The All Purpose 'Celebrity Death' Thread

Richard Dawson, former host of "Family Feud", has died.

And yet another "I thought he was already dead" case.

Freezer wrote:

Veteran character actress Kathryn Joosten, best known for her roles on Desperate Housewives and The West Wing, died of cancer at 72.

Aw, really? Sad. She was one of the cooler gods on Joan of Arcadia. Well, at least she won two Emmies for her Stint on Desperate Housewives.

Richard Dawson was a part of my childhood and my favorite on Hogan's Heroes. A very funny man.

No more trololo, you guys

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Trolololonooooooooo!

You can add Ray Bradbury's name to the celebrity casualties list.

Sigh...

Ray Bradbury has been one of my favorite writers since we read Fahrenheit 451 and several short stories of his in seventh grade. (I think they were A Sound of Thunder and All Summer In A Day. Actually, I think we did The Veldt in sixth grade.)

But probably my favorite work of his was the story I Sing The Body Electric. I was introduced to that by an hour-long TV special called The Electric Grandmother. It starred Maureen Stapleton as Grandma, Edward Herrmann as the father, Paul Benedict (you know...Mr. Bentley) as Fantoccini the android maker, and Robert McNaughton who'd go on to be the older brother in E.T. It was phenomenal.

I later found out that it was also a Twilight Zone episode, but the episode didn't do the story justice. It wasn't just that they changed around the kids' names and genders, though that did seem kind of arbitrary. It was the fact that they had less than half an hour to develop stuff, so they rushed through plot points with the speed of a bullet train--and lopped off the story's ending. The Electric Grandmother had time to develop character and plot points.

RIP, Ray. May it be a fine October wherever you are. (And I hope you're getting caught up with your old pals Chuck Jones and Walt Disney.)

Anne Rutherford, famous for her role as Scarlett's younger sister in Gone with The Wind, dies at age 94.

Cult favorite Richard Lynch has died.

Miss Misery wrote:

Cult favorite Richard Lynch has died.

Sad face.

Chelonoidis nigra abingdoni, commonly known as the Pinta Island tortoise is a subspecies of Galápagos tortoise. As of yesterday, they probably extinct, as the last known member of the subspecies died of probable heart failure at 8am local time.

The last known member was Lonesome George, known in the media as the most endangered animal on earth.

Goodbye, Lonesome George and Chelonoidis nigra albingdoni

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Okay, we need to have a talk about the definition of celebrity.

A fucking turtle, really? It's a goddamn insult to George Thorogood is what it is.

He was barely 100 too. That's young for a tortoise, some live to be twice that... My own stalwart, lifelong buddy Turbo is probably in his 60-70's and shows no sign of slowing down yet.

Hell, the other celebrity Tortoise, Harrett was 175 when she passed.

(Harriet was a celeb for 2 reasons - 1 she was arguably one of the oldest living creatures and 2, She might have been brought back to London from the Galapagos for study by Darwin himself)

There is, of course, problems with that theory


Rest in peace, George. You will no doubt be remembered fondly by your many, many ladyfriends.

WD40 wrote:

Rest in peace, George. You will no doubt be remembered fondly by your many, many ladyfriends.

If he had that many, they wouldn't be extinct.

Gad Beck, the last known gay Jewish holocaust survivor, passes away at 88

Mikey Go WOOGA wrote:

WD40 wrote:

Rest in peace, George. You will no doubt be remembered fondly by your many, many ladyfriends.

If he had that many, they wouldn't be extinct.

Actually they tried breeding him a great many times with several similar species of giant tortoise in the hope of keeping something of his subspecies alive. And he was all too happy to mate - but none of the eggs produced by the females were viable.

Lonesome George was the Hugh Hefner of the Tortoise world.

Writer/Filmmaker Nora Ephron dead at 71.

Pat Cummings, 12-year NBA veteran and original member of the Miami Heat, dead at 55. Cause unknown.

^
Probably suicide over seeing what a diving bunch of sissy girls his former team has become.

Andy Griffith dies at 86

Miss Misery wrote:

Andy Griffith dies at 86

R.I.P Mayberry's finest sheriff.

Miss Misery wrote:

Andy Griffith dies at 86

Yet another piece of my childhood gone. My oldest sister got to meet him in the 60s, when her then husband, who was a DJ, interviewed him for his show. She said he was just as nice and down-to-earth as the characters he played, and insisted on calling her 'Mam' even though she was younger than him.

Ben Davidson, one of the iconic members of the Oakland Raiders, and later a noted character actor, dies of prostate cancer at 72.

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