Murphy’s Flaw

Or
Girl, Interrupted

Or
Riding in this Car Alone

Or
Tai Died

Or
Drop Dead Gorgeous
(More merit for Monty)
Brittany Murphy, who played Dabney Coleman’s daughter in Drexell’s Class, has died at the age of 32 after being found in the shower in full cardiac arrest. After a fairly normal role in Clueless, Murphy made her mark playing skinny big-eyed girls in various states of mental disturbance. She was the community bicycle (everyone gets a ride) in Summer Catch, a suicidal girl with a hankering for rotisserie chicken in Girl, Interrupted, the psycho with the key to rescuing her therapist’s daughter in Don’t Say a Word, a vapid actress turned nanny for an ignored little rich girl in Uptown Girls, When she did get to play a normal character, life wasn’t any easier – she played the virgin pursued by a serial killer in Cherry Falls and in Just Married, she had to act opposite Ashton Kutcher. Other roles included a guest spot in what must have been a very special episode of Blossom, and the voice of big-hearted, dim-witted Luann on King of the Hill. Her date to the high school prom was the similarly short-lived Jonathan Brandis, proving their “Least Likely to Attend Their 20-Year Reunion” award was remarkably prescient.