Famous People Who Died in Their Early 20s

Selena Quintanilla

Selena Quintanilla was just 23 years old when she was tragically shot and killed on March 31, 1995, by the president of her fan club. Her legacy as a trailblazer in music and fashion continues to resonate worldwide.

Buddy Holly

Charles Hardin Holley (September 7, 1936 – February 3, 1959), known professionally as Buddy Holly, was an American singer-songwriter who was a central and pioneering figure of mid-1950s rock and roll.

He was born in Lubbock, Texas, to a musical family during the Great Depression, and learned to play guitar and sing alongside his siblings. His style was influenced by gospel music, country music, and rhythm and blues acts, which he performed in Lubbock with his friends from high school.

He died in a plane crash on Tuesday, February 3, 1959 in Clear Lake, Iowa, at the age of 22.

Otis Redding

Otis Redding was just 26 years old when he tragically died in a plane crash on December 10, 1967, near Madison, Wisconsin. The soul legend had just recorded his iconic hit The Dock of the Bay, which was released posthumously.

Rebecca Schaeffer

Rebecca Lucile Schaeffer (November 6, 1967 – July 18, 1989) was an American actress and model. She began her career as a teen model before moving on to acting. In 1986, she landed the role of Patricia “Patti” Russell in the CBS comedy My Sister Sam.

The series was canceled in 1988, and she appeared in several films, including the black comedy Scenes from the Class Struggle in Beverly Hills. At the age of 21, she was shot and killed by Robert John Bardo, a 19-year-old obsessed fan who had been stalking her. Schaeffer’s death helped lead to the passage in California of legislation aimed at preventing stalking.

Brandon Lee

Brandon Lee was just 28 years old when he tragically died on March 31, 1993, while filming The Crow. The actor, son of Bruce Lee, was accidentally shot on set with a prop gun that had been improperly prepared.

Robert ‘Wheezer’ Hutchins

Robert E. Hutchins (March 29, 1925 – May 17, 1945) was an American child actor who was a regular in the Our Gang short subjects series from 1927 to 1933. A native of Tacoma, Washington, he was given the nickname of Wheezer after running around the studios on his first day so much that he began to wheeze.

Freddy Prinze

Freddie Prinze was born on Tuesday, 22 June 1954 in New York City. His full name at birth was Frederick Karl Pruetzel. He was best known as an actor starring in the TV comedy, Chico and the Man.

His last public performance was less than a week before his death, at the Jimmy Carter Inaugural Gala in Washington D.C.

He died on Saturday, 29 January 1977 in Los Angeles, California, at the age of 22. He is buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills), in Los Angeles. Freddie attended high school at La Guardia High School of The Performing Arts.

Gabby Petito

Gabby Petito (born 18 March, 1999, Long Island, New York — August 27, 2021, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming) was a young, adventurous traveler who was known for her love of exploring new places, which she documented on social media.

She would lose her life at age 22 after a brutal assault by her fiancé Brian Laundrie in a murder-suicide on August 27th, 2021.

River Phoenix

River Phoenix was born on Sunday, 23 August 1970 in Metolius, Oregon. His full name at birth was River Jude Bottom. He was best known as an actor.

He died on Sunday, 31 October 1993 in The Viper Room Nightclub in West Hollywood, Los Angeles, California at the age of 23. He is buried at Cremated in Micanopy, Florida,

Aaliyah Haughton

Aaliyah Haughton was just 22 years old when she tragically died in a plane crash on August 25, 2001, in the Bahamas. The R&B star, known for hits like Try Again and Rock the Boat, had just finished filming a music video.

Diane Linkletter

Diane Linkletter (October 31, 1948 – October 4, 1969) was the daughter and youngest child of popular American media personality Art Linkletter, and his wife Lois Foerster. In 1969, she died by suicide jumping out of a building.

Sid Vicious

John Simon Ritchie (10 May 1957 – 2 February 1979), known professionally as Sid Vicious, was an English bassist and vocalist. He achieved prominence as a member of the Sex Pistols, a British punk rock band.

Eddie Cochran

Ray Edward Cochran (October 3, 1938 – April 17, 1960) was an American rock and roll musician. Cochran’s songs, such as “Twenty Flight Rock”, “Summertime Blues”, “C’mon Everybody”, and “Somethin’ Else”, captured teenage frustration and desire in the mid-1950s and early 1960s.

He experimented with multitrack recording, distortion techniques, and overdubbing even on his earliest singles. He played the guitar, piano, bass, and drums. His image as a sharply dressed and attractive young man with a rebellious attitude epitomized the stance of the 1950s rocker, and in death he achieved iconic status.

Judy Tyler

Judy Tyler had just completed her first starring dramatic role, playing opposite Elvis Presley in “Jailhouse Rock,” when she and her husband of less than four months, Gregory Lafayette, were killed in a car accident near the tourist resort of Billy the Kid, Wyo.

The couple swung into the lane of oncoming traffic to avoid hitting a car which was pulling onto U.S. Highway 30 from a tourist curio shop.

Born Oct. 9, 1932, in New York city, Tyler attended schools in Teaneck, N.J., and studied in the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. The brown eyed, raven haired actress won the title of “Miss Stardust,” a nationwide beauty contest, in 1948.

Bonnie Parker

One half of the infamous “Bonnie and Clyde” Bonnie Elizabeth Parker (born on October 1, 1910 in Rowena, Texas), she married Roy Thornton at aged 16, but when he was sent to prison for life, she took up with Clyde Barrow, whom she met in a cafe in Dallas.

She helped Clyde Barrow escape from Huntsville Prison when she smuggled a gun in to him, and from there, began their infamous crime spree, which resulted in them both being shot dead on May 23, 1934.

She was portrayed by Faye Dunaway in an Oscar-nominated performance in Bonnie and Clyde (1967).

Bobby Fuller

Robert Gaston Fuller was born on Tuesday, 27 October 1942 in Baytown, Texas.

He was a singer, songwriter, and guitarist best known for “Let Her Dance” and “I Fought the Law“, recorded with his group The Bobby Fuller Four.

He died on Monday, 18 July 1966 in Los Angeles, California at the age of 23. He is buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills), Los Angeles.

Matthew Garber

Matthew Adam Garber (25 March 1956 – 13 June 1977) was a British child actor who played Michael Banks in the 1964 film Mary Poppins. He appeared in only two other films, The Three Lives of Thomasina and The Gnome-Mobile, all three times appearing alongside actress Karen Dotrice. All three appearances were in movies by Walt Disney Pictures.

He unknowingly contracted hepatitis while in India in 1976, but by the time his dad managed to get him home in 1977, it had already spread to his pancreas.

He died from hemorrhagic necrotising pancreatitis at the Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead, London aged 21.

Bobby Buntrock

Robert Willard “Bobby” Buntrock (August 4, 1952 – April 7, 1974) was a child actor best known for playing the character of Harold “Sport” Baxter on the 1960s sitcom Hazel. He died on Sunday, 7 April 1974 in Keystone, South Dakota at the age of 21. He is buried at Keystone Cemetery.

Norman ‘Chubby’ Chaney

Norman Myers Chaney (October 18, 1914 – May 29, 1936) was a child actor, notable for appearing in 19 Our Gang comedies as “Chubby” from 1929 to 1931. He died on Friday, 29 May 1936 in Baltimore, Maryland at the age of 21. He is buried at Baltimore Cemetery.

Dominique Dunne

Dominique Ellen Dunne (November 23, 1959 – November 4, 1982) was an American actress. She appeared in several television films and series from 1979 to 1982, but was best known for portraying Dana Freeling, the oldest daughter, in the 1982 horror film Poltergeist. She is buried at Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery Westwood, Los Angeles.

Robert Wadlow

Robert Pershing Wadlow (February 22, 1918 – July 15, 1940), also known as the Alton Giant and the Giant of Illinois, was an American man who was the tallest person in recorded history for whom there is irrefutable evidence.

He was 8′ 11″ tall and weighed 439 lbs. with a large build.

He was born and raised in Alton, Illinois, a small city near St. Louis, Missouri.

He died on Monday, 15 July 1940 in Manistee, Michigan, at 22. He is buried at Oakwood Cemetery in Alton, Illinois.

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