Two articles from The New York Times about artists who made it early.
First, If Mozart Had Had Better Health Care; it begins:
Poor Mozart, who died at 35, must have inherited at least the potential for longevity from his parental gene pool.
His father, Leopold Mozart, died at 67, a ripe old age in an era when rampant illnesses claimed the majority of European children in infancy. Sadly, Mozart’s indomitable mother, Anna Maria, died at 58 while in Paris, having contracted viral infections and a severe fever during an arduous trip with her rambunctious, opportunity-seeking 22-year-old son. Mozart’s sister, Nannerl, who had also been a musical prodigy, died in 1829 in Salzburg at the impressive age of 78, having well outlived her husband, an officious Austrian prefect and two-time widower with five children, who resented their stepmother.
Mozart’s death in 1791 was probably caused by streptococcal infection, renal failure, terminal bronchial pneumonia and a matrix of other illnesses, some dating from his childhood, when the Mozart family spent years touring Europe to show off the boy genius and, to a lesser extent, his sister.
Imagine how different music history would have been had Mozart lived to Nannerl’s age.
Then, Some Good News Arrives at Last for a Bad News Bear; the article begins:
In the original “Bad News Bears,” the actor Jackie Earle Haley made a memorable entrance riding a motorbike across a Little League baseball diamond, disrupting the opening day ceremonies. Personifying Bicentennial-era rebel cool, Mr. Haley achieved stardom at the age of 15.
As with so many young actors, though, it has been a long and difficult road ever since for Mr. Haley.