10 Famous Hollywood celebrities who died of Heart Problems

Updated on August 02, 2022 12:07 PM by Ella Bina

Elizabeth Taylor (27 February 1932-23 March 2011)

The British-American Hollywood actor and philanthropist Dame Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor started her career as a child actress in the early 1940s. She was one the most popular stars of classical Hollywood cinema in the 1950s and became a recognizable figure for the rest of her life.

In 1999, she was named the seventh-greatest female screen legend. Her first acting debut was in the movie "There's One Born Every Minute" (1942). After being cast on National Velvet in 1944, she became a popular teen.

In the 1950s, she took up the role in the comedy movie Father of the Bride, which made her even more famous, and she acted in other films like" A Place in the Sun" (1951).

She ended her acting career in the 1950s because he disliked the movies she was assigned to; later, she enjoyed her roles in several blockbuster commercial movies like “Giant” in 1956, “Tennessee Williams: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” in 1958, and “Suddenly, Last Summer” in 1959. She went on to win the Golden Globe for Best Actress and the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in her last movie as a call girl in “Butterfield 8.”

Elizabeth Taylor was paid a whooping salary of $1 million to play a role in the historical epic “Cleopatra” in 1963, which was considered the most expensive film made up to that time.

At that time of filming, she and her co-star Richard Burton started an affair. The couple continued their relationship and were married in 1964. They both were Dubbed "Liz and Dick" by the media, and they starred in 11 films together.

Later, both divorced in 1974 but reconciled soon and remarried in 1975. The second marriage also ended up in divorce in 1976. Taylor's acting career stumbled and began to decline in the late 1960s. However, she continued starring in films until the mid-1970s, after which she focused on supporting the job of her sixth husband, Senator John Warner.

Elizabeth Taylor co-founded the American Foundation for AIDS Research and the AIDS Foundation in 1991. From the 1990s until her death, she dedicated her time to philanthropy, for which she received many accolades, including the Presidential Citizens Medal.

She was married to seven men, eight times and endured several serious illnesses, and led a jet-set lifestyle, including assembling one of the world's most expensive private jewelry collections. After many years of suffering, Elizabeth Taylor died from heart failure in 2011 at 79.

George Carlin (12 May 1937 – 22 June 2008)

George Denis Patrick Carlin, the American Hollywood stand-up comedian, actor, author, and social critic George Denis Patrick Carlin is known for his black comedy that focuses on politics, the English language, psychology, religion, and various other taboo topics.

In 1977, George Carlin's 14 stand-up comedy specials for HBO were filmed, and from then on, his routines focused on sociocultural criticism of American society. He was nicknamed "the dean of counterculture comedians" by a newspaper.

After that, he became a frequent performer and attended as a host on "The Tonight Show" during the three-decade Johnny Carson era and hosted the first episode of Saturday Night Live in 1975

He often gave comments on contemporary political issues in America and satirized the excesses of American culture. In 2008, he won the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. In 2017, Rolling Stone magazine listed him second on its list of the 50 best stand-up comics of all time.

His HBO special, "It's Bad for Ya," was the last one to be made months before his death from cardiac arrest. America got to shed a great critic who constantly brought the culture into his comedy.

Jim Morrison ((8 December 1943 –3 July 1971)

The American singer, songwriter, and poet, James Douglas Morrison went on to become the lead vocalist of the rock band the Doors. Music critics and fans regard him as one of rock history's most iconic and influential leads. Since his death, his fame has represented the generation gap and youth counterculture.

Jim Morrison and Ray Manzarek co-founded the Doors during the summer of 1965 in Venice, California. They spent two years with their number-one single in the United States, "Light My Fire," taken from their self-titled debut album.

Jim Morrison developed an alcohol dependency during the 1960s, affecting his performances on stage. He recorded six studio albums with the Doors, all of which sold well and received critical acclaim.

He even wrote many of the Doors' songs, including "Light My Fire," "Break On Through," "The End," "Moonlight Drive," "People Are Strange," "Hello, I Love You," and "Roadhouse Blues," "L.A.L.A. Woman," and "Riders on the Storm."

Jim Morrison's sudden death at 27 in Paris severely affected the band's fortunes; after two years of death, they split up in 1973. Jim Morrison was ranked 47 on Rolling Stone's list of the "100 Greatest Singers of All Time" and ranked 22 on Classic Rock magazine's "50 Greatest Singers in Rock.

In his 1960's he developed an alcohol dependency during the 1960s, affecting his performances on stage. He died unexpectedly at the age of 27 in Paris. As no autopsy was performed, the cause of Jim Morrison's was found as heart failure.

River Phoenix (23 August 1970 – 31 October 1993)

The American Hollywood actor, musician, and animal activist River Jude Phoenix has done 24 films and appeared on television, and his rise to fame led to his status as a "teen idol."

He started his acting career at the tender age of 10 in television commercials. He starred in an adventure film, "Explorers" in 1985 and had his first remarkable role in 1986's "Stand by Me," based on the novel "The Body" by Stephen King.

Then he took up more adult-oriented roles with "Running on Empty" in 1988 and playing the son of fugitive parents in a good mind-blowing performance that earned him a nomination for best supporting actor for an Academy Award and his film "My Own Private Idaho" were he playing as a gay hustler searching for his estranged mother.

Phoenix garnered enormous praise for his performance in the latter and won a Volpi Cup at the Venice Film Festival for the best actor and also won the Best Actor from the National Society of Film Critics. River Phoenix collapsed and died due to a heart attack at 23, and by that time, he was starring in "Dark Blood," released in 2012.

Frankie Howerd (6 March 1917 – 19 April 1992)

Francis Alick Howard, better known by his Hollywood stage name Frankie Howerd, was an English comedian that ned six decades. He was first auditioned for the B.B.C. radio comedy and music show Variety Bandbox, making his first broadcast on the show in 1946.

Frankie Howard was an instant success and quickly became one of the most popular entertainers in the country, broadcasting regularly and touring the music halls. At 75, he died of heart failure on 19 April 1992.

Lena Horne ((30 June 1917 – 9 May 2010)

Lena Mary Calhoun Horne, the Hollywood singer, dancer, actress, and civil rights activist with 70 years of a long career, joined the Cotton Club chorus at 16 and became a nightclub performer before moving to Hollywood.

"Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music," which went for three hundred performances on Broadway. She then earned numerous awards and accolades. Lena Horne continued recording and performing sporadically into the 1990s, disappearing from the public eye in 2000. Horne died of congestive heart failure on 9 May 2010, at 92.

Greer Garson (29 September 1904 – 6 April 1996)

Eileen Evelyn Greer Garson was regarded as a British-American Hollywood actress who was popular during the Second World War. The Motion Picture Herald was listed as one of America's top-ten box office draws from 1942 to 1946.

She was a major star at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer during the 1940s. She even received nominations for Academy Awards nominations including an unbreakable five consecutive nominations in the category of acting and all in the Best Actress from 1941–1945, winning the award for Mrs. Miniver (1942). And at 91, she died of heart failure at a Dallas hospital.

Barbara Stanwyck (16 July 1907 –20 January 1990)

Barbara Stanwyck was a Hollywood actress, model, and dancer. Starting as a Ziegfeld girl in the 1920s, she was a film and television star, known during her 60-year career as a versatile professional star for a strong, realistic screen presence. In just three decades, they made 85 plus movies and even on television.

She had become the highest-paid Hollywood woman in the country in 1944. She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress four times – Her performance in "The Thorn Birds" won a Golden Globe and received an Oscar at the 1982 Academy Award ceremony and the Golden Globe Award in 1986.

She went on to become a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960 and was ranked as the 11th most excellent female star of classic American cinema by the American Film Institute. She died of congestive heart failure in Santa Monica, Calif. She was 82 years old.

Irene Dunne (20 December 1898 –4 September 1990)

An American film actress and singer from the 1930s to 1950s, Irene Dunne was nominated five times for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performances in Cimarron (1931), Theodora Goes Wild (1936), The Awful Truth (1937), and Love Affair (1939), and I Remember Mama (1948).

In 1985, Dunne was given the Kennedy Center Honors for her services to the arts. On 4 September 1990, she died of heart failure, aged 88.

Mel Ferrer (25 August 1917 –2 June 2008)

Melchior Gastón Ferrer was a Hollywood actor and director of stage and screen, film producer, and the first husband of Audrey Hepburn. She co-starred with him in the 1956 film version of War and Peace.

He went on to become editor in Vermont for a newspaper and even authored a children's book 'Tito's Hat." He moved to pursue his career in acting and showcased his acting skills in New York by performing in the revival of 'King Lady and the thriller Cue for Passion', which was directed by Otto Preminger.

He even worked in radio for some time and later became a producer and director for the N.B.C. television network. He died of heart failure at a convalescent home in Santa Barbara, California, on 2 June 2008, at age 90.