When Movie Stars Face Mortality

COMMENTARY: For an industry built on eternal youth, Hollywood’s aging establishment is increasingly forced to grapple with suffering, death and tragedy.
“I don’t want to achieve immortality through my work,” Woody Allen, who turned 90 this year, once quipped. “I want to achieve immortality through not dying.”
Allen’s frequent co-star, one-time partner, and staunch supporter, Diane Keaton, died Oct. 11 from bacterial pneumonia. She was 79. Robert Redford died Sept. 16 at 89. Another screen legend, Gene Hackman, died last February from advanced Alzheimer’s. The 95-year-old two-time Oscar winner lived for a week after the unexpected death of his wife, Betsy. He was found without food in his system, indicating his final days were spent in confusion and isolation, a nightmare scenario for anybody.
Most recently, Hollywood has reeled from the double murder of longtime actor-director Rob Reiner and his wife, Michele, allegedly at the hands of their own son, Nick. The bodies were found by …