The Off Topic 2010 Celebrity Dead Pool

[-Jrabbit]

Pre-Pistols, McLaren started off in music by managing the fabulously worthless New York Dolls.

Post-Pistols, he managed Bow Wow Wow, whose "I Want Candy" was one of the great singles of the era.

McLaren was, by most accounts, a total wanker. But RIP, and thanks for the music.

[SlowwHand]

I think he was overlooked by all of our contestants.

Raabe, 'Wizard of Oz' Munchkin actor, dies at 94

Posted on April 10, 2010 at 9:03 AM


ORANGE PARK, Fla. (AP) — Meinhardt Raabe (MYN' hahrt RAH' bee), who played the Munchkin coroner in "The Wizard of Oz," has died.

His caregiver, Cindy Bosnyak, said Raabe died Friday morning at a hospital in Orange Park, Fla. He was 94 and was one of the few surviving Munchkins from the 1939 film.

Bosnyak said he complained of a sore throat at his retirement community before collapsing.

Raabe was a veteran "midget" performer, as little people were then known, when the film was made. He was the official who pronounces the Wicked Witch "really most sincerely dead."

In a 1988 Associated Press interview, he said he had no idea the movie would become a
classic because at the time of its release, it was overshadowed by "Gone With the Wind."

[The Emperor Fabulous]

I think he was overlooked by all of our contestants.

...was that a pun? You've gotten a lot more subtle as you've aged

[Winston]

Hrmpf. I have former Polish president Wojciech Jaruzelski uniquely as my number 7 pick, but oh no..

[The Emperor Fabulous]

Dixie Carter

Dixie Carter has died at age 70
By Alec Harvey -- The Birmingham News
April 10, 2010, 9:16PM


Dixie Carter starred as Julia Sugarbaker on TV's "Designing Women."
Entertainment Tonight is reporting that actress Dixie Carter, best-known for her role as Julia Sugarbaker on TV's "Designing Women," has died at age 70.

"This has been a terrible blow to our family," ET quotes her husband, Hal Holbrook, as saying. "We would appreciate everyone understanding that this is a private family tragedy. Thank you."

The Tennessee-born Carter, in an interview with The Birmingham News prior to an appearance in 2008, said she was holding out hope for a "Designing Women" reunion at some point.

"People have talked, but it hasn't come to anything," Carter says. "We're all in touch with each other, and we love each other very much. We have such disparate careers. It would be so much fun to pull that together, but it would be very hard.

Any "Designing Women" fans here? Looking at you, sloww

[SlowwHand]

Oh, hell. What a drag. RIP.
Watch over Betty White and her latest resurgence.

...was that a pun? You've gotten a lot more subtle as you've aged

You caught that, did you?

[-Jrabbit]

I watched Designing Women regularly. Didn't know she was married to Hal Holbrook.

RIP Dixie.

[Wezil]

I was never a fan of the show but I feel bad for Hal.

[Grandpa Troll]

Daryl Gates R.I.P.

Daryl Gates, former chief of the Los Angeles Police Department, has died at age 83 after a battle with bladder cancer, Los Angeles police said.

Gates was the city's top police official from 1978 through 1992 when he resigned in the wake of the turmoil from the 1991 Rodney King police beating and the riots that followed.

"Daryl Francis Gates was a one-in-a-million human being," Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck said. "He inspired others to succeed and, in doing so, changed the landscape of law enforcement around the world."

Gates' 14 years as chief was a time of change, growth and turmoil in Los Angeles, as the city passed Chicago, Illinois, to become the nation's second largest.

His reputation was tarnished by racial gaffes, including one highly publicized remark when he defended officers' use of carotid chokehold that sometimes led to injuries or death.

Gates suggested that blacks had arteries that "do not open up as fast as on normal people." He later said he intended "normal" to mean all healthy people.

His department was credited with keeping the 1984 Summer Olympics safe.

A native of the Los Angeles area, Gates joined the force as a rookie in 1949.

Gates called the rise of drug trafficking a "deadly plague invading our shores" and made it a priority in the 1980s.

"More than half of all murders and bank robberies were narcotics-related" in 1987, according to a statement from the Los Angeles police.

Gates is credited with the creation of the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program, which was based on his belief "that the present generation had already surrendered to drug dependency and that the country's future lies with the readiness of our children to resist involvement," Los Angeles police said.

The DARE program has spread throughout U.S. law enforcement agencies over the past two decades.


He did a lot for Law Enforcement

But then a lot of biased issues were uncovered during his tenure

[embalmer42]

* Sigh *

[Wezil]

You should have picked him embalmer.

[embalmer42]

Thanks for the tip Kreskin.


If things don't change soon, I'm calling in the Big Guns.

(and I won't be held responsible for the fury they unleash )

[SlowwHand]

They're unleashing a furry? Just great. Should be popular at Poly.

[embalmer42]

They're unleashing a furry? Just great. Should be popular at Poly.

If they survive.

[Wezil]

I'm quite disappointed in our crop of celebs. We are well past due.