Death By Numbers 2024

[YoungWillz 21,213]

Kenneth Cope for me here: https://metro.co.uk/2024/09/12/coronation-street-tv-legend-dies-aged-93-63-year-tv-career-21593983/

[MrWonderful 483]

Dikembe Mutombo is a hit for me.  

[gcreptile 11,078]

As we prepare to mourn Jimmy Carter's death on his birthday, let's have an update. I will be away for a few days over the next weekend, and the A-list names just keep on piling up.

 

But first of all, how about another arghton parade?

Yes, I am not done with noticing late obits. This time, it's Neophyte of Bulgaria who got an Independent obit many months ago. He was the patriarch of the Bulgarian orthodox church for more than a decade, and died in March after a longer period of ill health.

Next one is Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. arghton has excelled here at judging the world political situation and shines with another unique hit.

Then, it's Kenneth Cope, not an arghton unique hit, but also picked by him. A British acting veteran on the small screen, though also with a couple film roles. Especially notable for returning to Coronation Street after a 42 year absence. You need some real staying power to do that. He is a hit for 5 players.

Next up is Dikembe Mutombo, whose death is so fresh, the body is still cooling right now. He was one of the modern greats of basketball, and a very charitable person at that. BBC gave him an obit, which they don't do for every basketball player. Mutombo's specialization was defence, and some players forgot about their defence here, as the scoreboard will show.

As we walk back into the past, Kris Kristofferson is the next hit. He was the rugged, but friendly face of outlaw country. He was notable not just as a musician himself, but also as a songwriter for others. Plus, he also had a couple of acting gigs, most notably for me in the Blade series next to Wesley Snipes. He was a hit for three players.

Sod's Law and GreatUncleBulgaria score with Maggie Smith. The two-time Oscar winner also fell to the curse of becoming an actor "known for Harry Potter". But actually, her career was much more than that, one of the most distinguished actors of all, some would say. That video I linked to three weeks ago, that was a bad omen. Her death comes slightly surprising, but in her days, you didn't talk about your ill health.

Next A-Lister is (mainly) voice actor David Graham. Is it me or was he strangely popular here on this forum? Very few voice actors climb to A-list status. And I am not sure his roles were THAT big, but what can I say, I occasionally picked him myself. To me, he was like Kenneth Cope, I accept the A-list status assigned to him by the more knowledgable people here.

Finally, another A-Lister to score, Alberto Fujimori. The former president of Peru was a "controversial" figure in that you never knew if his reign meant the end of democracy in Peru or whether he was just one of those semi-dictators, like Erdogan. Well, democracy sort of survived, just like Fujimori, whose legacy was as spotty as his health turned out to be. 

EDIT: Noooooooooo, I forgot another A-lister, James Earl Jones, who died immediately after the previous update. Nowadays mostly remembered as a voice actor like David Graham. Especially for a "franchise role", like Maggie Smith. His "Peppa Pig" is "The Lion King". James Earl Jones has only gone in physical form, but he lives on as a digitized voice package.

 

chilean_way is currently waiting for an obit for Alexandre do Nascimento. Probably one of the bigger gambles...

Rupert Keegan is also awaiting an obit. And the fact that we are waiting has some implications for the scoreboard. Cpt.Chorizo keeps the lead thanks to David Graham, but Banana would lead with the Keegan obit. Also, I have Mutombo and almost make it back to the top. The trio at the top is also somewhat in pursuit by Book, wannamaker and others. Things are very much unsettled.

 

Rank	Team	Score
1	Cpt. Chorizo	1237
2	gcreptile	1217
3	Banana	1199
4	Book	1126
5	wannamaker	1102
6	RadGuy	1094
7	msc	1082
8	Funeralopolis	1025
9	Perhaps	1018
10	Summer in Transilvania	961
11	Salmon Mousse	950
12	Mr. Wonderful	879
13	Buffalo Phil	826
14	Toast	794
15	Torva Messor	785
16	The Immortal	759
17	Liz Lemon	749
18	An Fear Beag	731
19	The Unknown Man	730
20	tracy	701
21	Baby Blue	661
22	Pedro67	655
23	The old lady	633
24	Wormfarmer	624
25	Thatcher	620
26	Predictor	615
27	Death Impends	607
28	MariNisia	604
29	Etushipushingupdaisies	602
30	Cpt. Hemlock	583
31	DeathBecomesThem	540
32	Caleb H	537
33	Charles De Gaulle	519
34	ThereWillBeDeaths7	516
35	Lady Fiona	514
36	Imelda	511
37	The Old Crem	504
38	TQR	493
39	John Key	485
40	arghton	473
41	Sean	469
42	The Daredevil	437
43	Diego	429
44	Yorkshire Banker	404
45	Bibliogryphon	398
46	Annami	390
47	Young Willz	352
48	Great Uncle Bulgaria	279
49	Hell	240
50	chileanway	225
51	Sod's Law	168
52	Gooseberry Crumble	59

[Toast 16,234]

Quote

 James Earl Jones ..... Nowadays mostly remembered as a voice actor like David Graham. Especially for a "franchise role", like Maggie Smith.

 

Sorry, but Maggie Smith is not mostly remembered for a "franchise role".  (I assume you mean Harry Potter.) 

She played a vast number of roles on stage, screen and TV, and is remembered for many of them.

[gcreptile 11,078]

2 minutes ago, Toast said:

 

Sorry, but Maggie Smith is not mostly remembered for a "franchise role".  (I assume you mean Harry Potter.) 

She played a vast number of roles on stage, screen and TV, and is remembered for many of them.

I was making fun of the obituaries that mostly call her that, it reminded me of when John Hurt died.

 

Otherwise, you may be right from your point of view, but even the BBC calls her "best known for the Harry Potter films and Downton Abbey":

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgk7375ngkxo

[Toast 16,234]

42 minutes ago, gcreptile said:

I was making fun of the obituaries that mostly call her that, it reminded me of when John Hurt died.

 

Otherwise, you may be right from your point of view, but even the BBC calls her "best known for the Harry Potter films and Downton Abbey":

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgk7375ngkxo

 

The BBC is an embarrassment nowadays.  Anyone who only knows Maggie Smith for Harry Potter or Downton Abbey is barely out of their teens.

[ladyfiona 2,659]

29 minutes ago, Toast said:

 

The BBC is an embarrassment nowadays.  Anyone who only knows Maggie Smith for Harry Potter or Downton Abbey is barely out of their teens.

 

I've not seen any of her older work, but I adore her in Hook.

[BuffaloPhil 950]

20 hours ago, Toast said:

 

The BBC is an embarrassment nowadays.  Anyone who only knows Maggie Smith for Harry Potter or Downton Abbey is barely out of their teens.

 

To be fair, they said "best known" not "only known" and I would argue that in today's world that's accurate. I'm 49 and whilst I'm well aware of many of her other roles, for me she is definitely best known as Professor McGonagall.

[Toast 16,234]

Cissy Houston.  I knew I'd got her somewhere.

[ladyfiona 2,659]

I got Lily Ebert. I get a massive 23 points, lol.

[ladyfiona 2,659]

Ethel Kennedy a hit for me.

[MrWonderful 483]

I got a hit with Teri Garr.  

[theoldlady 2,343]

I got a hit with Janey Godley here.

[ladyfiona 2,659]

Got a hit with June Spencer.

[gcreptile 11,078]

Okay..... I will be in the United States in the next two weeks and will be back on Dec 3rd. The 2025 thread will be opened after my return, please be patient.

 

So let's have an update before I leave! Once more, I try to catch all the names by mainly going back through time.

 

The most recent hit is Yuriko, the Princess Mikasa. A member of the japanese imperial house, she was one of the people who symbolize a 'last connection' to a different era. The last member of her generation, and the last member of the house to be born during the reign of Emperor Taisho. Perhaps and The Immortal score.

Next one is Timothy West, a unique (!) hit for Sod's Law. The almost unthinkable happened and he died before his dementia-ridden wife. Let's hope Prunella Scales' dementia is so far advanced she doesn't realize Timothy's death. Sod's law indeed...

Further back in time is the death of June Spencer, British radio soap icon for many decades. Probably one of the oldest people ever to get that immediate BBC obit. A hit for quite a few people in this competition.

Next up is the alleged murder of Suzy Lamplugh, John Cannan. Well, he did serve prison time for other crimes as well, including at least one different murder. But he was only mentioned on Wikipedia in relation to the Lamplugh case, two years ago. I checked that back when he was diagnosed with cancer, but I see that he has since "gained" his own page. Well, there you go. Two people, BuffaloPhil and Imelda kept the faith and were rewarded by luck, because it was not cancer that eventually killed Cannan.

Nobody picked Quincy Jones (!).

But many, many players picked Janey Godley. For some, her cancer battle was an attention-seeking, possibly exaggerated moment, but for many others, it was a battle that they knew would end rather sooner than later. And the end came pretty fast for the sort-of stand-up comedian.

Next up is Teri Garr, a hit for six players. Her screen career started with a little assist from Jack Nicholson, got pushed by a first big role in Star Trek and then grew through her comedic talent into an Oscar nomination. After that, as was usual before the age of streaming, her career then declined back to TV roles (today, a TV/streaming role could actually be the real peak of your career). Well, she kind of had a second career as the deadpooler's go-to pick for multiple sclerosis. She did live quite long with it though.

Then we get to Phil Lesh.... no! He wasn't picked, so I can't make the joke of writing an obituary for him than just goes on and on and on and meanders, like one of the Grateful Dead's concerts.

Ah well, going through wikipedia, the not picked people are a theme this time, no Mitzi Gaynor, no Yahya Sinwar, more miss than hit in this update, unfortunately.

Philip Zimbardo however was a unique hit for Charles De Gaulle, congratulations and thank you for that. Also, thank you Mr. Zimbardo for creating the meme-like Stanford prison experiment that probably inspired dozens of movies and Star Trek episodes. Now I've heard that the experiment itself was unethical, or done wrong, but maybe that's where scientific truth and wishful reality don't go together? Well, maybe there'll be a Netflix documentary on it eventually (somebody telling me there is in 3,2,1...).

Next hit then is Tylee Craft, college football player from North Carolina. He had been diagnosed with lung cancer and a well-publicised battle with it for over two years. News were alternatively positive and negative. Yet, the 100 points made the gamble worth it for Banana and Cpt. Chorizo. So yeah, two out of three best-placed players picked him. Not me, however. So as a consequence, it does look like the likely winner of this competition will be one of the two players who picked Craft.

After here, I am unfortunately getting a little tired - preparations for the trip today, and such, so in short fashion, we have Ethel Kennedy and Lily Ebert. Holocaust survivor Ebert was a unique hit for Lady Fiona, who also had a hit with Mrs. Kennedy. Kennedy was a far more popular pick though.

 

So, did I miss anyone? ... double-checking ... oh dear, yes, Geoff Capes. Pedro67 scores a unique hit with the strongman, shot-put champion and Olympic competitor who died at 74 - almost the average life expectancy, something the musclemen rarely achieve.

...Aaand Cissy Houston is a hit for Toast and The Quim Reaper. Thank you DDP fatality list. Houston herself had a decent career as an RnB/spiritual singer but was made definitely obitable by her daughter. Now all deadpooling attention for that family will be focussing on her cousin Leontyne Price.

 

So I hope I did it all right and this is the scoreboard:
 

Rank	Team	Score
1	Cpt. Chorizo	1337
2	Banana	1299
3	gcreptile	1217
4	Book	1126
5	wannamaker	1102
6	RadGuy	1090
7	msc	1082
8	Perhaps	1041
9	Funeralopolis	1025
10	Summer in Transilvania	961
11	Salmon Mousse	950
12	Mr. Wonderful	923
13	Buffalo Phil	880
14	Toast	827
15	Liz Lemon	821
16	The Immortal	810
17	Torva Messor	785
18	Pedro67	765
19	The Unknown Man	758
20	tracy	745
21	An Fear Beag	731
22	Wormfarmer	729
23	The old lady	694
24	Thatcher	681
25	Etushipushingupdaisies	663
26	Baby Blue	661
27	MariNisia	648
28	Imelda	626
29	Predictor	615
30	Death Impends	607
31	DeathBecomesThem	601
32	Cpt. Hemlock	583
33	Lady Fiona	565
34	Charles De Gaulle	552
35	Caleb H	537
36	TQR	526
37	ThereWillBeDeaths7	516
38	The Old Crem	504
39	The Daredevil	497
40	John Key	485
41	arghton	473
42	Sean	469
43	Diego	457
44	Yorkshire Banker	404
45	Bibliogryphon	398
46	Annami	390
47	Young Willz	352
48	Great Uncle Bulgaria	279
49	Hell	240
50	chileanway	225
51	Sod's Law	202
52	Gooseberry Crumble	59

 

Can Banana pull another rabbit out of his hat or is this the 2nd win of this deadpool for Cpt Chorizo? 6 weeks are left and the necessary 38 pts could almost come from anywhere.

 

One additional note: Unfortunately, I just saw that I previously had assigned points to RadGuy for Irish cook Joe Shannon. But since Shannon hasn't received a QO, I sadly have to take them back...

[Toast 16,234]

Quote

Next up is the alleged murder of Suzy Lamplugh, John Cannan. Well, he did serve prison time for other crimes as well, including at least one different murder. But he was only mentioned on Wikipedia in relation to the Lamplugh case, two years ago.

 

Yes, it's shocking as there isn't a shred of evidence to connect him with Suzy Lamplugh. Most of what is in the Wiki article is just rumour and speculation, none of it proven and some of it disproved. The police made early mistakes in the Lamplugh case, not helped by interference from her parents, so they pinned it on Cannan as he was a handy scapegoat.

[ladyfiona 2,659]

Have fun in America @gcreptile and lets hope you won't get blamed for any deaths while out there.

[Captain Hemlock 749]

Welcome to our side of the pond @gcreptile. I also will take this opportunity to apologize to the Germans for sending you the Giants and Panthers NFL game last week.

[Torva Messor 282]

Helen Gallagher is my 18th hit for this pool.

[gcreptile 11,078]

I think this might be the last update before the game concludes...

 

The trigger was the belated obit for Rupert Keegan, a popular replacement pick. Keegan had a couple of years in the Formula One but no great successes there. Hence, we had to wait months for the obit, but luckily, the BBC covers a whole lot of ground. Banana picked him, for example, Cpt. Chorizo did not...

But Cpt. Chorizo did pick Silvia Pinal, as did Baby Blue. The legendary mexican actress had been plagued by ill health for a while, but still made it to a grand age of 93.

Torva Messor scores a classy unique hit with Helen Gallagher - a veteran US actress most successful on Broadway, but also the recipient of three daytime Emmy Awards.

chileanway and the_daredevil share the honors of having picked Earl Holliman. Holliman was a bit of an all-around entertainer, which in the 50s and 60s weren't all that rare. Mostly TV acting, but also a bit of singing and some stage productions. He recieved a Golden Globe Award and a star on the Walk of Fame.

 

Also, I might have missed to give the points for June Spencer in the last update? It's done now.

 

Three players await an obit for Antero Laukkanen. I'm afraind these players will be waiting a loooong time.

 

The scoreboard shows a nerve-wrecking situation at the top, where Banana can't quite catch up to Cpt. Chorizo but the next hit will be the 'golden goal', so to say.

It won't be "Black Bart" Harris, as both players have him. But otherwise, it's like, the next hit wins:

 

Rank	Team	Score
1	Cpt. Chorizo	1368
2	Banana	1354
3	gcreptile	1217
4	wannamaker	1157
5	Book	1126
6	RadGuy	1090
7	msc	1082
8	Funeralopolis	1080
9	Perhaps	1060
10	Summer in Transilvania	961
11	Salmon Mousse	950
12	Mr. Wonderful	923
13	Buffalo Phil	880
14	The Immortal	829
15	Toast	827
16	Liz Lemon	821
17	Torva Messor	811
18	An Fear Beag	786
19	Pedro67	765
20	The Unknown Man	758
21	tracy	745
22	Wormfarmer	729
23	MariNisia	703
24	The old lady	694
25	Baby Blue	692
26	Thatcher	681
27	Etushipushingupdaisies	663
28	Imelda	626
29	Predictor	615
30	Death Impends	607
31	DeathBecomesThem	601
32	Lady Fiona	584
33	Cpt. Hemlock	583
34	Charles De Gaulle	552
35	Caleb H	537
36	TQR	526
37	The Daredevil	525
38	The Old Crem	523
39	ThereWillBeDeaths7	516
40	John Key	504
41	Diego	476
42	arghton	473
43	Sean	469
44	Yorkshire Banker	459
45	Annami	409
46	Bibliogryphon	398
47	Young Willz	352
48	Great Uncle Bulgaria	279
49	chileanway	272
50	Hell	240
51	Sod's Law	202
52	Gooseberry Crumble	59

[Summer in Transylvania 2,213]

Peter Procter also got a QO here.

 

A unique for me.

[Predictor 1,025]

I have gotten worse each year.

 

2022: 1417 points

2023: 672 points

2024: 615 points

 

Should I participate next year? It's a lot of hassle, and I have no clue which celebrities are sick these days.

[gcreptile 11,078]

23 minutes ago, Predictor said:

I have gotten worse each year.

 

2022: 1417 points

2023: 672 points

2024: 615 points

 

Should I participate next year? It's a lot of hassle, and I have no clue which celebrities are sick these days.

I'm always happy to see you play. If your goal is to get a higher score you need a few good names though. To improve your score you probably need about 10 hits. I think the forum itself has some pretty good suggestions, easily good enough for that. But I also predict that next year this competition will not be won by secret young names, but rather by a bunch of 60-70 year olds. Especially in this competition that would mean that the scores will be lower.

[Predictor 1,025]

44 minutes ago, gcreptile said:

I'm always happy to see you play. If your goal is to get a higher score you need a few good names though. To improve your score you probably need about 10 hits. I think the forum itself has some pretty good suggestions, easily good enough for that. But I also predict that next year this competition will not be won by secret young names, but rather by a bunch of 60-70 year olds. Especially in this competition that would mean that the scores will be lower.

Thanks. Yeah, having good names probably helps haha. Actually, I've always liked to play faux upset at my lousy deathpooling, but it doesn't really affect me much. 2022 was supposed to be my "farewell tour", so I put in more effort then (and it shows). Other than that, I don't spend much time researching, just a few days in December. I am leaning towards no to 2025, but who knows, I might surprise ya right before deadline?