From real-life people to fictional ones, characters are the heart and soul of any movie. They’re the person we see the movie through and trust to take us through everything. We form bonds with our favorite characters, who often feel like friends to us. When one of those characters dies, we feel every part of it, mourning their loss. Some movie deaths are unfair and unnecessary, while others might be necessary, expected, and even depicted beautifully. No matter how they happen, losing our favorite characters still has the power to break our hearts. Here are just a few of the beloved characters we didn’t want to die, in no particular order.
9 Beth – Little Women (1994 and 2019)
Little Women has had many adaptations, and one of the saddest parts in them is Beth’s (played by Claire Danes in 1994 and Eliza Scanlen in 2019) death. She gets sick from scarlet fever and recovers while remaining weak. However, despite the hope of her initial recovery, she succumbs to the disease in the end. Her death is sad and made more emotional by the reactions of her sisters, who desperately hoped she would recover again. Beth was the sweetest of the Marches, with her sickness originally coming from helping sick children, and it makes her death truly tragic.
8 Hillary – Beaches (1988)
Beaches is known as a huge tearjerker film, and Hillary’s (Barbara Hershey) death makes that title a well-deserved one. The movie tells the story of Hillary and her childhood friend, CC (Bette Midler). After drifting apart, the two reunite, learning that Hillary has a daughter and a heart condition. CC spends time with Hillary at her beach house, before her eventual death, which makes CC sing to her in tribute. The two friends reconnecting just before Hillary’s death makes you wish they had longer together, and CC’s song adds another layer of emotion.
7 Johnny Cade – The Outsiders (1983)
Telling the story of a group of low-class Greasers in Oklahoma, The Outsiders tackles intense subjects and has a sad death. After a fight with a rival group, Ponyboy (C. Thomas Howell) and Johnny (Ralph Macchio) go into hiding in a barn. When the barn catches fire with kids trapped inside, Johnny recuses them, but gets burned, and breaks his back. He tells Ponyboy to “stay gold,” before succumbing to his injuries. The whole time, the audience is hoping he’ll survive, which makes his death that much sadder when it finally happens, especially because he saw the good in Ponyboy.
6 Leia Organa – Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019)
While viewers knew this was coming due to actress Carrie Fisher’s death in 2016, it didn’t make watching Leia’s death any easier. She gives one final, posthumous appearance in The Rise of Skywalker, where she uses the Force to distract Kylo Ren in order to save Rey, before quietly dying. It's a heroic end for a truly beloved original character, and Fisher’s death makes it all much more heartbreaking and emotional to watch.
5 Apollo Creed – Rocky IV (1985)
As Rocky’s (Sylvester Stallone) original opponent, Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers) has a deep history in the Rocky films, and meets his end in Rocky IV. After agreeing to a boxing match with Ivan Drago (Dolph Lundgren), Rocky trains Creed, who refuses to give up while Drago pummels him. Drago eventually beats Creed to death in the ring, prompting Rocky to fight Drago to avenge him. It’s a violent death, and though they were opponents, the loss of Creed means a lot to Rocky, and to the audience.
4 Old Yeller – Old Yeller (1957)
Often considered to have one of the saddest movie dog deaths by USA Today, Old Yeller tells the story of Travis (Tommy Kirk), a young boy who finds a dog who he calls Old Yeller. The two become close friends, and Old Yeller even protects Travis from a group of hogs. Old Yeller also fights a rabid wolf, who bites him. Travis thinks Old Yeller is safe from rabies, creating a hope that is crushed when he eventually goes rabid. The final emotional hit occurs when Travis shoots Old Yeller himself, causing several tears.
3 Mufasa – The Lion King (1994)
The Lion King is another movie that features a sad animal death. Mufasa (James Earl Jones) is Simba’s father, but also his teacher and guardian, telling him everything he knows about the world. He seems invincible, until he is thrown off a cliff and into a stampede by his brother, Scar. It’s a dark, violent death to watch, and it contrasts with the quiet sadness of Simba finding his dad and trying to wake him up. Collider considers it the saddest Disney movie scene ever, and it earns that title.
2 John Coffey – The Green Mile (1999)
John Coffey (Michael Clarke Duncan) is an inmate in The Green Mile, sentenced to death for killing two girls. Coffey grows close to officer Paul (Tom Hanks), who sees Coffey’s supernatural abilities and believes in his innocence. Though Paul offers him an escape, Coffey says death may be preferable because his abilities make life painful, and he is executed. His death is even more heartbreaking and frustrating because he was innocent, revealing to Paul that fellow inmate Wild Bill actually killed the girls. He was a good man who deserved to live, and his death robs him of that.
1 Tony Stark – Avengers: Endgame (2019)
After over ten years and numerous appearances as the MCU’s main hero, Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) died saving the world in Avengers: Endgame, where everyone teams up to fight Thanos. Viewers had already been hurt by Black Widow’s death earlier in the film, and Tony’s was the final crushing blow. Using the re-built Infinity Gauntlet to kill Thanos is too much for him to take, and he dies after Pepper (Gwyneth Paltrow) tells him it’s okay. Watching the other heroes react in tears makes it one of the most moving death scenes. His death marked the end of this era of the MCU, and of its first hero.