Celebrity Passages 2011

Jeff Westover · Mar 23, 2011

Last year we kept a tally of famed individuals that had passed on through the year, even going so far as to keep a list of predictions. For some, this is a morbid exercise that pokes fun of the dead and makes light of tough situations. We contend it is not, but nearly another way we mark time and "remember when" as each holiday season passes by.

I'm very late in getting a thread together this year. And today -- as we mark the passage of a truly great Hollywood legend, Elizabeth Taylor -- I thought it best to finally, um, resurrect this thread and post my official picks for this year as I originally posted them on my personal blog in January (note that Liz didn't make the list this year):

1. Kim Jung Il — (he may already be dead for all we know)
2. Bob Dole — (Sorry Bob, all your recent hospital visits have me worried)
3. Dick Cheney
4. Betty Ford
5. Zsa Zsa Gabor
6. Harry Morgan
7. Olivia De Havilland
8. Jerry Lewis
9. Fidel Castro
10. Lindsay Lohan

Feel free to post your own predictions and I promise no one will make fun of you for being weird.

This isn't an exercise in the morose. In fact, it is a grand Internet tradition.

Here's a list of folks we've already lost in 2011:

1. Elizabeth Taylor
2. Jack LaLanne
3. Gerry Rafferty
4. Jane Russell
5. Nate Dogg
6. Len Lesser
7. Betty Garrett
8. John Barry
9. Charlie Callas
10. David Nelson
11. Michael Gough

If you know of any others, please post them in tribute (or infamy, depending on who it is...)

dvdelf · Mar 23, 2011

I'll put Charlie Sheen out there though I think he'll live just long enough to make me wrong.

Jeff Westover · Mar 23, 2011

Yeah, I had him on my list last year (before his madness peaked, it turned out) and put Lindsay Lohan in his place. Sad to have to say.

RadioJonD · Mar 23, 2011

FaLaLaLaLa.com

stubbysfears and others over at 'The Fa' keeps a list of musicians with Christmas output who pass each year. To date there have already been 10!

gabulldawg · Mar 23, 2011

When did Nate Dogg bite the dust??

Jeff Westover · Mar 24, 2011

gabulldawg said:
When did Nate Dogg bite the dust??

Around the middle of March. Multiple strokes, evidently. Sad.

http://articles.latimes.com/2011/mar/16/news/la-heb-nate-dogg-stroke-20110316

trackrebel · Mar 25, 2011

gabulldawg said:
When did Nate Dogg bite the dust??

this one really hit me....I knew about his health issues ( multiple strokes and everything) but was always praying for a recovery for him.......everytime I hear him sing the chorus of Warren G´s Regulate....my is right back in the mid 90s when I was a teenager....he was the voice of West-Coast Hip hop in the 90s

dvdelf · Mar 27, 2011

I hate to say it, but Mickey Rooney @ 90 yrs old
Poor guy has no money & has been in court recently trying to get family members out of his business

gabulldawg · Mar 27, 2011

trackrebel said:
this one really hit me....I knew about his health issues ( multiple strokes and everything) but was always praying for a recovery for him.......everytime I hear him sing the chorus of Warren G´s Regulate....my is right back in the mid 90s when I was a teenager....he was the voice of West-Coast Hip hop in the 90s

OH I know it! I had NO idea How I missed the news of his passing! that is why it surprised me so much to see his name here!R.I.P

made582 · Mar 28, 2011

1) Dick Cheney
2) Nancy Reagan
3) Zsa Zsa Gabor
4) Steve Jobs
5) Billy Graham
6) Abe Vigoda
7) Dick Clark

Jeff Westover · May 17, 2011

We lost Harmon Killebrew today.

We knew this was coming, sadly, but still did it have to happen so quickly?

One of the last classy athletes.

RIP, Harmon.

caninemom3 · May 17, 2011

Jeff Westover said:
We lost Harmon Killebrew today.

We knew this was coming, sadly, but still did it have to happen so quickly?

One of the last classy athletes.

RIP, Harmon.

RIP Mr. Killebrew xo

brittd19 · Jul 24, 2011

amy winehouse passed away yesterday.

Maureen · Jul 24, 2011

I'd like to say that I'm surprised but sadly, I can't

RadioJonD · Jul 24, 2011

I didn't even know who she was until I saw that she had died.

Jeff Westover · Jul 24, 2011

Yep, a trainwreck in slow motion. We can't/shouldn't judge though. The issues of addiction are real and, for many of us, too close to home for generations now....

trackrebel · Jul 25, 2011

rip amy...you were a troubled soul and I was always afraid this might happen....it is terrible to watch people destroy themselves and nobody can really help....rip

Jeff Westover · Aug 3, 2011

We lost Bubba today...

Charles Aaron “Bubba” Smith, the No. 1 overall pick in the 1967 NFL draft who later found fame as an actor, has died at the age of 66.

After ending an All-American career at Michigan State in 1966, Smith was taken first in the draft by the Baltimore Colts. He played on Baltimore’s defensive line for five years, then was traded to the Oakland Raiders, where he played in 1973 and 1974, and finished his career with the Houston Oilers in 1975 and 1976.

The 6-foot-7, 265-pound Smith was one of the biggest players of his era. He won a ring at Super Bowl V and went to two Pro Bowls.

After retiring, Smith became an actor. He was best known for playing Moses Hightower in the first six Police Academy movies.

RIP, Bubba. I loved you as a football player.