Dead in Hollywood is a true-crime web series of strange and tragic Hollywood deaths.
I'm excited to announce my latest issue, Dead in Hollywood: Behind the Sign (Issue 20)!! Twenty Tinseltown Tinglers to keep the hairs on your arm up at night. This 10,000-word collector's companion took a while to compile but it finally makes me smile. The 40-page fanzine covers everyone from Peg Entwistle to Whitney Houston, Fatty Arbuckle to Alexis Arquette, Sam Cooke to Jon-Erik Hexum, Divine to RFK (to name a few).
Read this story and more in the fanzine DEAD IN HOLLYWOOD: BEHIND THE SIGN (Issue 20). 20 Tinseltown tinglers to keep you up at night! Coming Soon!
20 Tinseltown Tinglers coming soon…
Did John Ritter have to die? On September 11, 2003, Ritter suffers from heart problems while rehearsing for his sitcom “8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter.” He begins sweating profusely, vomiting, and complaining of having chest pains. He is taken to the hospital across the street from the studio - coincidently it is the same hospital where Ritter was born. Physicians misdiagnose Ritter and treat him for a heart attack; however, his condition deteriorates. He is then diagnosed with an aortic dissection - a tear in the aorta that grows. Ritter dies during surgery, six days before his 55th birthday. He would have turned 70 today. Ritter is interred at Forest Lawn, Hollywood Hills Cemetery.
In 2003, John Ritter sat down next to me on a Bug's Life Ride at Disneyland. A few days later, he died. I grew up on reruns of the TV show "Three's Company” and I watched "Bride of Chucky” on a loop when I was in high school - Ritter plays against type as a baddie police chief whose death pays tribute to Pinhead from the horror movie “Hellraiser.” And of course, his episode of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer” is one of my all time favorites - during the filming of the final confrontation between Buffy and Ted, both Sarah Michelle Gellar and Ritter were ill. Gellar had the flu whereas Ritter had food poisoning from the night before. When Ritter sat down next to me on a Bug's Life Ride, he looked really sick. He was breathing heavy and sweating profusely. What I remember most is that I was able to hear him breathing over the sounds of the ride. In less than a week, he would be dead from a tear in the aorta. September 11 of this year would’ve been his 70th birthday.
