The Last Days of Dead Celebrities

by Mitchell Fink

A Hollywood insider and gossip columnist shares intimate and enlightening details about the final hours of fifteen late celebrities, including John Lennon, John Belushi, Orson Welles, Lucille Ball, Arthur Ashe, John Denver, Tupac Shakur, Milton Berle, John Ritter, and journalist David Bloom. 35,000 first printing.

Genres: Nonfiction, Biography, History

288 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2006

Reviews

[Glen]

A collection of mini biographies about the last days of various celebrities. It starts off with John Lennon, and John Belushi, but soon switches over to stars that mostly die of old age. It's a major change in tone, but doesn't completely derail the book.

Interesting, but not mandatory reading.

[Pete daPixie]

Why in Zimmerman's name did I pick this book off the library shelf? Don't ask me! 'The Last Days of Dead Celebrities' (2006) is so far out from my usual taste in reading matter. "Truly the last word in celebrity biography" is the opinion of Booklist displayed on the front cover. The tinsel world of celebrity is some place I never visit. I've never watched 'I'm a celebrity get me out of here' on t.v.,or any of the spin-offs in that genre. In fact, I rarely watch any t.v. I never go to the movies. I rarely even read fiction. So why did this book find it's way home with me? It's a mystery. Perhaps I saw John Lennon's name on that front cover. The other fourteen names are American, and half of those I had no idea who they were, the other half I couldn't care less.
The strange thing is I quite liked the book. Brief biogs of rich folk, sailing serenely through life, cushioned from our daily realities by fame and fortune, only to be visited by the inequitable reaper, who calls without invite. Sure, we all know that no-one ever gets out alive, but do the rich and famous walk down to the 'crossroads' and deal for collateral security?
Fifteen sharp and painful journeys into the valley, from bullet to sudden diagnosis, old age and plane crash. Here today, gone tomorrow. Could there be some subconscious impetus behind my book selection? Sixty next birthday, when the full moon lies in Cancer!

[DeAnna Rigney]

Sounds all "People-esque", but the writing is very non-tabloidy, & the celebrities are fairly random, ranging from the violent death of Lennon to the peaceful passing of Orson Welles, who died in bed with his typewriter still balanced on his stomach. The stories tended to be more about the lives of the deceased than about sensationalizing their deathes. Interesting read.

[MKF]

I only know a few of these celebrities so I only read a few of those one and ignored the rest of them. I don't know why the author included only two women and one of them(Hemingway) isn't even a well known celebrity. It's an odd selection and there are so many excluded celebrities that I would have enjoyed more.
If you read about celebrities then you have already heard all the details for the more popular ones.

[Metagion]

This book wasn't *too* bad; it dealt with celebrities that we know in the 20th Century (like John Ritter, for example) so that was cool, with the photos also; but I think this book would've been better if it were more to the point, and not sort-of 'rambling' in the other bios mentioned here. While it's great that there are books out there that strive to "humanize" stars as much as they can, there's also a danger of becoming 'tabloidesque' in the recounting, so it's a fine line. All-in-all not a terrible way to spend a few hours. Enjoy!

[Elaine Williams]

Well written. I gave it 4 stars because of my lack of interest in some of the people profiled.

[Janette]

I thought this would be a lot more interesting than it was. It was a bit of a slog and pretty boring, with the author sometimes going off on tangents that seemed utterly pointless. There were also a couple of inclusions that I don't necessarily consider to be celebrities, seeing as I'd never heard of either one of them in my entire life. But my biggest issue with this book is the fact that much of the information it contains is almost entirely based on nothing more than hearsay from folks who were either looking for their 15 minutes, or who had something personal to gain by giving their two cents. There's really no way to know for sure if those statements were actually true, or if they were just a lot of nonsense. Given that the author used to work for People magazine, I was very skeptical.

[S.J. Tyson]

I can't help it, I find just about anything biographical having to do with celebrities interesting. This seemed a little morbid, but actually tells you a little more than just their "last day". It actually covers a bit of their background as well, and information about them as well as how they interacted with others prior to their death. It tells you a lot more about them as individuals than the title might imply.

[Jackie Mulkey]

The 52 Book Club's 2025 Challenge - ABC Challenge - Letter F

Interesting but not totally fabulous. It is a good book to have to talk about or take somewhere so you can read but not have to read the whole book. Each chapter is a different celebrity.

[Emily]

I read this on a whim and expected it to be gossipy but it was actually much sweeter. It touched on intimate moments between people and their loved ones in the days, months, and years leading to their deaths.

[Evan]

It's fun. A little bit academic but really reads like an exciting news broadcast. I enjoyed the insight into some of my favorite personalities; great read for a plane ride.

[Dianne Landry]

Nothing new. Yawn inducing.

[Kurt Weber]

Very good, very informative and detailed

[Marianne]

A few stories were interesting but mostly just so-so stuff and nothing really new or more detailed.

[Sharon Weaver]

A interesting bio

[Jessica]

Not interesting or as shocking as promised.

[Eric Smith]

While some may consider this somewhat macabre to read, this is actually a well written look at some of our most beloved celebrities and how they spent their final days. While most of them are most certainly tragic, others are tearjerkers, with all of them being heartbreaking. The book covers not only movie and TV stars such as Orson Welles, John Belushi, John Ritter and Lucille Ball but other celebrities such as late sports stars Ted Williams and Lyle Alzado, late musicians Warren Zevon, John Denver and Tupac, as well as famed NBC correspondent David Bloom and many others. While this is more of a collection of other writings about the celebrities in the book, it does provide a few surprises and shocks (Ted Williams' head is frozen in Arizona?!).

[Julie]

This is a fascinating look at the final days (or in some cases a year or more) of fifteen famous figures who passed away between 1980 and 2003. Fink does an excellent job of forming a picture of the person's life in that time period, so that the death is just a culmination of a life, rather than the sole focus of the story. It was quite interesting, even if I didn't know who all the people were (I do now, though!).

[Mike]

An interesting read. With one of my parents in this category (last days not celebrity) I found this book showing that in general we all go the same way -- sometimes with dignity, sometimes without. It was interesting to see how some people choose to go. But clearly, more than anything else it brings the celebrities to you as real people.

[Sandy Long]

This was a fascinating book on such celeberties as John Denver, Lyle Alzado, John Belushi, and Margaux Hemingway. It was interesting to hear of some of the people's quirks, such as Lucille Ball loved to p[lay backgammon. It seemed most of the celeberties families looking back saw signs that there loved ones were going to die. Very interesting book.

[Jill Kemerer]

Interesting concept. The author interviewed friends and family members of deceased celebrities to share about the last days of their lives. From this came touching stories that highlighted how their families and friends didn't think of them as celebrities at all--they were simply their loved ones who are dearly missed.

[Robin]

Don't know what I was thinking when I picked up this book. It wasn't bad per say but not something I would normally read. It does tell you about the last days of some celebrities and how they felt and what they did. Nothing really morbid, just pretty much a day in the life of , , ,

[Kim]

A great read for biography buffs. Just enough insight into the lives of famous folks, near the end, to paint a picture of their entire lives. . .

[John]

Morbidly fascinating, yet respectful with some nice details. Reads like multiple magazine articles.

[Bob]

It's an easy read, but surprisingly good.

[Mary Ellen]

Deep and perceptive accounts of John Lennon, Lucille Ball, Tupac Shakur, John Ritter, and 11 others. Don't miss the photos - eerie picture of John Lennon with his killer in the background.

[Elliott Jenkins]

Kind of hard to read because of the sadness coming from the friends of the dead telling of their last days, but super interesting to read the inside stories.

[Edward]

many would want to read it.my grandpas 3rd cousin ted williams is in here