Falling Stars


Carborendum
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Has anyone noticed an uptick in the number of celebrities dying (of natural causes) this year?

  • Paul Sorvino (Goodfellas)
  • James Caan (The Godfather)
  • David Warner (Tron)
  • Phillip Baker Hall (A list a mile long, but I most recently remember "In Good Company")
  • Ray Liotta (Unlawful Entry)
  • Fred Ward (Remo Williams)
  • Naomi Judd (Country singer)
  • Gilbert Gottfried (Iago from Disney's Aladdin)
  • Estelle Harris (George's mom on Seinfeld)
  • William Hurt (Broadcast News)
  • Alan Ladd (Shane)
  • Sally Kellerman (the "hottie" professor from "Back to School" with Rodney Dangerfield)
  • Ivan Reitman (Director of Ghostbusters)
  • Howard Hesseman (WKRP in Cincinnati)
  • Louie Anderson (Comedian)
  • Meat Loaf (Musician)
  • Bob Saget (Full House)
  • Sidney Poitier (Look Who's Coming to Dinner, Lillies of the Field, Sneakers)

Some of these you may not recognize. And there were some that I didn't recognize.  But I just happened to hear of a lot of them just by listening to the news.  And I was just amazed at how many were this year.

About 90% of these actors were ones who I really enjoyed seeing / hearing on the screen.  I'll miss their talent.

Edited by Carborendum
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And just in the last day or two, David Warner, who played Evil in Time Bandits:

Quote

Evil: God isn't interested in technology. He cares nothing for the microchip or the silicon revolution. Look how he spends his time, forty-three species of parrots! Nipples for men!

Robert: Slugs.

Evil: Slugs! HE created slugs! They can't hear. They can't speak. They can't operate machinery. Are we not in the hands of a lunatic?

 

The iconic guy who tried to torture Captain Picard into seeing five lights.

image.png.4ea117a7167e6f7f218ced1bd4003574.png

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4 hours ago, Grunt said:

Is it more than normal, or is it just that you're getting to the age that it's your formative favorites that are dying?

Maybe it is because they are "MY" stars.  But I've always read in the news about stars dying.  And I've noticed "on a background level" that there were some each year that met the great beyond.  But this year in particular, I've read about them all dying in a single year.

I'd actually like to see if there has been an uptick statistically, or if it is just perception ... or the level of reporting.

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Tony Dow who played Beaver's brother (Wally) in "Leave it to Beaver" is dead.

Funny anecdote about Beaver:

There was a radio show that would give some prizes out to someone who could "name that tune."  Most of the time, it was highly recognizable and a bunch of people filled the phone lines in seconds.

They played the few burst of a brass instrument from the beginning of Leave it to Beaver's theme song.  And the lines were NOT filled.  A couple of people called with "Twilight Zone" and "Outer Limits". 

And for the first time, there was NO ONE on the phone.

I told my brother (who listened to this show faithfully) that I knew the song and wanted to call in.  They had some pretty cool prizes.  But he refused to believe I could recognize the song with that unrecognizable intro.  And he absolutely refused to believe it was Leave it to Beaver.  So, he wouldn't tell me the phone number.

There was dead air for just a few seconds and the announcers were remarking how this had never happened before.  Someone else finally called in with the answer.  My brother dropped his jaw and stared at me.  And I just went off in a huff.

Edited by Carborendum
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19 hours ago, Grunt said:

Is it more than normal, or is it just that you're getting to the age that it's your formative favorites that are dying?

I just looked up lists of celebrities who died in 2021.  I recognized 16 of them.  The list above is 18 (now 19 with Tony).  So, the numbers were close.

But the thing is, I don't remember hearing about more than three of them on that 2021 list. Of these 19, I remember reading about 10 or so of them.

That's interesting.

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1 hour ago, LDSGator said:

Boom. Agree totally. 

I would make the argument that this is only one contributing factor. The massive expansion of 24 hour media and the need to always have something new and fresh in order to stay relevant (and profitable) means that media companies are digging a lot deeper. So I think we hear about more of these things because the entertainment news industry reports more of them to get more eyes.

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2 hours ago, MarginOfError said:

I would make the argument that this is only one contributing factor. The massive expansion of 24 hour media and the need to always have something new and fresh in order to stay relevant (and profitable) means that media companies are digging a lot deeper. So I think we hear about more of these things because the entertainment news industry reports more of them to get more eyes.

Yes, all great points. 

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17 hours ago, Grunt said:

Not yet!  #FakeNews

I'm having difficulty wrapping my head around why his own representatives would post that online when he wasn't dead yet.  He's in hospice care.  Hospice care is ... hospice care.

My wife's grandfather lived in hospice care for almost a year before he expired.  He got so tired of waiting that he asked the family to have a funeral for him while he was still alive.  That was interesting. 

But this was a guy who was always strong and vibrant.  One day "felt a little weak" and decided he should see the doctor.  The doctor told him that he had either two or three heart attacks.  (I don't remember which).  Then he recovered.  Amazing guy.

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Bernard Cribbins.

I'll have to admit, although I'm a Dr. Who fan, I didn't recognize him.  He was apparently a recurring supporting character.

Here he is being wheeled around by the Tenth Doctor (David Tennant).

bernard-cribbins.thumb.jpg.659ef8c659348abd62bb3db37c1d2fb5.jpg

Edited by Carborendum
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34 minutes ago, NeuroTypical said:

RIP Lt. Uhura.

See, now I am thinking there is something up with this year.

Perhaps I need to look at years further back.  But here's what I've got from 2020 till today.

Of the lists I've seen, there are more recognizable stars that have died this year already than the last two years each had all year.  And I've read more news reports on such deaths than the last two years combined.

So, it is partially that they are "my celebrities", partially the sheer number of deaths, and partially the reporting of these deaths have increased as well.

But, this year?  I just found it interesting.

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3 hours ago, Carborendum said:

So, it is partially that they are "my celebrities", partially the sheer number of deaths, and partially the reporting of these deaths have increased as well.

 And partially because our culture has come to be dominated by celebrities, so there's simply more celebrities to die today than there ever have been. And those celebrities take up more space in our mental and emotional make up than they ever did before.

Edited by Vort
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