The Beatles Death Curse

[YoungWillz 21,054]

7 minutes ago, Ulitzer95 said:

The obit says born in 1934, so 87?

That's what I thought, sure she was older - I just went with Wiki which seems to be wrong, as no access to Times. I think Wiki was amended some point after I picked her which surprised me that she was made out to be younger.

[Vinegar Tits 606]

Sad news. I'd always thought she was born around 1941 too, especially as in the pictures of her with The Beatles she doesn't look like she's over 30 - and 30 was old back then.

 

I was going to put her in my 2022 team. Anyone know if Joan Taylor (Derek's wife) is still alive? Never heard anything to the contrary so I presume she is.

[Ulitzer95 12,653]

On 05/10/2021 at 10:11, JQW said:

Mark Lewisohn reports the death of Lizzie Bravo, one of the two 'Apple Scruffs' who sang backing vocals on the World Wildlife Fund version of "Across The Universe".

 

Mark Lewisohn on Twitter: "When I was 9 I wanted to be Lizzie Bravo, invited into Abbey Road to sing on Across The Universe. Instead, later in life, we became friends. Her Beatles love never diminished, and she was a devoted daughter, mother and grandmother – a funny, artistic, generous human. RIP, Lizzie. https://t.co/4ru6Synfuo" / Twitter

Lizzie Bravo gets a very unnecessary Telegraph obituary.

[YoungWillz 21,054]

19 minutes ago, Ulitzer95 said:

Lizzie Bravo gets a very unnecessary Telegraph obituary.

Not surprising, she got a Times Obit back in October: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/lizzie-bravo-obituary-w7b6d87rb

[Ulitzer95 12,653]

Denis O'Brien (wiki), American attorney and manager of George Harrison, dead at 80.

[YoungWillz 21,054]

10 hours ago, Ulitzer95 said:

Denis O'Brien (wiki), American attorney and manager of George Harrison, dead at 80.

I have tried without success for years to find out whether Denis O'Brien was still alive.

 

I guess some of these people will just be brought right back into public view only when they die. I'm thinking of Linda Eastman's brother John (still listed as a director) and Peter Brown who simply seems to have disappeared into Middle America.

[TheKeysOfMarinus 390]

Does anyone know anything about Denis O'Dell? Film producer who worked on A Hard Day's Night and Magical Mystery Tour and features in the new Get Back film.

 

There's no birth date anywhere online I can find. It would be quite something if someone closely associated with the Beatles died off the radar, but I think he may have. His earliest film credit is 1943! He was first assistant director on the Alastair Sim A Christmas Carol! If he's still with us, he must be ancient. 

[Ulitzer95 12,653]

38 minutes ago, TheKeysOfMarinus said:

Does anyone know anything about Denis O'Dell? Film producer who worked on A Hard Day's Night and Magical Mystery Tour and features in the new Get Back film.

 

There's no birth date anywhere online I can find. It would be quite something if someone closely associated with the Beatles died off the radar, but I think he may have. His earliest film credit is 1943! He was first assistant director on the Alastair Sim A Christmas Carol! If he's still with us, he must be ancient. 

Let's start with establishing his age...



Daily Mirror from mid-October 1968 says he was 41 then, so born c. 1927.

Important to note that his name is spelt "Denis" in some papers, and "Dennis" in others.

Then heading over to FreeBMD... searching for "Denis O'Dell" and "Dennis O'Dell" from 1925 to 1929 returns just two results:
DENNIS O'DELL b. 1927 Croydon
DENNIS W. O'DELL b. 1927 Leighton Buzzard

Then looking at both Ancestry and the GRO, only one of these guys seems to have died up to 2019 and that's DENNIS W.(William) O'DELL b. 1927, who died in 2003 in Milton Keynes.

So, the Croydon individual is still alive. The only other clue I found was this site which is selling signed copies of O'Dell's book on The Beatles, for a tenner a pop. If they have a bundle of them and are selling them at that price, it would suggest he was alive post-2003 surely?

My hunch is on alive, and turning 95 next year. Would like to hear @YoungWillz's thoughts on this though.
 

[YoungWillz 21,054]

11 minutes ago, Ulitzer95 said:

Let's start with establishing his age...



Daily Mirror from mid-October 1968 says he was 41 then, so born c. 1927.

Important to note that his name is spelt "Denis" in some papers, and "Dennis" in others.

Then heading over to FreeBMD... searching for "Denis O'Dell" and "Dennis O'Dell" from 1925 to 1929 returns just two results:
DENNIS O'DELL b. 1927 Croydon
DENNIS W. O'DELL b. 1927 Leighton Buzzard

Then looking at both Ancestry and the GRO, only one of these guys seems to have died up to 2019 and that's DENNIS W.(William) O'DELL b. 1927, who died in 2003 in Milton Keynes.

So, the Croydon individual is still alive. The only other clue I found was this site which is selling signed copies of O'Dell's book on The Beatles, for a tenner a pop. If they have a bundle of them and are selling them at that price, it would suggest he was alive post-2003 surely?

My hunch is on alive, and turning 95 next year. Would like to hear @YoungWillz's thoughts on this though.
 

I've looked for Denis O'Dell before. There's some suspicion I recall that that was a stage name, at which point I threw my hands up and gave up. That really annoyed me given he's mentioned in You Know My Name (Look Up The Number), ha!

 

I may venture into this nightmare again sometime soon. But I wouldn't be picking him for anything.

[Ulitzer95 12,653]

1 minute ago, YoungWillz said:

I've looked for Denis O'Dell before. There's some suspicion I recall that that was a stage name, at which point I threw my hands up and gave up. That really annoyed me given he's mentioned in You Know My Name (Look Up The Number), ha!

 

I may venture into this nightmare again sometime soon. But I wouldn't be picking him for anything.

Now that is a total kick in the balls!

Someone must know, including the chaps on that site who are selling his book, surely?

[Thatcher 2,417]

If it helps at all - Denise O’Dell is his daughter and active in the film/TV industry. Nik O’Dell (IMDb) is also a relation - info on him although no reference to Denis. His nephew is Richard O’Dell, involved in Portobello Radio and made a reference to his uncle in 2020 here. He seems to have family across the UK, Europe, NZ and USA and a fair few involved in the media industry so I don’t think he would have gone off the radar. I would also say Denis does have a social media account but you can’t see any dated info, but I reckon that puts him as alive at least c2007-8 when Facebook really started to take off as a social media platform.

 

[Ulitzer95 12,653]

Are we looking at the same FB profile @Thatcher, where the couple are sat on the sofa? It appears to be a shared Facebook account between them (Denis & Donna)?

If so, that couple were both still alive in 2014, and living in Warwickshire according to 192... she was born 1937, though it says he was born in 1921(?!). Neither of them in the GRO up until 2019 though.

This is a bit of a wild goose chase tbh but it's starting to look increasingly possible he's alive or was in recent years.

[Thatcher 2,417]

7 hours ago, Ulitzer95 said:

Are we looking at the same FB profile @Thatcher, where the couple are sat on the sofa? It appears to be a shared Facebook account between them (Denis & Donna)?

If so, that couple were both still alive in 2014, and living in Warwickshire according to 192... she was born 1937, though it says he was born in 1921(?!). Neither of them in the GRO up until 2019 though.

This is a bit of a wild goose chase tbh but it's starting to look increasingly possible he's alive or was in recent years.

Yes that’s the one I was looking at - the picture seems to match other recent videos/photos. 

[Spade_Cooley 9,535]

The concurrent release of "Get Back" and the Nesmith retrospectives have been a massive fillip for those of us who've long argued The Monkees > The Beatles.

[JQW 283]

Denis O'Dell was discussed in a podcast episode I was listening to a couple of weeks ago dedicated to "You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)". I'll dig it out and have another listen sometime today.

[JQW 283]

I've found the relevant part of the podcast, but there's nothing helpful in the content, just a list of other things O'Dell did. 

[ladyfiona 2,589]

A new music video of George's My Sweet Lord has appeared on Youtube.

 

Just to name a handful of people that appeared in it (there are credits at the end):

• Darren Criss
• Mark Hamil
• Ringo Starr
• Dhani Harisson
• Olivia Harrison
• Weird Al Yankovic
• Jon Hamm
• Fred Armisen
• Rupert Friend
• Taika Watiti
• Jeff Lynne
• Reggie Watts
• Anders Holm

 

 

[Ulitzer95 12,653]

26 minutes ago, ladyfiona said:

A new music video of George's My Sweet Lord has appeared on Youtube.

 

Just to name a handful of people that appeared in it (there are credits at the end):

• Darren Criss
• Mark Hamil
• Ringo Starr
• Dhani Harisson
• Olivia Harrison
• Weird Al Yankovic
• Jon Hamm
• Fred Armisen
• Rupert Friend
• Taika Watiti
• Jeff Lynne
• Reggie Watts
• Anders Holm

 

 

No idea what's supposed to be going on in that music video, but the cameos are impressive.

[Toast 16,142]

And Joe Walsh, but I didn't recognise many of the people in it.

[Lewd_Squirrel 331]

Patton Oswalt is in the video, and the main guy looks like a slightly thinner Lewis Black.

[Ulitzer95 12,653]

On 07/12/2021 at 01:47, Ulitzer95 said:

Denis O'Brien (wiki), American attorney and manager of George Harrison, dead at 80.

Times obit for Denis O'Brien.

[YoungWillz 21,054]

On 13/12/2021 at 23:22, TheKeysOfMarinus said:

Does anyone know anything about Denis O'Dell? Film producer who worked on A Hard Day's Night and Magical Mystery Tour and features in the new Get Back film.

 

There's no birth date anywhere online I can find. It would be quite something if someone closely associated with the Beatles died off the radar, but I think he may have. His earliest film credit is 1943! He was first assistant director on the Alastair Sim A Christmas Carol! If he's still with us, he must be ancient. 

Well that's settled - Denis O'Dell Dead: https://variety.com/2021/film/obituaries-people-news/denis-odell-dead-beatles-movies-producer-1235145248/

[maryportfuncity 10,647]

On 15/12/2021 at 19:00, Lewd_Squirrel said:

Patton Oswalt is in the video, and the main guy looks like a slightly thinner Lewis Black.

 

 

There's a full cast in order of appearance at the end of the video - Rosanna Arquette being another big name who flashes past

[TheKeysOfMarinus 390]

2 hours ago, YoungWillz said:

Well that's settled - Denis O'Dell Dead: https://variety.com/2021/film/obituaries-people-news/denis-odell-dead-beatles-movies-producer-1235145248/

I feel guilty!

[ladyfiona 2,589]

Julian Lennon is being stupid and taking drugs used for horses to cure him of Covid. (source)