The DeathList 2009

On today, gone tomorrow.

The DeathList 2009

Another year, another DeathList. The DeathList committee has been in session and drawn up a its list of 50 celebrities chosen for their likelihood to die in 2009. A quick recap of the unwritten rules: Candidates must have be famous in their own right such that their death is expected to be reported by the UK media, however candidates cannot be famous purely for the fact they are likely to die soon. A maximum of 25 candidates on the previous year’s list can reappear on the next year’s list. A fine performance from Deathlist 2008, with a record-equalling 14 deaths, makes expectations high for the 2009 list. The ongoing battle with medical science continues as it slowly but surely makes the challenge greater each year, but hopefully this is offset by the endless research of the forum members in combing the news sources of the world for nuggets of information on those who ready to claim a DeathList success as their final contribution to society.

Rank	Prev Year	Appear	Name	Age	Desc	Discuss
1	4	9	Ronnie Biggs	80	Ambassador	664 posts
2			Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi	57	Lockerbie Bomber	122 posts
3	5	6	Oscar Niemeyer	102	Architect	267 posts
4			João Havelange	93	Ex Fifa president	11 posts
5	6	7	Claude Levi-Strauss	101	Scientist	200 posts
6	46	3	Bobby Robson	76	Football Manager	170 posts
7	8	10	Michael Foot	96	Tramp	238 posts
8	10	3	Chapman Pincher	95	Journalist/Investigator	17 posts
9	11	7	Karl Malden	97	Actor	95 posts
10	12	7	Eli Wallach	94	Actor	74 posts
11	9	7	Fidel Castro	83	Dictator	918 posts
12			Patrick Swayze	57	Actor	330 posts
13	7	6	Norman Wisdom	94	Comedian	328 posts
14			Seve Ballesteros	52	Golfer	50 posts
15	13	6	Yitzhak Shamir	94	Ex PM Israel	50 posts
16	16	7	Kirk Douglas	93	Actor	101 posts
17			Susan Atkins	61	Manson Family	71 posts
18			Kim Jong-il	68	N Korean Ruler	82 posts
19			Wendy Richard	66	Eastender	48 posts
20			George Steinbrenner	79	NY Yankees Owner	20 posts
21		4	Walter Cronkite	93	Journalist	200 posts
22	19	5	Herbert Lom	92	Actor	29 posts
23		2	Vincent O'Brien	92	Horse Trainer	28 posts
24	33	3	John Demjanjuk	89	Nazi Collaborator	62 posts
25	25	4	Dino de Laurentiis	91	Film Producer	0 posts
26	22	4	Betty Ford	93	Clinic owner	94 posts
27			Edward Kennedy	77	Politician	170 posts
28	24	4	Billy Graham	91	Evangelist	281 posts
29		4	Nelson Mandela	91	Politician	186 posts
30			Ludovic Kennedy	90	Interviewer	23 posts
31			Ravi Shankar	89	Musician	12 posts
32	31	5	Jake Lamotta	88	Boxer	101 posts
33		2	Harry Morgan	94	MASH	42 posts
34		7	Mickey Rooney	89	Actor	81 posts
35	48	2	Captain Beefheart	68	Musician	55 posts
36			Nancy Reagan	88	Actress	102 posts
37		2	John Forsythe	91	Blake Carrington	22 posts
38	36	2	Blake Edwards	87	Movie director	13 posts
39			Christopher Lee	87	Actor	29 posts
40	38	2	Jack Klugman	87	Quincy	27 posts
41			Pierre Cardin	87	Fashion Designer	9 posts
42	40	8	Patrick Moore	86	Astronomer	613 posts
43			B B King	84	Bluesman	35 posts
44			Robert Novak	78	Journalist	48 posts
45		2	Margaret Thatcher	84	Milk Snatcher	1085 posts
46	45	4	Elizabeth Taylor	77	Wife	241 posts
47		4	Vaclav Havel	73	Czech PM	24 posts
48	50	13	Clive Dunn	87	Death List Favourite	295 posts
49			Dai Llewellyn	63	Socialite	40 posts
50	23	3	Ariel Sharon	81	Ex-Israeli Prime Minister	651 posts

Key To Symbols Skull & Crossbones (Dead Icon)

Dead

First Appearance

What people are discussing right now

over on the DeathList Forums:

Deathlist 2011

Starting with CP's oft-ignored list....
568 posts, 36812 views

Death Anniversary Thread

Ah yes, I remember it, well...
448 posts, 10760 views

Why?!

No topic description
7 posts, 99 views

American Football

Grid Ironing
112 posts, 2308 views

Ice Hockey Players

Happy Puck Slappers
10 posts, 269 views

Ideas And Possibilities For 2011

Post your nominations and predictions here for us to ignore
71 posts, 3643 views

Ideas and Possibilities for 2010

Post your nominations and predictions here for us to ignore
600 posts, 37646 views

Gazza

Chris Evans lends a hand
126 posts, 9124 views

Jack Nicholson

No topic description
21 posts, 2003 views

Authors Last a Long Time But....

Tome or Tomb? Authors believed dead, still alive
117 posts, 5223 views

2009 News

Death Ticker

Your browser does not appear to have Javascript enabled

Frayed Levis

3rd Nov 2009: Claude Levi-Strauss’s run of six consecutive appearances on DeathList has finally come to an end with the passing of the 100 year old French anthropologist. While the DeathList Committee was naturally very impressed with Levi-Strauss’s work on the theories of structuralism, it was probably his age and the fact that he shared his name with a brand of jeans that led to his initial selection DeathList in 2002. In 2009, he was selected in fifth place and rewarded the committee’s perseverance. His death brings this year’s total to a respectable 12.

Game Over for Ludo

19th Oct 2009: British journalist and broadcaster, Sir Ludovic Kennedy has passed away of pneumonia to provide DeathList 2009 with another hit. Kennedy had a varied career as a newsreader, presenter of BBC’s Panorama and Did You See…? and author of several books focussing on miscarriages of justice. He was also a campaigner for the abolition of the death penalty and ultimately a successful nomination on DeathList. 2009 saw his first appearance on DeathList, receiving the number 30 slot. With a score of 11 so far, DeathList continues its strong showing in the later part of the year.

The Atkins Die-ette

25th Sep 2009: Susan Atkins, member of Charles Manson’s “Manson Family”, has died to give DeathList 2009 another success. Atkins was sentenced to death for her part in eight murders with Manson in 1969. Her sentence was subsequently commuted to life imprisonment, during which she had 18 appeals for parole denied. In 2008 it was reported she had brain cancer, resulting in her first appearance on DeathList in position 17. Atkin’s death brings this year’s score to 10.

He had the time of his life. We had the time of his death.

14th Sep 2009: US actor, Patrick Swayze has passed away after a battle with pancreatic cancer to add to the total for DeathList 2009. 57 year old Swayze was making his first appearance on DeathList, selected at number 12, after being diagnosed with his illness in 2008. His famous movies included Dirty Dancing, Road House, Ghost and Point Break, which perhaps fittingly ends with his character achieving his life’s ambition by surfing to his demise during a legendary storm. Swayze is death number 9 for 2009.

Dead Kennedy

26th Aug 2009: Senator Edward Kennedy has passed away aged 77, continuing DeathList 2009's impressive start to the second half of the year. Kennedy was making his first appearance on DeathList, securing the number 27 position, after being diagnosed with a brain tumour in 2008. One of the few of the Kennedy clan not to be taken out by an assassin's bullet, Ted Kennedy was a well-respected Senator and member of the Democratic Party, however the Chappaquiddick incident of 1969, in which he managed to ditch his car in water killing his passenger, was a long-lasting shadow over his life. The fact that he wont be leaving the scene of any more fatal accidents brings DeathList 2009's success count to 8 so far, with a respectable score for the year now looking more likely.

Novak meets the real Prince of Darkness

18th Aug 2009: Robert Novak, US journalist who was associated with CNN in its early days, has died aged 78, to provide DeathList 2009 with another success. Novak was diagnosed with a brain tumour in 2008 which caught the attention of the DeathList committee, such that he made his first appearance on the list in 2009 at the number 44 slot.

Full time for Bobby

31st Jul 2009: Bobby Robson, former England football manager, has died after a long battle with cancer and finds himself on the scoresheet for DeathList 2009. Robson was a successful football player who went on to become even more successful as manager of Ipswich Town. As England manager, Robson led two assaults on the World Cup, being denied by Maradona's “hand of God” in 1986 and by the inability of Pearce and Waddle to hit the target in a semi-final penalty shootout against West Germany in 1990. Robson was selected number 6 on DeathList 2009.

...And that's the way it was

17th Jul 2009: Walter Cronkite, legendary US TV news anchorman, has died, aged 92, to give DeathList 2009 another success. Cronkite presented the CBS evening news for 19 years and became known as “the most trusted man in America”. In contrast, Cronkite appeared just four times on the DeathList but earned the trust of the committee being picked in the number 21 slot in 2009.

Deceased of San Francisco

1st Jul 2009: Karl Malden, who played Lt. Mike Stone in the legendary TV series “The Streets of San Francisco”, has died aged 97 to give DeathList 2009 another score. Malden had an early career in movies before landing his TV role in “Streets of San Francisco”, where he starred alongside Michael Douglas, before Douglas left the show to pursue younger women, ultimately leading to the show's cancellation.

O'Brien withdrawn under orders

1st Jun 2009: Legendary Irish race horse trainer, Vincent O’Brien, has passed away to give DeathList 2009 just its third success with the half way point approaching fast. O’Brien trained six Derby winners and was tipped by the DeathList committee this year to deliver another result The 93 year old was drawn number 23 this year in this his second appearance on Deathlist. Heavy going so far for DeathList 2009, but this isn’t a five furlong sprint…

Deadender!

26th Feb 2009: Wendy Richard, British actress most famous for her role as Pauline Fowler in Eastenders, has died to give DeathList 2009 its second success. Richard, aged 65, had had several run-ins with cancer, but her third instance, revealed in 2008, secured her selection at number 19 on this year’s list. She first gained fame as Miss Brahms in the 1970s British sitcom, Are You Being Served?. She appeared in more than 1,400 episodes of Eastenders but just one appearance on DeathList was all that was needed for her to go on to that select list of successful celebrities.

First to Dai!

14th Jan 2009: Welsh socialite, Dai Llewellyn, has got DeathList 2009 quickly onto the score sheet with the crowd barely settled in their seats. 62 year old Llewellyn, who sneaked on to this year’s list in 49th place, passed away after suffering from bone cancer. Llewellyn was probably famous for almost no reason (other than his brother Roddy has a relationship with Princess Margaret) although, in this day and age, that doesn’t prevent celebrity status. There was some doubt as to whether he passed the famousness test but plenty of publicity on his demise ratified his eligibility. A good start then for DeathList 2009, but with Tony Hart slipping through DeathList’s fingers shortly afterwards there’s plenty of work to be done.

The bell rings for the start of DeathList 2009

1st Jan 2009: Now the wait for the first sucess of the year.

The DeathList 2009

Navigate:

Search:

View DeathLists: