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- Mark Kettenhofen
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Celebrities Who Tragically Died In Hotels
The death of a celebrity can often overshadow the career and legacy they left behind. There's often a morbid curiosity surrounding how and where stars die, especially if the story is particularly tragic or salacious. Many celebrities, from classic authors to reality TV stars, have died in hotels, which for some adds an element of scandal to their passing.
Amidst all the gossip surrounding celebrity deaths, it's worth remembering that they were real people who left families, friends, and careers behind. Many of these stars passed decades earlier than anyone could have imagined. Below, we'll look into the deaths of celebrities who took their last breaths in hotels all around the world.
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- Mark Kettenhofen
- Wikimedia Commons
- Public Domain
Music superstar Whitney Houston was about to perform at a pre-Grammy party hosted by her mentor Clive Davis when she died at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on February 11, 2012. According to police, Houston was found submerged in the bathtub of her hotel room.
Houston had struggled with addiction for a number of years leading up to her passing, and toxicology reports confirmed the presence of multiple drugs in her system. Whitney Houston was only 48 at the time.
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Iconic singer-songwriter Janis Joplin passed on October 4, 1970, at the Landmark Hotel in Hollywood, which was later renamed the Highland Gardens. Joplin's road manager had gone to her hotel room after she missed a recording session and found her body in between the bed and the nightstand. Although her nose had been broken and rumors swirled around her cause of death, investigators determined that the singer had overdosed on heroin.
Joplin, who had struggled with addiction her entire life, had just finished recording her best-received album, Pearl. After her passing, her cover of "Me and Bobby McGee" was released and soared to No. 1 on the charts.
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The mythic poet and playwright Oscar Wilde passed in room 16 at the Hotel d’Alsace in Paris, which is now a luxury getaway for wealthy travelers. For decades, there were unfounded rumors that Wilde died from syphilis, but doctors now believe he perished as the result of a severe ear infection.
Wilde is reported to have had ear infections throughout his life, and this final infection was likely the result of poor hygiene and medical care while the writer was in prison. Wilde was 46 at the time of his passing.
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On June 8, 2018, celebrity chef, author, and travel host Anthony Bourdain was found unresponsive in a hotel room by his friend, Eric Ripert. Bourdain was in the midst of filming an upcoming episode of Parts Unknown. CNN confirmed that Bourdain had taken his own life at age 61.
Bourdain had worked as a dishwasher and battled addiction in his 20s before finding success as a writer and chef. Prior to his passing, Bourdain had been dating actress Asia Argento and had been a vocal supporter of the #MeToo movement.
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After a day of journeying through Rome with his family in the sweltering heat, Sopranos star James Gandolfini died on July 19, 2013, after a massive heart attack at the Hotel Boscolo Exedra. The 51-year-old was found by his teenage son, who called for help.
Gandolfini had traveled to Italy with his family to receive an honor at the Taormina Film Festival and had arrived early to explore his Italian heritage.
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Comedian Mitch Hedberg, known for his trenchant one-liners and for looking like the frontman of Rush, died of an accidental cocaine and heroin overdose at a Livingston, NJ, hotel on March 30, 2005.
The 37-year-old, dubbed "the next Seinfeld" by Time magazine, had signed a half-million-dollar sitcom deal with Fox prior to his passing.
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Former Playboy model and reality television star Anna Nicole Smith died at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Florida on February 8, 2007. The 39-year-old had reportedly been abusing prescription drugs following the death of her son and a lengthy custody battle for her daughter.
Sleeping pills and at least eight other prescription medications were found in Smith's system after her demise. Although the fight over her late 89-year-old husband's estate had made it all the way to the Supreme Court, Smith was never able to settle the dispute.
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Actor, comedian, and Saturday Night Live alum John Belushi died of an accidental speedball overdose at Hollywood's famed Chateau Marmont on Sunset Boulevard on March 5, 1982.
Belushi was at the height of his fame thanks to the success of The Blues Brothers and was attached to five different film projects, including Ghostbusters, at the time of his passing. Belushi had turned 33 just six weeks prior to his demise.
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Coco Chanel died in her apartment at the Ritz Carlton in Paris at the age of 87 on January 10, 1971.
Chanel had been working on new designs right up until the day before her passing, leading many to be shocked by her death. However, Chanel's longtime maid stated that on January 9, Chanel went to bed early because she didn't feel well and said to the maid, "You see, this is how you die."
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The famous engineer and inventor Nikola Tesla died alone on the 33rd floor of the Hotel New Yorker on January 7, 1943. He was 86 and reportedly died due to coronary thrombosis.
Tesla was said to be penniless at the time of his passing, and he spent much of his final years with only the company of his pet pigeons.
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David Carradine was 72 when he died at the Swissôtel Park Nai Lert Hotel in Thailand on June 3, 2009. An investigating officer told reporters his body was found in the hotel room's closet.
It was later determined that the Kill Bill actor, who was in the middle of filming Stretch at the time, had died of accidental autoerotic asphyxiation.
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German composer Richard Wagner died in the Palazzo Vendramin in Venice on February 13, 1883, an event that inspired Thomas Mann's novella Death in Venice.
The 69-year-old, who had recently completed work on his final opera, was suffering from acute angina at the time of his passing.
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Glee mainstay Cory Monteith was found lifeless in his hotel room at the Fairmont Pacific Rim Hotel in Vancouver, Canada, on July 13, 2013. Monteith's cause of death was determined to be a fatal combination of heroin and alcohol.
The musical star had been open about his struggles with substance use reaching back to his teen years and had even entered rehab at one point. Glee acknowledged Monteith's passing in an episode titled "The Quarterback."
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Sid Vicious, bass guitarist of the Sex Pistols, stabbed his 20-year-old girlfriend Nancy Spungen to death in Room 100 of the Chelsea Hotel on October 12, 1978.
Months later, Vicious died of an overdose after being released from the Riker's Island prison complex on bail. He had written in a note that he and Spungen had a death pact.
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Planes, Trains and Automobiles star John Candy died of a heart attack at age 43 in room 120 of the Camino del Parque in Durango, Mexico, on March 4, 1994. Candy had been filming a new movie, Wagons East, with comic Richard Lewis during the preceding three months.
Candy's poor diet, cocaine use, and excessive smoking are said to have contributed to his untimely demise.
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Jimi Hendrix was found lifeless in his room at the Samarkand Hotel in London on September 18, 1970. Hendrix was said to have choked on his own vomit after overdosing on sleeping pills, and it was alleged that he left a note in the form of a multi-page poem.
In the years that followed, the public would speculate about whether Hendrix's death was self-inflicted, an accident, or the result of foul play. Hendrix had checked in days earlier with his girlfriend.
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Stand-up comedian John Pinette, who appeared in the finale of Seinfeld, was found dead at the Sheraton Hotel in Pittsburgh on April 5, 2014. The 50-year-old actor had been suffering from liver and heart disease and had checked into rehab for a prescription pill addiction the summer prior.
Foul play was never suspected, and an autopsy was not performed due to Pinette's known health condition.
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Lisa Lynn Masters Took Her Own Life In Her Hotel Room In Peru
Actress Lisa Lynn Masters took her own life on November 15, 2016, at the Nuevo Mundo hotel in Peru. The 52-year-old actress had co-starred in the 2004 version of The Stepford Wives and appeared on a number of television shows, including Gossip Girl, Ugly Betty, and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.
Masters had reportedly been struggling with depression at the time of her passing.
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The night before The Who was scheduled to go on tour, the group's bassist, John Entwistle, died at the Hard Rock Cafe in Las Vegas on June 27, 2002. The Coroner discovered that Entwistle had an undiagnosed heart condition, and his cocaine use likely triggered a fatal heart attack.
He passed in the company of a longtime fan who would always visit him while he was in Las Vegas. He was 57.
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Three-time NBA MVP and Hall of Famer Moses Malone died at Norfolk's Waterside Marriott Hotel in Virginia on September 13, 2015. The 60-year-old had suffered from hypertension and atherosclerotic heart disease.
Originally from Virginia, Malone was in town to attend the Still Hope Foundation charity golf tournament.
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Rob Pilatus was found dead in a Frankfurt hotel room on April 3, 1998. The 33-year-old singer, along with fellow Milli Vanilli member Fab Morvan, had his Grammy revoked in 1990 when reports of the group's on-stage lip-syncing surfaced.
Pilatus's career never recovered, and he dealt with addiction throughout the remainder of his life. Pilatus was preparing to promote a new Milli Vanilli album with Morvan at the time of his demise.
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Self-described as "The Goddess of Gross," Divine was by all accounts America's first drag performer to gain widespread fame. After a fruitful career of starring in John Waters films, Divine succumbed to heart disease on March 7, 1988, at the now-closed Regency Plaza Suites in Los Angeles.
The 42-year-old had most recently appeared in the Waters's movie Hairspray, which went on to become a cult hit and was later adapted into a Broadway musical. Divine had been scheduled to make a guest appearance on the hit sitcom Married... With Children, as well.
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INXS frontman Michael Hutchence was found lifeless in his hotel room at the Ritz-Carlton Double Bay in Sydney, Australia, on the morning of November 22, 1997. Hutchence had reportedly been distressed about the custody battle over his daughter and made a series of incoherent phone calls the morning of the 22nd, with the last one coming in around 9:54 am.
A maid discovered that Hutchence had taken his own life when she entered his room at 11:50 am that same morning. He was 37.
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David Gest passed on April 12, 2016, in East London's Four Seasons Hotel in Canary Wharf. The music producer, who had famously been married to Liza Minnelli, had recently left the cast of Celebrity Big Brother due to an infection.
At one point, other members of the show thought he had perished on set. Gest had a number of health problems and reportedly died of a stroke.
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Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Eugene O'Neill passed at Shelton Hall in Boston on November 7, 1953, at the age of 65. O'Neill had suffered from tuberculosis years earlier and ultimately died from pneumonia.
In his final hours, O'Neill noted that he had been born in a hotel room and was subsequently going to die in one, as well.
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