Passing away of a famous countrymen that shocked the nation?

16 comments

1. Gigi Proietti and Raffaela Carrà, two actors/comedians/showmen, one of which (Proietti) was also the Italian VA for Disney’s Aladdin’s Genie.

   When they died it was a big shock for everyone (especially because both their deaths were rather sudden) and it was like a big part of Italy went away.

2. I was kind of shocked when Petr Kellner died one year ago, can’t think about anyone else now

   Edit: Also Karel Gott, it was very much discussed in our country, but it was expected, so it wasn’t really that shocking

3. [Gaspard Ulliel](https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/film/2022/jan/19/gaspard-ulliel-french-actor-dies-skiing-accident), an actor, died recently in a ski accident at 37 years old.

   That’s obviously a detail, his death alone is already sad enough, but something that adds to the suddenness of it is that the trailer of Marvel’s “Moon Knight” he has a role in, which would most likely have given a big boost to his international career, was just about to be released a day or two after his death.

4. I’m not sure, because there are so many celebrity deaths in the news I can barely judge if the death was shocking for people or not.

   Szilveszter Csollány, a gymnast famous and beloved for his performance in Sydney 2000, died earlier this year and people seemed to be shocked.

5. With out a doubt Sean Lock. He died from cancer and it wasn’t well known that he was sick. He was known as the comediens comedian, he was the one man who could make other comedians laugh and his quotes were all over the place, even before his death.

6. Austrian politician [Jörg Haider](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C3%B6rg_Haider) died in a car accident in 2008. He was sort of Austria’s Trump in that he popularized a far-right party and was loved by many and hated by all others – everyone had a strong opinion on him. When he died he was past his political prime but it was still very significant and also completely unexpected.

7. Investigative reporter Peter R. de Vries [was murdered last year.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_of_Peter_R._de_Vries)

   He had been a regularly seen face on various Dutch TV programs for decades, since before I was born. He was one of those people that everyone knew. One of his shows still holds the viewership record for Dutch television, if I’m not mistaken, and he became famous for his coverage of the Freddy Heineken kidnapping in the early 80s. He was shot in the head in central Amsterdam, in broad daylight. It was a very shocking event.

8. Recently is it most definitely journalist [Peter R. de Vries](https://talenttalks.nl/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/7V7A9721-1024×1024.jpg). He was a very well-known crime reporter most famous for covering the Freddy Heineken kidnapping trial in the ’80s and later both domestically and internationally for getting a filmed confession out of the guy who was suspected of killing Natalee Holloway. He was involved with a bunch of other high-profile cases too. Most recently the trials against the “Mocro Maffia”, a very violent group of drug traffickers, where he functioned as an advisor to the prosecution’s star witness. He was shot last year when coming out of a TV studio where he’d just finished recording a program and died of his injuries a little over a week later. It’s highly suspected that this was a result of his involvement in the drug case trial, which previously saw the murder of the aforementioned star witness’ brother in 2017 and lawyer in 2019.

9. I can’t think of an Italian sportsperson in my lifetime.Maybe before that… the famous cyclist Fausto Coppi, who died suddenly (of malaria) in 1960.

   At that time cycling was huge in Italy and this story was headline news for days if not weeks.

   In more recent years, the sporting death that generated the most publicity here was probably Ayrton Senna… not Italian obviously, but he was loved here and many people were very affected by his unexpected death.

10. I don’t think there were any shocking deaths recently. Some very famous people died but it’s not surprising after 70+. Hardy Krüger (a famous actor) was 93, Wolf-Dieter Poschmann (football commentator) was 70. People who died young recently weren’t really that famous.

11. Falco (rock me amadeus)

    One of the few Austrian musicians who gained international success. Larger than life eccentric personality polarizing big parts of the country. Was known to do a lot of cocaine back in the day and did not try to hide it from the media.

    Died tragically in a car accident in 1998 at the age of just 41.

12. Nothing recent comes to my mind, but one that was a very big deal was [the death of Teo Peter](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teo_Peter) back in 2004.

    He was killed by a US marine in a car accident. The marine had diplomatic immunity and got off scot-free.

13. Shane’s death shocked us here too. He was a great cricketer and did some TV commentary after he retired too so he was well known. Plus he went out with Liz Hurley and I think lived here for a while.

    I read about yesterday’s tragedy and it’s on our main news. So sad! Another great player.

    I know other Brits have mentioned Sean Lock and it really was a shock recently but overall in my lifetime, Princess Di has to be the big one.

14. There were two shocking deaths like that last year in Slovakia: a beloved actor, intelligent comedian and singer [Milan Lasica](https://youtu.be/Po2LSdDVPZ8?t=253), and a beloved singer [Miroslav “Meky” Žbirka](https://youtu.be/Jq0q7kZeWxI?t=28).

15. I am not the most versed in celebrities but i would say the murder of an actor Nikos Sergiannopoulos. He was fairly beloved for his role in a popular tv show, and was not too out there. He was found brutally murdered and everyone has a million theories as to why.

16. Probably Smoleńsk. 92 people of great importance to the country, including the president, died in a plane crash. It happened on their way to a meeting in Russia to commemorate Katyń. Its consequences are present in our society to this day. Some still believe it was an assassination. Some say that tragedy was the reason our majestic, great, may he live long and happily leader duck went crazy and decided democracy has to go. Some say it was the finest wine out of Tusk’s breweries of wine.