Dana Plato

Dana Plato - who was born as Dana Michelle Strain, on November 7th, 1964, in Maywood, California, U.S.A. - was an American actress and model.  She was born to Linda Strain, an unwed teenager, but was adopted by Dean and Florine Plato in June, 1965.  At the age of three, her adoptive parents divorced, and she was raised by her mother.  Plato was included in a list of VH1's "100 Greatest Kid Stars", and became best-known for playing Kimberley Drummond in the popular television sitcom, Diff'rent Strokes, which aired from 1978 to 1986.  From the age of seven, Plato began appearing in T.V. commercials - over 100 in all - before going into acting.  Whilst a teenager starring in Diff'rent Strokes, she struggled with drug and alcohol problems, using cannabis and cocaine, and taking an overdose of diazepam at the age of 14. Later in her career, Plato appeared in various B-movies, while also posing for Playboy, and starring in softcore pornography films.  In December, 1983, she moved in with her boyfriend, rock guitarist Lanny Lambert, and married him on April 24th, 1984; she gave birth to her only son soon afterwards, which led to her being written out of Diff'rent Strokes.  After a series of personal problems, including her mother's death and her own divorce, Plato held-up a video store in 1991 with a pellet gun, demanding she be given the money from the cash register.  For this, she was given five years' probation.  In 1992, she was arrested again, this time for forging a diazepam prescription, serving 30 days in jail, and entering a drug rehabilitation programme.  Plato subsequently moved to Las Vegas, where she struggled with unemployment and poverty, and twice became engaged, including to her manager, with whom she lived in a motor-home in Florida.  On May 7th, 1999, Plato appeared on the Howard Stern Show, talking about her personal problems.  The following day - May 8th, 1999 - Plato took a lethal overdose of Lortab (a painkiller) and Soma (a muscle-relaxant), whilst visiting her fiancee's mother's home in Moore, Oklahoma, U.S.A.  She was 34 years old.

Alexander McQueen

Lee Alexander McQueen, C.B.E., was a British fashion designer and couturier.  Born in Lewisham, London, England, on March 17th, 1969, McQueen was chief designer at Givenchy from 1996 to 2001, and founded his own fashion label in 1992.  He was four-times British Designer of the Year, and the CFDA's International Designer of the Year in 2003. McQueen's early collections earned him a reputation as the "enfant terrible" and "hooligan" of English fashion.  He became notorious for creating the "bumster" low-rise jeans. A homosexual, McQueen had an unofficial marriage ceremony with his partner George Forsyth on a yacht in Ibiza in 2000, although the pair split up a year later; he also discovered he was HIV positive.
On the afternoon of February 11th, 2010, McQueen's housekeeper found his body at his home in Green Street, Mayfair, London.  At the age of 40, he had hanged himself. A friend claimed McQueen was doing a lot of drugs and was very unhappy at the time of his death, and his psychiatrist said he had suffered from anxiety and depression for at least three years prior to his death, and had twice taken drug overdoses, as well as missing several psychiatrist's appointments.  Blood samples taken after his death showed significant levels of cocaine, sleeping pills, and tranquillizers.  

James Whale

James Whale - who was born on July 22nd, 1889, in Dudley, Worcestershire, England - was a theatre director, film director, and actor.  His first directing success was the 1928 play, Journey's End, which led to his move to the U.S.A.  In Hollywood, he directed a dozen films for Universal Pictures between 1931 and 1937, developing a style characterised by the influence of German Expressionism, and also becoming associated with the horror genre, with films such as Frankenstein (1931).  The peak of Whale's career was directing The Road Back (1937), but a series of box-office disappointments followed, and by 1941 his directing career was effectively over.
Very unusually for the 1920s and '30s, Whale was openly homosexual, and it was claimed that his refusal to remain 'in the closet' may have hastened the end of his career.
In the Spring of 1956, Whale suffered a small stroke, and was then hospitalised after a larger stroke occurring a few months later.  While in hospital, he was treated for depression with electric shock treatment.  Suffering from mood swings, and becoming increasingly frustrated that he was becoming dependent on others as his mental faculties diminished, Whale committed suicide by drowning himself in his swimming pool in Pacific Palisades, California, U.S.A., on May 29th, 1957, at the age of 67.  Initially thought to have been accidental, Whale's death was only revealed to be suicide in a suppressed suicide note which was not released until the death of Whale's long-term partner, David Lewis, in 1987.