The Update Is Back … But These Celebrities Won’t Be

Welcome to the first Celebrity Death update of 2018. Yeah, I am a day late for January but I wanted to see if winter was going to die quickly too. According to Phil … not going to for 6 weeks. Additionally, we are supposed to get a small butt load of snow here this weekend. Nothing Kardashian sized butt, but enough.

Let’s remember the rules of inclusion. These are people (or otherwise) that I, and I alone, consider to be celebrities. You may or may not agree with me but … it’s my blog … so there. As always, if I miss someone that you think is worthy of inclusion … keep it to yourself. Just kidding! Feel free to add a comment. I like comments. Gives me something to read at work. So, without further ado, let’s get on with this macabre celebration, shall we?

Jon Paul Steuer – 33 – Actor Grace Under Fire, Star Trek TNG – Jan 1

Thomas S. Monson – 90 – President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints – Jan 2

Jerry Van Dyke – 86 – Actor/Comedian; My Mother The Car, Coach – Jan 5

Thomas Bopp – 68 – Astronomer and co-discoverer of Hale-Bopp comet – Jan 5

Dave Toschi – 86 – Police Detective; Chief investigator of the Zodiac Killer case – Jan 6

Doug Young – 98 – Voice Actor; Doggie Daddy, Yippee, Grand Poobah – Jan 7

Donnelly Rhodes – 80 – Actor; Dutch on Soap­ – Jan 8

Milt Rosenberg – 92 – Radio host on WGN. Pretty big deal here – Jan 9

Eddie Clarke – 67 – Guitarist; motorhead – Jan 10

Simon Shelton – 52 – A Teletubbie

Mort Walker – 94 – Cartoonist Beetle Baily, Hi and Lois – Jan 27

Mark Salling – 35 – Actor; Glee – Jan 30

 

That’s it for today campers.  See ya soon.

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Death Will Be The Exercise Of Me

I was going to go for a nice long walk today at work. I didn’t. My back hurts and I am lazy. Instead, I decided to exercise my brain and bring back the Celebrity Death Watch for 2018.

Of course, to start off the year, I need to make my predictions. I have had varying success over the years. Mostly, if you are a celebrity, and I put you on the list, you will more than likely make it until the following year. In the past, I have had 3 categories. I think we will go with that again. A brief explanation of the categories:

The Vigodas – He was on everyone’s list for years. Although he has passed, we will keep these “They’re still alive?” picks named after him. Mostly these are top picks from years past that are STILL hanging on.

Top Picks – Most likely. Usually on most lists.

Out On A Ledge – Unlikely to happen but … who knows.

I am glad I missed out on my predictions last year because … DAMN! There were so many out of left field that it boggled the mind. Let’s get this started though and move on.

 

The Vigodas – Some new ones added as some old ones have dropped off the list … literally.

Billy Graham – Pushing 100 and still pushing buttons. I think this might be the year.

Kirk Douglas – As of last month he was 101! He’s got himself a younger wife though (98) so she might be too much for him to handle

Ian McKellen – While not as old as the others … have you seen him lately?

Olivia de Havilland – 101 and going strong?

Herman Wouk – 102. I hear he wrote his own obit 4 years ago.

Carol Channing – Amazingly, her voice is getting deeper.

 

Top Picks

Liza Minnelli – While she isn’t that old comparatively, she hasn’t been doing well lately.

Bob Barker – All the spaying and neutering will finally catch up to him.

Stan Lee – I hate to say it but … Excelsior!

Jimmy Carter – The current state of affairs will be just too much.

Mel Brooks – Putting him on so that he’s got at least another year or 2!

Tim Curry – Just a feeling I got.

Pierre Cardin – Fashion is fleeting … right?

Steven Hawking – He has been making some bold statements lately. Thinking he is doing is to laugh at us soon.

 

Out On A Ledge

Charlie Sheen – The odds are stacked against him on so many levels.

Don Johnson – He hasn’t made a record in years.

Axl Rose – Obvious, isn’t it?

Jenny McCarthy – Plastic surgery accident while eating a Wahlburger.

All YouTube “stars” – Big pipe dream on that one but, still …

Hoda Kotb – She will go into withdraw from not being able to drink the first 3 hours of the Today Show

Going to end it here before I start getting into areas that cause WAY too much derision. And before I start using more words like derision. As always, if you have some picks of your own … drop a comment and save them for posterity. We can go back and look at the end of the year!

Celebrity Deaths – A Long Time In The Works

Greetings and salutations to you all. It seems like it has been approximately 3 months and 10 days since my last post. I apologize for that. I was in a bizarre Hot Pocket accident … no, it was a one in a million fluke while Yak shaving in Nepal … no, I have just been lazy as of late. I would say I will try to change but … who are we kidding, right? In those months, a lot of famous folks have died. Since I haven’t done it (posting the dead celebs list) in so long, I will try to stick to the high points. Or are they low points? Regardless … I am going to miss a lot I think since it is hard to remember 3 months of dead guys. I will do my best though.

March

Minnie Minoso – 92 – Baseball player, Chicago White Sox – March 1

Daniel von Bargen – 64 – Mr. Kruger on Seinfeld – March 1

Sam Simon – 59 – Writer/producer/director (The Simpsons, Cheers, Drew Carey Show) – March 8

Gene Gene the Dancing Machine – 82 – Performer on The Gong Show – March 9

A.J. Pero – 55 – Drummer; Twisted Sister – March 20

Perro Aguayo Jr. – 35 – Mexican wrestler (killed in ring by Rey Mysterio) – March 21

Alberta Watson – 60 – Actress; 24, La Femme Nikita – March 21

April

Richard Dysart – 86 – Actor; LA Law, Wall Street – April 5

James Best – 88 – Rosco P. Coltrane – April 6

Ben Powers – 64 – Keith on Good Times – April 6

Stan Freberg – 88 – Cartoon legend – April 7

Mario Wallenda – 74 – Tight rope walker – April 12

Homaro Cantu – 38 – Chef – April 14

Percy Sledge – 73 – Singer – April 14

Betty Willis – 91 – Designer of the Las Vegas sign – April 19

Doug Buffone – 70 – Chicago Bear – April 20

Frankie Lee – 73 – Blues singer – April 24

Suzanne Crough – 52 – Tracy Partridge – April 27

Verne Gagne – 59 – Professional wrestler – April 27

Jack Ely – 71 – Singer Louie Louie – April 28

Jean Nidetch – 91 – Founder of Weight Watchers – April 29

Ben E. King – 76 – Singer Stand By Me – April 30

May

Grace Lee Whitney – 85 – Yeoman Janice Rand; Star Trek:TOS – May 2

B.B. King – 89 – Blues god – May 14

John Stephenson – 91 – Voice Actor; Benton Quest, Mr. Slate, Blubber Bear – May 15

Anne Meara – 85 – Comedian – May 23

This is what I remember. Not sure why May has suck a mental block as it was the most recent month … meh. See you all again soon!

Celebrity Deaths – They’re Still Dyin’ Even If I Forgot To Mention It

This year is already getting away from me. I forgot to do January deaths and now I plum near forgot to get the list for Feb. So, to get back on track, I have no clever witticisms, smart alec remarks or anything else. Let’s just view the best in memoriam list this side of the Oscars with this 2 fer.

 

January

Mario Cuomo – 82 – Governor of NY – Jan. 1

Donna Douglas – 82 – Ellie Mae Clampett – Jan 1

Stuart Scott – 49 – Sports journalist – Jan 4

Rod Taylor – 84 – Actor Time Machine, Inglourious Basterds – Jan 7

Curtis Lee – 75 – Singer Pretty Little Angel Eyes – Jan 8

Taylor Negron – 57 – Actor Fast Times at Ridgemont High – Jan 10

Melvin Gordon – 95 – CEO of Tootsie Roll – Jan 20

Ernie Banks – 83 – Mr. Cub – Jan 23

Danny McCulloch – 69 – Bassist The Animals – Jan 29

 

February

Stewart Stern – 92 – Screenwriter Rebel Without a Cause, Sybil – Feb 2

Richard Bonehill – 67 – Lando’s co-pilot in Return of the Jedi – Feb 4

Dave Corriveau – 63 – Co-founder of Dave & Buster’s – Feb 7

Jerry Tarkanian – 84 – HOF Basketball coach – Feb 11

Bob Simon – 73 – Journalist 60 Minutes – Feb 11

Gary Owens – 80 – TV Announcer – Feb 12

Louis Jourdan – 93 – Actor Swamp Thing – Feb 14

Lesley Gore – 68 – Singer It’s my Party, Judy’s Turn to Cry – Feb 16

Harris Wittels – 30 – Writer Parks & Rec – Feb 19

Leonard Nimoy – 83 – Spock – Feb 27

 

And Abe Vigoda is still alive.

Día De Los Muertos Famosos: Day Of Dead Celebrities

Preface: I wrote this the other night before I got sick. Just realized now I never posted it. Still not feeling great so this is the best update I got.

 

Another twofer this time around. I make no apologies. I make no promises to get better at this time. I just hope you keep reading because I need to renew my domain in January and I would hate to waste it. Because if there is one thing you can count on is death and taxes … and me writing about death … eventually. Anyway, let’s bury this thing. The Hawks are on and this is hard enough without the distractions of a game.

 

September

Zeus – 5 – Great Dane; world’s tallest dog – Sept. 3

Roy Leonard – 83 – Radio Personality – Sept. 4

Joan Rivers – 81 – Comedienne & actress – Sept. 4

Richard Kiel – 10 – Actor; Jaws from James Bond – Sept. 10

Bob Crewe – 82 – Songwriter Big Girls Don’t Cry, Rag Doll – Sept. 11

Zelda – 11ish – Wild turkey, yes a turkey – Sept 26

 

October

Paul Revere – 76 – Paul Revere & the Raiders – Oct. 4

Jan Hooks – 57 – Actress Saturday Night Live – Oct. 9

Elizabeth Norment – 61 – Actress House of Cards – Oct. 13

Elizabeth Peña – 55 – Actress Incredibles, Rush Hour – Oct. 14

Oscar de la Renta – 82 – Fashion designer – Oct. 20

Ox Baker – 80 – Wrestler and Actor Escape From New York – Oct. 20

Ben Bradlee – 93 – Journalist – Oct. 21

Marcia Strassman – 66 – Mrs. Kotter – Oct. 24

Celebrity Death Watch – They Come In Threes

Three months that is. Sorry I have slacked off for so long. Been crazy this summer. Not going to get into all kinds of discussion, let’s just get right to it. Going to be a long read with 3 months to catch up on. Forgive me if I miss anyone, 3 months is a lot of dead celebs to remember. There was one that comes off the perennials list … Eli Wallach passed on. I am getting better at this prediction thing. Not sure if that is a good or bad thing.

 

June

Ann B. Davis – 88 – Alice on The Brady Bunch – June 1

Don Zimmer – 83 – Baseball player, & manager of the CUBS – June 4

James McNair – 63 – writer & comedian – June 7

Rick Mayall – 56 – Comedian/Actor The Young Ones – June 9

Ruby Dee – 91 – Actress – June 11

Casey Kasem – 82 – Voice of Shaggy – June 15

Daniel Keyes – 86 – Author Flowers for Algernon June 15

Eli Wallach – 98 – Actor The Good, The Bad and the Ugly – June 24

Mary Rodgers – 83 – Author Freaky Friday June 26

Meshach Taylor – 67 – Actor Designing Women, Mannequin – June 28

 

July

Eileen Ford – 92 – co-founder of Ford Models – July 9

Curt Gentry – 83 – Author Helter Skelter – July 10

Tommy Ramone – 65 – The Ramones – July 11

Thomas Berger – 89 Author Little Big Man – July 13

Johnny Winter – 70 – Blues guitarist – July 16

Elaine Stritch – 89 – Actress – July 17

James Garner – 86 – Actor The Rockford Files, Maverick – July 19

Thor-Eirik Gulbrandsen Mykland – 74 – Don’t know who he is but his name is Thor – July 25

James Shigeta – 85 – Actor Die Hard – July 28

Dick Smith – 92 – Makeup artist Godfather, Exocist, Amedeus – July 30

 

August

James Brady – 73 – Press Secretary, shot during Regan assasination attempt – August 4

Marilyn Burns – 65 – Actress The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (original) – August 5

Charles Keating – 72 – Actor All My Children, Another World – August 8

Robin Williams – 63 – Actor/Comedian – August 11

Lauren Bacall – 90 – Actress – August 12

Stephen Lee – 58 – Actor – WarGames, La Bamba – August 14

Don Pardo – 96 – Announcer Saturday Night Live – August 18

James Foley – 40 – Photojournalist – August 19

John Sperling – 93 – Founder, University of Phoenix – August 22

Richard Attenborough – 90 – Actor/Director/Producer – August 24

Jimi Jamison – 63 – Singer Survivor – August 31

Death, Dying & Celebrity

Not surprising that I had a lot of visits today from the search of “Celebrity Death”. I am a little surprised that I had as many hits as I did since I have been rather lax updating the death watch. I know why the search was made though.

I want to make clear that I do a celebrity death watch, in part to poke a little fun at the ridiculous amount of attention that we pay to celebrities of all levels. I also do it to pay respect to those who do deserve a shout out.

While today the world is talking about Robin Williams and Lauren Bacall, lets remember that while millions of people are mourning their passing, there are other who pass on that are not famous to the world at large. They are however just as famous to the people they touched. They will not get news coverage for a week after they die. They will not trend on Twitter or Facebook. They WILL be missed.

 

Let’s just remember not to get too crazy. Idol mourning is just as insane as idol worship.

May’s Dead Celebrities – Get ‘Em In The Ground Before It Gets Hot!

In the good old summer TIME! I don’t know what song that is (I think it’s from a movie) but a local car dealer Harry Schmerler used to sing that one line in one of his commercials for some reason. He called himself the singing Ford dealer. He is long since gone and he really has nothing to do with this other than the summertime line. Summertime is finally fast approaching. The celebs that kicked in May got to experience their very last non-spring. Good thing they took off before the warm weather. Heat and dead bodies is almost as good a combo as snow and the color yellow. Let’s get to it shall we?

Efrem Zimbalist Jr. – 95 – Actor 77 Sunset Strip – May 2

Dick Ayers – 90 Comic book artist Fantastic Four, Ghost Rider – May 4

Jackie Lyn Taylor – 90 – Actress Our Gang – May 5

Tony Genaro – 72 – Actor Tremors, Scorpion King – May 7

Harry Potter – 72 – Australian TV journalist (guess the wizard thing didn’t work out) – May 8

Roger L. Easton – 93 – inventor of GPS – May 8

Jeb Stuart Magruder – 79 – Nixon Aide during Watergate – May 11

Vernon Lewis – 36 – stuntman/comedian – May 11

H.R. Giger – 74 – Artist designer of Alien – May 12

Allan Folsom – 72 – Author The Day After Tomorrow – May 16

Gordon Willis – 82 – Cinematographer Gofather series, Annie Hall – May 18

Jerry Vale – 83 – Singer, Actor – May 18

Donald Levine – 86 – Developed the first action figure – May 22

Manuel Uribe – 48 – World’s third heaviest person – May 26

Maya Angelou – 86 – Author, poet, singer – May 28

Butler Blue 1 – 13 – American Bulldog mascot for Butler University – May 30

 

At least May was technically spring so there should have been a lot of reproducing to replace these fallen famous folks.

 

I Heartily Endorse This Product

Is what I would probably say if I was famous. Even if I don’t endorse the product. I would then rake in the tons of money they would offer me to make the general public think that I was a fan of whatever it is I am hocking. I wish I were famous for this reason because it seems that celeb endorsements have taken a jump recently. Either that or for some reason I am just noticing them more.

I think I am going to start buying things that have no celebrity endorsements. I figure they will be cheaper than the ones the famous folk like because they don’t have to roll the price of that celebrity into the price of the item. I also won’t have to listen to Samuel L. Jackson singing opera.

See, bet you thought I was really that stupid. I am not sure if I have bought anything, ever because a certain celebrity claims they buy, use, eat it. I am a huge cooking show fan and I don’t buy any of the famous chef cookware or anything. I take it back. I think there was one point in my life when I was buying things based on the below endorsement from a celebrity.

It was because of Godzilla … not the dog. Which means I hope the current Godzilla doesn’t start selling too many things other than Snickers. I like Snickers. I can do that.

How flippin cute are my minions?!?

I don’t count this as an endorsement because they are cartoons and my kids love them. So do I.

Celebrity Deaths … This Ain’t The Oscars

I thought the Oscars would be a good time to catch up on my list for a couple of reasons. 1) I am talking about dead celebrities and there are a lot of them in the audience. 2) I don’t really get into the Oscars, at least not enough to have to pay attention. Also, I call out more dead celebs in a month than the awards shows usually do in 10 years. Regardless, I know I have neglected for a couple of months so I feel this is a good time to do it. I do need to call out that I got 1 prediction correct so far. Shirley Temple. I don’t think I have ever gotten one right this early in the year. Yeah, I’m proud of that. Don’t judge. So, here we go with dead celebs for January and February.

January

Bernard Glasser – 89 – Producer Day of the Triffids – Jan 2

Jay Traynor – 70 – Singer Jay and the Americans – Jan 2

Phil Everly – 74 – The Everly Brothers – Jan 3

Ariel Sharon – Ex-Israeli Prime minister – Jan 11

Mae Young – 90 – Wrestler – Jan 14

Ruth Duccini – 95 – Last surviving female munchkin from Wizard of Oz – Jan 16

Russell Johnson – 89 – The Professor on Gilligan’s Island – Jan 16

Dave Madden – 82 – Rueben Kincaid Partridge Family – Jan 16

Hal Sutherland – 84 – Animator/Co-Founder of Filmation – Jan 16

Arthur Rankin Jr. – 89 – Co-Founder of Rankin/Bass – Jan 30

 

I know I was going to put Feb also but … I am tired and too distracted by this silly show.