We’re concluding our summer series, Lost Summer, with an episode dedicated to the actors that died not in old age, looking back at a long, storied career, but that were gone too soon. From tragic silent film icon Rudolph Valentino, via River Phoenix, a teen idol promising to become one of Hollywood’s acting greats, to Philip Seymour Hoffman, a fearless actor who stood out even among amazing ensemble casts: how do we feel about their lives and their deaths? What is our relationship to these people that we largely know from playing fictional characters? Why can it feel like a deeper genuine loss when one of the actors we like dies? And is there a dark side to how fans mourn their idols, and how the movie industry uses its stars as commodities, even in death?

P.S.: Make sure to check out the other entries in our Lost Summer, running from June to September!