Drop Dead Thread 2009

[boxofslice]

BRUCE FORSYTH IS DEAD

Sadly, not true.  He's still got the Strictly special to do over xmas.  Then he's off to play golf in South America for four months.

[buttgammon]

Good old Brucie, indulging in some strokeplay with escaped Nazi war criminals.

[Uncle TechTip]

That's nice to think that he gives up several hours of his Xmas day to present the Strictly special. What a pro. A real trooper.

[Howj Begg]

Vic Chesnutt is dead.

I wasn't a major fan or anything but I remember him from Mark and Lard's Graveyard Shift. Sad news.

[Bogey]

Vic Chesnutt is dead.

I wasn't a major fan or anything but I remember him from Mark and Lard's Graveyard Shift. Sad news.

Suicide apparently.
:(

[biggytitbo]

Isnt anyone major going to die? It's one the few things i look forward to at christmas, someone big usually snuffs it (although i guess boxing day is a slightly more traditional day to die if your famous)

[Serge]

Vic Chesnutt is dead.

Is this confirmed? Half the sources say he's still in a coma. Still, pretty shit news either way.

[Bogey]

Is this confirmed? Half the sources say he's still in a coma. Still, pretty shit news either way.

I don't know how reliable this place is, but they say yes: http://www.spinnermusic.co.uk/2009/12/25/vic-chesnutt-dead/

Not his first attempt at suicide either apparently. Very sad.

[Serge]

Well, definitely confirmed now. Very sad.

[Serge]

Birthday Party guitarist (amongst other things) Rowland S. Howard died, aged 50, today:
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/entertainment/influential-melbourne-guitarist-rowland-s-howard-dies/story-e6frf96f-1225814790391
No age to die. Very sad.

[easytarget]

Rush Limbaugh hospitalised - could the 2009 death list end on the highest of possible high notes?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8435727.stm

(probably not, but you have to hold on to hope).

[Cerys]

Steeleye Span's Tim Hart died on Christmas Eve.  Bah.

[Tokyo Sexwhale]

Still time for a few stragglers, but here's the 2009 toll (i.e. those I've heard of, or I can remember being mentioned in this thread).

January   Helen Suzman, 91, South African anti-apartheid activist and politician, MP (1953–1989). [406]
January   Sir Alan Walters, 82, British economist. [376]
January   Pat Hingle, 84, American actor (Splendor in the Grass, Hang 'Em High, Batman), blood cancer. [369]
January   Ron Asheton, 60, American rock guitarist (The Stooges), heart attack (death announced on this date). [319]
January   Dave Dee, 67, British singer (Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich), prostate cancer. [280]
January   David Vine, 74, British sports presenter, heart attack. [264]
January   Patrick McGoohan, 80, American-born Irish actor (The Prisoner, Braveheart), after short illness. [224]
January   Ricardo Montalbán, 88, Mexican-born American actor (Fantasy Island, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan), heart failure. [206]
January   Sir John Mortimer, 85, British barrister, novelist and dramatist (Rumpole of the Bailey), after long illness. [184]
January   Tony Hart, 83, British artist and television presenter. [159]
January   Johnny Dixon, 85, British footballer (Aston Villa), complications from Alzheimer's disease. [136]
January   Vic Crowe, 76, British footballer (Aston Villa, Peterborough) and manager (Aston Villa, Portland Timbers), after long illness. [123]
January   Diane Holland, 78, British actress, bronchial pneumonia. [92]
January   Reg Gutteridge, 84, British boxing commentator and journalist, after short illness. [90]
January   John Updike, 76, American author (Rabbit Is Rich, The Witches of Eastwick), lung cancer. [61]
January   Billy Powell, 56, American musician (Lynyrd Skynyrd), heart attack. [45]
January   John Martyn, 60, British singer and songwriter, pneumonia. [33]
January   Hélio Gracie, 95, Brazilian martial artist, creator of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. [31]
January   Bill Frindall, 69, British cricket statistician, Legionnaire's disease. [29]
January   Ingemar Johansson, 76, Swedish world heavyweight boxing champion (1959–1960), complications from pneumonia. [19]
February   Paul Birch, 46, British footballer, bone cancer. [248]
February   Lux Interior, 62, American singer, songwriter and musician (The Cramps), aortic dissection. [230]
February   Estelle Bennett, 67, American singer (The Ronettes), colon cancer. [157]
February   Dilys Laye, 74, British actress, cancer. [136]
February   Kelly Groucutt, 63, British bass guitar player (Electric Light Orchestra), heart attack. [82]
February   Socks, 19, American Presidential cat of the Clinton family, euthanized. [79]
February   Philip José Farmer, 91, American writer (Riverworld). [29]
February   Wendy Richard, 65, British actress (Are You Being Served?, EastEnders), breast cancer. [23]
March   Chris Finnegan, 64, British boxer, Olympic middleweight champion (1968), complications from pneumonia. [296]
March   Harry Parkes, 89, British footballer (Aston Villa). [278]
March   Susan Tsvangirai, 50, Zimbabwean wife of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, car collision. [260]
March   Ali Bongo, 79, Indian-born British magician, pneumonia. [228]
March   Natasha Richardson, 45, British actress, epidural hematoma. [133]
March   Jade Goody, 27, British reality television personality, cervical cancer. [91]
March   John Mayhew, 61, British drummer (Genesis), heart failure. [52]
March   Raúl Alfonsín, 82, Argentine President (1983–1989), lung cancer. [1]
April   Ian Tomlinson, 47, British pedestrian assaulted by police at 2009 G-20 London summit protests, abdominal haemorrhage. [268]
April   Dave Arneson, 61, American game designer, co-creator of Dungeons & Dragons, cancer. [197]
April   Tam Paton, 70, Scottish music manager and spokesperson for the Bay City Rollers, suspected heart attack. [195]
April   Lennie Bennett, 70, British comedian and game show host (Lucky Ladders), after short illness. [189]
April   Marilyn Chambers, 56, American pornographic film actress (Behind the Green Door), erotic dancer, and politician, heart disease. [146]
April   Peter Rogers, 95, British film producer (Carry On series). [131]
April   Sir Clement Freud, 84, German-born British writer, broadcaster and politician, MP (1973–1987). [121]
April   Edward George, Baron George, 70, British public official, Governor of the Bank of England (1993–2003), lung cancer. [99]
April   J. G. Ballard, 78, British novelist, prostate cancer. [87]
April   Jack Jones, 96, British trade union leader, veteran of the International Brigades. [81]
April   Jack Cardiff, 94, British cinematographer (A Matter Of Life And Death, Black Narcissus, The African Queen), natural causes. [71]
April   Beatrice Arthur, 86, American Emmy and Tony Award-winning actress (Maude, The Golden Girls, Mame), cancer. [51]
April   Greg Page, 50, American boxer, complications from brain injury. [38]
May   Dom DeLuise, 75, American actor and comedian (The Cannonball Run, The Secret of NIMH), writer and chef, kidney failure. [239]
May   Bobby Campbell, 86, British footballer and manager. [238]
May   Terence Alexander, 86, British film and television actor (Bergerac). [27]
May   Eric Hammond, 79, British trade unionist, General Secretary of the EETPU. [14]
May   Danny La Rue, 81, Irish-born British female impersonator and singer, prostate cancer. [5]
June   David Eddings, 77, American fantasy author. [272]
June   David Carradine, 72, American actor and film director, hanged. [260]
June   Peter Townsend, 81, British sociologist, pneumonia. [226]
June   Tenniel Evans, 83, British actor. [192]
June   Andy Hughes, 43, British musician (The Orb), producer and DJ. [175]
June   Colin Bean, 83, British actor (Dad's Army). [95]
June   Steve Race, 88, British broadcaster and musician. [85]
June   Ed McMahon, 86, American television host (Star Search) and announcer (The Tonight Show). [72]
June   Steven Wells, 49, British journalist and author, cancer. [61]
June   Michael Jackson, 50, American pop singer–songwriter, acute propofol intoxication. [42]
June   Farrah Fawcett, 62, American actress (Charlie's Angels), anal cancer. [39]
July   Mollie Sugden, 86, British actress (Are You Being Served?), natural causes. [271]
July   Allen Klein, 77, American businessman, Beatles and Rolling Stones manager, Alzheimer's disease. [233]
July   Robert McNamara, 93, American business executive, Secretary of Defense (1961–1968), natural causes. [214]
July   Arturo Gatti, 37, Canadian boxer, strangulation. [179]
July   Vince Powell, 80, British scriptwriter (Love Thy Neighbour, Mind Your Language). [160]
July   Gordon Waller, 64, British singer (Peter and Gordon), cardiac arrest. [127]
July   Walter Cronkite, 92, American television news anchor, cerebrovascular disease. [124]
July   Gordon Burn, 61, British writer, cancer. [123]
July   Henry Allingham, 113, British supercentenarian, world's oldest man and WWI veteran. [113]
July   Harry Towb, 83, British actor, cancer. [67]
July   Harry Patch, 111, British supercentenarian, fourth-last surviving World War I veteran. [59]
July   Vernon Forrest, 38, American boxer, shot. [55]
July   Sybil, British Downing Street cat, Chief Mouser to the Cabinet Office (2007–2008), after short illness. [36]
July   Sir Bobby Robson, 76, British footballer and manager, lung cancer. [5]
August   John Hughes, 59, American film director, screenwriter, and producer (Ferris Bueller's Day Off, The Breakfast Club), heart attack. [244]
August   Eunice Kennedy Shriver, 88, American activist, founder of the Special Olympics, sister of John F. Kennedy. [188]
August   Les Paul, 94, American guitarist and inventor, complications from pneumonia. [167]
August   Laurie Rowley, 68, British comedy writer (The Two Ronnies, Not the Nine O'Clock News), heart attack. [142]
August   Ted Kennedy, 77, American politician, Senator from Massachusetts (1962–2009), brain cancer. [63]
August   Ellie Greenwich, 68, American songwriter ("Be My Baby", "Chapel of Love"), heart attack. [55]
August   Sadie Corre, 91, British actress (The Rocky Horror Picture Show). [53]
August   Simon Dee, 74, British radio disc jockey and television presenter, bone cancer. [25]
September   Keith Waterhouse, 80, British author and playwright (Billy Liar), natural causes. [290]
September   Iain Cuthbertson, 79, British actor. [285]
September   Felix Bowness, 87, British actor (Hi-de-Hi!) [184]
September   Darren Sutherland, 27, Irish boxer, 2008 Olympic bronze medalist, suicide by hanging. [178]
September   Keith Floyd, 65, British chef, heart attack. [169]
September   Troy Kennedy Martin, 77, British screenwriter (Z-Cars, Edge of Darkness, The Italian Job), liver cancer. [164]
September   Mary Travers, 72, American singer (Peter, Paul and Mary), leukemia. [157]
September   Pentti Airikkala, 64, Finnish rally driver, prostate cancer. [2]
October   Barry Letts, 84, British television actor, director and producer (Doctor Who). [237]
October   Stephen Gately, 33, Irish pop singer (Boyzone), pulmonary oedema. [222]
October   Dickie Peterson, 63, American rock singer (Blue Cheer), liver cancer. [207]
October   Al Martino, 82, American singer and actor (The Godfather), first person to top the UK Singles Chart. [191]
October   Sir Ludovic Kennedy, 89, British author and journalist, pneumonia. [144]
October   Joseph Wiseman, 91, Canadian actor (Dr. No). [138]
October   Soupy Sales, 83, American comedian and television host, cancer. [101]
October   David Shepherd, 68, British cricketer and umpire, lung cancer. [48]
October   Claude Lévi-Strauss, 100, French anthropologist and author. [18]
November   Derek B, 44, British rapper, heart attack. [114]
November   Edward Woodward, 79, British film and television actor, natural causes. [113]
December   Eric Woolfson, 64, Scottish singer and keyboardist (The Alan Parsons Project), cancer. [301]
December   Maggie Jones, 75, British actress (Coronation Street), after long illness. [296]
December   Richard Todd, 90, Irish-born British Academy Award-nominated actor (The Hasty Heart, The Dam Busters), cancer. [288]
December   Eddie Fatu, 36, American professional wrestler, heart attack. [266]
December   Paul Samuelson, 94, American economist, Nobel Prize winner (1970), after short illness. [169]
December   Alan A'Court, 75, British footballer (Liverpool F.C.), cancer. [154]
December   Roy E. Disney, 79, American entertainment executive (The Walt Disney Company), nephew of Walt Disney, stomach cancer. [141]
December   Dan O'Bannon, 63, American screenwriter, director and actor, Crohn's disease. [136]
December   Jennifer Jones, 90, American Academy Award-winning actress (The Song of Bernadette), natural causes. [134]
December   Kim Peek, 58, American savant, inspiration for Rain Man, heart attack. [109]
December   Brittany Murphy, 32, American actress (Clueless, King of the Hill, 8 Mile), cardiac arrest. [100]
December   Albert Scanlon, 74, English footballer (Manchester United), survivor of Munich air disaster. [79]
December   Terry Lawless, 76, British boxing manager and trainer. [56]
December   Tim Hart, 61, British musician (Steeleye Span), lung cancer. [55]
December   Vic Chesnutt, 45, American folk rock musician, muscle relaxant overdose. [44]
December   James "The Rev" Sullivan, 28, American hard rock drummer (Avenged Sevenfold). [28]
December   Cahal Daly, 92, Irish Cardinal of the Roman Catholic church, Primate of All Ireland (1990–1996). [1]