monkeys and ponies

Here’s a partial attempt to catch up on the Celebrity Death Watch backlog. I will go back to things I’ve actually done for a few posts before I finish getting up to date on this.

Celebrity Death Watch - January 2025: Wayne Osmond was one of the Osmond brothers. James R. Hogg was a four-star admiral in the U.S. Navy. Peter Yarrow was part of Peter, Paul, and Mary and wrote the song “Puff the Magic Dragon.” Charles Person was the youngest of the 1961 Freedom Riders. Merle Louise was an actress, known for her roles in Sondheim musicals, including playing the Beggar Woman in the original cast of Sweeney Todd. Joel Paley was the lyricist and playwright of the musical Ruthless! Lynn Taylor-Corbett was a choreographer. Irmgard Furchner was a Nazi war criminal. Howard Andrew Jones wrote and edited speculative fiction. George Kalinsky was the official photographer for the New York Mets for several years and also photographed other notable events in New York City. Toby Myers was the bassist for John Cougar Mellencamp. Dame Joan Plowright was an actress who won a Tony for her role in A Taste of Honey Bob Uecker was a catcher for the St. Louis Cardinals, who later became a broadcaster. Cecile Richards was the president of Planned Parenthood from 2006 through 2018. John Sykes played guitar with Thin Lizzy and Whitesnake. Garth Hudson was the keyboardist for The Band. Elliot Engber was the guitarist for The Mothers of Invention. Howard Morrison designed the game Simon. Iris Cummings was a swimmer and was the last surviving participant of the 1936 Summer Olympics. Jane McGarrigle was a songwriter and musician who performed with and managed her sisters, Kate and Anna. Jaun Quick-to-see Smith was a painter and printmaker. Harold Katz founded Nutrisystem. Alicia M. Soderbergh was an astrophysicist who specialized in supernovae. Elisa Rae Shupe was the first person in the United States to be legally recognized as non-binary. Dick Button was an Olympic medalist as a figure skater and did commentary on skating for several years. Marianne Faithfull was a singer and songwriter and was Mick Jagger’s partner for the latter half of the 1960’s.


David Lodge was a British novelist who wrote primarily about academic life. I read several of his books back in the 1980’s and 1990’s and found them amusing. I should probably dig them out and reread them to see how they’ve held up over the years.

Agnes Keleti was a Hungarian gymnast, who was an Olympic champion in 1952 and 1956. The only Jewish athlete who won more Olympic medals than her was Mark Spitz. She was on my ghoul pool list and earned me 20 points.

David Lynch directed the movies Blue Velvet and Mulholland Drive. I would have walked out off Blue Velvet had it not been the first movie of a double feature. (The second film was Something Wild, which I liked.) He also produced Twin Peaks, which I found similarly unwatchable.

Jules Feiffer was a cartoonist and playwright. He illustrated The Phantom Tollbooth and he wrote Passionella, which was one of three short works that were incorporated into the musical The Apple Tree. He also wrote the screenplays for Carnal Knowledge and Popeye.


Celebrity Death Watch - February 2025: Fay Vincent was the commissioner of baseball from 1989 to 1992. Aga Khan IV was the imam of Nizari Ismaili and one of the richest people in the world. Tony Roberts acted in several of Woody Allen’s movies. William R. Lucas directed NASA’s Marshall Flight Center from 1974 to 1986. Lynn August was a zydeco musician. Uri Shulevitz wrote and illustrated children’s books, including some of folktales about fools. Jamie Muir was the percussionist for King Crimson. Jerry Butler was a Hall of Fame soul singer. Clint Hill was a Secret Service agent who was present at the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Larry Dolan owned the Cleveland Guardians. Chris Jasper sang with The Isley Brothers. Laura Sessions Stepp wrote about American teen culture. Michelle Trachtenberg played Dawn in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Melody Beattie wrote self-help books about codependence. Boris Spassky played chess. David Johansen was the lead singer of the New York Dolls.

Sam Nujoma was the president of Namibia from independence in 1990 through 2005. He earned me 21 ghoul pool points, which includes 12 points for being a unique pick.

Tom Robbins was a novelist, best known for Even Cowgirls Get the Blues and Still Life with Woodpecker.

Gene Hackman was a film actor who won two Oscars. He is best known for starring in The French Connection. He also played Lex Luther in three Superman movies and numerous other roles.

Roberta Flack was a Grammy-winning singer, best known for “Killing Me Softly with His Song” and “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face.”

Joseph Wambaugh wrote novels and non-fiction about police work. His best known books include The Onion Field, and The New Centurions.


Celebrity Death Watch - March 2025: Joey Molland was a songwriter and guitarist for Badfinger. Jean Van Leeuwin wrote over 40 children’s books. Brian James played guitar with The Damned and The Lords of the New Church. D’Wayne Wiggins was a founding member of Tony! Toni! Toné! Atoll Fugard was a South African playwright whose work included ”Master Harold” … and the Boys. L. J. Smith wrote young adult fiction, including The Vampire Diaries. Clive Revill was an actor whose career included both Shakespeare plays and musical theatre, including playing Fagin in Oliver! on Broadway. Ron Nessen was Gerald Ford’s White House press secretary. John Feinstein was a sportswriter. David Schmittlein was the dean of the MIT Sloan School of Management from 2007 through 2024. Jesse Colin Young was the lead singer of The Youngbloods. Bob Harvey was the original bassist for Jefferson Airplane. George Ball was the tallest man in the United States at 7 foot 8. Sam Keen was a founder of the men’s movement and proved that men’s liberation was not inherently anti-feminist. Kitty Dukakis was the first lady of Massachusetts for many years. Gillian Baxter wrote children’s books, mostly about ponies. David Childs was the architect of record for One World Trade Center in New York. Kerry Greenwood wrote the Phryne Fisher detective novels, as well as other detective fiction, science fiction, historical fiction, and children’s books. Richard Chamberlain was an actor, best known for playing Dr. Kildare. Nancy Bea Hefley played the organ at Dodger Stadium. Tracy Schwarz sang with the New Lost City Ramblers. Lynn Venable wrote science fiction stories.

Jimmy Neil Smith was the creator of the National Storytelling Festival and the National Association for the Preservation and Perpetuation of Storytelling (NAPPS) which led to the International Storytelling Center in Jonesborough and, in a rather complicated and contentious manner, to the National Storytelling Network. So, in a somewhat indirect way, he changed my life.

George Foreman was a boxer and grill salesman. He lost to Muhammed Ali in The Rumble in the Jungle in 1974. My favorite fun fact about him is that he named all 5 of his sons “George Edward Foreman.”


Celebrity Death Watch - April 2025 George Freeman was a jazz guitarist. Wayne Hardy was a rockabilly singer. Michael Hurley was a folk singer-songwriter. Val Kilmer was an actor, known for The Doors, Batman Forever and other movies. Johnny Tillotson was a singer-songwriter whose songs included “Without You.” David Paton cofounded Orbis International, a charity that provides eye care throughout the developing world. Clem Burke played drums for Blondie. Jay North played Dennis the Menace on television in the early 1960’s. Andrew Gross wrote thrillers and collaborated with James Patterson. Sybil Shainwald was an activist for women’s health issues. Peter Lovesey was a British mystery writer. Mike Wood cofounded LeapFrog Enterprises, which makes educational toys. Max Romeo was a reggae musician. Gretchen Dow Simpson was an artist who created over 60 New Yorker covers. Chuck Connelly was a prolific painter. Jean Marsh was a British actress, best known for appearing in Upstairs, Downstairs. Wink Martingale hosted the game show Tic-Tac-Dough. Irwin Lachman co-invented the catalytic converter. Ed Smylie led the team at NASA that saved the crew of Apollo 13. Barry Benepe was responsible for the establishment of many farmers' markets in New York City. David Horowitz was a conservative writer and activist.


Amador Bagayoko was a blind Malian guitarist and vocalist who performed with his wife Mariam Doumbia (who is also blind). I highly recommend their 2004 album Dimanche a Bamako.

William Finn was a composer and lyricist, best known for Falsettos and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.

Richard Arbitrage served in a number of government positions in both the Department of State and the Department of Defense, but is notorious for his role in leaking Valerie Plame Wilson’s identity as a CIA operative.

Pope Francis (nee Jorge Mario Bergoglio) was the head of the Catholic Church from March 2013 through his death in April 2025. He was the first Jesuit pope and the first Latin American. He was generally relatively liberal politically, opposing the death penalty and calling for protection of migrants. He earned me 20 ghoul pool points.