There’s no rest for the spectacularly successful.
For some celebrities, even death, what should be the final curtain call, fails to dim the public’s fascination with their images and what they represent.
The recent passings of comedian Chris Farley and Cher’s sidekick-turned-congressman, Sonny Bono, have prompted tributes and tears, but popular culture experts doubt that they, or any number of other celebrities, have what it takes to reach idol status. It’s a select group of stars whose luster remains strong even decades after their careers and lives have ended.
For example, despite continuing tabloid reports to the contrary, the king of rock ‘n’ roll is still dead. But that did not deter Elvis fans who this week marked his birthday with pilgrimages to Graceland and a host of special events.
Why is it that some celebrities, such as Elvis, James Dean and Marilyn Monroe, draw sighs from the public long after their final breath? There’s no set formula to predict exactly which celebrities will achieve idol status, popular culture experts say, but some points toward or away from eternal remembrance have been noted.
For one thing, at 62, Bono was too old. “Most of the icons that die and go on to have great followings die young,” according to Irv Rein, professor of communication studies at Northwestern University and the author of “High Visibility,” which talks about how people are transformed into stars.
A colleague agreed. “We do tend to care more about youth, particularly youth tragically lost, than we do about wise old age,” said Alison Scott, head librarian of the popular culture library at Bowling Green State University in Ohio.
The stars who never fade oftentimes are rebels, with causes or otherwise. They stand for something in the public’s mind, Rein said. “They usually represent something tumultuous–Presley symbolized rock ‘n’ roll,” Rein said.
While Farley, at 33, undoubtedly died young, “he didn’t change the way we lived,” an important prerequisite for legend status, said Mark Roesler, chairman and CEO of CMG Worldwide, which represents celebrity clients living and dead. His client roster includes Marilyn Monroe, James Dean, Liberace and the racehorse Secretariat.
Although Bono did manage to reinvent himself from a second banana to a fledgling-statesman, neither he nor Farley were viewed as voices for much of their particular generations.
A fickle public dictates who achieves lasting fame, as well as who becomes an also-ran. The criteria are not necessarily fair or evenly applied; if they were, we might have seen a similar amount of Elvis-like hoopla devoted to the 20th anniversaries of the passings of crooner Bing Crosby, rocket scientist Wernher von Braun and author Anais Nin, who also all died in 1977.
The reactions to the deaths of Diana, Princess of Wales, and Mother Teresa in the same month last year, show how the public’s fancy is not based solely on the number or weight of worthwhile endeavors. How many stayed up to watch the princess’ funeral? How many rearranged their schedules to tune into Mother Teresa’s memorial?
Diana was perceived as having a strong connection to women leading more typical lives, Rein said. She had mother-in-law problems like many married women; in her case, they were exacerbated by her break from royal tradition that had kept the personal lives of the ruler’s offspring relatively private.
“All of her faults have disappeared into this flame of martyrdom. Some celebrities we celebrate because they are not real to us, they’re a myth, or they’re someone we identify with,” said Scott, noting that Diana managed to represent fairy-tale princess and struggling mother.
The public’s habit of elevating celebrities, breathing or not, to a higher plane is hardly a recent development. Autograph albums predate the Civil War in this country. British popular history is replete with heroes; Lord Byron, for instance, enjoyed an enormous following in his heyday, Scott said.
“It was not simply because he was a fine poet, but because of his reputation as a romantic hero,” Scott said. “The fact that he died young in the Greek revolution did not do that celebrity a darn bit of damage.”
Celebrity worship intensified with the advent of motion pictures early in this century “when the Hollywood film people discovered stars could sell movies,” Rein said. Professional imagemakers were hired by film studios to mold their talent into stars, coaching them on how to walk and speak, even arranging dates for some actors and actresses as they ventured out into Hollywood society.
With the loosening of the chokehold that movies had on the national psyche after World War II, the system spread to include sports heroes, who now are armed with agents and publicists, in addition to athletic talent.
Also joining the ranks of celebrities on a course for idol consideration are hotshots from such formerly glamorless fields as business and the law. Bill Gates, who has youth, a geeky charisma and let’s not forget money, seems very promising.
Successful people in such fields have always enjoyed stature, but not on a national scale. Now, a bit of self-promotion is beginning to change that. It may not be the most respect-worthy developer or accountant whose name comes first to mind; it may be the person most adept at tooting his or her own horn.
“The rules about being well-known have changed. Modesty is no longer in. Now being flamboyant and talking about your skills is accepted,” said Rein, noting the increasing appearances of practitioners from a variety of fields on television programs–Johnnie Cochran, Martha Stewart, Donald Trump.
This type of celebrity still does not have the otherworldly type of staying power that seems to be the domain of movie and music stars.
Guiding living celebrities, such as Sophia Loren, in a way that will make idols of them is not a whole lot different from going to bat for the families of idols dead but established, such as Babe Ruth, Roesler said.
“You let them know what the particular deal is and what you think of it and what the financial parameters are and then you go from there,” Roesler said of his clients.
Any proposal that would distort the image of the celeb will get a swift thumbs down, Roesler said. For example, Dean’s family members rejected a James Dean rubber duck bath toy.
Dean and another movie idol, Marilyn Monroe, are by far the most popular images requested, Roesler said. He estimated that the firm evaluates between 600 and 800 pitches for Monroe a year. About 20 percent of the requests are classified as miscellaneous, while the remainder break down as 40 percent each for advertising endorsements and specific products with the star’s image on them.
“It’s our job to manage the legend and to protect their valuable property rights,” Roesler said.
Even idols’ property itself has a market, a tradition that dates back to the collection of saints’ relics, said David Redden, executive vice president of Sotheby’s auction house in New York.
“To hold something in your hand that was held by somebody who you have some extraordinary feeling about has enormous meaning,” said Redden, who served as the auctioneer for the property of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.
“She was such an extraordinary person, and has such a great hold over the imagination of so many people . . . it was a question of everything having some significance,” Redden recalled.
As the Internet joins television in providing an instantaneous forum for people to become famous, Redden said he would not be surprised to see an increase in celebrity auctions, as more wannabes achieve their 15 minutes in the spotlight. Whether such instant idols will endure is anyone’s guess, but the search for them remains eternal.
“People need to believe in other people,” Redden said. “It’s a wonderful human trait that there are some people we view as heroes and heroines.”
