Starch

Anne Francis has died.

March 22 CBC radio interview with Phyllis Diller available here: http://www.cbc.ca/q/uncut.html Sounds like she's still quite active and alert, and seems to have recovered from that fall rather nicely.

This "source" claims Higgins has "suspected pneumonia": http://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/view/12884...ting-for-life-/ A moderately newer photo, but still three years old.

Oh no! How long are the doctors giving him? Are they taking him off life support??

Ginger Baker was on Loose Ends the other day and sounded positiviely ghastly. It's difficult to say if he's worse than usual, but he does mention that his lifestyle should have killed him by now. It's worth a listen if only to hear him angrily proclaim to Marcus Chown that the Big Bang Theory is idiotic.

Several websites - admittedly only those that appear entirely devoted to wrestling content - are reporting the death of Captain Lou Albano at 76.

Welcome to the club. I'm still obligated to pull for ol' Norman, having dropped Atkins to make room for Natasha Richardson.

The summer of 2003 was pretty impressive. The bigger names who died between the 21st of June and 21st of September that year included: Leon Uris, Lester Maddox, Denis Thatcher, Strom Thurmond, Katharine Hepburn, Buddy Hackett, Barry White, Buddy Ebsen, Carol Shields, Bob Hope, Sam Phillips, Gregory Hines, Idi Amin, Charles Bronson, Warren Zevon, Leni Riefenstahl, Edward Teller, John Ritter, Johnny Cash & Sheb Wooley. I think 2009's got a way to go yet to match that list.

Peter Zezel has died at 44.

I'd like to reiterate what I've posted before: The factors for prognosis are much more complicated than simply what organ the cancer is in. The main reason why people associate pancreatic cancer with imminent death is the relative "obscurity" of the pancreas as an organ; due to its location, the cancer often isn't detected until it's already progressed to a large size (by the same token, pancreatic cancer is also commonly a secondary cancer, meaning that the cancer is already ravaging another part of the body). Ginsburg's tumor was reportedly 1 cm in diameter, which is quite small. It's been over a month since her surgery and there hasn't been any talk of cancer being detected elsewhere in her body. By the sounds of things, they aren't subjecting her to any of exhaustive treatments such as chemo or radiation therapy. Other than having a "history of cancer," there's no real reason to assume she's more likely to die than any other 75 year-old in a high-stress job.

Entertainment Tonight doesn't think there's anything to get excited about.

Andrew Wyeth has died.

He's now relaxing in Morocco, but expected back in the USA for further treatment.

Similar account of the same story here, framed around his estimation that he has two years left.

Technically, the link says he spent time on life support, but is now off it and "on the road to a slow recovery." He's still in the ICU, so the recovery may never be fully realized.