'Burning Dan,' Brother of Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Dies

By Maggie Coughlan Posted Oct 6th 2010 10:02AM

Dan Gordon-Levitt, better known as "Burning Dan" and the proud brother of actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt, died early Monday at age 36.

Joseph announced his brother's passing on Twitter on Tuesday evening, "My super hero brother @burningdan 1974-2010. Celebrate his life here ~ http://bit.ly/dBTMQ8 because he's f*cking awesome."

The cause of death is unknown at this time, however officials from the L.A. County Coroner's office told RadarOnline.com that drugs are suspected to have played a role. Coroner's spokesperson Ed Winter said Gordon-Levitt was pronounced dead on Oct. 4 at 3:58 a.m. in Hollywood. Two friends were with him at the time.

"Burning Dan" taught flow arts, which he described as, "a combination of performance art and dance and meditation and yoga and sort of self-transformation, to give you a fun way of doing something that's really good for you and helps you be an even smoother, more awesome person than you already were," in a recent interview with PopEater.

Dan started a school in Los Angeles to share his passion of flow arts."It's one of the things I love about the flow arts community around the world -- is how giving, generous and sharing everybody is," he said of his profession.

The two brothers shared a close relationship, conceptualizing hitRECORD.org, an online community of artists and filmmakers, together and eventually seeing it evolve into a popular destination for creatives.

"BURNING dAN brightly embodied that bold beastly bliss sometimes referred to as "the creative spirit." He was my chief collaborator on the foundational incarnations of hitRECord.org over the years and continues to inspire us ever the more. He would absolutely positively insist that we not let this bad news deter us on our collective mission. That said, I might not feel up to it for a little while," Gordon-Levitt wrote of his brother on hitRECord.org on Tuesday.

As Joseph's older brother, Dan beamed over the actor's success saying, "It's wonderful to be mistaken for him. He taught me to question the relationships other people have with their siblings because he would be my favorite person in the world even if I wasn't lucky enough to know him as my brother. He's just awesome in every way that I pay attention to. I ask myself 'do I love him because he's my brother or is he really that awesome?' He's really, really awesome."

Send Your Condolences to JGL on Facebook

Comments

(32)

Wednesday 06 October

By kel

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Such sad news. I just read that interview with him the other day. He seemed like a pretty cool guy who loved his brother. My condolences to all the people who knew and loved Dan.

By Daniel Boni

I don't know his brother either but I'm sure you know Joseph Gordon-Levitt. He was the kid on Third Rock from the SUn and he was in that huge movie with Zooey Deschanel, "100 days of summer" and he hosted SNL, which was pretty great. Oh yeah and he was in a film called "Inception" wih Leo Dicaprio that I heard was pretty big. You know what, instead of saying "who and who?" there's this crazy awesome site called, wikipedia, check it out.

By bitter mistress

too sad can only imagine what its like to lose a sibling and a good friend.

By kmhjbh

My condolences to his brother and the rest of his family. May he rest in peace

By MightyMad

RIP Dan. My condolences to his family.

... and MeLu, you're a douchebag.

By skeptic

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I didn't think it was possible to O.D. on marijuana.

By jamesnpost

No one has died of marijuana. However, the form of synthetic opium called "oxycontin" being sold to Americans by the ton is killing thousands of us and addicting millions. Thank you Doctor; thank you, legislator; thank you, big pharmo CEO. Ghouls.

nevermind, i just want to know how he died

By Okaakopa

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Why on earth do you want to know that? Will it make your boat float any better? Frankly I don't see that it is any of our business. Perhaps the family does not want the exact cause of death known. I do wish people would mind their own business and take care of their own lives and keep their noses out of others lives.

By JAX

It doesn't mmatter how or why he died - the sad fact is that he died. Condolences to the family.

By Cali

the first thing I thought of was the interview that PopEater did with Dan a while back. I thought he was so interesting. How sad that he's gone. :(

By MeLu

No kidding! I didn't watch 3rd Rock from the Sun or Inception or what ever that other movie mentioned was. So no idea who either of these guys are. Don't know why it's such a big deal to announce it here at Popeater when the guy is an unknown actor.

By DDoggie pup

I'm sad that this guys brother who apparently was a drug user is dead. perhaps he will be an inspiration to other drug abusers. but who are these two guys??

By tlc

How sad! My heart goes out to his family but there is a cautionary tale. Raising kids in LA is brutal. Here you have one brother at the top of his game and another brother trying his best to fit in. "Flow Arts" "Burning Dan"....the need to be in the limelight is very dangerous. G-d Bless him.

By Natasha

How can some of these people not know who Joseph Gordon-Levitt is? Do they not watch TV, or movies? They are on this website so they must be in the loop with celebs somewhat. And why would you ask who he is? Look him up. It's not that hard.

By Lainie

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well, Natasha, the problem is JGL gives intense, thoughtful performances in intelligent, mostly indie films, and rarely goes for bloated dumbed-down blockbusters... he also prefers to give interviews to mags like "Interview," instead of TMZ, so i'm not surprised at the lack of familiarity with his work... i AM looking forward to him as a Batman villain, though...

By heather

joseph gordon-levitt was in 10 things i hate about you with julia stiles and heath ledger also 3rd rock from the sun as well as inception. sorry for the loss of his brother sounds like they were very close...

By Shogun

seriously? is it really necessary to troll this guys death.

By jackson

If you don't know Joseph's work... you should. If you never heard of Dan, it is your loss. WHAT SPARKLING examples of how to LIVE, and apprecaite life. Don't judge Dan... most of you would be lucky to have lived half as much as he did in his short time. I don't know Joseph... but, my heart goes out to him. THEY LOVED EACH OTHER.... in a way many brothers only wished they could. Go on to the next adventure, DAN... and J... he'll always be with you.

By staten island LINDA

. . . and I just saw JGL on Carson Daly's show last night!

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