No Dry Eyes Here: The Most Emotionally Devastating Movie Deaths

There's no greater pain than seeing a character you love die. Believe me, I'm still hung up over the death of Tom Keen in The Blacklist. But unfortunately, people die – in real life and in movies, and there's not much we can do afterwards than find peace with it.

Recently, a Reddit user asked, “What was the saddest death in movie history?”

Moviegoers have responded with the TV deaths that absolutely broke their hearts. Here they are.

1. John Coffey (The Green Mile)

the-green-mile-john-coffey
Image Credit: Warner Bros.

“I wept in the theater so hard people around me became worried,” u/Jmac0585 said.

Someone added, “Also the scene of him watching the film and he's just staring at the screen like an innocent child.”

2. Thomas J. Sennett (My Girl)

my girl 1991
Image Credit: Columbia Pictures.

Reddit u/JayzieDreamSquare dirty. They said, “I literally just recovered from this after three years and THE FIRST THING I see is this.”

“I just watched My Girl last night, and D–N, I didn’t remember the story at all and the ending was just sad as hell,” u/netwolf420 said.

3. Lennie Small (Of Mice and Men)

lennie small of mice and men
Image Credit: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

u/schroedingersnewcat said, “Came to say this. I refuse to watch the movie after reading the book.”

“Understandable! Utterly heartbreaking,” u/AcidicWatercolor said.

“Tell me again about the rabbits, George…”

4. Shelby Eatenton-Latcherie (Steel Magnolias)

steel magnolias imdb tristar pictures
Image Credit: Tri-Star Pictures.

“Her mother saying ‘I can jog to Texas and back…but my daughter can't' absolutely guts me,” someone said.

“Sally fields acting was so amazing in that scene,” another said.

5. Leslie Burke (Bridge to Terabithia)

bridge-to-terabithia
Image Credit: Buena Vista Pictures Distribution.

u/missblissful70 said, “My son is still mad at me for reading him that book when he was 10. He was infuriated.”

“I came here for this one. This killed me and I hate you,” u/EagleDouble said.

“We watched this movie in 7th grade language arts, and when Leslie died, I burst out crying in the middle of class. I tried hard to keep it in, but my overly sensitive self just couldn't handle it,” InvisibleKineticSand said.

6. Ellie Fredricksen (Up)

up-movie-elle-carl
Image Credit: Walt Disney Studios
Motion Pictures.

A Redditor shared a heartbreaking story:

“This one is particularly tough for me… My wife hasn't seen the movie (she's not at all into animated movies), but everything up until the death is our situation.”

“We can not have kids (it will almost certainly kill her and two tragically awful miscarriages drive that point home to us), her family has a strong history of shortened lifespans, and she is often not terribly well.”

“We make the best of things and have only the highest hopes for our futures. But her end is going to crush me and we both know it's coming sooner than later.”

“Then I watch that movie and I can't make it past the first thirty minutes because it's our life right in front of me. The lost look on her face when they learn she can't have kids… The wistful longing sitting in the sun, the weak hand while climbing the small hill… It's all the same.”

7. Gage Creed (Pet Sematary)

pet sematary movie
Image Credit: Paramount Pictures.

“Little toddler Gage in Pet Sematary hit me pretty hard when I first saw it. Of course, sometimes dead is bettah,” u/No_Instance_1851 shared.

“Yeah that one hit me like a truck,” someone replied.

8. Cedric Diggory (Harry Potter)

harry potter and the goblet of fire
Image Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures.

“It's the music that gets me!” someone said.

“I cried for that one,” someone added.

Another said, “I'm a huge Harry Potter Nerd. Currently reading Goblet of Fire to my 9 year old at bedtime and I’m dreading the end because it always hits so hard.”

9. Bambi's Mother (Bambi)

bambi movie
Image Credit: RKO Radio Pictures (United States).

u/jsveiga shared, “He was calling and looking for her, and 4 year old me cried out loud ‘Your mommy is deeeaaaaad bhuahuaaaaa.' The movie theater went down in laughter.

“The saddest, most cruel things I saw in my childhood were all from Disney. Why did our parents make us see those tragedies?”

10. Andrew Beckett (Philadelphia)

philadelphia
Image Credit: Tristar International

Someone said, “I've never watched the movie all the way through but the Neil Young song that plays at the end is pretty wrenching!”

This article was produced and syndicated by Wealth of Geeks.


Boloere Seibidor, fondly called B.S. is a Nigerian-based writer and poet. Her favorite topics to cover include music, especially Hip-Hop, film, lifestyle, and fashion. She's been published by Feral Journal, Fantasy Magazine, The Temz Review, and most notably, Wealth of Geeks. She enjoys romantic dinners, movie nights, and touring new sites. When she's not writing, she's delving back in time to the underground world of Hip-Hop, watching TikTok, or visiting the cinema.