People You Thought Were Dead

[Spudrick68]

Smokey Robinson still alive. It's a miracle.

I'll get mi coat.

 

[Jepra Peld]

Somewhat related to the Peter Dean/Beal thread, where I realised I had been sadly misled about the deadness of said gentleman, I was watching John Rogers on YouTube earlier, where he visited Tony Hancock's memorial stone. 'Of course, he committed suicide...' said John. Surely not, thought I. He fell downstairs drunk and died.... So I went to check.

Bugger me, am I the only person in the world who didn't know TH used drink and pills to end his life? I was absolutely convinced that he fell downstairs. The only reason I can think of is that I was only eight when he died - he was a great hero of my parents so I assume that I heard the news, knew who he was, and asked how he died and that my parents didn't want to tell me the actual way, so told me he fell downstairs? It's quite odd because I have a very clear mental picture of a staircase and his wife screaming (but that will have been childhood imagination playing on the scene).

But yes. Knew he was dead, but it was the how that flummoxed me.

Interesting. I knew he had died by suicide, but thought he jumped from a hotel window. I am curious now as to why I thought that, or who I was thinking of.

 

[escargot]

Somewhat related to the Peter Dean/Beal thread, where I realised I had been sadly misled about the deadness of said gentleman, I was watching John Rogers on YouTube earlier, where he visited Tony Hancock's memorial stone. 'Of course, he committed suicide...' said John. Surely not, thought I. He fell downstairs drunk and died.... So I went to check.

Bugger me, am I the only person in the world who didn't know TH used drink and pills to end his life? I was absolutely convinced that he fell downstairs. The only reason I can think of is that I was only eight when he died - he was a great hero of my parents so I assume that I heard the news, knew who he was, and asked how he died and that my parents didn't want to tell me the actual way, so told me he fell downstairs? It's quite odd because I have a very clear mental picture of a staircase and his wife screaming (but that will have been childhood imagination playing on the scene).

But yes. Knew he was dead, but it was the how that flummoxed me.

I was slightly older at the time of Hancock's death and knew it was drink and pills because my mother commented sniffily on it - these famous people with their drink and pills, what do they expect?

However, I later came to believe that Hancock's wife at the time was Sheila Hancock.
Used to feel sorry for her, losing her husband in that way. Must've been a terrible shock.

Only in the last few years have I learned my mistake and to be honest I'm still not convinced.

 

[catseye]

I was slightly older at the time of Hancock's death and knew it was drink and pills because my mother commented sniffily on it - these famous people with their drink and pills, what do they expect?

However, I later came to believe that Hancock's wife at the time was Sheila Hancock.
Used to feel sorry for her, losing her husband in that way. Must've been a terrible shock.

Only in the last few years have I learned my mistake and to be honest I'm still not convinced.

I thought EXACTLY the same! That he was married to Sheila Hancock! I think I believed it right up until the death of John Thaw (who actually was her husband, when it was mentioned that she'd lost two husbands to the same disease - and then I found out that she'd never been married to Tony.

 

[Jepra Peld]

I thought EXACTLY the same! That he was married to Sheila Hancock! I think I believed it right up until the death of John Thaw (who actually was her husband, when it was mentioned that she'd lost two husbands to the same disease - and then I found out that she'd never been married to Tony.

Bizarrely, Hancock's first wife, Cicely Romanis, did die from a fall shortly after Tony died, which sort of brings us full circle.

 

[escargot]

I thought EXACTLY the same! That he was married to Sheila Hancock! I think I believed it right up until the death of John Thaw (who actually was her husband, when it was mentioned that she'd lost two husbands to the same disease - and then I found out that she'd never been married to Tony.

Are you me?

Bizarrely, Hancock's first wife, Cicely Romanis, did die from a fall shortly after Tony died, which sort of brings us full circle.

That's be it then.

Well, maybe.

 

[catseye]

Are you me?

If you are currently craving a big slice of fruit cake - then, yes, yes I am.

 

[TangletwigsDeux]

Sergio Leone showed his caring side

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0064116/trivia/?ref_=tt_ql_trv

Thats one of the best IMDB trivia sections I have seen.

John Landis was one of the stuntmen on this film.

 

[Peripart]

Liza Minelli is still alive.

What the actual... ?

Obviously, I'm happy for her and everything, but she died years ago, of a painkiller overdose or something. It was all terribly sad, but at the same time not wholly unexpected.

But according to the other news story from the Oscars, she's very much still with us.

 

[catseye]

Liza Minelli is still alive.

What the actual... ?

Obviously, I'm happy for her and everything, but she died years ago, of a painkiller overdose or something. It was all terribly sad, but at the same time not wholly unexpected.

But according to the other news story from the Oscars, she's very much still with us.

Did you get her mixed up with her mother? I tend to get names stuck in my head, so if someone is merely mentioned in connection with someone else's death (even in the context of 'a good friend of XXXXX said today....') then my brain latches on to their name and the word 'dead' and that's it. They are also dead.

 

[Peripart]

Did you get her mixed up with her mother? I tend to get names stuck in my head, so if someone is merely mentioned in connection with someone else's death (even in the context of 'a good friend of XXXXX said today....') then my brain latches on to their name and the word 'dead' and that's it. They are also dead.

No - Judy Garland died before I could walk properly. I'm possibly conflating Liza with her one-time husband, David Gest?

 

[escargot]

No - Judy Garland died before I could walk properly. I'm possibly conflating Liza with her one-time husband, David Gest?

You might also be thinking of Elizabeth Taylor who died a few years ago. That's caught me out.

I remember Garland's sad and lonely death.

 

[Floyd1]

Liza Minelli is still alive.

What the actual... ?

Obviously, I'm happy for her and everything, but she died years ago, of a painkiller overdose or something. It was all terribly sad, but at the same time not wholly unexpected.

But according to the other news story from the Oscars, she's very much still with us.

Carrie Fisher maybe? She was the daughter of singer Eddie Fisher and actress Debbie Reynolds, so the 'famous parent' thing might be the cause of your mistake? (Fisher didn't die of an overdose though).

 

[Peripart]

You might also be thinking of Elizabeth Taylor who died a few years ago. That's caught me out.

I remember Garland's sad and lonely death.

Carrie Fisher maybe? She was the daughter of singer Eddie Fisher and actress Debbie Reynolds, so the 'famous parent' thing might be the cause of your mistake? (Fisher didn't die of an overdose though).

Sensible ideas, both, but I've got the deaths of Elizabeth Taylor and particularly Carrie Fisher fixed firmly in my mind, so I now have no idea why I've been so equally convinced that Ms Minelli had also shuffled off this mortal wossname.

 

[GNC]

That's odd, a few minutes before reading the Liza with a Z post I was thinking of that anecdote about her and her mother. They had gone to visit the ladies' restroom, and a woman recognised Judy and started pestering her, going "Remember the rainbow, Judy! Remember the rainbow!" Eventually Judy snapped, "Honey, I got rainbows coming outta my ass!" which shut the woman up.

I hadn't heard of the Oscars/Liza story! Maybe I saw the photo?

 

[Spookdaddy]

Not so long ago I literally walked into Charles Dance on Marylebone High Street in London (strictly speaking, we walked into each other - he was very polite about it). My surprise was not so much that I'd bumped into someone famous, but that I'd somehow convinced myself that he'd died recently.

I think I've mentioned elsewhere that on one occasion I thought a tramp had come and sat on the table next to me at a coffee shop near the Fitzroy Tavern (also London). The tramp, on closer inspection, turned out to be David Threlfall - who clearly had to smarten himself up a bit in order to play the part of Frank Gallagher. When I finished my coffee and walked around the corner I had to skirt around Bill Nighy, who was leaning at an odd angle against a shop window.

Two actors I know not to be dead but who - at the time - looked like they might be.

 

[Swifty]

Now there's an are they dead, aren't they? game to go with these shenanigans ..

https://is-or-was.com/

 

[JahaRa]

When I was very young we used to watch a weekly show with Danny Kaye. When the show went off the air I was so young I thought it was because he died. I was very sad and missed him. Then as a teen ager I saw a new variety show that he a guest on. I was so glad I was wrong about his death.

 

[Trevp666]

I remember years ago being told by my parents that the reason Trevor Bannister was no longer in 'Are You Being Served', was because he had died.
Imagine my surprise when I spotted him in an episode of Coronation Street in the 2000s. He appeared to be still breathing.
He has since carked it, and has been pushing up daisies since April 2011.

I have no idea why my parents lied to me. I know we have the same first name but I don't think he was secretly my father, and besides, I have my dads ears.

 

[paulsamotis]

I saw a news item about a Barry Manilow show the other day, I'd have happily bet you 20 quid that he'd died a few years ago

 

[Bad Bungle]

Similarly I'm pleasantly surprised every few years that Burt Bacharach is still with us.

 

[Mythopoeika]

I saw a news item about a Barry Manilow show the other day, I'd have happily bet you 20 quid that he'd died a few years ago

He announced that he was gay a few years ago.

 

[Aether Blue]

I was very surprised to discover that Kissinger had commented on the Ukraine crisis.

Disclaimer: I make no statement to agree or disagree with his comments or political views on the crisis. My post only expresses surprise that he is still alive and capable of commenting.

 

[Jepra Peld]

William Friedkin, director of, among other things, The Excorcist. I thought he had died a few years ago, but it seems I was confusing him for Wiliam Peter Blatty.

On the other side of the coin, Tom Clancy's death 9 years ago completely passed me by.

 

[Coal]

He announced that he was gay a few years ago.

That might make him 'dead to some people'.

 

[Vardoger]

He announced that he was gay a few years ago.

Official secret since the 70s. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

 

[Tunn11]

Trying to identify an actress in "The Card" on Talking Pictures TV the other day and realised it was Glynis Johns, who was in loads of things when I was a kid; and later including "Cheers".
Surprised and glad to know that she is still around aged 98.

 

[blessmycottonsocks]

Henry Kissinger.
I thought he was long gone, but he's still actively commenting on the war in Ukraine and has just written a new book - at 99!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Kissinger

 

[Trevp666]

Henry Kissinger, when you're gone, I'll be missing-yer.

 

[catseye]

I keep being convinced that Kenneth Cope is dead. I mean, I know he was in Randall and Hopkirk, deceased, but in real life. I thought he died back in the early 2000s, then I found he was alive, then I was convinced that he had died (I was rather sorry about that because I fancied him dreadfully in R&H). Now he's alive again. Apparently.