Some of the biggest film stars on the planet have disappeared from the spotlight over the years – and one Hollywood actress was never seen again after going missing
Some huge stars have gone missing over the years – and one was never heard from again.
Just a few weeks ago, film legend Gene Hackman and his wife were found dead at their Santa Fe home. Their partially decomposed and mummified bodies were found by cops around 10 days after the 95-year-old actor had died.
Hackman is one of the stars who decided to ditch the glitz and the glamour for a quieter life, away from the public eye. 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 tragic fates they would meet in real life. Daily Star has looked at the 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.
Sadly, his career took a nosedive and he ended up homeless and addicted to narcotics. He was sentenced to prison for drug use and his substance issues prevented him from seeing his three children with wife Marilyn Jean Rush.
Two children found his dead body lying in an abandoned building in the East Village of Manhattan on March 30, 1968. His body was initially unidentified and unclaimed and the actor was buried in an unmarked grave.
However, he was later identified when Driscoll’s mother, with the help of Disney Studios, tried to contact her son – this led to a fingerprint match. A post-mortem revealed he had died from heart failure, brought on by drug use.
Gene Hackman
Gene Hackman’s incredible acting career 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 95-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. After this, he retreated from Hollywood and mostly stayed out of the spotlight, apart from some rare appearances out in public with wife Betsy, 65.
His retirement was at least, in part, due to health reasons. “The straw that broke the camel’s back was actually a stress test that I took in New York,” he said in 2020. “The doctor advised me that my heart wasn’t in the kind of shape that I should be putting it under any stress”.
Hackman and wife Betsy were dead for a number of days before they were discovered at their home on February 26 by a maintenance worker, who called authorities. The actor died of coronary artery disease, with advanced Alzheimer’s listed as a contributing factor.
He likely died on February 18, around seven days after Betsy, who died from Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome. Hackman was found dead in a room near to the kitchen, and Betsy was found dead in a bathroom.
Their dog Zinna was dead in a cage near to Betsy’s body. The other two dogs – a German shepherd named Bear and an Akita shepherd named Nikita – were found roaming around the property (both have now been rescued).
Hackman’s youngest daughter Leslie revealed she hadn’t heard from her famous father in months prior to his death. The actor didn’t name any of his three children in his $80 [£60.1m] will, instead naming Betsy as the sole beneficiary.
However, uncertainty lingers over the huge fortune – it’s not yet known whether his children will inherit any of it. The last time he had updated the will was in 2005.
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
