1673: Molière, the French actor and playwright, died after being seized by a violent coughing fit while playing the title role in his play Le Malade imaginaire (The Hypochondriac)

1960 Singer Leonard Warren expired after performing his aria in the second act of the opera La forza del destino at the New York Metropolitan Opera. He was then to perform Don Carlo's act III aria, which begins Morir, tremenda cosa ("to die, a momentous thing"), when he started coughing and gasping. He fell face first to the ground, and it was revealed he had died of a massive heart attack.

1996: Opera singer Richard Versalle died on stage at the Metropolitan Opera during the company's première performance of The Makropulos Case when he suffered a heart attack while standing on a sliding ladder attached to a file cabinet. He was stricken after singing the line, "Too bad you can live only so long."

Regarding Mindy McCready's recent death:

She is the fifth Celebrity Rehab cast member—and the third from Season Three—to die in the last three years.