, it was revealed that he had undergone an operation to remove a cancerous growth from one of his lungs, and in July, it was reported that he was being treated for a brain tumour at a clinic in Switzerland. In November 2001, he began radiotherapy at Staten Island University Hospital in New York City for non-small cell lung cancer that had spread to his brain. On 29 November 2001, Harrison died at a friend's home in Los Angeles, aged 58 .
Music Composer Ludwig van Beethoven's final words were "Friends applaud, the comedy is over." Some reports say Beethoven, who was deaf by the end of life, said: "I will hear in heaven" while others suggest he said: "Plaudite, amici, comedia finita est" (Applaud, friends, the comedy is finished). But still others say that after a publisher brought the composer 12 bottles of wine, his final words were: "Pity, pity, too late!"
Beethoven was bedridden for most of his remaining months, and many friends came to visit. He died on 26 March 1827 at the age of 56 during a thunderstorm. His friend Anselm Hüttenbrenner, who was present at the time, said that there was a peal of thunder at the moment of death. An autopsy revealed significant liver damage, which may have been due to heavy alcohol consumption. It also revealed considerable dilation of the auditory and other related nerves.
On October 3, 1849, American writer Edgar Allen Poe was found delirious on the streets of Baltimore, "in great distress, and... in need of immediate assistance", according to his physician Joseph W. Walker who found him. He was taken to the Washington Medical College where he died on Sunday, October 7, 1849 at 5:00 in the morning. Poe was never coherent long enough to explain how he came to be in his dire condition and, oddly, was wearing clothes that were not his own. He is said to have repeatedly called out the name "Reynolds" on the night before his death, though it is unclear to whom he was referring. Some sources say that Poe's final words were "Lord help my poor soul". All medical records have been lost, including his death certificate.
Newspapers at the time reported Poe's death as "congestion of the brain" or "cerebral inflammation", common euphemisms for deaths from disreputable causes such as alcoholism. The actual cause of death remains a mystery. Speculation has included delirium tremens, heart disease, epilepsy, syphilis, meningeal inflammation, cholera, and rabies.
was an American musician, singer, and songwriter. He was best known as the lead vocalist for the rock bands Soundgarden and Audioslave. Cornell was also known for his numerous solo works and soundtrack contributions since 1991, and as the founder and frontman for Temple of the Dog. Cornell is considered one of the chief architects of the 1990s grunge movement, and is well known for his extensive catalog as a songwriter, his nearly four-octave vocal range, and his powerful vocal belting technique.
Around 12:15 a.m. on May 18, 2017, Cornell was found dead by his bodyguard in the bathroom of his hotel room at the MGM Grand in Detroit, after performing at a show with Soundgarden at the Fox Theatre on May 17. He was lying on the floor with an exercise band around his neck and blood in his mouth. Police ruled out homicide by reviewing hotel surveillance video, which showed nobody entering or exiting the suite after his bodyguard left around 11:35 p.m. The cause of death was determined to be suicide by hanging. According to his wife Vicky Cornell, Chris was "groggy and just kept saying, 'I am just tired,' and hung up the phone." These were his last known words.
Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci was also overly modest, saying, "I have offended God and mankind because my work did not reach the quality it should have." I guess the Mona Lisa isn't good enough? Leonardo died at Clos Lucé, on 2 May 1519. Francis I had become a close friend. Vasari records that the king held Leonardo's head in his arms as he died, although this story, beloved by the French and portrayed in romantic paintings by Ingres, Ménageot and other French artists, as well as by Angelica Kauffman, may be legend rather than fact.
Many historians and scholars regard Leonardo as the prime exemplar of the "Universal Genius" or "Renaissance Man", an individual of "unquenchable curiosity" and "feverishly inventive imagination". According to art historian Helen Gardner, the scope and depth of his interests were without precedent in recorded history, and "his mind and personality seem to us superhuman, while the man himself mysterious and remote".
American Foudning Founder and inventor Benjamin Franklin lay dying at the age of 84, his daughter told him to change position in bed so he could breathe more easily. Franklin's last words were, "A dying man can do nothing easy." Franklin struggled with obesity throughout his middle-aged and later years, which resulted in multiple health problems, particularly gout, which worsened as he aged. In poor health during the signing of the US Constitution in 1787, he was rarely seen in public from then until his death.
Benjamin Franklin died from pleuritic attack at his home in Philadelphia on April 17, 1790, at age 84. Approximately 20,000 people attended his funeral. He was interred in Christ Church Burial Ground in Philadelphia. A signer of both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, Franklin is considered one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. His pervasive influence in the early history of the nation has led to his being jocularly called "the only President of the United States who was never President of the United States."
Former Football Player and Coach Vince Lombardi died of cancer in 1970. As he died, Lombardi turned to his wife Marie and said, "Happy anniversary. I love you." As early as 1967, Lombardi had suffered from digestive tract problems, and he had refused his doctor's request for him to undergo a proctoscopic exam. On June 24, 1970, Lombardi was admitted to Georgetown University Hospital, and tests "revealed anaplastic carcinoma in the rectal area of his colon, a fast-growing malignant cancer in which the cells barely resemble their normal appearance." On July 27, Lombardi was readmitted to Georgetown and exploratory surgery found that the cancer was terminal.
Lombardi, with Marie at his side, received family, friends, clergy, players, and former players at his hospital bedside. He received a phone call from President Nixon telling Lombardi that all of America was behind him, to which Lombardi replied that he would never give up his fight against his illness. On his deathbed, Lombardi told Father Tim that he was not afraid to die, but that he regretted he could not have accomplished more in his life.
French Philosopher Nostradamus predicted, "Tomorrow, at sunrise, I shall no longer be here." He was right. The next morning he was reportedly found dead, lying on the floor next to his bed and a bench. He was buried in the local Franciscan chapel in Salon (part of it now incorporated into the restaurant La Brocherie) but re-interred during the French Revolution in the Collégiale Saint-Laurent, where his tomb remains to this day. He is best known for his book Les Propheties, the first edition of which appeared in 1555.
Since the publication of this book, which has rarely been out of print since his death, Nostradamus has attracted a following that, along with much of the popular press, credits him with predicting many major world events. Most academic sources maintain that the associations made between world events and Nostradamus's quatrains are largely the result of misinterpretations or mistranslations (sometimes deliberate) or else are so tenuous as to render them useless as evidence of any genuine predictive power.
American actor John Wayne's final words before his death were said to his wife: "Of course I know who you are. You're my girl. I love you." Although he enrolled in a cancer vaccine study in an attempt to ward off the disease, Wayne died of stomach cancer on June 11, 1979, at the UCLA Medical Center, and was interred in the Pacific View Memorial Park cemetery in Corona del Mar, Newport Beach. According to his son Patrick and his grandson Matthew Muñoz, a priest in the California Diocese of Orange, he converted to Roman Catholicism shortly before his death.
He requested that his tombstone read "Feo, Fuerte y Formal", a Spanish epitaph Wayne described as meaning "ugly, strong, and dignified". The grave, which went unmarked for 20 years, is now marked with a quotation from his controversial 1971 Playboy interview: "Tomorrow is the most important thing in life. Comes into us at midnight very clean. It's perfect when it arrives and it puts itself in our hands. It hopes we've learned something from yesterday."
English film director and producer Alfred Hitchcock finals words before his death were "One never knows the ending. One has to die to know exactly what happens after death, although Catholics have their hopes." Hitchcock died aged 80 in his Bel Air home of renal failure on 29 April 1980. While biographer Spoto wrote that Hitchcock "rejected suggestions that he allow a priest ... to come for a visit, or celebrate a quiet, informal ritual at the house for his comfort," Jesuit priest Father Mark Henninger wrote that he and fellow priest Tom Sullivan celebrated Mass at the filmmaker's home; Father Sullivan heard Hitchcock's confession.
Near the end of his life, Hitchcock had worked on the script for a projected spy thriller, The Short Night, collaborating with James Costigan, Ernest Lehman and David Freeman. Despite some preliminary work, the screenplay was never filmed. This was caused primarily by Hitchcock's seriously declining health and his concerns for his wife, Alma, who had suffered a stroke. The screenplay was eventually published in Freeman's 1999 book The Last Days of Alfred Hitchcock.
American Actress Lucille Ball's final words were "My Florida water," when asked if she needed anything. On April 18, 1989, Ball was at her home in Beverly Hills when she complained of chest pains. An ambulance was called and she was rushed to the emergency room of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. She was diagnosed with dissecting aortic aneurysm and underwent heart surgery for nearly eight hours, receiving an aorta from a 27-year-old man who had died in a motorcycle accident. The surgery appeared to have been successful, and Ball began recovering very quickly, even walking around her room with little assistance.
She received a flurry of get-well wishes from Hollywood, and across the street from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, the Hard Rock Café erected a sign reading "Hard Rock Loves Lucy". However, shortly after dawn on April 26, Ball awoke with severe back pains and soon lost consciousness. All attempts to revive her proved unsuccessful, and she died at 05:47 PDT. Doctors determined that the 77-year-old comedian had succumbed to a second aortic rupture, this time in the abdominal area, and that it was unrelated to her surgery the previous week.
American movie actor Humphrey Bogart's final words were "I should never have switched from Scotch to Martinis." Bogart, a heavy smoker and drinker, had developed cancer of the esophagus. He almost never spoke of his failing health and refused to see a doctor until January 1956. A diagnosis was made several weeks later, but by then removal of his esophagus, two lymph nodes, and a rib on March 1, 1956, was too late to halt the disease, even with chemotherapy.
During a film career of almost 30 years, Bogart appeared in more than 75 feature films. In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked Bogart as the greatest male star of Classic American cinema. Over his career, he received three Academy Award nominations for Best Actor, winning one (for The African Queen).
American comedian and actor Jackie Gleason's last words were "I always knew what I was doing." Gleason smoked four packs of cigarettes a day. While touring in the lead role of Larry Gelbart's play Sly Fox in 1978 he suffered chest pains, forcing him to leave the show in Chicago and undergo triple-bypass surgery. Gleason initially went to the hospital for chest pains but was treated and released. After he suffered another bout the following week, it was determined that heart surgery was necessary.
During production of his last movie he was suffering from terminal colon cancer, which had metastasized to his liver. "I won't be around much longer", he told his daughter at dinner one evening after a day of filming. Gleason kept his medical problems private, although there were rumors that he was seriously ill. A year later, on June 24, 1987, Gleason died at his Florida home.
American aviator Amelia Earhart final words were "Please know that I am quite aware of the hazards. Women must try to do things as men have tried. When they fail, their failure must be but a challenge to others." Earhart was the first female aviator to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. She received the U.S. Distinguished Flying Cross for this record. She set many other records, wrote best-selling books about her flying experiences and was instrumental in the formation of The Ninety-Nines, an organization for female pilots.
During an attempt to make a circumnavigational flight of the globe in 1937 in a Purdue-funded Lockheed Model 10 Electra, Earhart disappeared over the central Pacific Ocean near Howland Island. Fascination with her life, career and disappearance continues to this day. Many researchers believe the plane ran out of fuel and that Earhart was ditched at sea. Navigator and aeronautical engineer Elgen Long and his wife Marie K. Long devoted 35 years of exhaustive research to the "crash and sink" theory, which is the most widely accepted explanation for the disappearance.
Chester Bennington was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. He served as lead singer for the bands Linkin Park, Dead by Sunrise, and Stone Temple Pilots. Bennington first gained prominence as a vocalist following the release of Linkin Park's debut album, Hybrid Theory, in 2000, which became a commercial success. The album was certified Diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America in 2005, making it the best-selling debut album of the decade, as well as one of the few albums ever to hit that many sales. Linkin Park's following studio albums, from Meteora (2003) to One More Light (2017), continued the band's success. Linkin Park has sold over 100 million records worldwide.
Bennington was found dead at his home in Palos Verdes Estates, California; his housekeeper discovered his body around 9:00 a.m. PDT on July 20, 2017. His death was ruled as suicide by hanging. On July 21, Brian Elias, the chief of operations for the office of the medical examiner-coroner, confirmed that a half-empty bottle of alcohol was found at the scene, but no other drugs were present. His final last words in his last interview before death: "I came to a point in my life where I was like, 'I can either just give up and f*&#!ng die or I can f*&#!ng fight for what I want.' And I chose to fight for what I wanted."
Malcolm X, an African-American Muslim minister and human rights activist, said the following words before being assassinated: "Let's cool it, brothers..." o his admirers he was a courageous advocate for the rights of blacks, a man who indicted white America in the harshest terms for its crimes against black Americans; detractors accused him of preaching racism and violence. He has been called one of the greatest and most influential African Americans in history.
Malcolm X was effectively orphaned early in life. His father was killed when he was six and his mother was placed in a mental hospital when he was thirteen, after which he lived in a series of foster homes. In 1946, at age 20, he went to prison for larceny and breaking and entering. While in prison, Malcolm X became a member of the Nation of Islam, and after his parole in 1952, quickly rose to become one of the organization's most influential leaders. In February 1965, he was assassinated by three members of the Nation of Islam.
Stephen Hawking was an English theoretical physicist, cosmologist, author, and Director of Research at the Centre for Theoretical Cosmology within the University of Cambridge. His scientific works included a collaboration with Roger Penrose on gravitational singularity theorems in the framework of general relativity and the theoretical prediction that black holes emit radiation, often called Hawking radiation. Hawking was the first to set out a theory of cosmology explained by a union of the general theory of relativity and quantum mechanics. He was a vigorous supporter of the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics.
Hawking had a rare early-onset slow-progressing form of motor neurone disease (also known as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, "ALS", or Lou Gehrig's disease) that gradually paralysed him over the decades. Even after the loss of his speech, he was still able to communicate through a speech-generating device, initially through use of a hand-held switch, and eventually by using a single cheek muscle. He died on 14 March 2018 at the age of 76. His family stated that he died peacefully. His last words in an interview were "I have lived with the prospect of an early death for the last 49 years. I'm not afraid of death, but I'm in no hurry to die. I have so much I want to do first. I regard the brain as a computer which will stop working when its components fail. There is no heaven or afterlife for broken down computers; that is a fairy story for people afraid of the dark."
British Prime Minister Winston Churchill's final words were "I'm bored with it all." Despite poor health, Churchill still tried to remain active in public life, and on St George's Day 1964, sent a message of congratulations to the surviving veterans of the 1918 Zeebrugge Raid who were attending a service of commemoration in Deal, Kent, where two casualties of the raid were buried in the Hamilton Road Cemetery. On 15 January 1965, Churchill suffered a severe stroke that left him gravely ill. He died at his London home nine days later, at age 90, on the morning of Sunday 24 January 1965, 70 years to the day after his father's death.
Queen Elizabeth II granted him the honour of a state funeral, which saw one of the largest assemblies of world statesmen in history. Named the Greatest Briton of all time in a 2002 poll, Churchill is widely regarded as being among the most influential people in British history, consistently ranking well in opinion polls of Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom.
On the night of January 5, 1919, Former United States president Theodore Roosevelt suffered breathing problems. He felt better after treatment from his physician, Dr. George W. Faller, and went to bed. Roosevelt's last words were "Please put out that light, James" to his family servant James Amos. Between 4:00 and 4:15 the next morning, Roosevelt died in his sleep at Sagamore Hill; a blood clot had detached from a vein and traveled to his lungs.
Vice President Thomas R. Marshall, Charles Evans Hughes, Warren Harding, Henry Cabot Lodge, and William Howard Taft were among the mourners. The snow-covered procession route to Youngs Memorial Cemetery was lined with spectators and a squad of mounted policemen who had ridden from New York City. Roosevelt was buried on a hillside overlooking Oyster Bay.
The 1st president of the United States final last words were: "I am just going. Have me decently buried, and do not let my body be put into the vault in less than two days after I am dead." These final words were said during a conversation with Washington's personal secretary Tobias Lear. Lear nodded assent and Washington asked: "Do you understand me?" "Yes, Sir," he replied, followed by Washington's final response: "'Tis well."
The diagnosis of Washington's final illness and the immediate cause of his death have been subjects of debate since the day he died. In the days immediately following his death, Doctors Craik and Dick's published account stated that they felt his symptoms had been consistent with "cynanche trachealis", a term of that period used to describe severe inflammation of the structures of the upper airway. Various modern medical authors have speculated that Washington probably died from a severe case of epiglottitis which was complicated by the given treatments (all of which were accepted medical practice in Washington's day)-most notably the massive deliberate blood loss, which almost certainly caused hypovolemic shock.
Former US President Thomas Jefferson's last words were "Is it the Fourth?". Jefferson died on July 4, 1826, 50 years to the day after the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Jefferson's approximately $100,000 of debt weighed heavily on his mind in his final months, as it became increasingly clear he would have little to leave to his heirs. In February 1826, he successfully applied to the General Assembly to hold a public lottery as a fundraiser. His health began to deteriorate in July 1825, due to a combination of rheumatism from arm and wrist injuries, as well as intestinal and urinary disorders, and by June 1826 he was confined to bed.
On July 3 Jefferson was overcome by fever and declined an invitation to Washington to attend an anniversary celebration of the Declaration. During the last hours of his life, he was accompanied by family members and friends. On July 4 at 12:50 p.m., Jefferson died at age 83 on the fiftieth anniversary of the Declaration of Independence and just a few hours before the death of John Adams. The sitting president, Adams' son John Quincy, called the coincidence of their deaths on the nation's anniversary "visible and palpable remarks of Divine Favor".
