One of the most heart-rending movie deaths, for me, occurs at the end of
Jacob's Ladder. I'm putting this in spoiler tags because knowing it in advance could really ruin the movie's twist ending for you:
Spoiler Below Jacob Singer (Tim Robbins). Watching him accompany his son up the stairs toward that bright light which signifies death, and possibly the afterlife, chokes me up every time.
Another character death which really mangles my heart-strings is that of Andrea (Guiseppe Sanfelice) from
the Son's Room, which isn't much of a spoiler since it occurs early on the film and is the principle factor which sets the story in motion. Witnessing how his death affects his family for such a prolonged period afterward makes it all the more heart-breaking.
Plus, though I don't think it's ever quite made me cry, I always get this sad little feeling inside seeing Maa pass on in
Babe.
There are a whole host of character deaths which have moved me in literature, of which I think that Lennie, from
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, is the most obviously poignant, but there have been many others which have stirred me in quite peculiar ways, such as that which occurs at the end of
the Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde.