DISNEY STAR SUICIDE!

Disney "stars" are usually people we've never even heard of.

He was veteran; Special Ops. Way too much untreated mental illness for our vets.

[quote]Like spiritually evil. Truth.

Yeah. No.

He was cute, RIP

If he was a child star, then he was probably abused. Hollywood protects the pedophiles.

What r2 said, he also served in the military.

He wasn't just a former actor.

Enough of the Illuminati demon conspiracies, Poo.

He's not a Disney star so much as he starred in one Disney film back in 2004. Miracle's a solid movie by the way... a lot of hotties in it. Anyway, he's not like Shia or Raven or Demi. He left the business a long time ago and joined the army. I'm sure that had more to do with his death than one Disney film.

Here's a link that should actually open:

He sold his soul to the devil for fame, as most of them do.

Sooner or later their bill comes due.

Hmmmm

Click-bait topic lines won't win you any fans, OP. Don't be so stupid.

Who joins the army after staring in a movie? He may have been troubled for a long time.

One acting job in a Disney ensemble movie, one on a tv movie and one movie that has a 0% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Some people have an odd idea what a "Disney Star" is. I agree that this is unrelated to Disney and more likely some PTSD effect.

I wonder who'll get his stuff?

He was really good in "Miracle". Rotten Tomatoes sometimes gets it wrong.

But he didnt have muh of a career after that movie. It was Kurt Russell's dream in life to make that movie (really the life story of Herb Brooks, whose autobiography was surprisingly good! He was a psychology major in college, and really got in to understandng motivation and the bonds of a team in working towards a common goal. His work was cited by some pretty impressive military historians.).

But this actor had a huge nose, and I can tell from the pix, had it fixed. And it apparently didn't help is movie career because shortly thereafter he went into the military and served in Iraq.

so really who knows why he killed himself? I tend to think it was not the failed Hollywood career though. i tend to think it was the contrast between those two things that would eat away at anyone's soul......

Most people who join the military are "troubled". In fact, I think it's a pre-requisite.

Op, you should thank your lucky stars that you do not have severe depression. Or depression of any kind.

It bothers me that there are still people who say things like "just depression."

Seriously Op, perpetuating ignorant ideas like someone being too "hot" to commit suicide is nauseating and it makes you sound dumb.

The Rotten Tomatoes score of 0 was for his movie Surfer, Dude. Miracle has a score of 80% from critics, 90% from the public on Rotten Tomatoes. I was referring to the former, not the latter.

Whatever happened to Dr. Laura's deranged military kid?

Beautiful people have no reason to commit suicide. I thought this was established eons ago.

So sad. And he died in his prime. May he find the peace in death that he could not find in life.

If I had beautiful hair like his suicide would not even come to mind....

Possible post traumatic stress disorder? I will never get used hearing people committing suicide.

It is bad luck to allow R20 into your home.

The closet kills!

Reading a bunch of idiots talk shit about mental Illness is really sick. I thought this place was full of educated individuals???

His fight scene in MIRACLE looked real, I believed he wanted the other guy to bleed (which is in-character as the real 'OC' was nasty on-ice).

He had a gorgeous smile too, sad loss. Weird he didn't work more, he was charismatic enough to have gotten more than three movie credits.

He looked very happy to be on the MIRACLE set. Here at just past 2m there's a wonderful giggly outtake - he could not get a one-liner right.

R28 man, they all look like they're having the time of their life, there. Bittersweet, no? Mantenuto was so handsome.

Wonder if his Miracle costars will gather together to remember him, have a drink or get on the ice in his memory? They seemed to adore him if that BTS footage is any indication. Even if in the 10 or 12 years just gone they haven't spoken, people don't ever truly forget the good times in life, no matter how long ago they happened. It would be a way to give this sad situation at least one good outcome. Afaik Kurt Russell personally hired all those kids for his movie and got to love them like sons (Miracle was his directorial passion project) so he'll likely want to toast Michael in some way.

The Army will likely give generously to take care of his wife & kids but a fundraiser couldn't hurt either, bereaved single parents need all the help the can get. It must be so difficult to explain to a child how their father died in this way.

[quote]If I had beautiful hair like his suicide would not even come to mind....

It doesn't make a lick of difference, R22.

maybe he got fat.

Was Michael a homosexual?

According to IMBD trivia for Miracle:

[quote] During the casting process (a major part of which took place on a rink to demonstrate hockey skills) Michael Mantenuto got into a physical fight with another audition hopeful, who had picked on him and other guys on the ice during 'tryouts'. He apologized to Casting Director Gavin O'Connor afterwards, to which Gavin responded, "No, that was good." Michael ended up winning the part of O'Callahan, the defenseman dubbed 'the first one to drop his gloves', because of his abilities on skates and his real-life willingness to start a scrap out on the ice.

Mantenuto was also the actor/player chosen to head the the official Miracle promo poster in press, even though his character Jack O'Callahan was neither the lead protagonist (Kurt Russell's coach Herb Brooks) nor the 'team leader' (Eddie Cahill's goaltender Jimmy Craig) nor 'star player' (Eric Peter-Kaiser's scorer 'Magic' Mark Johnson).

Depression is not evil enough for you OP? Maybe if it put some devil horns on? Flashed its tits at you? Did a naughty little dance on your lap? What would it take for you to understand that depression kills? A momento perhaps?

"A bruise on the leg is a hell of a long way from the heart." - Herb Brooks

Just goes to show you how feeding macho bullshit to young men works out, where picking up a weapon to become a machine is deemed 'noble' while earning bread with a talent (artistic or otherwise) is not a way to live 'like a man'. There must be soldiers to protect freedom, yes, but how many capable young men are coerced or forced into the Forces?

Here's hoping Mike put on those dogtags of his own accord because he deeply wanted to protect & serve in his heart, and that financial or societal pressures had nothing to do with it, as unfortunately they do with many who enlist.

r28 That was 8 years ago, maybe he was happy but 8 years is a long time.

[quote] Miracle is a solid movie by the way... a lot of hotties in it.

I rewatched over the weekend just to remember Michael (I used to wear out the disc of Miracle when it first came out). I'd forgotten what a great movie it is, far above the usual cheap standard of a Disney live-action or biopic. It's so exciting in places that you forget you're watching a movie about a damn hockey game (a long & mostly uneventful one). Kurt Russell really takes you inside Herb Brooks' head, the cinematography is beautiful & absorbing while subtly executed, and the look and sound of the movie fits the period exactly. It's impressive and worth seeing at least once even if you hate Disney movies and you hate sports movies (as I do), with the only real letdown being the cheesy dialogue. Shout-out to the wonderful actress Patty Brooks for her performance, she absolutely glows in Miracle and nails every line.

And yes, the eye candy is superb. Not to bring the tone down but Michael (R.I.P.) was very pretty as others have said. There's also Eddie Cahill is in his beefy soulful prime here (pre-Friends, I believe?) and cutie Nathan Lane (who has been married since Miracle wrapped but really seems gay to me?). The studly guys who played Ralph Cox and Buzz Schneider were hella cute too (forget their names, sorry). My personal favourite of the 1980 team was Mark Johnson, here played by the winsome innocent Erik-Peter Kaiser who looks like he's begging to be ravished throughout the movie.

^ Nathan Lane?!

lmao, meant Nathan West

It's so sad that this young man chose to end his life because his pain was too much for him to bear any longer.

I believe his military service changed something inside him for the worse. The high rates of suicide among military personnel is alarming and tragic. War is hell and the inner demons that surface within one's mind are the real forces of hell at work here.

[quote]Who joins the army after staring in a movie? He may have been troubled for a long time.

Um, me you dumb as rocks twinks.

I'm pretty sure that wasn't voluntary R43.

You play fast and loose with that "hot" descriptor.

Chill R45. The guy just lost his life in a tragic & upsetting way, why start ragging on the way he looked? True that success and attractiveness are relative, but that doesn't make him ugly or a failure. In life Mantenuto did well at whatever he did attempt, and had his fair share of admiration for his looks too.

Even if not to all tastes he was good-looking enough for a supporting role in a period movie like Miracle (where it was meant to be the end of the '70s for context) and he was most definitely good-looking enough for hockey (if not -too- good-looking...have you seen some of those mashed-up NHL hires?).

Sad that Michael did not outlast the man he played in MIRACLE. The real Jack O'Callahan is now in his 60s.

[quote]The guy just lost his life in a tragic & upsetting way, why start ragging on the way he looked

So? I didn't kill him.

R36 that made me start choke-sobbing, holy shit.

I'm sure if you look hard enough, the number 33 will appear.

R50 Confused by your comment; please explain.

OT but this reminds me of a Disney Scene-It! quiz question on The Mighty Ducks Trilogy (yep, there are literally three movies) I unexpectedly blanked on once.

I couldn't remember Coach Bombay's first name. I have seen those movies over a dozen times each at least (younger sibs, babysitting) and for the life of me I could not remember that Bombay was a 'Gordon' even though his name is said out-loud plenty of times. I remembered Adam Banks' jersey number (#99) but not the full name the main character of every single Mighty Ducks movie.

[post redacted because linking to dailymail.co.uk clearly indicates that the poster is either a troll or an idiot (probably both, honestly.) Our advice is that you just ignore this poster but whatever you do, don't click on any link to this putrid rag.]

That article would have it that Michael's chronic & severe depression led to his death, in combination with the shock of his father's stroke. It suggests Micheal was happy & fulfilled in his Army work...interesting.

The woman they interviewed from his therapy group is a riot. "I want to kick his ass for this."

His UMaine teammates have fond memories of him, saying he was a 'popular' and outgoing joker.

Poor guy. Quite a few people showed up in his Reddit thread saying that they knew him and loved him.

On hearing the news last week, the real Jack O'Callahan shared kind words about his movie counterpart (they met several times during the filming of Miracle).

Was he family?

"What drives successful, hot people to do this?"

was he either?

The really freaky part about his death is that one of his co-stars in MIRACLE died the day after he did.

Russian actor Sasha Lacovic, who portrayed Soviet hockey team captain Boris Mikhailov in MIRACLE, died 04/25/17 after succumbing to terminal brain cancer. He was only in his 40's.

R59 imo he was a hottie when he was still acting, and a good several hundred other people thought so.

Don't know how he aged into those looks but he was a beautiful young Italian for a minute.

Mantenuto and O'Callahan actually attended the Miracle premiere together at the El Capitan Theater in '04. That must have been a huge deal for Michael as a hockey player/fan.

And it looks like the legit 'OC' only had nice things to say about Michael, what a classy guy. According to him, Michael was a theatre major and Varsity Hockey while he was studying in Maine.

Doubtful, R32. Miracle was kind of a gay movie in a certain light, though.

[quote] O’Connor says he thinks of “Miracle” as a love story – a love story among men, as well as between Herb and his wife, Patti. “I’ve had many conversations with Jack O’Callahan, and the theme he emphasized to me was how close these twenty kids became and how much they loved each other,” O’Connor continues. “It was instrumental in their cohesion as a team and how well they played together and in their wanting to succeed for this crazy like a fox coach who united them.”

His first hockey coach died around the same time his dad had a stroke. That probably left scars.

[quote] After Coach Shawn Walsh died of cancer in September 2001, Mantenuto left Maine. After transferring to Massachusetts-Boston, Mantenuto learned about the 'Miracle' casting call. He has relocated to California to pursue an acting career.

His Miracle co-star and old friend, the actor Patrick O'Brien Demsey (he played Mantenuto's fellow Bostonian Mike 'Rizzo' Eruzione') shared his grief via Twitter last week. Poor kid sounds broken up.

[quote] "Manto, we just spoke, you sounded so happy. I'm heartbroken."

I'm sad for his kids, and the little kids he coached in hockey. They probably won't understand his absence but they will feel it nonetheless. Hopefully one of Michael's little charges will go on to the NHL.

There's a legacy.com guestbook if anyone wants to leave a condolence message. It's free and anonymous, and any messages can be viewed by family/friends and other page visitors. You can also send flowers.

Cambridge Fire Dept. had their flags at half-staff last week (the 4th) in memoriam.

With a name like 'Mantenuto' (a verb meaning 'to keep on/maintain/sustain' in Italian), you'd expect him to make 80.

G2S, hopefully it wasn't foul play.

Don't worry, he was just body checked by Jesus.

That's a Jack O'Callahan calibre joke, R70. W&W, because I think Mike would appreciate the levity.

R67 some heartwrenching condolences on that page, especially from his fellow soldiers. This one kinda got to me:

[quote] April 28, 2017: My freind, i heard the news today, knocked me to my knees, ill miss you. i saw in you a brother, time only defined our likeness, you will never be forgotten, your stories your smiles... i will watch down here as you watch from above, rest easy wardog, till Valhalla - Jeremiah Adkins, WA

Ice hockey, "bad ass" soldiering. Two arenas for the performance of masculinity and heterosexuality that drive young men to self-destruction when they realize that it's all bullshit.

Mike wasn't a macho guy, he wanted to act after college & Varsity rather than tryout for NHL. He was a bruiser on ice but not a goon, and by all accounts a sweetheart off the ice (though he had addictions).

Safe to assume he probably struggled with some PTSD and maybe in acting he'd have escaped that, but he met with more closed doors than he expected in the entertainment biz and had a little girl at home to feed, so probably felt he had to make tough choices. Not sure why he had a kid at 18 years old but these things don't always go to plan (high school boys are dummies about sex) and hindsight is 20/20.

Think he may have been pressured into more 'masculine' professions by his family, R73? That could be, since a young low-income family needs a steady pay-check and men are expected to provide a large part of that. It's a fucking shame and a huge waste of a talented guy if that is what happened, but wcyd.

Did we ever get the bottom of this mystery? It’s been 8months with no reported developments..

Why not Taylor Swift instead?

Is Swifty even a D—ney affiliate?

Did he at least get to see Kurt Russell's cock?

r77 who cares?

PTSD from taking it up the arse as a kid.

PTSD from military action.

There’s not been any evidence to say Michael was a victim of abuse R80. He wasn’t a child of the showbiz industry (he got his first acting gig in college) and by all reports had a happy & safe homelife.

Something may have happened at school or in his youth hockey career but nothing has come to light. Michael was very depressed when his highschool hockey coach passed away, but the bond they had was like that of a father/son. Consensus right now says Michael had PTSD & general depression.

It’s a whole lot sadder watching that Christmas scene in MIRACLE, now.

I've been down this weekend and my thoughts have drifted to Michael, what he'd be doing if he'd have lived.

The lack of closure is really eerie. He's still missed and would feel better to know the reason for mourning. On the other hand his family and kids have a right to their privacy over public comfort.

On IG there’s an active account for a living guy also named Micheal Mantenuto who plays pro-hockey. Wtf..

[quote] "Tell ya boy to keep his head up, he won't hafta worry about it."

- Jack 'O.C.' Callahan, MIRACLE (2004)

Like his co-stars Mike didn't have a stunt-double for any of the bloody painful checks in MIRACLE, and his performance looked so authentic for that. He got pummelled by huge Slavic guys on the reg throughout that shoot, all while having to learn the ropes of acting in a big-budget picture at just 21 years old.

He obviously relished the project even with the tough physicality. On this Hollywood Archive interview there's footage showing Mike was playfully flirting with Nathan West (who played Rob 'Mac' McClanahan) to put him at ease before shooting their brawl scene, where Mike had to ground & pound Nathan. MIRACLE was a tense, expensive shoot under close scrutiny but first time out of the gate as an actor Mike somehow had confidence to just breeze into a scene smirking and joking like "let's get it on!". He may have been a skilled hockey player from coaching but his charisma was natural, you can't teach that.

In ‘04 he was one of the ‘Stars on the Rise’ models for Abercrombie & Fitch back when they still did that.

He had that dreamy, winsome, clean-linen early ‘90s look down.

Beautiful.

R65 trivia: O'Brien Dempsey played a minor SHIELD agent in the first THOR movie. Probably the smallest speaking-role in the MCU and he didn't get carried forward to the sequels, but still it's good exposure.

None of the boys who played the Lake Placid team exactly hit the big time considering they were all talented kids who could work plus nice-looking on camera, Mantenuto foremost. Eddie Cahill is the biggest name among them and only because he once played a love interest of Jen Aniston. Nathan West has (or had?) a popular rock band in the Christian community called East of Eden. I don't know about or can't track down the others. It would be cool to see them reunite for a sitdown retrospective of MIRACLE@15, or even a goofy YT vid--perhaps they could do something next Spring to commemorate the two years since Michael's death?

^^Just 6 weeks from now will mark two years since Mike's death. Man, that time went fast.

I like the reunion idea. Even just a short Twitter/IG video with Dempsey, Cahill & West or even with Mantenuto's daughter would feel right and fitting as a remembrance. I hope Mantenuto's family are holding up ok.

Yeah people have only committed suicide since Disney was founded

And I’m still here.

10 days ago, he’d have turned 38 years old.

Next week he’ll have been dead 2 years. Time is just too fucking short, man..

The enemy is trying to kill and destroy.

He looked like if someone had isolated DiCaprio’s prettiest and hottest features and superimposed them on a sexier man.

His story is awful and tragic.

TIL Mission 22, a Veteran Rehab Project set up to raise awareness and prevent military suicides, was in part set up to honor the memory of Mantenuto and continue his work helping depressed former servicemen/women. The death tolls for this group are extremely high.

It doesn't make his loss any less of a shame or a sad senseless cut-off, but it's something to ease the sting.

What is R94 babbling about?

Happy to report The Mighty Ducks are all fine and well.

the Disney curse is intact

^but see, that’s the part I just don’t get. Mike wasn’t a child or teen star at Disney, and not an icon pin-up like say Miley or the Jonas Brothers. Mantenuto was just a nice-looking dude who years ago happened to be one of several leads in one semi-popular feelgood Disney movie for adults. He was College-age when they shot it, and willingly volunteered to be cast and do his own stunts etc. Afterwards he didn’t do another project for the Mourse, and had no fame or success in Entertainment. Why would he be a target?

This thread smells of 💩

R99 nah tempting as it is to blame Mickey I think this time it’s the MI-compl ex curse.

[quote]Don't worry, he was just body checked by Jesus.

More likely he was fucked as a child by a Hollywood exec or two or three.

Probably he was a cat lover who had to work with dogs, and couldn't take it anymore.

RiP.

PS. How can blind people read this article? Do they have to print it out to a special printer?

OP you're a fucking moron.

R104 Blind people use special apps. Mac computers have VoiceOver. A voice like Siri or Alexa reads the text out loud. My blind friend's Mac laptop has a male voice in VpiceOver. Cell phones and tablets have VoiceOver or something similar. They are located in " Accessibility."

There was a damn G lock at the scene.

Either he was hardcore and his demons were ferocious, or..

R98 um. I'm just gonna leave this here.

Disney ruined my life

R98 hopefully Shaun Weiss isn’t going to be joining Mantenuto that soon...:/