The 2013 Off Topic Celebrity Dead Pool

[-Jrabbit]

I must admit, it never crossed my mind that she was still alive.

[Donegeal]

All I have to do is tilt my head up about 15 degrees and I'm staring at a copy of 'Million Dollar Mermaid'.

[Bugs ****ing Bunny]

Author Iain Banks has died aged 59, two months after announcing he had terminal cancer, his family has said.

The Scottish writer revealed in April he was suffering from terminal gall bladder cancer and was unlikely to live for more than a year.

He was best known for his novels The Wasp Factory, The Crow Road and Complicity.

In a statement, his publisher said he was "an irreplaceable part of the literary world".

Little, Brown Book Group said the author was "one of the country's best-loved novelists" for both his mainstream and science fiction books.

"Iain Banks' ability to combine the most fertile of imaginations with his own highly distinctive brand of gothic humour made him unique," it said.

After announcing his illness in April, Banks asked his publishers to bring forward the release date of his latest novel, The Quarry, so he could see it on the shelves.

On Sunday, it was revealed the book - to be released on 20 June - would detail the physical and emotional strain of cancer.

It describes the final weeks of the life of a man in his 40s who has terminal cancer.

Speaking to the BBC's Kirsty Wark, Banks said he was some 87,000 words into writing the book when he was diagnosed with his own illness.

"I had no inkling. So it wasn't as though this is a response to the disease or anything, the book had been kind of ready to go," he said.

"And then 10,000 words from the end, as it turned out, I suddenly discovered that I had cancer."

Science fiction

Little, Brown said the author was presented with finished copies of his last novel three weeks ago.

Banks' first novel, The Wasp Factory, was published in 1984 and was ranked as one of the best 100 books of the 20th Century in a 1997 poll conducted by book chain Waterstone's and Channel 4.

The writer also penned sci-fi titles under the name Iain M Banks. His most recent book, The Hydrogen Sonata, was released last year.

Fellow Scottish author Ken MacLeod paid tribute to Banks, saying he had "left a large gap in the Scottish literary scene as well as the wider speaking English world".

"He brought a wonderful combination of the dark and the light side of life and he explored them both without flinching," he said.

"He brought the same degree of craft and skill and commitment to his science fiction as he did to his mainstream fiction and he never drew any distinction in terms of his pride in what he was doing."

MacLeod added he had visited Banks on Wednesday, where he was in "good spirits".

"He was concentrating on his plans and projects, and had been hoping to have another couple of months - which was the last prognosis that he had been given," he said.

After announcing his illness, Banks had described being "hugely moved" by the public support for him through his website.

"Still knocked out by the love and the depth of feeling coming from so many people; thank you, all of you," he wrote on Banksophilia last month.

One of my favourite writers.

[Grandpa Troll]

(CNN) -- James Gandolfini, who gained fame playing a memorable mafia boss on HBO's "The Sopranos" by giving the role a contemporary twist of visiting a therapist for middle-age anxieties, died after suffering a possible heart attack in Italy, an HBO spokeswoman and the actor's managers said Wednesday.

He was 51.

Gandolfini was on holiday in Rome, said Mara Mikialian, HBO's vice president for program publicity.

Share your memories

He was best known for his award-winning performance as Tony Soprano from the late 1990s to the mid-2000s.

[Lord Avalon]

Big T's gone up to that Bada Bing! up in the sky. RIP

[Tuberski]

The man that saved us from the Martians died yesterday, as well:

http://www.cnn.com/2013/06/19/showbiz/slim-whitman-obit

ACK!

[-Jrabbit]

RIP to another blues and soul man, Bobby "Blue" Bland.

Bobby 'Blue' Bland Dead: Blues Legend Dies At 83 »

AP | ADRIAN SAINZ | June 24, 2013 at 12:37 AM
GRENADA, Miss. Bobby "Blue" Bland, a distinguished singer who blended Southern blues and soul in songs such as "Turn on Your Love Light" and "Further On Up the Road," died Sunday. He was 83. Rodd Bland said his father died about 5:30 p.m. Sunday due to complications from an ongoing illness at his Memphis, Tenn., home surrounded by relatives.

[SlowwHand]

R.I.P.

[Wezil]

Richard Matheson, the sci-fi and fantasy novelist and screenwriter influenced numerous modern genre writers and directors and wrote numerous stories and books that were adapted as films including “I Am Legend,” died on Sunday, according to his publisher. He was 87 and had been ill for some time.

As well as creating source material for films including “What Dreams May Come,” “A Stir of Echoes” and “The Shrinking Man,” Matheson was a prolific film and TV writer and responsible for some of the most popular “Twilight Zone” episodes as well as writing for nearly every other anthology series of the 1960s and 70s including “Lawman, ” “The Alfred Hitchcock Hour,” “Rod Serling’s Night Gallery,” “The Martian Chronicles,” “Amazing Stories” and “Star Trek” episode “The Enemy Within.”

Not picked.

[Wezil]

Halftime bump as Mandela nears the finish line.

[Tuberski]

Jim Kelly dead at 67:

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-207_162-57591737/enter-the-dragon-actor-jim-kelly-dies/

CBS/AP/ July 1, 2013, 8:57 AM"Enter the Dragon" actor Jim Kelly dies


Jim Kelly as Williams in a scene from "Enter the Dragon" in 1973. / AP/WARNER BROS.

• [*=left]1 Comment
  /
  [*=left]Shares/
  [*=left]Tweets/
  [*=left]Stumble/
  [*=left]Email
  [*=left]More +

Actor Jim Kelly, who played a glib American martial artist in "Enter the Dragon"with Bruce Lee, has died. He was 67.
Marilyn Dishman, Kelly's ex-wife, said he died Saturday of cancer at his home in San Diego.
A post on Kelly's Facebook page on Sunday noted: "It is with sadness and regret that we must announce the passing of a great man and legend Jim Kelly. He will be deeply missed by all. Jim had great love for his family, friends, tennis and martial arts. We are devastated by Jim's passing but through faith and support from family, friends and fans-we are comforted, blessed and will remain strong. He was survived by his lifetime partner of 33 years and wife."
Sporting an Afro hairstyle and sideburns, Kelly made a splash with his one-liners and fight scenes in the 1973 martial arts classic. His later films included "Three the Hard Way," "Black Belt Jones" and "Black Samurai."
During a 2010 interview with Salon.com, Kelly said he started studying martial arts in 1964 in Kentucky and later moved to California where he earned a black belt in karate. He said he set his sights on becoming an actor after winning karate tournaments. He also played college football.
The role in the Bruce Lee film was his second. He had about a dozen film roles in the 1970s before his acting work tapered off. He later played tennis, competing in the USTA senior circuit. In recent years, he drew lines of autograph seekers at comic book conventions. In 2004, Kelly appeared alongside basketball player Lebron James in a Nike commercial that spoofed the Bruce Lee film, "Game of Death."
"It was one of the best experiences in my life," Kelly told Salon.com of working on "Enter the Dragon" with Lee. "Bruce was just incredible, absolutely fantastic. I learned so much from working with him. I probably enjoyed working with Bruce more than anyone else I'd ever worked with in movies because we were both martial artists. And he was a great, great martial artist. It was very good."
"Enter the Dragon" wasn't just a memorable movie for Kelly. Jackie Chan, who had a small part in the 1973 film, recently recalled one of his "best stories" in a clip posted by CBC's "George Stroumboulopoulos Tonight." In the segment, Chan talks about how excited he was to work with Lee in the film, but things didn't exactly go as planned. Chan goes on to explain how Lee accidentally hit him in the head during the shoot. As a result, Chan got to spend more time with Lee -- his idol; Lee kept checking up to see how Chan was feeling the rest of the day on the set.

ACK!

[Uncle Sparky]

http://rt.com/news/fukushima-manager...es-cancer-829/

Fukushima ex-manager who foiled nuclear disaster dies of cancer

The former Fukushima supervisor of damage control works at the tsunami-devastated nuclear power plant has died of cancer. His decision not to follow a corporate order prevented Chernobyl-like explosions of overheated Fukushima reactors.

The ex-head of Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant Masao Yoshida, 58, died at a Tokyo hospital of esophageal cancer on July 9, 2013. Doctors have maintained repeatedly that Yoshida’s illness has had nothing to do with exposure to high doses of radiation.

Yoshida is believed to have prevented the world’s worst atomic accident in 25 years after the Chernobyl catastrophe in 1986.

After March 11, 2011, when an earthquake and tsunami struck the Fukushima nuclear plant, General Manager in the Nuclear Asset Management Department of the Tokyo Electric Power Co., Inc. (TEPCO) Masao Yoshida remained in charge of the rectification of the consequences of the disaster for more than six months, barely leaving the station...

I thought someone had picked him... or was that last year?

[-Jrabbit]

That would be (would have been) a great pick.

May you RIP, Masao Yoshida, modern hero.

[ColdWizard]

http://rt.com/news/fukushima-manager...es-cancer-829/

Fukushima ex-manager who foiled nuclear disaster dies of cancer



I thought someone had picked him... or was that last year?

I had him last year.

[Krill]

**** it, I removed her from my list. Don and Reg got a hit though: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-23268512

Anna Wing, EastEnders' Lou Beale, dies aged 98

Actress Anna Wing, best known for her role as Lou Beale in the BBC soap EastEnders, has died aged 98.

The star, who appeared in the BBC One programme from its start in 1985, passed away on Sunday, her agent said.

Wing featured as the opinionated Beale and Fowler family matriarch for three years, alongside Gretchen Franklin as her best friend Ethel Skinner.

Her character Lou, who was based on the aunt of EastEnders creator Tony Holland, was killed off in 1988.

"From the very first episode of EastEnders, Anna created one of the most iconic matriarchs in television history," said a spokesman on behalf of the programme.

Actor Adam Woodyatt, who plays Wing's on-screen grandson Ian Beale, paid tribute to "a wonderful lady" who put him "completely at ease" when filming.

"I have so many fond memories of her, my thoughts are with her family and friends," Woodyatt added.

Princess Anne presents Anna Wing with an MBE
Wing received an MBE for services to drama and charity in 2009
Actress June Brown, who starred as Lou's friend Dot Cotton, had appeared in a film with Wing before working with her on EastEnders.

"She was a very generous woman in many ways, and an excellent actress who made a script her own, lifting the character off the page and making it quite different from what you'd have expected," she said, in a statement.

Wing was 71 when she auditioned for the role, armed with her birth certificate to prove she was from London's East End.

Born in Hackney, London in October 1914, Wing started her career as an artist's model, before working in hospitals during World War II.

She gained a scholarship, funded by an unknown benefactor, to the Croydon School of Acting at the age of 21.

During the 1960s and 70s, she starred in a number of TV mini-series and films, including Doctor Who and The Woman in White.

Following her role in EastEnders, Wing appeared in The Bill, Casualty and most recently, Silent Witness.

She was made an MBE in the 2009 Birthday Honours, for services to drama and charity.

Speaking at the time she said "I wanted to be an actress when I was a little girl and everybody said no, but I did it. I stuck it out and I've done it for 70 years and I'm still working."