Charles Rocket

Former Saturday Night Live cast member, Charles Rocket committed suicide by cutting his own throat.

I'm probably in the minority but I always liked Rocket and I thought he had the most talent of the "new" cast that replaced the original Not Ready for Prime Time Players (Belushi, Ackroyd, Radner, etc.). I especially remember one of the Rocket Reports where Rocket followed a Times Square Santa during an average day. That day included spending quality time with Mrs. Claus (Santa coming downstrairs from a message parlor), getting some refreshment (coming out of a liquor store with a bottle of Mad Dog) and curling up for a winter's nap (going to sleep in the gutter). You have to remember that this was back pre-Guiliani when Times Square was a pit and people thought that the Escape from New York vision of the future wasn't far off.

Rocket's method of suicide immediately brought to mind the suicide by singer Elliott Smith who died almost two years ago. Smith tried to cut his own heart out.

I don't know what drove Rocket to such depths of despair but I've long held that Elliott Smith was driven to suicide because of Ben Affleck's movie Gigli (Smith's music was featured in the movie Good Will Hunting and he became associated in many people's minds with Matt Damon and Ben Affleck because of it).