Keiko (circa 1976 — December 12th, 2003) was a male orca captured in the Atlantic Ocean near Iceland in 1979.
He was best known for his portrayal of Willy in the 1993 family film Free Willy. In 1996, Warner Bros. and the International Marine Mammal Project collaborated to return Keiko to the wild.
After years of being prepared for reintegration, Keiko was flown to Iceland in 1998 and in 2002, became the first captive orca to be fully released back into the ocean. On December 12th, 2003, he died of pneumonia in a bay in Norway at the age of 27.
Famous people, whether actors, actresses, filmmakers, musicians, etc. who have passed away unexpectedly, whether long before then, were too young to die, etc. that I would very much like to meet.
