Who's Next To Croak?

[Derek]

Brittany Murphy's Husband Found Dead
Today 7:52 AM PDT by Marcus Errico


AP PHoto/Dan Steinberg
Nearly five months to the day after the shocking death of Brittany Murphy, the actress' screenwriter husband has been found dead in the master bedroom of the couple's Hollywood Hills home. Simon Monjack was 39.

Paramedics were called to the scene just before 9:30 p.m. Sunday. The person sounding the 911 alert was Brittany's mother, Sharon—who shared the home with her son-in-law and who made the heart-wrenching emergency call on the day her daughter died.

LAPD detectives and coroner officials were on the scene investigating, but police said there were no signs of foul play and Monjack appeared to have died of a heart attack. The medical examiner confirmed drugs were recovered.


"This evening Mr. Monjack was found unresponsive. Paramedics responded to the house, he was pronounced at [9:45 p.m.]," said coroner's lead examiner Ed Winter. "It appears to be natural.

"There were some prescription drugs found that belonged to Mr. Monjack and will have an ongoing investigation. The cause of death is pending. We will have an autopsy in the next day or so. And pending toxicology, we will be releasing results once we get all those tests back."

Winter added that "there were no illicit drugs located, just prescription meds."

The British-born Monjack's IMDb résumé included two films: a story credit on Factory Girl, the 2006 biopic of Andy Warhol sidekick Edie Sedgwick starring Sienna Miller; and as writer-director-producer of the U.K. indie drama Two Days, Nine Lives. He also dabbled in photography.

Murphy died of cardiac arrest in the same house on Dec. 20. The coroner ruled her death accidental, the fatal combination of pneumonia, anemia and prescription drugs, many of which were prescribed in Monjack's name. The Clueless star was just 32.

The last time Winter met Monjack was during the Murphy probe. "He was a despondent husband. The family is devastated over his passing and, like I said, it is under investigation. I ask that you give the family some privacy from this point on."

In February, Monjack came under scrutiny after it was learned he was trying to raise funds for the Brittany Murphy Foundation without applying for nonprofit status with the IRS. He wound up scuttling the foundation and returned all donations.

A month later, Monjack told E! News he was planning on selling the couple's home and moving to New York, along with Sharon.

—Additional reporting by Chris Hall

[polkablues]

Gary Coleman.

[Sleepless]

I was just thinking... I could have contributed to this thread when I heard this afternoon. But all I would have contributed would be his name. And then I opened the thread.

Nice one, polk

[polkablues]

If I were to add anything to it, it would only be to include the best comment I read about it on the internet already:

Isn't a brain hemorrhage just a diff'rent kind of stroke?

But I figured it was too soon.  

Now that like two hours have passed, it's okay.

[Bethie]

haha. there's a reservation at work on the books for tomorrow that says "3 for Coleman" and one of my servers came up and pointed to it and goes "Coleman just turned to a 2." 

[jtm]

judging from their posts, i'm sure the previous two posters don't agree, but i think it's sad... he had a tragic life and i feel bad for him.

[Stefen]

I feel bad for him too. I hate seeing walking punchlines go out like this. Call me a sucker, but I like seeing the underdog get the W. When Bonnaduce knocked the fuck out of Greg Brady on Fox's Celebrity Boxing back in 2002, I about lost my shit. So uplifting.

[Robyn]

Who is this Gary Coleman anyway? Some kind of midget?

[Ravi]

judging from their posts, i'm sure the previous two posters don't agree, but i think it's sad... he had a tragic life and i feel bad for him.

I totally agree.  His parents dicked him out of his own money and its not like there was a lot of demand for him after Diff'rent Strokes.

BTW, I saw Coleman's last film .  Its a totally silly but funny film, and Coleman is particularly funny.  And I'm not just saying that because he's dead.

[Pubrick]

Who is this Gary Coleman anyway? Some kind of midget?

he's an actor who was famous in america and most of the english-speaking world after starring in a sitcom in the 70s and 80s called Diff'rent Strokes, you may be familiar with his catch phrase from the show "whatchoo talkin' bout willis?" his growth was stunted at an early age due to a congenital kidney disease.

maybe u'll have heard of the next one..

DENNIS HOPPER.

[polkablues]

Now who will take over as lead actor on "Crash: the Starz! Original Series"???

[Robyn]

Who is this Gary Coleman anyway? Some kind of midget?

he's an actor who was famous in america and most of the english-speaking world after starring in a sitcom in the 70s and 80s called Diff'rent Strokes, you may be familiar with his catch phrase from the show "whatchoo talkin' bout willis?" his growth was stunted at an early age due to a congenital kidney disease.

maybe u'll have heard of the next one..

DENNIS HOPPER.

Never in my life seen or heard about Diff'rent Strokes.

Dennis hopper! That's sad.

[Stefen]

Who's going to be the third? I'm predicting Brendan Fraser.

[Sleepless]

Even though I'd been anticipating the news of Dennis Hopper's death for weeks now, it was still a shock when I heard he was actually gone. The guy was a living legend right up until the end. He was a player and an artist. And always the coolest guy in the room. A legend.

[Pubrick]

Who's going to be the third? I'm predicting Brendan Fraser.

for me, the good money's still on godard.