I Almost Forgot They Were Gone

It is the start of May … granted, over a week ago … and that means we need to mourn the loss of celebrities who have departed the last few weeks. If I do nothing else, I need to remember to pay homage to those that entertained us and those that didn’t, but who were still considered “celebrities”. Shall we?

Steven Bochco – 74 – TV Producer and writer – April 1

David Edgerton – 90 – Co-founder of Burger King – April 3

Ron Dunbar – 77 Songwriter Give Me Just A Little More Time – April 3

Soon-Tek Oh – 85 – Actor; The Man With The Golden Gun, Mulan, M*A*S*H – April 4

Johnny Valiant – 71 – Professional Wrestler – April 4

Tim O’Connor – 90 – Actor; Peyton Place, Buck Rogers in the 25^th Century – April 5

Peter Grünberg – 78 – German physicist. co-discoverer of giant magnetoresistance – April 7

Chuck McCann – 83 – Actor/Voice Actor G.I. Joe, Ducktales, lots of other things – April 8

Mitzi Shore – 87 – Owner of The Comedy Store – April 11

Miloš Forman – 86 – Film director One Flew Over The Cucko’s Nest, Amadeus – April 13

R. Lee Ermey – 74 – Actor Full Metal Jacket, Toy Story – April 15

Harry Anderson – 65 – Actor/Magician Night Court – April 16

Barbara Bush – 92 – Former First Lady – April 17

Gerard Baldwin – 89 – Animator/Director Smurfs, Super Friends, Rocky and Bullwinkle – April 18

Bruno Sammartino – 82 – Professional Wrestler – April 18

Avicii – 28 – Swedish DJ – April 20

Verne Troyer – 49 – Mini Me – April 21

Charles Neville – 79 – A Neville Brother – April 26

 

Be sure to get your bets in for May’s results being on time. Right now, the odds in Vegas are 347-1.

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Spring Has Died … So Have These Celebrities

I started off the year deciding I was back to blogging. I didn’t keep up too well. I am not going to promise to do better because, if you know me at all, you know that I am nothing close to consistent. The only thing consistent is that celebrities will die every month. MOT months, I will document this for those of you that are as disturbed as I am. Like I will this month. Sure, you could go to Wikipedia and look it up but … then you have to read about all kinds of prelates and Canadian immunologists. I keep track daily of deaths and give you just the folks I feel are celebrities. You know this already so … today you get a twofer! I missed last month and by the time I got around to it … yeah. Here we go.

February

Dennis Edwards – 74 – Singer The Temptations – Feb. 1

John Mahoney – 77 – Actor Frasier, Say Anything, Striking Distance – Feb. 4

Mickey Jones – 76 – Drummer/Actor Home Improvement, V, Justified – Feb. 7

Reg E. Cathey – 59 – Actor The Wire, House of Cards, Oz – Feb. 9

Craig MacGregor – 68 – Bassist for Foghat – Feb. 9

Wally Moon – 87 – Baseball Player; St. Louis, LA Dodgers – Feb. 9

Vic Damone – 89 – Singer – Feb. 11

Marty Allen – 95 – Actor/comedian – Feb. 12

Louise Latham – 95 – Actress Marnie – Feb. 12

Daryle Singletary – 46 – Country singer – Feb. 12

Victor Milan – 63 – Author Wild Cards, Battle Tech – Feb. 13

Billy Graham – 99 – God’s mouthpiece – Feb. 21

Nanette Fabray – 97 – Actress/Singer – Feb. 22

 

March

David Ogden Stiers – 75 – Actor Mash – March 3

Sir Roger Bannister – 88 – Athlete; first person to run a sub-4 min mile – March 3

Paul Magriel – 71 – 1978 World Backgammon Champion – March 5

Sudan – 45 – Last male northern white Rhino – March 19

Frank Avruch – 89 – Bozo the Clown (Boston)

Charles Lazarus – 94 – Founder of Toys R Us – March 22

Wayne Huizenga – 80 – Former owner of Blockbuster, Miami Dolphins, Florida Panthers – March 22

Saunders Davies – 80 – British Anglican prelate, Bishop of Bangor – March 30

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.

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!

2014 Is Dead … So Are These Celebs

Yes boys & girls, this is the last dead celebrity update for this year. It seems that this past year has been full of a lot of surprises in the celebrity death front. I am really going to have to think about the predictions for next year. It isn’t a dead on science anymore. See what I did there? Ok, in order get the crickets to stop chirping, we will get right to it.

Mary Ann Mobley – 77 – Actress, Miss America – Dec. 9

Judy Baar Topinka – Illinois Comptroller – Dec. 10

Robert Taylor – 70 – Animator/Director The Nine Lives of Fritz the Cat – Dec. 11

Norman Bridwell – 86 – Author Clifford the Big Red Dog – Dec. 12

Booth Coleman – 91 – Actor, Dr. Zaius Planet of the Apes (original) – Dec. 15

Christine Cavanaugh – 51 – Voice Actor; Rugrats, Dexter’s Laboratory – Dec. 22

Joe Cocker – 70 – Singer – Dec. 22

Edward Hermann – 71 – Actor; Gilmore Girls, Lost Boys) – Dec. 31

Think that is everyone. Have to admit, I dozed off a few times typing this … New Year’s day and all. I will be putting together my predictions for the coming year in the next day or so … probably tomorrow at work.

Celebrity Deaths In April – I Don’t Have A Catchy Title

Well, February, I mean April has finally passed, as well as a number of celebrities this month. The Blackhawks are on so I really can’t think of much else to say. Sorry … but it is playoff hockey.

 

Lucy Hood – 56 – President of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences – April 2

Arthur Smith – 93 – Songwriter of Dueling Banjos – April 3

John Pinette – 50 – Comedian – April 5

Mickey Rooney – 93 – His 5^th wife Barbara was murrrrrrdered – April 6

Peaches Geldof – 25 – Daughter of Bob Geldof – April 7

The Ultimate Warrior – 54 – Professional wrestler – April 8

Shane Gibson – 35 – Guitarist Korn – April 15

GOAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lee Marshall – 60ish – Voice of Tony the Tiger – April 26

DJ E-Z Rock – 46 – Musician – April 27

Bob Hoskins – 71 – Actor Who Framed Roger Rabbit; Hook – April 29

 

Like I said, Blackhawks are on. I am a little distracted but they are winning 1 – 0 at the end of the first. Sorry if I missed anyone.

 

GO HAWKS!

Celebrity Deaths – March

Simple title because of a simple update … No celebrities or anyone close to being famous died in March.

Thank you and good day.

Celebrity Death Watch 2014 – It’s A Dead Man’s Party

It’s a new year, and it is time to make a new list. I have to go back and see if any of my predictions for last year were correct. I have not been as diligent with the dead as I would have liked. However, I REALLY think that this year is going to be a year of surprises in the world of death. There will be no free passes, no monkey’s taking over bodies and no new Brendan Fraser movies. This has nothing to do with anything other than I watched Monkeybone recently. There are a LOT of people that I think SHOULD be on this list. Let’s not mince words here … there are some celebs that should just die already. Once again, I have my obvious choices and fantasy league. I am also going to take some of the perennials off of the “obvious” list and place them in their own category of “They Just Keep Hanging On”. I think I will keep that one short for the inaugural run. Ok, here we go!

We will start with:

They Just Keep Hanging On – Those who are always on the list

Zsa Zsa Gabor – I don’t know what to say. She is pushing 100 by some accounts and she is still alive … as far as we know. I do think she is about to be named “Bob” if you throw her in a lake but, as far as any government can figure out, she is still alive. 5 years on the list.

Abe Vigoda – By no means do I want him gone, he is my inspiration, however, I have to add him into this section because he has been on EVERY celebrity death watch list since before he was born.

Eli Wallach – Yup, he is still around. 98 years. He may not be good or bad anymore but I am pretty sure he is ugly.

Kirk Douglas – His chin cleft has been around longer than the Grand Canyon.

Billy Graham – Maybe there is something to this church stuff?

Due to die – New predictions or not perennial favorites

Gene Wilder – New to the list this year is Mel Brooks’ buddy and long time star of many of Mel’s movies. The comic genius that he is, is looking not all that great. He may be joining Gilda this year at some point.

Mel Brooks – He is not quite the 2000 year old man yet, and the Schwartz is with him, he is slowing down and hasn’t done much in the last few years. The way back machine won’t be saving him this year.

Hal Holbrook – Making a return appearance … and what an appearance he is. Just look at him. That explains why HE is on the list.

Christopher Lee – He may not actually die, he may just turn into a vampire … or move to the Shire.

Betty White – While we haven’t had to be inundated by her lately, she might still just be famous enough that it would be a shocker.

Martin Landau – He drools when he talks. Although, he is still making movies.

Shirley Temple – Her good ship Lollipop is going to sink.

Ian McKellan – Super busy gay old man is going to over exert himself … somehow … and his future days will past before his eyes.

Peter Fonda – Why not?

Al Pacino – I just have a weird feeling about this one. Can’t explain it.

Robert Loggia – I have wanted him dead ever since I got stuck behind him, Robert Loggia, at the airport I have wanted him gone. Oh wait, that wasn’t me. Ok, so maybe I don’t want him dead but someone else must. That is a harbinger.

Fantasy Picks – I kinda hate these because they are so unlikely that one day one of these will come true and I will feel bad.

Miley Cyrus – She is going to twerk herself to death. Yeah, I went for the cheap and easy one.

Justin Bieber – I have to keep him on here just because he needs to be. Might be the one exception to my opening statement about this list.

Homer Simpson – Hot on the heels of Brian getting killed off on Family Guy, they are going to try the same thing on The Simpsons. Homer will die and come back to life … as Peter Griffin.

John Travolta – He will leave Scientology and never be heard from again.

Jennifer Lawrence – She is far too good to be true. She is going to die during an autoerotic asphyxiation thing.

Danny Elfman – No reason other than I had to tie the title into the list somehow.

I am going to stop right there because I am realizing how macabre this thing is. That and I have a real bad headache. You know the kind that are at the base of the back of your skull and every time you try to look up or down it feels like your spine is being yanked out by the Predator … yeah, one of those. That is what 13 inches gets ya these days.

I may add to the list, or, feel free to add some yourself. I know there are many other sick individuals like myself out there.

Celebrity Death Watch – Another Two-Fer

Well folks, it’s apparently a good thing I did not make any resolutions this year. I would be horrible at keeping them. As it is I am slacking off on this here blog of mine. I missed the Celebrity death watch last month and I never did get up my “fanciful” celeb death predictions. What does that mean? That means you get a 2fer this month. There have a been a lot of things I want to wax poetically on, but I usually think about it at work and well, I just can’t write at work so, there ya have it. So, while Tori is watching Mickey Mouse and is occupied, let’s get these deaths banged out shall we? (ok, it’s much later than when I started so just to be clear, Tori is not still up watching Mickey, I am watching the Hawks kick ass!)

January

Patti Page – 85 – Singer; How Much is that Doggie in the Window – Jan 1

Michael Patrick Cronan – 61 – Named  the TiVo and Kindle – Jan 1

Ned Wertimer – 89 – Ralph the Doorman on The Jeffersons – Jan 1

Keith Ratliff – 32 – American gun enthusiast, producer of the FPS Russia YouTube channel, shot – Jan 3

Tony Lip – 82 – Actor: The Sopranos – Jan 4

Sol Yurick – 87 – Author: The Warriors – Jan 5

Emmet Forrest – 85 – Founder of the Andy Griffith Museum – Jan. 12

Conrad Bain – 89 – Mr. Drummond on Diff’rent Strokes – Jan. 14

Pauline Phillips – 94 – Dear Abby – Jan. 16

John Powers – 67 – Author – Jan. 17

Stan Musial – 92 – Hall of fame baseball player – Jan. 19

Patty Andrews – 94 – Last Andrews Sister – Jan. 30

February

Ed Koch – 88 – Mayor of New York, People’s Court Judge – Feb 1

Robin Sachs – 61 – Actor Buffy, Galaxy Quest– Feb 1

Barney – 12 – George W. Bush’s dog – Feb 1

John Kerr – 81 – Actor – Feb 2

Ralph Braun – 72 – Founder of Braun – Feb 8

Lolong – ?? – Largest Saltwater Croc in captivity – Feb 10

W. Watts Biggers – 85 – creator of Underdog – Feb 10

Mindy McCready – 37 – country singer and train wreck – Feb 17

Lou Myers – 77 – Actor A Different World – Feb 19

Cleotha Staples – 78 – Member of the Staple Singers – Feb 21

Magic Smith – 75 – Blues Singer – Feb 21

Paul Mcilhenny – 68 – CEO of Tobasco – Feb 23

C. Everett Koop – 96 – Ex-surgeon general – Feb 25

Richard Street – 70 – Singer The Temptations – Feb 27

Dale Robertson – 89 – Actor Death Valley Days – Feb 27

November Celebrity Deaths or HOW THE HELL IS SHE STILL ALIVE?!

Yes, that statement is about Zsa Zsa. Once more last month she has defied the odds and is still hanging in there. I am late again this month but, we have December to look forward to and then we will tally up the predictions and get the new ones for next year. Now that Alex is starting to get a little, or a LOT bigger, I might actually start getting things out on time and get a few more posts out there again. I will also be able to start paying a little closer attention ot the deaths and not have the small lists I have been putting out there.  So, let’s not allow these celebs to decay any longer than we need to shall we?

 

Stalking Cat – 54 – Man who made himself look like a cat – Nov. 5

Panbanisha – 26 – Some famous Ape – Nov. 6

Valerie Eliot – 86 – T.S. Eliot’s widow – Nov. 9

Art Ginsburg – 81 – Mr. Food – Nov. 21

Larry Hagman – 81 – Tony Nelson and J.R. Ewing – Nov. 23

Hector Camacho – 50 – Boxer – Nov. 24

Earl Carroll – 75 – Singer: The Coasters & Cadillacs – Nov. 25

Sol Weinstein – 84 – TV Writer: Three’s Company, Chico and the Man – Nov. 25

Zig Ziglar – 86 Author and motivational speaker – Nov. 28

Susan Luckey – 74 – Actress: Music Man & Carousel – Nov. 29

Buddy Roberts – 67 – Wrestler; Fabulous Freebird – Nov. 29

Jeff Millar – 70 – Comic strip writer; Tank McNamara

 

Well, that’s it for this month. Seems like a short list but that is all I had written down. As always, let me know who I missed.