Hollywood icons who disappeared – dead in abandoned building and star still missing

Huge Hollywood actors have gone missing over the years – and some met tragic fates.

Some film stars decided to ditch the glitz and the glamour for a quieter life, away from the public eye. But others were forced into obscurity by tragic drug problems, declining careers and money issues.

It’s rather eerie that some stars are immortalised on screen in the Hollywood hits they appeared in, knowing the horrible things that happened to them after their time in the spotlight. One Disney actor who appeared in Treasure Island (1950) was found dead in an abandoned building.

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Daily Star has looked at some of the Hollywood stars who turned their back on fame – or vanished under darker circumstances.

Jean Spangler

Jean Spangler scored parts in a number of Hollywood films in the 1940s, but it was her mysterious disappearance in late 1949 that shot her into the public eye. And sadly, she’s still never been found.

On the evening of October 7, the actress left her home in LA, telling her sister-in-law that she was meeting her ex-husband and then working as an extra on a film set. Her last sighting was at a convenience store near to her home – and two days later her damaged purse was found in a remote area of Griffith Park.

Inside the purse was a letter addressed to a “Kirk” mentioning a doctor’s visit. She’d just worked on a film with actor Kirk Douglas, who called police and cleared his name.

To this day, nobody knows what happened to Jean. Theories include her alleged death in a botched abortion and her disappearing with LA gangsters, given her link to them.

Bobby Driscoll

Bobby Driscoll was a child actor who had starred in some of Dinsey’s biggest films in the 1940s and ’50s, including Song of the South (1946) and Treasure Island (1950). He also provided the voice of Peter Pan in the 1953 film – but his life tragically spiralled.

Sadly, his career took a nosedive and he ended up homeless. His body was found in an abandoned building in the East Village of Manhattan on March 30, 1968. He had became addicted to narcotics and was sentenced to prison for drug use.

His drug use had also prevented him from seeing his three children with wife Marilyn Jean Rush and he was buried in an unmarked grave.

Gene Hackman

Gene Hackman had a highly successful acting career that spanned over six decades – but one day he decided to pack it all in and become something of a recluse. The actor won Oscars for his roles in The French Connection (1971) and Clint Eastwood’s Unforgiven (1992).

The 94-year-old starred alongside the biggest actors on the planet. Just some of them include Al Pacino, Laurence Olivier, Anthony Hopkins, Burt Reynolds, Sean Connery, Sigourney Weaver, Liza Minneli, Robin Williams, Morgan Freeman, Sharon Stone, and Leonardo Dicaprio.

But 2004 would see the famous actor appear in his final film, Welcome To Mooseport. He called it quits and turned to writing novels instead – and he’s avoided the limelight for years, but made a rare outing with his wife earlier this year.

His retirement was at least, in part, due to health reasons. He said in 2020: “The straw that broke the camel’s back was actually a stress test that I took in New York. The doctor advised me that my heart wasn’t in the kind of shape that I should be putting it under any stress”.

Macaulay Culkin

He’s undoubtedly one of the most successful child stars of all time, but Macaulay Culkin’s life spiralled out of control in the early noughties. The angelic face of the Home Alone films went through a very dark period indeed after the immense pressure of being a child actor.

The actor had a turbulent home life – his parents split when he was a teen and Culkin alleges his father abused him physically and mentally. In 2000, his half-sister Jennifer Adamson died of a drug overdose and in 2008 his older sister Dakota was hit by a car and killed.

He sparked rumours he was a drug addict in 2012 when snaps appeared of Macaulay looking frail and clutching an energy drink. The actor later addressed the images in an interview, telling The Guardian: “No I was not pounding six grand of heroin a month.”

The actor has admitted recreational drugs were “like old friends”. He told Esquire in 2021: “I do love them. They’re like old friends. But sometimes you outgrow your friends”.

He’s since returned to the public eye – last year he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Judy Garland

Judy Garland was just 16 years old when she was cast as Dorothy Gale in The Wizard of Oz, and she became one of the biggest stars in the industry. However, she was fed pills from an early age and her life took a tragic turn.

Garland had a history of depression and alcoholism and had attempted suicide more than once. She had a nervous breakdown shortly after her daughter’s birth and had to stay in hospital for a month – she was treated at two clinics before returning to work.

Despite her attempts to keep working, her career plummeted as MGM began to remove her from films in which she’d been revealed to appear. They ended up terminating her contract.

The actress ended up penniless and addicted to drugs, singing in clubs for just $100 (£80) a night. She was virtually homeless, owed $4million (£3.16million) to the IRS and eventually died of an accidental barbiturate overdose aged just 47.

Discussing her final years, Garland’s manager Stevie Phillips told Inside Edition: “It took drugs to get her back to a level place where you could have a conversation with her, where you could get her to sign checks, sign contracts, talk about business.”

Apparently, she was unable to have some of her requests honoured in her will as she didn’t have the funds. But her daughter Liza Minelli paid off her mother’s debts, thanks in part to her family friend Frank Sinatra.

Corey Haim

Lost Boys actor and teen star Corey Haim was a teen sensation – but his life became marred by drug addiction. He struggled with the trauma of his time as a child actor and was just 18 when he went to rehab to tackle a crack cocaine addiction.

His money problems began when he was sued by Lloyd’s of London for $375,000 (£296,780) for failing to disclose his drug issues on an insurance form. He claimed he owed $100,000 (£79,140) to the IRS and had as little as $100 (£79.14) in cash, $31,000 (£24533) in a pension fund, and royalty rights of $7,500 (£5935).

Unfortunately, his acting work dried up and he had to file for bankruptcy in 1997. Corey died of pneumonia aged 38 in 2010 and his family asked fans to help cover the cost of his funeral.

Greta Garbo

The American Film Institute hailed Greta Garbo one of the greatest female stars in classic Hollywood cinema. She shot to fame during Hollywood’s silent and early golden eras, but she became one of the biggest recluses in film history.

She retired at the age of 35 and decided to turn her back on public life completely, becoming an art collector. She declined all opportunities to return to the screen and never attended the Oscars, despite being nominated three times.

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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk