Recently, it came to my attention that Leonard Nimoy, now 83 years old, is having health issues due to having smoked earlier in life, leaving me shocked at how much the potential loss of the man behind Spock affected me. The last decade or so has been rough for my pop culture heroes, with George Carlin, Douglas Adams and Dave Cockrum all leaving us far too soon for my tastes. Not so long ago, the passing of Davy Jones upset me greatly, and the knowledge that the rest of the Monkees are in all their 70s occasionally catches me by surprise with a gut shot of inexplicable worry. Part of me knows that it’s pretty selfish to worry about *my* feelings about a celebrity when their family and friends are dealing with personal loss, but nonetheless the thought of a world without Michael Nesmith or Mark Waid or even (perish forbid) Bill Murray just plain sucks, which begs today’s somewhat morbid query…
The MS-QOTD (pronounced, as always, “misquoted”) is at least glad to have met Steve Gerber before his untimely passing, and had a nice conversation about Howard, Omega and Sludge, asking: What actor/creator demise do you expect will leave you the most devastated?
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I think Kevin Smith passing will be fairly devastating. Watching Chasing Amy in a film class early in college changed a whole lot of things for me. Following him on podcasts, especially his Red State of the Union show, has inspired me in multiple areas of content creation.
Hopefully will be decades upon decades before he leaves us.
As of right now, I think the passing of Stan Lee, Leonard Nimoy, the remaining Monkees, Weird Al and the cast of the original Star Wars will be the ones I’ll have the most trouble dealing with.
I know I’m probably a tad too emotionally invested in these people I have mostly never met (though I have met a few!), but each of them is responsible in some part for something that helped me make it through a childhood spent in hospitals. I feel like that even thought their works will live on, to lose them means a part of what they did will die with them.
For me, I look at it this way: Like you say, we have not met most of these people, only interacting with them indirectly through their media. Philip Seymour Hoffman is dead, but we will always have Boogie Nights. If you love and cherish the work they did, they live forever. Their death will never take any of that away, it will just change how you process it. But still, damn, I ache for the fact we won’t get any more PSH action. Sigh…
I will be very sad to see Sir Patrick Stewart pass. Picard was a big role model for me as a kid. That he has such an awesome sense of humour is a huge bonus. Also, he is a big advocate for women’s rights in ending abuse. Just an amazing person. My wife has a framed picture of him on her desk. Also, the Picard song:
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=X6oUz1v17Uo
Oh, that’s easy…Stan “The Man” Lee. Not only has the man created nearly all of the classic characters in the Marvel Universe, but in his 91 years on this planet has remained an energetic and charismatic person. I always feel good when I spot him in a cameo, or see him in an interview.
I’ve got a VIP pass to Wizard World Chicago in August to fulfill a lifelong dream, and get an autograph and a picture taken with Stan…I can’t wait!
Peter Cullen and Frank Welker. I can’t imagine Optimus with a different voice. When Welker passes they’ll have to hire thousands more voice actors to replace all the roles he does.
Maurice LaMarche, the man has brought me so many happy memories, and is truly one of my heroes. Also because that definitively means no more Brain, Kif, Orson Welles reincarnated, etc.
Sir Patrick Stewart, I know for a fact that I’ll be devestated when he leaves us. He’s done so many wonderfull things that we’ll all be able to enjoy for years to come.
Ron Pearlman and John Hurt are also going to be sorely missed, similarly Sir Ian McKellan.
It’s weird to even consider a world without Jet Li and Jackie Chan… Geeze this got depressing really quickly.
Anyway I hope that all of these people somehow manage to find the secret to immortality.. Because I really don’t know if I can handle it otherwise.
William Shatner. He has become a parody of himself in many ways, but Captain Kirk was my first heroic idol and lead me down the path to my love of all things Geek.
The day Stan the Man dies will be a sad day in my household. He’s not what he used to be (and may have only actually been about half of what he says he was) but the man WAS Marvel comics when I was growing up. I’m glad Clark Gregg is around to fill that role for people growing up now. I think it’s important for Marvel to have that ONE voice that ONE character who runs through just about every form of media.
Also if either of the guys from TMBG go I’ll lose it.