TAKING STOCK DEAD PARENTS

Celebrating the standout stock characters in movies…

Darkness! No parents! The orphan is a storytelling fixture extending back to fairy-tale lore and early literature. Those dead parents ground their children in a recognisable moment of trauma, latching onto a universal tragedy that touches us all in some way. This gives the heroic orphan plenty of unresolved issues to unpack, stranded in a world ripe for exploration, adventure and horror - no safety net, no boundaries. While no superhero would be complete without a dead parental figure (in Spider-Man’s case, a multiverse full of them), Disney has become a wholesale parent-killing factory, ever since the Evil Queen took her fair stepdaughter under her cape in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Meanwhile, modern orphans Harry Potter and the Baudelaire children keep the tradition going long after the Victorian orphanages have closed. Join Buff as it mourns the mums and dads who died to keep their children motivated and sad.

JEFFREY DEAN MORGAN AND LAUREN COHAN

BATMAN V SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE (2016)

Of all dead parents in all of pop culture, none have been deader than Thomas and Martha Wayne. Their traumatic exit from son Bruce’s life left such a gaping hole that he grew up to become a fancy-dressing justice-dispenser (played in this case by Ben Affleck), smashing Gotham’s villains in the face and feuding with the man of steel (Henry Cavill). Most film versions of the Batman have shown the Waynes’ murder in some fashion, and Zack Snyder did so during the opening credits. From Thomas Wayne’s impressive moustache to Martha’s pearl necklace, Snyder gave live-action cinema its most faithful recreation of the historic moment to date. However, what viewers are more likely to remember is the now-infamous ‘Why did you say that name?’ line.

BAMBI’S MUM

PAULA WINSLOWE, BAMBI (1942)

Disney garnered a reputation for killing the parents with their fifth major release, traumatising generations to come with one fateful gunshot. The studio’s most notable dead mum is killed off early in the film, shot by an unseen hunter known only as ‘Man’. This is the inciting event for the young prince’s coming-of-age story, preceding The Lion King and the death of Mufasa by more than 50 years. The body was meant to be shown in the aftermath, but this was later removed, out of fear that it would be too dark. Bambi’s mother lived on with cameos in other animated Disney movies, including Beauty and the Beast, The Sword in the Stone and The Jungle Book… this time being stalked by Shere Khan. She just can’t catch a break.

TED ARROWAY

DAVID MORSE, CONTACT (1997)

Dr. Ellie Arroway (Jodie Foster – with Jena Malone as ‘young Ellie’) is introduced to a lifelong love of science by her father, Ted, who dies of a heart attack during her childhood. Ellie grows up to make the old man proud, following his passion for space into a career in radio astrology. Discovering a series of signals emanating from the stars, Ellie finds definitive proof that intelligent life is out there. Deeming humanity worthy of conversation, the aliens get in touch – choosing Ellie’s father as a comforting physical manifestation, and allowing her to give Dad one last hug. Director Robert Zemeckis had planned on stopping time to show Ted’s fatal heart attack in slow-motion, but settled on the powerful mirror reflection sequence – removing Ted to hone in on Ellie’s horror.

LILY AND JAMES POTTER

GERALDINE SOMERVILLE AND ADRIAN RAWLINS, HARRY POTTER (2001–2011)

Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) never got the opportunity to know his parents. Lily and James died when he was an infant, which in turn led to him being brought up (if you can call it that) by his vile aunt Petunia (Fiona Shaw) and her husband Vernon (Richard Griffiths). The young wizard learned of his magical heritage once Hogwarts came calling, and with it, the revelation that his mum and dad were killed trying to protect him from He Who Must Not Be Named (alright, it was Voldemort). His folks did pop up in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, when Harry got to see their faces thanks to the properties of a magic mirror. Said mirror failed to mention that his dad was a bit of a bully, hence Severus Snape’s visible disdain for Lily and James’ offspring.

HOWARD STARK

DOMINIC COOPER, JOHN SLATTERY, THE MCU (2008–PRESENT)

Much of the rivalry between Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) and Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) came down to a simple case of jealousy and daddy issues. ‘You two knew each other? He never mentioned that. Maybe a thousand times. God, I hated you,’ Tony told his star-spangled frenemy in Civil War. The antagonism only intensified when he learned that Steve’s best pal, Bucky, was responsible for his parents’ murder. John Slattery took over from Dominic Cooper to play the aged-up version of the character, finally giving Tony some resolution in Avengers: Endgame. ‘We don’t look anything alike at all. There’s a certain energy about him, a style of what he’s portraying… which maybe we have an essence of in common,’ Cooper said, on sharing the role.

PHILIPPE RENA LDI

RENÉ AUBERJONOIS, THE PRINCESS DIARIES (2001)

In the book series upon which director Garry Marshall’s coming-of-age comedy is based, Mia Thermopolis’s (Anne Hathaway) father is alive and well, and of great importance to the story. Yet, for this adaptation, his death is the inciting moment which causes Mia to learn of her royal heritage. Having lined up Dame Julie Andrews to play Mia’s grandmother Clarisse, producers wanted to cut dad Philippe and give the Queen his juiciest lines. Upon learning of Andrews’ mooted involvement, author Meg Cabot had no problem with killing off dad. ‘I was like, “Kill the dad, sure,”’ she laughed in an interview. The late René Auberjonois voiced the king in a letter to his daughter, although the picture on Mia’s desk is of Hathaway’s own dad, Gerald.

A POLLO CREED

CARL WEATHERS, CREED (2016–2023)

Legendary athlete Apollo Creed has been dead ever since taking a fatal beating from Ivan Drago (Dolph Lundgren) in 1985’s Rocky IV. Yet the big man’s shadow looms over his love child, Adonis (Michael B. Jordan), in 2016’s Creed. Brought up in an orphanage and later adopted by Apollo’s widow (Phylicia Rashad), Adonis is reluctant to ride his dad’s coattails to the big time – a battle with his father’s legacy that proves tougher than any boxing match. In the ultimate nepo baby fight, 2018’s Creed II gave Donnie closure as he faced down the Dragos. Thankfully, fans were spared the return of Apollo Creed, force ghost. ‘In the original first draft, it was Apollo came back. Or his ghost or something. It was a little hokey, you know,’ Lundgren revealed.

DONNA SHERIDAN

MERYL STREEP, LILY JAMES, MAMMA MIA! HERE WE GO AGAIN (2018)

Star Meryl Streep reprised her role as Donna Sheridan for this follow-up to the hit musical, except now her character was dead, having passed away between films. Director Ol Parker used the matriarch’s absence to explore Donna’s youth as a rebellious young firebrand, with Lily James playing the younger version of the character. However, in re-opening Donna’s diaries, Parker realised that mum would have to die for maximum impact. ‘I think it’s the most meaningful and impactful way to tell that story,’ the director mused. Although the cause of Donna’s death isn’t disclosed, she didn’t go quickly. ‘It wasn’t sudden, it wasn’t a drowning or something. So, something slow,’

Parker later revealed. Whether the family were singing ABBA on mum’s deathbed is also not known.