Death of a Film Star
From Heath Ledger to Marilyn Monroe, Chadwick Boseman to James Dean, these are the stories of the stars who will never fade – adored, unforgettable, unique. The inside tales, the scandals, the truth about who they really were.
Episodes
April 7, 2021 • 7 mins
With a new episode every Tuesday, Death of a Film Star takes you inside the worlds of those superstars who make us believe in the greatest tales ever told – how they transformed themselves, how they made their roles real, the price they paid for giving so much of themselves to us. From the early stars of the silver screen, lifted from obscurity to unprecedented levels of fame, to the 21stcentury icons who remade our culture around ...
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April 12, 2021 • 27 mins
When you see the news, his face stays with you. Heath Ledger as the Joker. Smeared in white grease paint, a slash of red across the mouth, a shock of dark blue around the eyes. When you take on a part so completely, it’s hard to get out. Things merge. Actor and character meet and mix.
But Heath’s not that Joker. He’s another. Because he’s an actor who doesn’t play by Hollywood’s rules. He’s a man who doesn’t follow suit…
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April 19, 2021 • 26 mins
WARNING: this episode contains references to suicide.
It’s not true to say there’s never been anyone like Marilyn Monroe. There’s always been movie stars. There’s been blonde ones. Ones with bodies that half the world wants to stare at and the other half want to ban. But no-one’s done it like her, and no-one’s paying quite such a price.
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April 25, 2021 • 27 mins
There’s stuff you know about Chadwick Boseman – what he’s done as Black Panther, how good he was as James Brown in one biopic, as baseball hero Jackie Robinson in another, as judge Thurgood Marshall in his most recent. He’s different for the roles he plays, and different for what he does with them. But different, too, for all the stuff you don’t know.
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May 3, 2021 • 27 mins
For Brittany Murphy, Hollywood’s a hall of mirrors. There’s a different Brittany wherever she looks. For some she’s a comic sidekick, for others a screen siren. Is she on the rise or washed-up? Under-appreciated or over-promoted? A victim or part of the problem? Sometimes, in Hollywood, when you’re looking for reality, all you find are others’ reflections. And eventually even Brittany herself is lost...
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May 10, 2021 • 27 mins
When Robin Williams dies, you remember a connection. One that first forms in an empty mansion outside Detroit, and then reaches through the screen, big and small, into houses all over the world. President Barack Obama says what Robin meant to him. And to millions of others. “Robin Williams was an airman, a doctor, a genie, a nanny, a president, a professor, a Peter Pan, and everything in between. But he was one of a kind. He arrive...
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May 18, 2021 • 25 mins
When Cory Monteith’s story goes public, people are shocked. To most of us, his death is… unbelievable. But that’s not the truth. The truth will force people in Hollywood to have difficult conversations. About addiction. About addicts. About stereotypes. Demons always catch up with you. It doesn’t matter who you are. What you look like. Or who people think you are.
WARNING: This episode contains references to drug use and addiction...
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May 24, 2021 • 30 mins
There are no happy endings with Sharon Tate. No logic. This story is many things: the death of a young woman; the murder of a film star, a wife and a daughter.
But it’s so much more, too. It’s madness come to La La Land. A cult leader gone crazy. It’s bad drugs and messed-up ideas and exploitation and carnage. It’s darkness descending over a town that’s meant to be all sunshine and dreams come true…
WARNING: This episode contains ...
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May 31, 2021 • 25 mins
Stallone. It’s not even a real name. Really, it’s a brand. Blue-collar grit. Brawn over brain. An American dream. But what if that isn’t you? What if you don’t have a choice about it? Because this is the story of Sage Stallone, not Sylvester. The story of the son, not the famous father…
If you’ve been affected by any of the issues we spoke about in this podcast or are worried about someone you love, please go to crowdnetwork.co.uk...
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June 8, 2021 • 30 mins
You might not know River Phoenix. But the Hollywood you know now wouldn’t exist without him. He’s many things in his life. An activist. Musician. An object of teen adoration. And that’s before he appears on screen. But, despite all that, he’s known for something else. An overdose. The death of a young man. Death of a dream. And, quietly, the start of a change.
WARNING: This episode contains references to drug use and addiction. ...
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June 14, 2021 • 31 mins
Before John Belushi died, he was always talking about Brando. Maybe he related to his characters. The guy who’s fucking up, but doesn’t mean to. Because Belushi’s story is all about the kid who could have been a contender but ended up broken and beaten and alone.
WARNING: This episode references drug use and addiction, some of it graphic. If you’ve been affected by any of the issues we spoke about in this podcast or are worried ab...
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June 22, 2021 • 27 mins
When you think about Corey Haim, you think of all the things he’s been. Shy kid, heart-throb, manipulator, junkie. But a dear friend and a son too. A half-forgotten child star, when everyone should’ve known him. Because, “In Hollywood, we put people on pedestals. And then when we decide that they're not marketable anymore, we walk away from them.”
WARNING: This episode references drug use and addiction. If you’ve been affected by...
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June 28, 2021 • 27 mins
Speed. That’s how James Dean tries to forget. About the older men. About the dreams where his mother appears and stays, just out of reach. With speed, he blurs the edges. Cuts so close to death that he can almost reach out and touch it. Until one day, one sunny evening, when he cuts it too close, and it’s too late…
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July 5, 2021 • 26 mins
Of course you know Judy Garland. The voice, the smile. Her biggest film, The Wizard of Oz. How she sings Somewhere Over the Rainbow. But you don’t know her like she is towards the end. How she looks, how she sounds. The people around her, the strangers watching. We’re not in Kansas, anymore…
WARNING: This episode contains references to self-harm, sexual abuse and drug use.
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July 12, 2021 • 30 mins
Philip Seymour Hoffman isn’t your usual Hollywood star. Some actors do charisma and charm. They radiate confidence. They lead. And the audience follows. But Philip just doesn’t want to. He wants something more interesting. Because between the matinée idol and the pantomime villain is the everyman. It’s where we watch from. But recovering addict is the role he’s been playing longer than any other…
WARNING: This episode contains ref...
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July 19, 2021 • 31 mins
Edie Sedgwick’s the original it girl. The first to be famous for fame’s own sake. And an image that will forever live on. Her act doesn’t end when the reels stopped rolling. It can’t. Because that’s what makes her. But it’s what breaks her too…
WARNING: This episode contains references to eating disorders and drug abuse. If you’ve been affected by any of the issues we spoke about in this podcast or are worried about someone you lo...
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September 6, 2021 • 28 mins
Everyone knows Carrie Fisher. Or at least they think they do. But they make the same mistake the villains in Star Wars do. The ones who see her as a pretty face and an empty head. They’re under-estimating Carrie. But Carrie won’t be taken advantage of, owned. Carrie will have her say…
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September 13, 2021 • 30 mins
Errol Flynn was a Golden Age star in full Technicolor. But he lived like his characters – fast, free, with danger always close, morals out of sight and a girl on his arm. And that doesn’t tend to have happy endings. For anyone. Because the gloss hides flaws. And stars like Errol dazzle and deceive.
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September 20, 2021 • 30 mins
People don't buy the way Bruce Lee died. The man who could do the one-inch punch died during a nap because something went wrong in his brain?! But it's the truth. And Bruce Lee the man might be dead, but Bruce Lee the icon? He's never been more alive. Because people like Bruce Lee? They don't just die. They live on forever.
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September 27, 2021 • 26 mins
You’ve seen Rock Hudson play cowboys, lovers, fighters, heroes. Always so wholesome. Always beating the bad guys. And always getting the girl. But his greatest role of all? That’s been Rock Hudson, all along. Because it’s all an act. And it all has to come crashing down at some point…
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