Who Should Make The Deathlist 2023?

[Joey Russ 7,119]

It’s that time of year again where we suggest folk like the greatest truck driver from South Dakota and company only for the committee to completely ignore our suggestions. So who do you think should make the list? 
 

Honestly I think Sonny Rollins wouldn’t be a bad pick for the list, one of the last surviving jazz greats from that era…

[msc 17,725]

GORBACHE

 

Oh hold on, I'll get back to you!

[Spade_Cooley 9,018]

Mary Quant and Chris Rea.

[msc 17,725]

I never like to clog these threads up...

 

So, Pope Benny, Joanne Woodward and Nigel Lawson all feel like they need to come back to the list.

 

Sandra Weir and Roberta Flack feel like Cmme picks and are sick enough.

 

Tom Lehrer and David Graham are older names who feel like Deathlist names.

 

Oh, and Glynis Johns is still alive. 

 

That's me done. 

[Grimgrass 474]

Pope Benedict XVI is a must-have returnee. "Big miss" is used too often here, but Benedict would genuinely be a big miss if he died off the list.

 

I'd like to see Willie Nelson, Linda Nolan, Joanne Woodward, Yoko Ono and Barbara Walters back on as well.

 

For newcomers, Rolf Harris is an obvious one if he somehow sees 2023, as well as Roberta Flack. Fay Weldon (now in a nursing home), James Earl Jones (91, diabetic, retired as voice of Vader this year), James Watson (has been in frail health since a car accident couple of years back) and King Constantine II (in declining health for some time) are others who are ill and famous enough for the front page. Martti Ahtisaari (Alzheimer's, survived two bouts of COVID, and hasn't been seen in public for over two years now) should qualify as well.

 

This is a bit biased choice, but I think Patricia Routledge should make her debut next year. She is 94 next February and was in a wheelchair in some of the recent pics, plus she is very Deathlisty. She is still making public appearances, but so did June Whitfield and Geoffrey Palmer until shortly before their deaths!

[CaptainChorizo 1,898]

Eva Marie Saint- The Hollywood Legend turns 99 next year and is long overdue for Deathlist debut

 

Violeta Chamorro- The former Nicaraguan head of state has had a laundry list of health problems over the decades. Had a stroke in 2018,suffered from brain tumors before that and also has been bedbound with dementia for a while. One of those, "how are they still alive" names

 

Ditto also to the Robert Flack,Pope Benedict,Sonny Rollins etc. suggestions mentioned above

 

[Summer in Transylvania 1,607]

I doubt that many of these names are DL-worthy, but here is my current list of less-mentioned names, copied from the Ideas & Possibilities thread:

 

Spoiler

A few suggestions:

 

- Sir Michael A. Epstein - Meets the famousness criteria and 102 next year. 

- Norman Lear - Doubtlessly mentioned before. Needs no introduction. Thread here.

- John Astin - Gomez Addams most famously. 93 next year. Thread here.

- Alan Oppenheimer - 93 next year. Doubtful whether he meets the notability criteria, but I think that, after William H. Gates, he ought to. 

- Rosey Grier - RFK's bodyguard, American Football Player, Protestant Minister, occasional Actor, and the bloke that caught Sirhan Sirhan is 91 next year. 

- James Hong - Still incredibly active, so I do not expect him to go yet, but a rather Deathlisty name. 94 next year. Thread here.

- Donald P. Bellisario - A name I am surprised I do not hear much about these 'ere parts. 88 next year. 

- David Sutherland - One of the creators of the modern Dennis the Menace ought to QO, and is 90 next year.

- Gladys West - One of the early developers of the GPS. 93 next year. Never mentioned before on this forum according to a quick search. 

- Hazel McCallion - 102 next year. Mentioned on the Ideas and Possibilities for 2022 thread. Ought to meet the famousness criteria.

- Bill Cobbs - The third nightguard in the Night at the Museum franchise, the other two being Dick Van Dyke and Mickey Rooney, both DL alumni, is 89 next year. 

- Frank Drake - Initiator of the SETI programme. 93 next year. Died 2nd September 2022.

- Fred Roos - 89 next year. Apparently the man who introduced George Lucas to Harrison Ford. Also produced The Godfather II, which he won an Oscar for. 

- Lloyd Morrisett - One of the folks that created Sesame Street alongside Jim Henson and Joan Ganz Cooney. 94 next year. 

- Joan Ganz Cooney - See Lloyd Morrisett.

- John Williams - The most prolific film composer of all time turns 91 next year. Bound to die as I have dropped him from the earliest draft of my Shadowlist. Thread here.

- Billy Dee Williams - Seems a tad premature, but, evident these past two years, such folk have a habit of turning up on the main list. 

- Paul Ignatius - This one's notability in the UK is questionable, but his death ought to be rather well-reported in the USA when it happens. 103 next year.

- Ashraf Ghani - Former Afghan President, as most should know following the August of 2021. Enemy of the Taliban, and has not had a whole stomach since the 1990s, as a result of cancer.

- Joan Morecambe - Only as questionable as William H. Gates. 96 next year.

- Bernard Donoughue - 89 next year and could succumb to chronic awful haircuts.

- Bas de Gaay Fortman - 86 next year and looked rather rough in the recent documentary about Queen Beatrix.

- Lando Buzzanca - In failing health in a nursing home, according to the Foreign Personalities thread. 88 next year.

- Frank Field - Terminal Cancer. Frankly (geddit?) should have been on this year's list, and probably will not see The New Year. That said, few expected him to celebrate his 80th birthday, and that was last month (at the time of this edit into the original post). Thread here.

- Terry Waite - One of those people that Summer Sr. thought died years ago. Everyone else on that list, bar Julian Glover, that I am aware of have died in the last two years. Thread here.

- Siân Phillips - 90 next year. Still somewhat active, however.

- Bela Lugosi - The son of Bela Lugosi. 85 next year. 

- Alvin Rakoff - The man that gave Sean Connery and Alan Rickman their first jobs is 96 next year and isn't looking that well. 

- Peter Falk - I hear he might have Alzheimer's.

- Jon Rumney - 95 next year, still rather active. 

- Jules Walter - 94 next year and, as far as I know, the oldest living actor to have appeared in any of the Star Wars films. 

- Caroline Blakiston - Many Bothans died to bring you this suggestion. 

- Cy Town - Another one like Jules Walter. Both would almost definitely find a place on the List of the Lost. 

- Leonard Peltier - Vice Presidential nominee in 2020 for a lesser-known party. Withdrew from the election not because he is serving two life sentences for murder but for health reasons unknown. He has previously been the victim of beatings in prison.

- Julian Glover - See Terry Waite.

- Alan Kooi Simpson - Has looked ancient for years. I honestly thought he would be dead by now. 92 next year.

- Daniel Ellsberg - The man that released the Pentagon Papers is still with us at 91.

- Wilhelm Buesing - Another rather unfamous name, with low, but not nonexistent, chances of a QO. 102 next March.

- Brian Murphy - 91 next year. The oldest living member of the main cast of Man About the House. Also said the famous line "During the war" when Buster Merryfield was still a banker. Thread here.

- Brian Cooke - The surviving of the two creators of Man About the House is 86 next year.

- Sir Colville Young - Governor-General of Belize for 27 years until his retirement in 2021. 90 in November. 

- Story Musgrave - The astronaut is 87 next August. Obitable? Yes. Obitable enough? Maybe.

- William Turnbull - The Hong Kong sailor that I discovered after Bill Turnbull died. 90 next year.

- Jane Fonda - Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma. I think she will be on the list next year regardless of whether her death is imminent or not, she just seems like the kind of pick that the committee will go for as soon as news like this cancer diagnosis breaks, even if she stays on the list for a few years. Thread here.

- Peter Cellier - 95 next year. 

- Melvyn Hayes - 87 next year. 

- Baroness Jane Campbell - 64 next year. Can't see her making it to 80, maybe 70. She may have a few more years left in her yet, though. 

- Robert C. Wise - Ancient American politician. 98 next May.

- Bob Biard - The inventor of the Infared LED will Obit and is 92 next year. Died 23rd September 2022. Didn't Obit.

- Amartya Sen - 90 next year and probably famous enough for the DL.

- Richard M. Sherman - 95 next year. Probably the most Deathlisty name that has hardly been mentioned on this forum. 

- Ales Bialiatski - Byelorussian Nobel Laureate. Currently in prison for his work. Enemies of Putin/Lukashenko have a habit of "mysteriously" dying. 

- Luis Garavito - One of the most prolific serial killers of all time is eligible for parole in 2023, suffers from eye cancer, and needs blood transfusions regularly. 66 next year. 

- Norman Kember - A pacifist who went to Iraq to promote peace, and ended up being taken hostage. Born at somepoint in 1931.

- Wole Soyinka - The first black recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature. 89 next year.

- Amou Haji - The man dubbed 'dirtiest in the world' is 95 next year. Died 23rd October 2022.

- Franco Migliacci - The writer of Volare is 93 next year. 

- J. Reginald Murphy - A journalist whose main claim to fame is being the victim of a kidnapping some 50 years ago. 90 at some point next year.

- Charles Lagus - David Attenborough's cameraman for his original television show Zoo Quest. 95 next year.

- Yasushi Akashi - The UN Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs from 1996 to 1998 is 92 next January.

- W. Gifford-Jones - Born plain old Ken Walker in Croydon, he is a physician and author residing in Canada. 99 next February. 

- Lina Medina - Youngest mother ever, having given birth to a boy aged just 5 years, 7 months, and 21 days. 90 next year.

- Masahiro Mori - The creator and coiner of the term "Uncanny Valley" is 96 next year. 

- Meredith Belbin - A British researcher that, in 1981, created the Belbin Team Inventory (other names include the BSPI and BTRI, which stand for Belbin Self-Perception Inventory and Belbin Team Role Inventory respectively). He is 97 next year. 

- Per Waestberg - The current oldest serving member of The Swedish Academy. 90 next year. 

- Marion Kozak - Ed Milliband's mother is 89 next year.

- Gloria Dea - One of the last surviving centenarian stars of the Golden Age of Hollywood, as well as being the first magician to perform on the Las Vegas Strip, is 101 next year.

Levin H. Campbell - 96 next January. Currently a serving US Court of Appeals Judge, albeit inactive. 

 

This list is still a work in progress. I shall update it when necessary.

 

[gcreptile 10,214]

Thomas Schafernacker (sp?)

MC Ren

Scott Thorson (cancer)

Pete Sampras

Liz Truss

Rick Davies

[drol 10,035]

Jiang Freakin' Zemin.

[YoungWillz 18,967]

The two Bionics.

 

Lee Majors and Syd Little.

 

You're welcome.

[Perhaps 1,365]

Fay Weldon, David Graham, Sandra Day O'Connor, Roberta Flack and James Earl-Jones all seem like obvious picks.

[The Daredevil 1,078]

Of the names mentioned above, Rolf Harris, Joanne Woodward, Jiang Zemin, Roberta Flack, Pope Benedict and Sonny Rollins, seem most important to introduce or re-introduce in 2023.

 

Additionally, Robert Wagner, George Alagiah, June Spencer, Françoise Hardy, Andy Taylor and Giorgio Napolitano need to be on there as debutees. I’d plump for Roy Clarke, Stuart Hall, Topol, Michael Caine, Don King, John Farnham, Alberto Fujimori and Joan Plowright along that line too.

 

I would similarly like to see Liza Minnelli, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, General Pervez Musharraf and Imelda Marcos return. 

 

Putin will be on there (presumably in position no. 50) and so will Bob Newhart (again).

 

[six feet blunder 161]

Michael Parkinson looked very frail on breakfast tv recently. 

[Lafaucheuse 3,648]

1 hour ago, msc said:

I never like to clog these threads up...

 

So, Pope Benny, Joanne Woodward and Nigel Lawson all feel like they need to come back to the list.

 

Sandra Weir and Roberta Flack feel like Cmme picks and are sick enough.

 

Tom Lehrer and David Graham are older names who feel like Deathlist names.

 

Oh, and Glynis Johns is still alive. 

 

That's me done. 

Sandra weir ? She’s a nobody

[msc 17,725]

5 minutes ago, Lafaucheuse said:

Sandra weir ? She’s a nobody

 

Oh I'm sorry, an infamous killer is nowhere near as famous as Bill Gate's dad, of course, please, continue with all the normal "no one's heard of them out of Paris" names.

[The Unknown Man 559]

Here's what I think DeathList 2023 should look like:

 

Keep:

Dick van Dyke

Henry Kissinger

Bob Barker

Alan Greenspan

Nigel Starmer-Smith

Jimmy Carter

Tony Bennett

Harry Belafonte

Mel Brooks

Bobby Charlton

Emperor Akihito

Rosalynn Carter

Desmond Morris

Ted Kaczynski

Jean-Marie Le Pen

James Whale

Jacques Delors

Prunella Scales

Burt Bacharach

Stanley Baxter

Pele

Marianne Faithfull

Milan Kundera

Linda Ronstadt

Shane MacGowan

 

Bring back:

Joanne Woodward

Pervez Musharraf

Imelda Marcos

Linda Nolan

Shannen Doherty

Pope Benedict XVI

Nigel Lawson

Louis Farrakhan

Mike Ditka

Willie Nelson

Vanessa Redgrave

 

New:

George Alagiah

Roberta Flack

Andy Taylor

Giorgio Napolitano

Jiang Zemin

Rolf Harris

Patricia Routledge

James Earl Jones

Françoise Hardy

Alberto Fujimori

Glynis Johns

Al Pacino

Janis Paige

[Lafaucheuse 3,648]

13 minutes ago, msc said:

 

Oh I'm sorry, an infamous killer is nowhere near as famous as Bill Gate's dad, of course, please, continue with all the normal "no one's heard of them out of Paris" names.

no need to get all defensive here, it wasn't personal. 

 

But I'm honestly interested in knowing who you calling "no one's heard of them out of Paris" as I don't have a clue about french names popularity in UK

[P94 36]

My proposition:

To be added:

• George Soros (currently 92 years old)
• Vladimir V. P. (70 years old)
• Harald V (85 years old)
• Carl XVI Gustaf (76 years old)
• John Major (79 years old)
• Giorgio Napolitano (97 years old)

To be returned:

• Pope Benedict XVI
• Leo Beenhakker

To be kept:

• Henry Kissinger
• Jimmy Carter
• David Attenborough

[Lafaucheuse 3,648]

2 minutes ago, P94 said:

My proposition:

To be added:

• George Soros (currently 92 years old)
• Vladimir V. P. (70 years old)
• Harald V (85 years old)
• Carl XVI Gustaf (76 years old)
• John Major (79 years old)
• Giorgio Napolitano (97 years old)

To be returned:

• Pope Benedict XVI
• Leo Beenhakker

To be kept:

• Henry Kissinger
• Jimmy Carter
• David Attenborough

it's going to be a small list with only 3 people being kept from last year… 

[Lafaucheuse 3,648]

6 minutes ago, The Unknown Man said:

Emperor Akihito

Rosalynn Carter

Desmond Morris

Ted Kaczynski

 Jean-Marie Le Pen

 James Whale

 Jacques Delors

 Prunella Scales

 Burt Bacharach

 Stanley Baxter

 Pele

Marianne Faithfull

Milan Kundera

Linda Ronstadt

 Shane MacGowan

 

I wouldn't keep neither Akihito, Scales, Whales nor Ronstadt over Sandy Gall, Chomsky or Joss Ackland 

[Superstar 267]

Should Shannen Doherty come back to the list? She has been living with terminal cancer for at least six years.

[Lafaucheuse 3,648]

1 hour ago, gcreptile said:

Pete Sampras

Liz Truss

why those two ? did I miss anything ?

[Summer in Transylvania 1,607]

Just now, Lafaucheuse said:

why those two ? did I miss anything ?

Liz Truss has seemed brain-dead for a while now, probably because QE2 gave her Pancreatic Cancer shortly before her own death. 

[WEP 823]

What about Joan Collins?

[Lafaucheuse 3,648]

Bernadette Chirac : too frail to attend her own husband funeral in 2019, here are some photos of her taken back in 2017 at Simone Veil's funeral when miss Chirac was "only" 84 but looked 94. Last public appearance was in 2019 when she pronounced a speech for the inauguration of a "Jacques and Bernadette Chirac street" in Brive-la-gaillarde : wheelchairbound, can't even take the veil of the street sign down by herself, has difficulties talking etc… (can be seen here at around 14min). Her surrounding is telling for several years now that she is really really frail and she looks like it. 

She's a goner this next year I think.