James Whale – Film Director (July 22, 1893 – May 29, 1957)
Films like Frankenstein, The Invisible Man, Bride of Frankenstein and The Old Dark House were directed by James Whale among many others. He directed a dozen of films for Universal Studios also. After reaching at the height of his filming career, he had a number of failures and his filming career was over by 1941. In the 1998 film Gods and Monsters, the role of James Whale was played by Sir Ian McKellan. In 1956 he suffered from stroke and committed suicide on the 29th of May 1957, by drinking alcohol, throwing himself into his swimming pool, and striking his head at the bottom. His suicide note says:
‘The future is just old age and illness and pain… I must have peace and this is the only way.
Nicolas-Sebastien Chamfort – French Writer (6 April 1741 – 13 April 1794)
This famous french writer was best known for his witty epigrams. He feared imprisonment due to his radical ideas and attempted suicide after locking himself in his own office in 1973. He made many attempts on that day and again on 13th April 1794 when he finally dies. He made savage attempts to kill himself and wrote in his own blood the following words:
I, Sebastien-Roch Nicolas de Chamfort, hereby declare my wish to die a free man rather than to continue to live as a slave in a prison.
His last words were:
And so I leave this world, where the heart must either break or turn to lead.
Wendy O. Williams – Punk Rock Singer (May 28, 1949 – April 6, 1998)
She was the famous lead singer of the American punk rock band the Plasmatics. She is also known for her solo performances. Her choice of music and stage and theatrical performances reputed her as the most controversial and radical female singer of her day. Williams was nominated in 1985 for a Grammy in the Best Female Rock Vocal Performance category during the height of her career.
She made multiple suicide attempts. In her first attempt in 1993 she stabbed herself in the chest with a knife. The knife lodged in her sternum and she called for help. Her second attempt was in 1997 with an overdose of ephedrine. Williams died at age 48 on April 6, 1998, when she shot herself in a deserted wooded area near her home. She left a note saying:
I don’t believe that people should take their own lives without deep and thoughtful reflection over a considerable period of time.
George Eastman – Inventor (July 12, 1854 – March 14, 1932)
George Eastman invented the 35mm film and founded the Eastman Kodak Company. He brought photography to the mainstream. His invention of the roll film led to the invention of motion picture film in 1888 by the world’s first filmmaker Louis Le Prince. He had a degenerative disorder, which affected his spine and his walking. Extreme pain made him increasingly depressed. On March 14th, 1932, Eastman committed suicide. He left a short note that simply read:
To my friends: My work is done. Why wait?
Christine Chubbuck – Newscaster (August 24, 1944 – July 15, 1974)
She was an American television newscaster who committed suicide by shooting herself during a live transmission. She was suffering from severe depression and had made earlier suicidal attempts also. In 1970 she attempted to overdose on medication. She had also been seeing a psychiatrist before her death. Later investigations showed that she had decided to commit suicide weeks before the successful attempt.
Three weeks before her suicide she had asked for the station director’s permission to do a piece of news on suicide. To gather information on this news she visited the local sheriff’s department to discuss most successful methods of suicide. No one knew that she had been doing the survey for a news on her very own self. A week before her suicide she told Rob Smith, the night news editor, that she had bought a gun and joked about killing herself on air. Everyone took this as a joke.
On July 12, 1974, she had an argument with news director on one of her stories and was asked to concentrate on “blood and guts.” She made a reference to this in her suicide note also. On the morning of July 15, 1974, Chubbuck shot herself in her live morning talk show Suncoast Digest. Her last words were:
And now, in keeping with Channel 40′s policy of always bringing you the latest in blood and guts, in living color, you’re about to see another first – an attempted suicide.
Clara Blandick – American Actress (June 4, 1880 – April 15, 1962)
She was a famous film actress who committed suicide at the age of 82. She was not having a good health and failed to endure the pain. In her last days she remained depressed and dependent. Clara in her life made many brilliant appearances on the screen. Her role in the movie Wizard of Oz gave her the identity of Auntie Em. In 1950′s she fell sick. She had arthritis and her vision almost ended. On April 15th, 1962 she committed suicide by overdosing herself with sleeping pills. She left the following note which expressed her agony and inability to endure the pain:
I am now about to make the great adventure. I cannot endure this agonizing pain any longer. It is all over my body. Neither can I face the impending blindness. I pray the Lord my soul to take. Amen.
George Sanders – Actor (1906 – April 25, 1972)
George Henry Sanders is known for many famous appearances on the cinema and television screen like his roles of Addison DeWitt in the 1950 film All About Eve as well as the voice of Shere Khan in Disney’s famous The Jungle Book. His film debut was in 1936, in the movie Find The Lady. He won the 1950 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor as theatre critic Addison De Witt in All About Eve. In 1957 he hosted a TV series entitled as The George Sanders Mystery Theater. He died by committing suicide and left the following note:
Dear World, I am leaving you because I am bored. I feel I have lived long enough. I am leaving you with your worries in this sweet cesspool – good luck.
Sara Teasdale – American Poetess (August 8, 1884 – January 29, 1933)
Sara Teasdale was a very famous American Poetess, the writer of “Helen of Troy” and “Rivers to the Sea” among many other. She married a famous businessman Filsinger instead of Vachel Lindsay, a poet who loved her. Few years later she divorced her husband because his busy schedule left her lonely. At the age of 48, she committed suicide by overdosing on sleeping pills. A legend claims that her poem “I Shall Not Care” (which expresses feelings of abandonment and contemplation of death) was penned as her suicide note to a former lover. The poem was first published in her 1915, 18 years before her suicide in her collection Rivers to the Sea. Her lover Vachel Lindsay had committed suicide 2 years earlier than her. Her suicide note says:
When I am dead, and over me bright April Shakes out her rain drenched hair, Tho you should lean above me broken hearted, I shall not care. For I shall have peace. As leafey trees are peaceful When rain bends down the bough. And I shall be more silent and cold hearted Than you are now.
Kurt Cobain - Musician (February 20, 1967 – April 5, 1994)
Kurt Donald Cobain, an American singer, songwriter, musician and artist founded the famous rock band “Nirvana” with Krist Novoselic in 1985. He took the band to the heights that no one can imagine. The Beatles and their famous song, “Hey Jude” were an inspiration for him towards music.
He loved classic and punk rock from his childhood. On his 14th birthday he was gifted a guitar by his uncle. With this the music within him got expression. He was in Munich, Germany on a tour on 01 March, 1994 when Cobain was diagnosed with Bronchitis and Laryngitis. The next day he took a flight to seek medical treatment in Rome. His wife joined him there on the 3rd of March, 1994. The next morning he was found unconscious due to an overdose on a combination of champagne and Rohypnol. Five days later he was discharged from the hospital. According to his wife it was his first suicide attempt.
On 8 April, 1994, an electrician discovered Cobain’s body at his Lake Washington home. He was found with a shotgun pointing at his chin and his body had a very high concentration of heroin and traces of Valium. Reports state that he must have died around 5 April, 1994. He had left a letter for his imaginary childhood friend, Buddah. He left behind thousands of mourners.
There is a debate regarding his death to be a suicide. Many people think that he was murdered by his own wife and the letter was written by her. He died with the following words.
Thank you all from the pit of my burning, nauseous stomach for your letters and concern during the past years. I’m too much of an erratic, moody baby! I don’t have the passion anymore, and so remember, it’s better to burn out than to fade away.
Peace, love, empathy,
Kurt Cobain
Frances and Courtney, I’ll be at your altar.
Please keep going Courtney, for Frances.
For her life, which will be so much happier without me.
I love you, I love you!
Adolf Hitler – Leader of Nazi Party (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945)
Adolf Hitler was a famous Austrian born German Leader and Politician. He founded the National Socialist German Workers Party also known as the Nazi Party. By the end of 1944 Hitler realized that Germany, his land has lost the war. He didn’t allow retreats. Hitler couldn’t bear the defeat. He died on 30 April 1945 in Berlin, where he and his wife committed suicide by gunshot and cyanide poisoning. His last will written one day prior to his death was his suicide note also. It says:
I myself and my wife – in order to escape the disgrace of deposition or capitulation – choose death. It is our wish to be burnt immediately on the spot where I have carried out the greatest part of my daily work in the course of a twelve years’ service to my people.
