Marching forward to death
Death of a Star
Hello all.
It’s been a while since I posted. Not that anyone really reads this blog, but that’s not the point. Anyway, it occurs to me that one way to measure the time between now and the last time I posted is to compile a list of some of the famous people who have died during that time and to do a mini-analysis of that list. So, without further …
These are people who died, Aug. 22, 2008 – April 14, 2009, with occupation, age, death date, and cause of death.
- Andre “Dr. Dre, Jr.” Young, Jr. // famous son // 20 // August 23, 2008 // overdose, heroin and morphine
- Del Martin // lesbian rights activist // 87 // August 27, 2008 // Complications from a bone fracture, declining health previous, old age
- Killer Kowalski // professional wrestler // 82 // August 30, 2008 // heart failure
- Jerry Reed // country music singer, actor // 71 // August 31, 2008 // complications from emphysema
- Don LaFontaine // voice actor, movie trailer voice guy // 68 // September 1, 2008 // pulmonary embolism, pneumothorax
- Bill Meléndez // animator (Peanuts) // 91 // September 2, 2008 // unknown, old age
- Anita Page // silent film actor, 1st Academy Awards // 98 // September 6, 2008 // natural, old age
- David Foster Wallace // writer // 46 // September 12, 2008 // suicide
- Norman Jesse Whitfield // songwriter, producer (Motown, psychedelic soul) // 68 // September 16, 2008 // complications of diabetes
- Paul Newman // actor // 83 // September 26, 2008 // lung cancer
- Gidget Gein // musician, Marilyn Manson bass player // 39 // October 8, 2008 // overdose, heroin
- Rudy Ray Moore // comedian, actor, Dolemite // 81 // October 19, 2008 // complications of diabetes
- Anne Pressly // TV news anchor, Little Rock, AR // 26 // October 25, 2008 // trauma, beating
- Mitch Mitchell // musician, Jimi Hendrix Experience drummer // 62 // November 12, 2008 // “natural causes,” unknown
- MC Breed // musician, rapper // 37 // November 22, 2008 // kidney failure
- Munetaka Higuchi // musician, Loudness drummer // 49 // November 30, 2008 // liver cancer
- Paul “Bentley” Benedict // actor, “The Jeffersons” // 70 // December 1, 2008 // unknown
- Bettie Page // pinup model, fetish film actor // 85 // December 11, 2008 // pneumonia
- W. Mark “Deep Throat” Felt // FBI agent, informant // 95 // December 18, 2008 // unknown, old age (congestive heart failure probable indirect cause)
- Harold Pinter // playwright // 78 // December 24, 2008 // cancer
- Eartha Kitt // actor, singer, dancer, Catwoman // 81 // December 25, 2008 // colon cancer
- Freddie Hubbard // musician, jazz trumpeter // 70 // December 29, 2008 // complications from heart attack
- Jett Travolta // famous son // 16 // January 2, 2009 // seizure
- Ricardo Montalban // actor, Fantasy Island host, fine Corinthian leather enthusiast // 88 // January 14, 2009 // unknown, old age
- Andrew Wyeth // artist, painter // 91 // January 16, 2009 // old age
- John Updike // writer // 76 // January 27, 2009 // cancer
- James Whitmore // actor // 87 // February 6, 2009 // lung cancer
- Socks // First Cat under the Clinton Administration // 19 // February 20, 2009 // euthanized, possible cancer
- Paul Harvey // radio personality, storyteller // 90 // February 28, 2009 // unknown, old age
- Ron Silver // actor // 62 // March 15, 2009 // esophageal cancer
- Nicholas Hughes // marine biologist, son of poets (Sylvia Plath, Ted Hughes) // 47 // March 16, 2009 // suicide
- Natasha Richardson //actor // 45 // March 18, 2009 //accident, epidural hematoma
- Dan Seals // musician, wuss-rocker // 61 // March 25, 2009 // cancer
- Irving R. Levine // journalist, bow-tie aficionado //86 // March 26, 2009 // prostate cancer
- Andy Hallett // actor, singer, Host // 33 // March 29, 2009 // heart failure
- Deborah Digges // poet, memoirist // 59 // April 10, 2009 // suicide
- Marilyn Chambers // porn star, actor, Personal Choice Party candidate for US VP // 56 // April 12, 2009 // unknown, “natural causes”
by age % (n)
0-17 2.7% (1)
18-25 5.4% (2)
26-35 5.4% (2)
36-49 16.2% (6)
50-60 5.4% (2)
61-74 21.6% (8)
75-100 43.2% (16)
cause of death by age
overdose 2 (18-25, 36-49)
old age 7 (75+)
heart failure 2 (75+, 26-35)
emphysema 1 (61-74)
pulmonary embolism 1 (61-74)
suicide 3 (36-49, 50-60)
diabetes 2 (61-74, 75+)
cancer 9 (lungX2, unspecifiedX, colon, prostate 75+; esophageal, unspecified 61-74; liver 36-49;)
violence 1 (26-35)
“natural”/unknown 3 (61-74, 50-60)
kidney failure 1 (36-49)
pneumonia 1 (75+)
heart attack 1 (61-74)
seizure 1 (0-17)
euthanasia 1 (18-25)
trauma 1 (36-49)
cause of death by occupation
overdose 2 (none or unknown, musician)
old age 7 (activist, animator, actorX2, politics, law enforcement, artist, radio personality)
heart failure 2 (wrestler, actor)
emphysema 1 (musician, actor)
pulmonary embolism 1 (voice actor)
suicide 3 (writer, scientist & son of poets, poet)
diabetes 2 (musician, comedian, actor)
cancer 9 (lung, colon, esophageal actorX2; liver, colon musician; unspecified playwright, writer, musician; prostate journalist)
violence 1 (journalist)
“natural”/unknown 3 (musician, actor, porn star)
kidney failure 1 (musician)
pneumonia 1 (model)
heart attack 1 (musician)
seizure 1 (none or unknown)
euthanasia 1 (politics)
trauma 1 (actor)
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(CHICAGO) — Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley met today with several police, school officials, reverends, social workers, and activists.
Explaining the need for this summit, Mayor Daley said, “It concerns all of us, antamarrahng … again havacupa ministers and other people … just sit around an sez, ‘I-I-Is there any other solutions that we cuh we’ve lost?’”(1)
Many community leaders say they are dissatisfied with the Daley Administrations previous efforts to stomp out violence, including instituting a curfew, then making the curfew earlier when it was determined that kids routinely ignore curfews, asking parents to be responsible parents, asking them again and this time saying “please,” banning all guns within the city, achieving 100% enforcement of city gun laws by every available honest and competent police officer,(2) and asking for more and stiffer anti-gun laws.
Police officials interviewed before the summit said they would push for more police, more and bigger equipment, and an increase in salaries and benefits. The officers praised new Police Superintendent Jody Weis for planning a massive SWAT invasion into “trouble areas,” positioning rooftop snipers on every block, covering the sky with police helicopters, and knocking on doors wearing full body armor and carrying really huge assault rifles.
School officials disagreed with the police representatives, saying that a three- or fourfold increase in education funds, some of it earmarked for a new anti-violence curriculum, is necessary to get rid of violence in the city. Social workers echoed the school officials’ opinion, only replace “education” with “social services” and “curriculum” with “program.”
As the only groups not directly tied to the government, the activists and the holy reverends agreed that the most important thing was to make speeches about how the government should forcibly take the possessions of rich people and distribute them to the economically disadvantaged. The groups disagreed on two issues: whether religious leaders should be exempt from asset limits and whether daily baths should be mandatory.
For his part, Daley is reportedly intent on reducing the availability of guns in a city in which guns are legally not available. Rumor has it that Daley intends a police takeover of neighboring suburbs and Northwestern Indiana.
(1) This is an early transcript of Mayor Daley’s speech and has not yet been edited for clarity by the mayor’s staff.(2) Equal to approximately 7% of entire Chicago Police Department. For more news on this topic, see “Daley plans meetings on Chicago violence” and “Chicago police aim to reduce number of shootings, homicides“
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