Dorothy Dandridge
Date: September 8, 1965
Drug: Imipramine, AKA Tofranil (antidepressant)
The first African-American to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress, the 42-year-old Dandridge was found dead by her manager from what was diagnosed as “acute drug intoxication.” Her death was ruled to be due to an accidental overdose of Tofranil, an antidepressant that she took for what today might be diagnosed as bipolar disorder. Some people claim that she died from combining the Tofranil with pain medication she was taking for a broken ankle.
“Man cannot cast off this mask; it is a projection of his own flesh and spirit. He can no longer remove from his own face this mask which has already grown like skin and flesh so he is always startled as if disbelieving this is himself, but it is in fact himself. He cannot remove this mask, and this is agony. But having manifested itself as his mask, it cannot be obliterated, because the mask is a replica of himself. It has no will of its own, or one could say it has a will but no means of expression and so prefers not to have a will. Therefore it has left man with an eternal face with which he can examine himself in amazement.” — Gao Xingjian, Soul Mountain
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2. Don Draper of Mad Men
The fourth season of Mad Men saw an already-shaky Don Draper (Jon Hamm) spiral out of control. With an ex who resembles the devil, a struggling start-up agency, and a confused if not unhealthy relationship with booze and cigarettes, Don was definitely starting to lose it — and we’re not buying that Megan is the solution to all of his problems.