This site, as I've probably mentioned too many times, wouldn't exist if I hadn't become obsessed with Buffy the Vampire Slayer back in 1997. I got a job in Los Angeles in 2001 and had the remarkable fangirly opportunity to go to several Buffy-related autograph events. I took the photo on the top right at the release party for "Once More, With Feeling," the Buffy musical, at Tower Records in 2002.
It's sometimes hard to remember that Michelle Trachtenberg was still a child when she worked on Buffy, and while her character wasn't popular with some fans, I've always thought a lot of her work in Buffy's fifth and sixth season was adult-level and exceptional. When I think of her, I picture the ballet in the middle of the Buffy musical, and remember several of the delightful Spike-and-Dawn scenes she did with James Marsters.
A number of her co-stars are contributing lovely comments and remembrances.
I'm going to stop here because I'm at a loss for words. It was so unexpected. She was so young. Rest in peace, Michelle. You should have had more time.
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Billie Doux loves good television and spends way too much time writing about it.
I was never all that much of a fan of Dawn or Michelle, however, she has been in my head as a part of Buffy for so long that she feels almost like a part of a weird extended family. We welcome these characters and actors into our lives, let them dance around our imaginations and by doing so they become a part of us. I cannot quantify how much Buffy has influenced me as a person and a writer, and Michelle had a role in that. The world seems a touch dimmer without her out there, just like every celebrity that has passed before her.
ReplyDeleteNot to steal any of her thunder, or the genuine grief that coincides with the death of someone who was important in some way, especially when they are that young. But as these things tend to happen in groups (generally three), Gene Hackmen died today at 95. He has a different but no less important place in my mind palace as Lex Luthor and so many other influential roles. May they both rest in peace and lets hope the rule doesn't take another in the coming days.
This is heartbreaking. Definitely a shock, she was so young. I keep going back to Buffy telling Dawn "the hardest thing in this world is to live in it."
ReplyDeleteMay Michelle rest in peace.
I didn't believe the news at first, or that maybe there was a second Michelle that I didn't know about. It's just so, so tragic.
ReplyDeleteHey character arc on Six Feet Under was also fabulous work. And proved how much Dawn was a performance and not her actual personality
ReplyDeleteSarah Michelle Gellar just posted this:
ReplyDelete“Michelle, listen to me. Listen. I love you. I will always love you. The hardest thing in this world, is to live in it. I will be brave. I will live… for you"
I was one of the fans who didn't care much for Dawn, although I didn't aggressively dislike her as some did. I never blamed Michelle though. She was a talented actress playing a role as written. I hadn't seen anything of Michelle lately. Looking at pictures from the last few years now, she was clearly very sick.
ReplyDeleteRIP Michelle Trachtenberg. You were way too young.
I was so sad to hear this news. While I didn't initially like Dawn very much, the character grew on me. I'm just a few episodes away from Dawn's introduction in my latest Buffy rewatch, and it will be very poignant to watch those seasons. I also rewatched some of Gossip Girl not too long ago and was struck by how fantastic she was as the deliciously sociopathic Georgina Sparks. RIP to a talented woman whom we lost far too soon.
ReplyDeleteI'm still not over it :( I can't believe they left her out of The Oscars' In Memoriam section too. I didn't know/love her from Buffy btw, I loved her way back from Pete & Pete and Harriet The Spy. So even though she was older than me when she died, it still feels like losing someone young.
ReplyDelete