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In Memoriam: Entertainment Industry Celebrity Deaths

Kromm

By Kromm
in Everything Else TV

Mr. Sparkle
Message added by Mr. Sparkle,

Reminder:

This thread is for deaths of celebrities in the entertainment business only. No notices about politicians, please. 

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Shannon L.

Shannon L.

I'm at the point now where I'm just numb.  I went on FB for a minute wondering if there would be any news about Carrie Fisher and this was the first thing up on my feed.  I'm 47--Wham! and George Michael were a big part of my teen years.  This year felt like it would be so promising and it turned out to be one to forget. 

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Bastet
Bastet

Piss up a rope, Val Kilmer.  If your physical illness got so bad that your life utterly sucked and no end to that suffering was in sight, so that suicide was or seemed to be the best of the available

wilsie
wilsie
BetterButter
BetterButter

Olivia Newton-John Has Died At 73

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BW Manilowe

BW Manilowe

(edited)
1 hour ago, legaleagle53 said:

I'll be 56 in February.  Should I be nervous?

If you should, I should. Reading back through the posts about his death, & looking at the life/death dates posted on the In Memoriam graphic within the thread, posted by @giovannif7, I discovered I'm only 10 days younger than George was when he passed today (& I was only 5 weeks/35 days older than Whitney Houston was when she passed 4 years ago, for that matter).

In reading through the George-related posts, I find/feel I also need to apologize. I guess in my haste to post (or something), I said perhaps George might've passed from an undisclosed case of AIDS, since he was either (openly) gay or bisexual. I know much better, as do/should we all now, that anyone can get HIV/AIDS; not just someone who's gay or bisexual, as was originally thought so many years ago. I want to apologize to anyone here I might've offended by my comment. No offense was meant. And, if you're talking about known "risk groups" George would've been included in for that illness, as @roamyn pointed out he also was a known drug user in the '80's & '90's; not just gay or bisexual.

Besides AIDS, if he had an undisclosed illness (Which is possible--hasn't he been out of the public eye for a really long time now? I can't even remember when his last CD of new material was released--the last CD of his I remember was a hits compilation & I can't remember when it "dropped"), he could well have had cancer, as Bowie did, or who knows what else that I'm not thinking of right now.

Edited by BW Manilowe
To try to fix a spacing issue.
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BookWoman56

BookWoman56

2016? Fuck you and the horse you rode in on. I had been obsessively checking the news every few hours to see if there was an update on Carrie Fisher, and then saw the news about George Michael. I know that celebrities die every year, but this year has just seemed like one major celebrity after another. With someone like Zsa Zsa, it doesn't seem so bad because she was 99 years old and had been in seriously ill health for several years. But George Michael is a shock, on top of all the other stunning deaths we've had this year. As for his dying peacefully, he could have been seriously ill for a while, or he could have just died in his sleep unexpectedly. It's just that when he had that scary bout of pneumonia a few years ago and almost died, I thought that was going to be his close call with an early death and he would be fine.

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BW Manilowe

BW Manilowe

43 minutes ago, Shannon L. said:

I'm at the point now where I'm just numb.  I went on FB for a minute wondering if there would be any news about Carrie Fisher and this was the first thing up on my feed.  I'm 47--Wham! and George Michael were a big part of my teen years.  This year felt like it would be so promising and it turned out to be one to forget. 

Thankfully, a few posts on my Twitter feed ahead of George's death announcement, I got a ReTweet from someone I follow of a Tweet by Debbie Reynolds (or in her name, anyway) saying Carrie was still stable, unconscious & on a ventilator, in ICU, as with the last report, & that if/when anything changed she/the family would share. What concerns me is if her still-unconscious, on a ventilator, state (after what, 2 or 3 days now) is medically-induced by her physician(s), to help her heal, or if it stems from an inability to revive her on the plane/at the airport after it landed & we're just waiting for her daughter & the rest of Carrie's immediate family to make the decision to remove her from the ventilator & let her pass peacefully.

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GHScorpiosRule

GHScorpiosRule

(edited)

2016 can just SUCK IT for the next week. Another teen idol of mine...gone. I Love Wham's version of "Last Christmas" and have resented whoever it is that did a cover of it, because she sounds like a twit.  And I've been watching "Do They Know it's Christmas?" on youtube numerously, and on the extended version, you can see George was very emotional and shed tears after they were done.

I'm afraid to say anything more harsh or to give the finger, lest some of my favorites who are still among the living, get taken away as punishment.

Edited by GHScorpiosRule
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WhosThatGirl

WhosThatGirl

I don't wanna say anything more about 2016, we've still got a week to go and it really is becoming like a sick bingo game at this point. I'm not kidding. I really thought we had hit the last death and then we got a scare with Carrie Fisher but I thought we were in the clear for a little. 2016 is taking so many.

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BW Manilowe

BW Manilowe

This recently-posted article, from The Hollywood Reporter, quotes George's manager as saying he died, unexpectedly & at a specific time yet to be determined, of heart failure. He was found in bed, I think the article also says (I read it kinda fast). A spokesperson for his local police in England says his death is "unexplained but not suspicious".

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/george-michael-dead-singer-songwriter-was-53-959259

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riley702

riley702

(edited)

"Heart failure" can be a bit of a dodge - not always, but sometimes it's like saying someone died of cardiac arrest, which is kind of the definition of death outside of a hospital. When someone says "They died of cardiorespiratory arrest", my usual response is, "Damn, don't that get us all?" and then wonder what caused that cardiorespiratory arrest.

Edited by riley702
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roamyn

roamyn

36 minutes ago, BW Manilowe said:

This recently-posted article, from The Hollywood Reporter, quotes George's manager as saying he died, unexpectedly & at a specific time yet to be determined, of heart failure. He was found in bed, I think the article also says (I read it kinda fast). A spokesperson for his local police in England says his death is "unexplained but not suspicious".

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/george-michael-dead-singer-songwriter-was-53-959259

And this could stem from his past drug use.  Drugs seriously damage your heart & arteries.  I remember when Whitney Houston's autopsy results were leaked, arteriosclerosis was a contributing, secondary factor.

My father was a 30yr recovered alcoholic, and yet when he nearly died on the operating table, the doctor told me his body was 10 years older than his age.  Eventually his main artery tore from weakness due to alcohol related disease.

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MargeGunderson

MargeGunderson

43 minutes ago, Constantinople said:

I can't link but apparently Sarah Michelle Gellar tweeted

"Do you really want to hurt me?  I guess you do 2016 - #ripboygeorge I was truly one of your biggest fans."

She has since corrected her error.

Well, if 2016 claims Boy George we know who to blame. 

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WhosThatGirl

WhosThatGirl

I'm going to be honest, I'm not the biggest George Micheal fan, I know a few of his songs and all that, I'm just shocked because I truthfully thought the long list of celeb deaths of 2016 was done. Like we had the scare of Carrie fisher and then it was like there's only a week left we will be fine And nope. Now I'm feeling like we have a week left and so many more people.

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Moose135

Moose135

4 hours ago, legaleagle53 said:

I'll be 56 in February.  Should I be nervous?

I turned 56 this past summer, but I'm not worried - much.  My birthday is actually the day before GM's. I don't know why, I just assumed he was older than me.  I wasn't a huge fan, but I've liked his music all the way back to the Wham days.  Much too young!

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GaT

GaT

1 hour ago, Constantinople said:

I can't link but apparently Sarah Michelle Gellar tweeted

"Do you really want to hurt me?  I guess you do 2016 - #ripboygeorge I was truly one of your biggest fans."

She has since corrected her error.

 

1 hour ago, MargeGunderson said:

Well, if 2016 claims Boy George we know who to blame. 

When I told my SO that George Michael had died, he thought it was Boy George too. I'm not really sure how people confuse George Michael & Boy George, not everyone named George is the same person. 

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roamyn

roamyn

54 minutes ago, GaT said:

 

When I told my SO that George Michael had died, he thought it was Boy George too. I'm not really sure how people confuse George Michael & Boy George, not everyone named George is the same person. 

Well, they're both gay, British, started in pop groups (Wham & Culture Club), have had issues with drugs, and became famous around the same time.  Plus they both have George in their name.

So, I could kinda see the confusion if you're not really familiar with either.

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Danny Franks

Danny Franks

My older sister loved Wham! and loved all George Michael's solo work as well. I had a moment when I heard this news where I couldn't believe it... but then almost immediately thought, 'well of course he's died. Who hasn't died this year?'

Honestly, I think people will end 2016 with PTSD.

Some article in the Independent was blathering about how we only think more celebrities are dying this year because there are more celebrities full stop. Yeah, because a few years ago, before the rise of reality and competitive talent shows, spawning hundreds of wannabes, no one would have even heard of David Bowie, Terry Wogan, Lemmy, Prince, Victoria Wood, Leonard Cohen, Gene Wilder, Caroline Aherne, Muhammad Ali, Ronnie Corbett, Paul Daniels, Alan Rickman, Glenn Frey, Garry Shandling, Robert Vaughn and John Glenn, right?

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Neurochick

Neurochick

4 minutes ago, Danny Franks said:

Some article in the Independent was blathering about how we only think more celebrities are dying this year because there are more celebrities full stop. Yeah, because a few years ago, before the rise of reality and competitive talent shows, spawning hundreds of wannabes, no one would have even heard of David Bowie, Terry Wogan, Lemmy, Prince, Victoria Wood, Leonard Cohen, Gene Wilder, Caroline Aherne, Muhammad Ali, Ronnie Corbett, Paul Daniels, Alan Rickman, Glenn Frey, Garry Shandling, Robert Vaughn and John Glenn, right?

I read an article that said more celebrities did die this year.

I think our access to celebrities has changed because of social media.  Today if something big happens on social media, it makes the news.  Also George Michael benefitted from MTV, and MTV really changed fame because (I'm 57) when I was a teenager, you heard a song on the radio and bought it, even before you knew what the artist looked like.  So we, the audience have seen George Michael for thirty years so it's like being intimate with someone.

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UYI

UYI

(edited)
30 minutes ago, Danny Franks said:

My older sister loved Wham! and loved all George Michael's solo work as well. I had a moment when I heard this news where I couldn't believe it... but then almost immediately thought, 'well of course he's died. Who hasn't died this year?'

Honestly, I think people will end 2016 with PTSD.

Some article in the Independent was blathering about how we only think more celebrities are dying this year because there are more celebrities full stop. Yeah, because a few years ago, before the rise of reality and competitive talent shows, spawning hundreds of wannabes, no one would have even heard of David Bowie, Terry Wogan, Lemmy, Prince, Victoria Wood, Leonard Cohen, Gene Wilder, Caroline Aherne, Muhammad Ali, Ronnie Corbett, Paul Daniels, Alan Rickman, Glenn Frey, Garry Shandling, Robert Vaughn and John Glenn, right?

I think a lot of it has to do with both the Golden Age of movie stars that are still left mostly reaching the age where death is seen as finally being age appropriate (for lack of a better term), and that a lot of the TV stars of the Golden Age of television (the 50's and 60's) are reaching that age range too, and so Baby Boomers have to ready for a lot of them to finally go (add 70's shows to list, for that matter). Hell, a lot of them have already been going over this past 10-15 years or so, but as the ones who are still around get older, it becomes more likely that a lot of them are going to die more frequently. That's just life.

But then comes the damper that I think made 2016 in particular so brutal: that quite a few of the stars who died this year were often three things all at once: 1. Musicians, 2. Iconic, and 3. Relatively young, whether they were sick or not. That, to me, is what made this year stand out more. Because really, people die every day, and lesser known celebrities die a lot, including this year, and yet people generally haven't thought of years past being as brutal in the death department. Those previous three factors in particular make this year stand out more (although you can change the musician and iconic parts to TV star or well-loved sitcom actor or something, too).

And yes, a lot of bad things happened in the world this year. But I'll be honest, my year personally, while not perfect, has in many ways been pretty good, if only because I got to do more traveling around the US, I got to see a woman be nominated President (no matter how it ended, that first part was great and mattered to me), the Cubs--my favorite baseball team--won the World Series, and I, at 27, while I'm not perfect, feel like I'm growing up emotionally in ways I didn't feel even a year or two ago. Hell, even the deaths of a few musicians this year resulted in me becoming more interested in some of their music. So when I see everyone saying "Fuck 2016!", I almost feel selfish for not feeling as bitchy. 

Edited by UYI
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merylinkid

merylinkid

Yeah, it's one thing if a celebrity is in their 90s and goes of natural causes.   It's another to have this constant parade of cancer/heart attacks while still relatively young/ etc.   

Also as mentioned, the celebrities from our youth are getting to "that" age so more of them are going.   It's part of the cycle of life.  But it still SUCKS.

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Lady Calypso

Lady Calypso

I remember the last time a year of celebrity deaths hit me hard, and that was 2009. It's the last year that several of my favourite or well known celebrities died. From Patrick Swayze to Michael Jackson to Farrah Fawcett to John Hughes to Natasha Richardson, I remember thinking just before Christmas "Well, the year's almost done. Thank god. I can't have any more of my favourite celebrities dying". And then 2009 hit one last time with Brittany Murphy on the 20th, a mere 12 days before the end of the year. So I've stopped thinking that two weeks before 2017 is safe. 

This year's rougher than 2009 because there's so many more names now that I've liked or appreciated, probably four times as many as 2009. But I really hope that George Michael is the last major one of this year. 

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roseha

roseha

I think one way to judge how bad this year has been for celebrity deaths is to go on Youtube and check TCM Remembers  - I know this will sound morbid, but after they posted this year's I went back and looked at all of them from 2003-2015 and 2000 (the years between aren't posted).  There were some years when it seemed a lot of famous people had passed away - I find 2014 very moving, maybe also due to the music and the line of dialog between Bogart and Lauren Bacall - maybe also seeing Shirley Temple at the end - but some years didn't seem  to have so many big names.  Of course they only include people who have appeared in movies, even if they were better known for TV or music.  But the version I saw doesn't have Zsa Zsa for instance.  I hope they won't be missing anyone else.

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stonehaven

stonehaven

To me 1997 was the worst...a lot of my personal favorites died that year..starting in April with Mike Royko(columnist)...then in July with Jimmy Stewart...then September with Rich Mullins(Christian performer) and then the one that still sucks all these years later....John Denver in October...plus, all the biggies of Princess Diana and Mother Theresa...sucky...sucky...sucky year...

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UYI

UYI

7 minutes ago, stonehaven said:

To me 1997 was the worst...a lot of my personal favorites died that year..starting in April with Mike Royko(columnist)...then in July with Jimmy Stewart...then September with Rich Mullins(Christian performer) and then the one that still sucks all these years later....John Denver in October...plus, all the biggies of Princess Diana and Mother Theresa...sucky...sucky...sucky year...

And Robert Mitchum died the day before James Stewart, so his death got overshadowed a bit. Brian Keith committed suicide that year, too.

2003 had Katharine Hepburn, Bob Hope, June & Johnny Cash, and John Ritter's deaths. 

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Bastet

Bastet

18 minutes ago, roseha said:

But the version I saw doesn't have Zsa Zsa for instance. 

They've already edited it to include her; she's in the penultimate spot, if I remember correctly (I saw it during Friday's Thin Man marathon and realized they'd added her).  They always leave room to add late-breaking deaths or performers they forgot, which I like.

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magdalene

magdalene

(edited)

I think it's always hard when the famous people you were into/were of your Zeitgeist or of your generation pass, especially if it's too young or too soon because of fucking cancer, heart problems,  etc..    Although neither David Bowie or Alan Rickman were actually of my generation ever since I can remember I have thought those two men were special - kind of touched by grace or something.  Plus both died when they were the age my parents are now - which scares me on another level.

Back in the day Princess Diana's death shocked me very much and my Nana was very sad when Paul Newman passed. Because she had a crush on him.

Edited by magdalene
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roseha

roseha

1 hour ago, Bastet said:

They've already edited it to include her; she's in the penultimate spot, if I remember correctly (I saw it during Friday's Thin Man marathon and realized they'd added her).  They always leave room to add late-breaking deaths or performers they forgot, which I like.

Thanks, I will have to check it on the actual channel.  Sad subject, I realize, but they do the best tributes.

riley702

riley702

2 hours ago, UYI said:

And Robert Mitchum died the day before James Stewart, so his death got overshadowed a bit. Brian Keith committed suicide that year, too.

2003 had Katharine Hepburn, Bob Hope, June & Johnny Cash, and John Ritter's deaths. 

My Dad died within a week of Johnny Cash and John Ritter, so I always think of them when I remember my Dad dying.

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legaleagle53

legaleagle53

16 minutes ago, Popples said:

British actress Liz Smith dies at 95.

I'll always remember her as Letitia on Vicar of Dibley.

I had to laugh at this part of the article:

Quote

In 2009, the Prince of Wales presented Smith with an MBE and told her that the sofa-bound TV characters in the Royle Family were "nothing like my family, thank God".

Who says the Royal Family doesn't have a sense of humor?

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GreekGeek

GreekGeek

If we're talking bad years for celebrity deaths, 1977 was another annus horribilis. It started off with Peter Finch's death (right after his great performance in Network hit the screens) and Freddie Prinze's suicide, reached a peak in August with the death of Elvis, followed by that of Groucho Marx a few days later (another instance of one death tremendously overshadowed by another), and ended with the death of Charlie Chaplin on Christmas Day and that of Howard Hawks a day later. Over the course of the year, we also lost Joan Crawford, Bing Crosby, and many others. It was a rough year for writers as well; James Jones, James M. Cain, Vladimir Nabokov, Robert Lowell, et al. departed.

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Rosiejuliemom

Rosiejuliemom

41 minutes ago, roamyn said:

An acquaintance posted the below picture to his Facebook, for a visual of how many we've lost this year (note: Liz Smith is not in the picture).

 

 

FB_IMG_1482811530243.jpg

Nor are the 64 members of the Alexandrov Ensemble killed in the plane crash off the coast of Sochi yesterday. Still a very sobering picture.

The dog's name is Walnut. More about him: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/walnut-dog-whippet-walk-beach_us_58275a84e4b060adb56ead70

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Blergh

Blergh

21 minutes ago, roamyn said:

Gary Shandling is an "eh" for me.

Alan Rickman, OTOH, gutted me the most, with Florence & Glen.

Yes, I agree that Miss Henderson and Senator Glenn were the biggest guts for me this year. However; they still don't compare to how devastated I was in '89 when Lucy died. That's the biggest non-family gut of ALL time for me!

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roamyn

roamyn

1 hour ago, Blergh said:

Yes, I agree that Miss Henderson and Senator Glenn were the biggest guts for me this year. However; they still don't compare to how devastated I was in '89 when Lucy died. That's the biggest non-family gut of ALL time for me!

Actually, I meant Glen Frey.

Sen. Glenn lived a long, purposeful life.  While I was saddened by it, it didn't quite gut me the way the three I mentioned did.

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Ohwell

Ohwell

11 hours ago, forumfish said:

And then in 2009, Farrah Fawcett's death didn't even get a whole day of media coverage due to Michael Jackson dying later that same day

But in Farrah Fawcett's case, she had been in the news because of her cancer and I remember them doing a special show about her a few weeks before she died.  I remember Ryan O'Neal being all over tv, crying and looking for sympathy, and there was some other female friend who gave interviews talking about Farrah.  So, while Michael Jackson's death overshadowed hers, she did get some love and recognition before she died.  

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DearEvette

DearEvette

This year just felt really bad to me because Prince died.  If I ever had a top ten list of favorite musical artists or celebrities ever he always would land in the top three at any given time.  No matter when you polled me.  So it really hit me. 

So his death along with Bowie's and so many other musicians like Maurice White, Rod Temperton, Colonel Abrams, Sharon Jones, Phife Dawg, Glen Frey, Merle Haggard, Leonard Cohen,  and or course George Michael... it just seems like the musical losses loomed so much larger for this year.

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Enigma X

Enigma X

(edited)

Yeah. This year, in relation to celebrity deaths, was bad for me because of Prince and Bowie. Then add the nonstop onslaught of musicians and those related to music to the mix. Music and books have always been my first loves.

I did a quick internet search and more celebrities have actually died this year when compared to most recent years according to most (albeit unscientific) reports. I actually wish that was not the case. It is really not something that 2016 needs to be proud of.

Came upon this while browsing:

https://twitter.com/ebonstorm/status/803670702817542144/photo/1?ref_src=twsrc^tfw

Edited by Enigma X
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BooksRule

BooksRule

(edited)

Richard Adams, author of 'Watership Down' has died at age 96.

 http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-38446309

The article includes this passage from his best-known book:  

"It seemed to Hazel that he would not be needing his body any more, so he left it lying on the edge of the ditch, but stopped for a moment to watch his rabbits and to try to get used to the extraordinary feeling that strength and speed were flowing inexhaustibly out of him into their sleek young bodies and healthy senses.

"You needn't worry about them," said his companion. "They'll be alright - and thousands like them."'

(Sniff)

Edited by BooksRule
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Mr. Sparkle
Message added by Mr. Sparkle,

Reminder:

This thread is for deaths of celebrities in the entertainment business only. No notices about politicians, please. 

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