[Deathwatch] Brittany Murphy, Actress, 32

Tue Jan 5 20:18:59 PST 2010

Apologies that a few of these are very late...

December 21, 2009

  Brittany Murphy, Actress in 'Clueless,' Dies at 32

By SARAH WHEATON

Brittany Murphy 
<http://movies.nytimes.com/person/200519/Brittany-Murphy?inline=nyt-per>, the 
perpetually perky and slightly quirky actress who worked her way up from 
supporting parts to romantic leads after her breakout role in the film 
"Clueless," 
<http://movies.nytimes.com/gst/movies/titlelist.html?v_idlist=134935;458049&inline=nyt_ttl> 
died Sunday in Los Angeles. She was 32.

Ed Winter, an assistant chief coroner in Los Angeles County, told The 
Associated Press that Ms. Murphy apparently collapsed in the bathroom 
and that the cause of death "appears to be natural." He said that an 
official cause of death might not be determined for some time.

The Los Angeles Fire Department responded to a call at 8 a.m. Sunday at 
the home that Ms. Murphy shared with her husband, Simon Monjack, a 
British screenwriter, in West Hollywood. Ms. Murphy was taken to 
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead at 10:04 a.m. 
Sunday, said Sally Stewart, a spokeswoman for the hospital.

The actress's wide brown eyes and unrestrained, asymmetrical smile made 
her a frequent choice for the role of ditz with an edge --- such as the 
urban transplant to a Beverly Hills high school in "Clueless" and the 
riches-to-rags au pair in "Uptown Girls" 
<http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/280230/Uptown-Girls/overview> --- or a 
woman over the edge, playing characters with severe mental illness in 
the thriller "Don't Say a Word" and the drama "Girl, Interrupted." 
<http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/181272/Girl-c-Interrupted/overview>

The 1995 teen comedy "Clueless," an adaptation of Jane Austen 
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/a/jane_austen/index.html?inline=nyt-per>'s 
"Emma" 
<http://movies.nytimes.com/gst/movies/titlelist.html?v_idlist=272877;90416;433930;454089;154924;136265&inline=nyt_ttl> 
set in southern California and starring Alicia Silverstone 
<http://movies.nytimes.com/person/65707/Alicia-Silverstone?inline=nyt-per>, 
was a surprise hit, and though Ms. Murphy was 17 when she played the 
supporting role of Tai, the airhead persona stuck with her. It was her 
2003 stint as the romantic lead in the Eminem 
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/e/eminem/index.html?inline=nyt-per> 
vehicle "8 Mile," 
<http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/261159/8-Mile/overview> she told The 
A.P., that earned her more recognition.

"That changed a lot," she said in the 2003 interview. "That was the 
difference between people knowing my first and last name as opposed to not."

Peter Travers of Rolling Stone said Ms. Murphy played the character of 
Alex 
<http://www.rollingstone.com/reviews/movie/5949399/review/5949400/8_mile> "with 
hot desperation and calloused vulnerability. She's dynamite." But she 
was never a critics' darling. Stephen Holden of The New York Times was 
among those who compared her unfavorably to other female contemporaries 
<http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9900E6D6153CF935A3575BC0A9629C8B63>, 
writing that she "suggests a dumbed-down Meg Ryan 
<http://movies.nytimes.com/person/62388/Meg-Ryan?inline=nyt-per> with a 
gloss of Melanie Griffith 
<http://movies.nytimes.com/person/28845/Melanie-Griffith?inline=nyt-per>" in 
the 2004 romantic comedy "Little Black Book." 
<http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/288490/Little-Black-Book/overview>

Ms. Murphy was born on Nov. 10, 1977, in Atlanta. Her parents divorced 
when she was very young, and her mother, Sharon, raised her primarily in 
New Jersey before bringing Ms. Murphy to Los Angeles to pursue a screen 
career.

But during the filming of "Clueless," her mother was diagnosed with 
breast cancer, an event Ms. Murphy said affected her profoundly.

When Sharon Murphy's cancer returned in 2003, Ms. Murphy told People 
magazine 
<http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20145874,00.html> that 
she "went to every doctor's appointment and chemo session" with her 
mother. "My mom taught me there's always a way to channel your fears 
into love."

A diverse set of credits accumulated in Ms. Murphy's filmography, 
including the tough, abused waitress in the gritty "Sin City," 
<http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/303869/Sin-City/overview> a 
concentration camp victim in the television film "The Devil's 
Arithmetic," 
<http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/176566/The-Devil-s-Arithmetic/overview> 
and the voice of an animated penguin in "Happy Feet." 
<http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/322645/Happy-Feet/overview>

She also lent her voice to the character Luann on more the 200 episodes 
of Fox's animated series "King of the Hill," 
<http://movies.nytimes.com/gst/movies/titlelist.html?v_idlist=416246;27445;42071;27444&inline=nyt_ttl> 
and collaborated on a song with the D.J. Paul Oakenfold.

"I don't really take myself very seriously," Ms. Murphy told The San 
Jose Mercury News in 2003. "I've never formally trained in acting, so 
I'm very instinctual and visceral with decisions. It hasn't really been 
a plot or scheme in any way, shape or form."

Indeed, her image often slipped beyond her control. She was repeatedly 
romantically linked to her co-stars, including Ashton Kutcher 
<http://movies.nytimes.com/person/242492/Ashton-Kutcher?inline=nyt-per> 
from "Just Married," 
<http://movies.nytimes.com/gst/movies/titlelist.html?v_idlist=97479;392111;275150&inline=nyt_ttl> 
and a string of broken engagements made her tabloid fodder.

Ms. Murphy married Mr. Monjack in 2007. She is survived by him; her 
mother; her father, Angelo Bertolotti of Branford, Fla.; and a brother.

The Sylvester Stallone 
<http://movies.nytimes.com/person/112464/Sylvester-Stallone?inline=nyt-per> 
film "The Expendables," 
<http://movies.nytimes.com/gst/movies/titlelist.html?v_idlist=16348;456555;216933&inline=nyt_ttl> 
which features Ms. Murphy, is in post-production and is scheduled to be 
released next year.

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