2015 Off Topic Celebrity Dead Pool

[self biased]

ColdWizard is a lazy, procrastinating bastard* that has failed to meet any of his unstated goals thus far. Thus, I only feel confident in saying that I will update prior to February.



*Mostly, anyway.

We'll talk more when it approaches February.

[Ming]

Yeah... no rush. Heck, we don't have final results from last year yet

[Uncle Sparky]

http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/don-harr...t-90-1.2916802

Charlie Farquharson, Don Harron, is dead at 90

...Harron entertained generations of Canadians with his comic alter ego Farquharson and helped bring the Canadian classic novel Anne of Green Gables from the page to the stage.

Don Harron, who created the Canadian comedic icon Charlie Farquharson during a decades-long career in show business, has died in Toronto at 90.

Don Harron was also a seasoned theatre performer, acting in a half-dozen Broadway plays and three shows in London’s West End...

During CBC’s 1952 television revue The Spring Thaw , the relatively unknown Harron took to the stage for a four-minute set. Few people watching knew they were about to witness a marquee moment in Canadian show business.

That evening he introduced Canada to Farquharson – the country bumpkin from rural Ontario known for his incessant puns and decrepit grey cardigan sweater – a character that would solidify Harron’s place among the nation’s great entertainers.

Harron achieved international success in the late 1960s when he began an 18-season stint performing as Farquharson on the hit U.S. variety show Hee Haw.

His list of accomplishments extends far beyond Charlie.

Harron was a seasoned theatre performer, acting in a half-dozen Broadway plays and three shows in London’s West End. He also featured during the inaugural 1953 season of the Stratford Festival. It was in Stratford that he struck up a friendship with Oscar and Tony winner Christopher Plummer.

Harron also enjoyed considerable success behind the scenes as a writer and director.

He wrote the lyrics for five musicals, including the 1965 on-stage version of Anne of Green Gables, which was adapted from a television version he co-wrote nine years earlier. The show is performed every year during the Charlottetown Festival in P.E.I., a province where Harron has spent considerable time.

In between stints on the stage, Harron was the host of CBC Radio’s flagship program Morningside from 1977 to 1982, for which he won an ACTRA award for best radio host. He later helmed CTV’s The Don Harron Show from 1983 to 1985...

[Uncle Sparky]

http://www.cnn.com/2015/01/22/middle...ies/index.html

Saudi State TV: King Abdullah dead at 90 - I know this is a hit for some people. Will the new king continue as a 'reformer'? ... will they raise oil prices?

[regexcellent]

I'd put money on "no" and "no"

[Berzerker]

rip Ernie Banks, died at 83

[Uncle Sparky]

http://www.thestar.com/sports/2015/0...at-age-65.html

Toller Cranston, Olympic and world figure skater, dead at 65

[Bugs ****ing Bunny]

Krautrock legend Edgar Froese of Tangerine Dream has joined the great free-form linear groove in the sky.

Edgar Froese, the founding member of the German electronic group Tangerine Dream, has died in Vienna, aged 70.

Froese died unexpectedly on Friday after a pulmonary embolism, his son, Jerome, said.

Tangerine Dream's psychedelic and trance-like use of synthesiser sound was a significant influence on the development of electronic music.

Froese once said that "there is no death, there is just a change of our cosmic address".

Froese was born on D-Day - 6 June, 1944 - in Tilsit in East Prussia, now the Russian city of Sovetsk.

Froese's father and other relatives were killed by the Nazis and the family lost all their belongings in the war.

His mother and the rest of his family settled in West Berlin, where he studied art.

Froese formed Tangerine Dream in Berlin in September 1967 with fellow students.

The band was known for its uncompromising anti-pop performances and played at the villa of surrealist artist Salvador Dali in Spain.

The group later signed to Virgin after Froese had undertaken "several bouts of chess on Richard Branson's houseboat on the Thames".

The resultant album, Phaedra, in 1974 was considered a key work in the early electronic genre, with its sequencer-driven sound.

The album reached No 15 in the UK charts although it sold only a few thousand copies in Germany.

Froese was a prolific artist, and from 2003 onwards created solo work under the name Edgar W Froese.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-30965708

[Uncle Sparky]

http://news.yahoo.com/us-poet-rod-mc...071222235.html

Rod McKuen, poet, lyricist, dead at 81

Washington (AFP) - US poet, songwriter and singer Rod McKuen, a multiple Academy Award nominee, has died at the age of 81, US media reported.

McKuen died on Thursday in Los Angeles of respiratory arrest after suffering from pneumonia, friend and producer Jim Pierson said, according to the Los Angeles Times.

His work included the Academy Award-nominated song "Jean" for the 1969 film "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie" and he was nominated for an Oscar again in 1971 for his work on the animated film "A Boy Named Charlie Brown."

McKuen was a prolific composer, working with artists such as Johnny Cash, Barbra Streisand and Frank Sinatra.

The Hollywood show business publication Variety said he published 30 books of poetry, including "Listen to the Warm," which sold millions of copies, and that McKuen won a spoken word Grammy for "Lonesome Cities."

The St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture said that at the peak of his career McKuen was "the unofficial poet laureate of America," the New York Times said...

English lyrics by Rod McKuen. RIP

[Uncle Sparky]

http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/colleen-...dies-1.2935950

Colleen McCullough, The Thorn Birds author, dies

Best-selling Australian author Colleen McCullough, whose novel The Thorn Birds sold 30 million copies worldwide, has died at age 77 after a long illness.

McCullough died Thursday in a hospital on remote Norfolk Island, HarperCollins Australia publishing director Shona Martyn said in a statement...

[-Jrabbit]

Wow, I was sure that Rod McKuen died long ago.

[-Jrabbit]

I see that CW has chosen to follow in Reg's new tradition of...NOT DOING A DAMN THING.

I think a month is a more than sufficient wait.

Can we at least see the rosters, dude? That's just copy/paste.

[embalmer42]

I see that CW has chosen to follow in Reg's new tradition of...NOT DOING A DAMN THING.

I think a month is a more than sufficient wait.

Can we at least see the rosters, dude? That's just copy/paste.

Relax - patience is a virtue.



Besides, I really don't need to see how badly I'm losing to everyone else.

[ColdWizard]

I see that CW has chosen to follow in Reg's new tradition of...NOT DOING A DAMN THING.

I think a month is a more than sufficient wait.

Can we at least see the rosters, dude? That's just copy/paste.

While rosters are more than copy/paste, you're spot on with the rest of it. A month is more than enough time. I have failed.

I will finish it. And there's not much else I can say that's not bull****.

[Ming]

Thanks CW... Much appreciated.