And now Debby Reynolds

[Slarti]

Poor old thing.

Slarti

[swill453]

Definitely in the "didn't know she was still alive" category though*.

* until Carrie's illness anyway

Scott.

[Slarti]

Definitely in the "didn't know she was still alive" category though*.

* until Carrie's illness anyway

Scott.

Carrie mentioned her as living in her garage last but one time Carrie was on Graham Norton and was asked if she still was a week or so back.

Slarti

[Dod1010]

Staggering the number of celebs who have died this year. What was about it?

And for a daughter to die one day ahead of her mother? I thought it was a sick joke when I saw the headline.

Dod

[Slarti]

Staggering the number of celebs who have died this year. What was about it?

And for a daughter to die one day ahead of her mother? I thought it was a sick joke when I saw the headline.

Dod

I wonder if it is something to do with a peak in celebs that we have all heard of getting old at the same time, or succumbing to earlier excesses, and that in future years we will notice less big names going, because there will be less big names.

Or we're just all getting old

Slarti

[bungeejumper]

I wonder if it is something to do with a peak in celebs that we have all heard of getting old at the same time, or succumbing to earlier excesses, and that in future years we will notice less big names going, because there will be less big names.

I suspect it's a combination of the two, but with an added twist for drugs. But let's think about the pre-war period, and then at the 1980s generation, before we turn back to the boomers, who I think were/are riding two waves at once.

* I doubt that my mother (an avid film and celebrity fan in her youth) ever had as many stars competing for her memory cells as the post-war generation did. And when they died, the deaths tended not to get so much media attention as they would nowadays - with big exceptions, obviously....

* Whereas the 1980s generation (let's call them post-1975) have had stars with generally much shorter careers - oh sure, we all remember the ones who've survived but not the thousands of one-hit wonders who floated away downstream, never to be seen again. If social media could be [expletive deleted] to track them, there'd be millions of them - but not with very much depth because they didn't stay long enough to make an impression. Nobody's going to want their obituaries, even if they were on Big Brother for a few weeks when their careers started to fade..

* We boomers, however, had stars who both lasted a long time in the spotlight, and who also genuinely rode the rock and film rebellion in ways that no other generation had done. (No, really.) Which is why we bang on about them so much today. I've always believed that 1960s rock music created a generational divide that no generation since then has had the fun of experiencing. Where are the Claptons, the Hendrixes, the Rolling Stones of the last three decades? I don't think Duran Duran and Beyoncé have done much to innovate on the same level as them. (Prince, possibly?)

* Our generation then changed the game by taking huge risks with the sex and drugs that went with the rock n' roll, and with the film careers too. (Oh sure, actresses took cocaine in the forties too, but it was never quite so overtly acceptable and I'll bet it wasn't so widespread.) And all that has concertina'd the longevity quotient in the way we're now seeing.

Can somebody take very good care of Keith Richards, please?

BJ

[swill453]

* Our generation then changed the game by taking huge risks with the sex and drugs that went with the rock n' roll, and with the film careers too. (Oh sure, actresses took cocaine in the forties too, but it was never quite so overtly acceptable and I'll bet it wasn't so widespread.) And all that has concertina'd the longevity quotient in the way we're now seeing.

I'm not sure that explains why 2016, specifically, seems to have had far more notable deaths than, say 2015/14/13.

I guess it's just a statistical aberration.

Scott.

[panamagold]

Staggering the number of celebs who have died this year. What was about it?
Dod

Mediocre year really.

https://i1.wp.com/scienceblogs.com/greg ... .png?w=603

[bungeejumper]

I'm not sure that explains why 2016, specifically, seems to have had far more notable deaths than, say 2015/14/13. I guess it's just a statistical aberration.

Oh, totally agree. Chance doesn't go for smooth numerical progressions. The question, though, is whether we're seeing a sharply rising short-term trend due to some kind of 'perfect storm' in the factors. I haven't got a clue, but I think it's plausible. See you this time next year.

BJ

[Slarti]

* Whereas the 1980s generation (let's call them post-1975) have had stars with generally much shorter careers - oh sure, we all remember the ones who've survived but not the thousands of one-hit wonders who floated away downstream, never to be seen again. If social media could be [expletive deleted] to track them, there'd be millions of them - but not with very much depth because they didn't stay long enough to make an impression. Nobody's going to want their obituaries, even if they were on Big Brother for a few weeks when their careers started to fade..

I think that there were very high numbers that came and went, just as rapidly, in the late 50s, 60s and early 70s see http://www.officialcharts.com/charts/singles-chart/19711031/7501/ for a year and week picked at random - Titanic? Scott English? Springwater? Danyel Gerard? Newbeats? Elgins? Autumn? Los Pop Tops?

In the early 60s I suspect that there were even more 1 hit wonders that at that stage than later on and their passing wast/won't be noticed because in that brief spell they had another name.

Slarti

[Slarti]

* Our generation then changed the game by taking huge risks with the sex and drugs that went with the rock n' roll, and with the film careers too. (Oh sure, actresses took cocaine in the forties too, but it was never quite so overtly acceptable and I'll bet it wasn't so widespread.) And all that has concertina'd the longevity quotient in the way we're now seeing.

I'm not sure that explains why 2016, specifically, seems to have had far more notable deaths than, say 2015/14/13.

I guess it's just a statistical aberration.

Scott.

Perhaps it is just the start of big name of an age, who have survived so far, checking out because of their ages.

Slarti

[Slarti]

Staggering the number of celebs who have died this year. What was about it?
Dod

Mediocre year really.

https://i1.wp.com/scienceblogs.com/greg ... .png?w=603

But having looked at the list that is based upon, many of those would not have crossed the radar here, same as Andrew Sachs or Jean Alexander probably wouldn't in the USA http://www.tvguide.com/galleries/celebrity-deaths-2013-1058431/photo/aa8a8303-eb53-4b21-87fd-8a5f97cac0a6/

Slarti

[panamagold]

At the end of the day it all depends on our own personal definition of celebrity. There are untold amounts of people who perform on stage, screen and TV. Also, there are far too many to be able to even hazard a guess who have performed as singers, band or group members. This is even before we start adding in all the reality people. And guess what, they will all die sometime or other.

The likes of Glen Frey (Eagles), Prince and Paul Kantner (Jeferson Airplane/Starship) held far more relevance and timescale in my life whereas Carrie Fisher,to my recollection, had a small part in a Star Wars movie and a cameo appearance with James Earl Jones in The Big Bang Theory, two events over 34 years. I suspect she made other appearances during those years that I am unaware of. I see her greatest claim to fame to be that of the daughter of Debbie Reynolds. Yet the media was all over her demise like a rash.

[Slarti]

At the end of the day it all depends on our own personal definition of celebrity. There are untold amounts of people who perform on stage, screen and TV. Also, there are far too many to be able to even hazard a guess who have performed as singers, band or group members. This is even before we start adding in all the reality people. And guess what, they will all die sometime or other.

The likes of Glen Frey (Eagles), Prince and Paul Kantner (Jeferson Airplane/Starship) held far more relevance and timescale in my life whereas Carrie Fisher,to my recollection, had a small part in a Star Wars movie and a cameo appearance with James Earl Jones in The Big Bang Theory, two events over 34 years. I suspect she made other appearances during those years that I am unaware of. I see her greatest claim to fame to be that of the daughter of Debbie Reynolds. Yet the media was all over her demise like a rash.

Well it was more than a small part in the first 3 Star Wars movies and a small part in the recent episode 7, plus The Blues Brothers, Hannah and her Sisters, The Time guardian, The Burbs, When Harry met Sally, Cougar Club, The Women that I am aware of.

Just checked IMDB, 90 entries as an actress.

Oh, and people kept commenting on her being a script doctor.

As for being the daughter of Debbie Reynolds, I only found that out the first time I saw her on Graham Norton.

I suppose it does depend on which films you watch.

To me, the guy from Jeferson Airplane/Starship was not somebody I'd ever heard of.

Slarti

[bungeejumper]

To me, the guy from Jeferson Airplane/Starship was not somebody I'd ever heard of.

There you go then, it's all about your particular interests. For me, Paul Kantner was one of the best driving bassists I've ever heard - he could just pick up a riff from somebody else and turn it round, and then send it right back out there into the arena like a slingshot. Not enough bassists in his league - at least, not in rock as distinct from jazz (where there were in fact plenty). Greatly under-appreciated.

Oddly, for me, Carrie Fisher largely passed me by. I suppose her best films (including Star Wars I) happened at a time when I had other things on my mind. Still, the present public grieving has got my attention. I'll check her career out a bit more closely when I've got the chance. Thanks.

BJ

[kiloran]

To me, the guy from Jeferson Airplane/Starship was not somebody I'd ever heard of.

There you go then, it's all about your particular interests. For me, Paul Kantner was one of the best driving bassists I've ever heard - he could just pick up a riff from somebody else and turn it round, and then send it right back out there into the arena like a slingshot. Not enough bassists in his league - at least, not in rock as distinct from jazz (where there were in fact plenty). Greatly under-appreciated.
BJ

Eh??????? Bassist???????? Paul Kantner???? Surely not. You're thinking of Jack Casady of Jefferson Airplane. A stupendously good bass guitar player. Who thankfully is still alive.

--kiloran

[bungeejumper]

There you go then, it's all about your particular interests. For me, Paul Kantner was one of the best driving bassists I've ever heard -

Er, bugger, I was talking about Jack Casady there, not Paul Kantner. Feel free to point and laugh.

BJ

[PinkDalek]

Perhaps you've been trying some of those purple berries.

[bungeejumper]

Perhaps you've been trying some of those purple berries.

I dunno, I've been eating them for six or seven weeks now. Haven't got sick once.

BJ

[panamagold]

Well it was more than a small part in the first 3 Star Wars movies and a small part in the recent episode 7, plus The Blues Brothers, Hannah and her Sisters, The Time guardian, The Burbs, When Harry met Sally, Cougar Club, The Women that I am aware of.

I was living in the USA in 1978 so was exposed to The Blues Brothers, via Saturday Nite Live, Dan Aykroyd and John Bellushi but never went to see the film. I don't recollect the media hype when John Bellushi passed and yet at the time he was up there with the big ones, celebrity wise, in the States. Of the other films listed I haven't seen any apart from the frequently aired cafe scene from WHMS.

Oh, and people kept commenting on her being a script doctor.

I had to Google 'script doctor' as I had no idea what the term referred to. It would seem these skills she possesed and 35 years of her career must have skimed the top of my head. Probably because I'm more of a music fan than a film fan and prefer real life than to watch sombody acting out someone elses idea of it or read the book which is something I do a resonable amount of.

I suppose it does depend on which films you watch.

You're right. It depends which and how many films you watch. I've watched her mother several times in the classic "Singing In The Rain". Infact I watched it a couple of days ago when it was aired on UK tv. Without doubt one of the best films ever made as far as I am aware.

To me, the guy from Jeferson Airplane/Starship was not somebody I'd ever heard of.

An in-depth interview he gave on 'Speaking Freely' in 2001

http://www.newseuminstitute.org/2015/09/11/speaking-freely-friday-paul-kantner/