All Things Babylon 5

Velegon

Velegon

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With the recent passing of Stephen Furst (Vir Cotto), nearly half of the actors who were in the series for more than half its 5 year run have died (4 of 11 - G'Kar, Franklin, Garibaldi, Allan plus Sinclair as well).

Considering that Star Trek DS9 ran at the same time and NONE of its main cast (9 characters) have died - even if you expand its cast list to recurring characters only 3 have died (Admiral Ross, Lwaxana Troi and Sisko's father) but that would be over 35 characters in total.

Both series were on 20-25 years ago and had actors with roughly the same ages, so is there a Babylon 5 curse? :(
 
But Star Trek got Michael Piller, so it all balances out. Television doesn't mess around.
 
It could be that they are simply an unfortunate group of people.

Or it could be a question of literally toxic working conditions. Sometimes I wonder about the deaths of Elisabeth Sladen and Mary Tamm (two of the Companions when Tom Baker was the Doctor). I have no idea if they used the same dressing rooms, and if there could have been a safety hazard of some sort - both actresses died of cancer.

Didn't I read about Michael J. Fox's condition (Parkinsons) being due to toxins he was exposed to in one of the studios he worked in, and that other people there also became ill? (could be thinking of someone else)

I'm not a believer in supernatural things, so no, I doubt there's a "curse" on any of these shows or people. It could simply be an unfortunate coincidence, or it could be that the actors were exposed to hazardous working conditions that manifested themselves in health issues later.

In the case of Babylon 5, some of the actors died of natural causes, but didn't one of them die of suicide?
 
I'm sorry to bump an old thread, but this sub-forum seems pretty dead anyway...

Jeff Conaway's death was originally reported as a suicide and/or drug overdose, which was a fair assumption given his history, but he actually died of pneumonia. That is probably who you're thinking of, Valka.

Of the others, Jerry Doyle died of chronic alcoholism (ironic), Stephen Furst died of diabetes complications, Michael O'Haire had a heart attack after an extremely long illness, and Andreas Katsulas died of emphysema after being a pack a day smoker for four and a half decades. The only real shocker was Richard Biggs, who died during a botched surgical procedure at the age of 39. He was probably the fittest and healthiest member of the cast.

So nothing there really seems to indicate a curse. In fact, Biggs's surgery was to correct a birth defect, so if he was cursed it was before he joined B5. Aside from O'Haire, everyone else seems to have died through their own behaviour.
 
HoloDoc said:
I'm sorry to bump an old thread, but this sub-forum seems pretty dead anyway...
Click to expand...
First of all, welcome to CFC and A&E. It's always nice to have a new person join us here. :)

Don't worry about bumping old threads. If you have something to contribute to the conversation, that's fine.

This part of the forum has always been one of the quieter corners of CFC, but it's a necessary one for those of us who are into activities that would be lost in the larger OT. As some of the shows are seasonal, their threads do go through some quiet times.

HoloDoc said:
Jeff Conaway's death was originally reported as a suicide and/or drug overdose, which was a fair assumption given his history, but he actually died of pneumonia. That is probably who you're thinking of, Valka.
Click to expand...
Ah, okay. Thanks for clearing that up. It wouldn't be the first or the 50th time someone's death was incorrectly reported. I remember being flabbergasted when reading an entry for Doctor Who in a 25+-year-old edition of the Science Fiction Encyclopedia, which stated that Tom Baker had died of a drug overdose in New York City.

Well, maybe somebody by that name died in that manner in New York, but it wasn't Tom Baker who played the Fourth Doctor. He is still very much alive.
 
Yes, I enjoy professional wrestling from the old territory days, and Superstar Billy Graham was reported as having died a solid thirty years before his actual death. When he emerged from retirement, people were so convinced he had died that they assumed Hulk Hogan's new best friend was a fake Billy Graham.

I have been lurking on and off for several years. Only joined to respond to some of the Australian leadership drama, so I probably won't post much. But I couldn't resist a B5 thread.
 
HoloDoc said:
I'm sorry to bump an old thread, but this sub-forum seems pretty dead anyway...

Jeff Conaway's death was originally reported as a suicide and/or drug overdose, which was a fair assumption given his history, but he actually died of pneumonia. That is probably who you're thinking of, Valka.

Of the others, Jerry Doyle died of chronic alcoholism (ironic), Stephen Furst died of diabetes complications, Michael O'Haire had a heart attack after an extremely long illness, and Andreas Katsulas died of emphysema after being a pack a day smoker for four and a half decades. The only real shocker was Richard Biggs, who died during a botched surgical procedure at the age of 39. He was probably the fittest and healthiest member of the cast.

So nothing there really seems to indicate a curse. In fact, Biggs's surgery was to correct a birth defect, so if he was cursed it was before he joined B5. Aside from O'Haire, everyone else seems to have died through their own behaviour.
Click to expand...

Biggs died at 44 from aortic dissection.
Torn heart artery :(

Crazy because he had that nice quote in Babylon 5.

Dr. Franklin:
"It's all so brief isn't it?
Typical human lifespan is almost 100 years, but it's barely a second compared to what's out there.
It wouldn't be so bad if life didn't take so long to figure out.
Seems you just start to get it right and then .. it's over."
 
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HoloDoc said:
Of the others, Jerry Doyle died of chronic alcoholism (ironic), Stephen Furst died of diabetes complications, Michael O'Haire had a heart attack after an extremely long illness, and Andreas Katsulas died of emphysema after being a pack a day smoker for four and a half decades. The only real shocker was Richard Biggs, who died during a botched surgical procedure at the age of 39. He was probably the fittest and healthiest member of the cast.

So nothing there really seems to indicate a curse. In fact, Biggs's surgery was to correct a birth defect, so if he was cursed it was before he joined B5. Aside from O'Haire, everyone else seems to have died through their own behaviour.
Click to expand...
Well, this beg the question of what could indicate a death by curse? A series of attacks by mummies or animated puppets?

I mean, a curse can take the form of heart attacks and diabetes, or even events that would drive one to alcoholism. Just sayin'.
 
As an old time fan of the series (just look at my avatar :) ) I really wanted to thank you for this video!

As for the original topic I would agree to what HoloDoc has said.

HoloDoc said:
I'm sorry to bump an old thread, but this sub-forum seems pretty dead anyway...

Jeff Conaway's death was originally reported as a suicide and/or drug overdose, which was a fair assumption given his history, but he actually died of pneumonia. That is probably who you're thinking of, Valka.

Of the others, Jerry Doyle died of chronic alcoholism (ironic), Stephen Furst died of diabetes complications, Michael O'Haire had a heart attack after an extremely long illness, and Andreas Katsulas died of emphysema after being a pack a day smoker for four and a half decades. The only real shocker was Richard Biggs, who died during a botched surgical procedure at the age of 39. He was probably the fittest and healthiest member of the cast.

So nothing there really seems to indicate a curse. In fact, Biggs's surgery was to correct a birth defect, so if he was cursed it was before he joined B5. Aside from O'Haire, everyone else seems to have died through their own behaviour.
Click to expand...

It is sad to see these people go, but as it has been said on numerous occasions - the show succeeded and gave many people around the world an inspiration in their lives. For many reasons they were not able to produce equally stunning content, but that job has already been done. There's no Babylon 5 curse, Jinxo has left the station a long time ago.
 
The fact that jixes and curses don't exist in the real world should have been all the evidence needed to reach that conclusion :)
 
It's sad, of course, but please let's not get back into asking if the show or cast have a curse happening. I stand by my previous post in this thread.
 
Yeah I'm the one that started this thread back then and I don't believe there is a curse - just a set of unfortunate series of deaths of actors for a myriad of reasons unrelated to the series.

That being said it is somewhat ironic that there is a scene in the finale where all of the major characters that are still alive are in an elevator on Babylon 5 - and now only Ivanova/Claudia Christian is the only actor in that scene that hasn't died :(

 
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Yikes :(



Of the all the major characters only Ivanova and Sheridan are still alive it seems.

Delenn had a really characteristic voice and way of talking too. It has always been playing in my head from time to time.
 
Also Peter Jurasik who played Londo Mollari and Bill Mumy (Danger Will Robinson!) who played Lennier are also still alive from the major characters (ie those who appeared in the opening credits for most seasons).
 
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