Ritchie Valens

In 1958, Ritchie Valens and his producer played the single “Come On, Let’s Go,” for his friends before it was released. After its release, the song took off, and Munson remembered “after that, Ritchie was gone all the time.”

Not even a year later, the 17-year-old Valens was touring with Buddy Holly and the Big Bopper. On the way to a gig, their plane crashed, killing all of them. It became known as “The Day the Music Died.” Ritchie Valens’ body was brought home to California for the funeral, which more than 1,000 people attended.

Anissa Jones

Buffy on TV was the one played by Anissa Jones on “Family Affair.” Despite being just 8 years old at the time, a 1966 review in the Independent Star-News (via Closer) praised her performance, saying “She has an uncanny ability to convey, on screen, a child’s feelings of rejection, sadness, fun, pride, stubbornness, and wish to be loved, sometimes all in one episode.”

After “Family Affair” ended in 1971, Jones lost out on roles in “The Exorcist” and “Taxi Driver.” Her life fell apart, filled with “petty shoplifting, taking jobs and then quitting them, bad sleeping patterns, bad eating patterns, incredible mood swings.”

Tragically, five years later she died of an overdose, with “cocaine, PCP, Quaalude, and Seconal” in her system. By then she seems to have really regretted her famous role, with a family friend writing, “It would have driven her crazy that people remember her as the star of ‘Family Affair,’ because she never saw herself that way.

Billy ‘Froggy’ Laughlin

The character of Froggy, played by Billy Laughlin, was “among the most popular” of all the Little Rascals. With a slightly put-on gravely voice and his thick glasses, Billy was a perfect addition to the gang when he made his debut in 1940.

After MGM stopped making the “Our Gang” shorts in 1944, Billy only appeared in a single cameo role in a film before telling his parents he wanted a break from Hollywood. After all, he was still just a kid. He went back to living the life of a normal teenager, even getting a job as a paperboy.

This normal life ended in tragedy. On August 31, 1948, Billy and a friend were delivering papers on his new motor scooter when they were hit by a speeding truck while making a U-turn.

Billy Laughlin was thrown 40 feet and (this being many decades before anyone thought to wear helmets while riding bikes or scooters on the road) he died from his injuries, aged 16.

Heather O’Rourke

She found fame playing the angelic Carol Anne Freeling in the 1982 Steven Spielberg horror, Poltergeist, about a family whose home was being terrorized by a supernatural being.

Heather also starred in the two sequels before being misdiagnosed with Crohn’s disease. But when she collapsed on January 31, 1988, doctors realised she’d actually had a long-standing bowel blockage.

Surgery to remove the obstruction gave her septic shock and she died from a subsequent heart attack aged just 12 years old.

Judith Barsi

Judith Barsi (1978-1988) starred in the TV show Punky Brewster and the films Jaws: The Revenge and The Land Before Time (she played the voice of “Ducky”). She was slain in 1988 at the age of 10, along with her mother, at the hands of her father. 

Sawyer Sweeten

Sawyer Sweeten starred as Ray Romano’s son on the hit TV show Everybody Loves Raymond. He took his life during a visit with family in Texas. Sweeten was 19 years old. 

Sweeten and his twin brother, Sullivan, played Geoffrey and Michael Barone, on the hit sitcom, which ran from 1996 to 2005. Their sister, Madylin, also appeared on the show, playing their sibling Ally Barone on the series.

Rob Knox

Rob Knox got his big break in the Harry Potter franchise, with a role in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. In 2008, Knox was slain while defending his brother from a knife-wielding attacker in London. He was 18 years old.  

Tara Correa-McMullen

Tara Correa-McMullen’s most prominent role was in the hit TV drama, Judging Amy. In 2005, Correa-McMullen met a fate similar to that of her TV character when she was fatally injured in a walk-up gang-related shooting. She was hit five times and died at a hospital less than 3 hours later in Inglewood, CA. She was 16 years old.

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