He only lived to be 28 years old. The news of Heath Ledger’s death spread like wildfire. The first major Hollywood star to have died so young in the age of the Internet, his death deeply touched all of Hollywood as well as fans around the world.

On 5 April 1994, the 27-year-old rock star Kurt Cobain shot a bullet into his head at his house in Seattle. The film traces the short dramatic life of the rock rebel who cofounded Grunge, and reveals the shocking psychological background that shaped Cobain’s life and influenced his music.

They called him “Killer Belushi” when he was young. John was the star of the football team, drummer of the high school band and a brilliant actor. Many followed the meteoric rise of this young man, who had an explosive temperament and an extreme personality, with irresistible fascination.

Far way from the loud hustle and bustle of Los Angeles in the middle of the Beverly Hills Canyons, lies the estate of the actress Sharon Tate. On 9 August 1969, 26-year-old Sharon and her unborn child are killed by 16 stab wounds. The murderers: Satanists led by the self-appointed guru Charles Manson.

She steps in front of Hollywood’s cameras for the first time at the tender of age of 4 and already as a teenager she is considered the female idol of the 50s. As a young criminal in “Rebel Without a Cause” she plays opposite James Dean in one of the films that bears a far-reaching impact on pop culture.

At only 14 River Phoenix celebrates his breakthrough in the Steven King adaption Stand by Me. The film is a box office hit and River becomes the idol of an entire generation. What exactly happened in the night of October 30, 1993 remains unclear to this day.

With his unique voice and his highly poetic lyrics, this singer, songwriter and poet became for many the “Voice of Russia” and his marriage to French actress Marina Vlady finally gained him international cult status. But Vysotsky was a spiritually minded critic of the system. He lived a restless and wild life: racing through Moscow in his Mercedes, wearing hippie clothes, smoking all the time, often drunk and taking drugs.

Falco was the most successful Austrian pop rock musician and rapper of all time, the only artist whose language was German but yet scored a vocal number-one hit in the US. Before he could celebrate his 41st birthday in 1998 and achieve his plan to comeback on the musical scene, he was hit by a bus while driving on the road in the Dominican Republic. Among the causes involved, Falco appeared to be under the influence of alcohol and cocaine…

Considered as the most influential martial artist of all time, Bruce Lee has impacted all along his life the way Asians were represented in American films. Unfortunately the 20th century icon tragically died at the young age of 32 under mysterious circumstances: allergic reaction to an analgesic or cannabis overdose? The experts still disagree today, but for sure too much pressure due to his new fame must have led the artist to stop his career at its peak.

She started her career with the worldwide success The Wizard of Oz at 17 years old and has deeply impacted since then the cinema and music fields. Despite her numerous professional triumphs, Judy Garland struggled a lot in her personal life, unbalanced with instable finances and 4 successive divorces. She also suffered from a severe weakness of alcohol and drugs which caused her premature death.

Described by the New York Times as “the most ambitious and widely admired American actor of his generation”, Philip Seymour Hoffman was also an accomplished film and theatre director and producer. He appeared in more than 55 films and is remembered for bringing depth and humanity to the reprehensible characters he played. He suddenly died in February 2014 due to combined- drugs intoxication, addiction he had suffered previously as a young adult during his college years and that everyone thought he was cleaned from.