Celebrity Death Thread

Yeah, that's rough. Obviously you don't want to forget how badly she was treated by directors and interviewers (fuck you Dr Phil!), but I don't think she should be completely defined by that. There's plenty of great performances to remember and celebrate too.

RIP

I can only remember the titular alien but man that was a big part of my childhood, along with Harry and the Hendersons.

My late family parrot was named after Alf (he was called Alf).

The most perfect casting that ever was.

Speaking of fucking, Dr. Ruth passed away yesterday. www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4ngqy1vxyeo

No age

Have to admit I thought he’d already passed. Think I got reality confused with a Big Bang Theory episode.

He was great in everything I saw him in, though. Even as the lonely blind man in ER.

Ray Reardon 91, Dracula was mortal after all…
Sad news, great player, bit before my time but I caught the latter end of his career in the early 80s when snooker was seemingly the biggest sport on the planet for a few years.

I recall thinking how old he looked (and was in my young eyes). Some old man playing an old man’s sport. He won the last of this world titles at the grand old age of 45.

John Mayall will be breaking blues no more. 90 is pretty amazing for a musician though. Superb guitarist and launched so many careers.

Ah shit.

Him and Alexis Korner were vitally important in popularising blues and R&B and I have quite a big John Mayall collection.

Mayall was like a lightning conductor for the most electric Brit guitarists. He was basically responsible for launching good period Clapton, Peter Green and Mick Taylor. Mayall had a really distinctive voice himself.

Everybody should listen to the Beano album:



This marked the invention/debut of a Les Paul into a cranked Marshall amp which became the sound of rock. Clapton had already been known with the Yardbirds but he recorded THAT sound here I really like a Hard Road with Peter Green too, and all his albums with Taylor are great.

Blues from Laurel Canyon and for something different The Turning Point (acoustics, flutes, live) are pretty essential too.

DJ Randall, only 54 

One of the greatest DJs I've ever seen play, and a pioneer who helped define the sound of breakbeat/Jungle/DnB.

He gave a mate of mine his first release via Mac2 and was apparently a lovely bloke all round.

Shocked, he was my favourite player growing up.

God damn that is terrible, absolute hero for all English cricket fans through the dire 90s but also a crucial player in finally turning our test team around in the early 00s. In his final full year of test cricket in 2004 he played 12 tests and averaged 73.15! And was a key member of the team that won the series away in South Africa late that year / early 2005, the first in 40 years. That series was when I really started believing in us again. Although it obviously turned out to be the right decision to pick a certain KP instead of Thorpe for the amazing 2005 Ashes, signalling Thorpe's retirement, he along with Hussain in particular were crucial as senior players in laying the foundation for that side. Man this is such sad news, RIP Thorpey.