Death List Members in the News
May 2007
Charles Nelson Reilly
January 2007
Bobby Hamilton
December 2006
Gerald Ford
November 2006
Jack Palance
August 2006
August 3 - Fidel Castro
August 1 - Kirk Douglas
August 1 - John Madden
August 1 - Fidel Castro
July 2006
Keith Richards, Ozzy Osbourne, Gerald Ford, Tony Stewart, Phyllis Diller,
B.B. King, Dale Jarrett, Arnold Palmer
May 2006
Keith Richards, David Blaine
April 2006
Tony Stewart, Gerald Ford, B.B. King, Queen Elizabeth, Mickey Rooney, Bob
Barker, Harry Morgan, Charlton Heston, David Blaine, Vin Scully, Muhammad
Ali, Hugh Hefner, Arnold Palmer, Jerry Lewis
March 2006
Courtney Love, Dale Jarrett, Sterling Marlin, Jerry Lewis, Osama Bin Laden,
Queen Elizabeth, Ozzy Osbourne, Gerald Ford
February 2006
Walter Cronkite, Brian Dennehy, Don Knotts, Willie Mays, Vin Scully, Tony
Bennett, Courtney Love, Bob Barker
January 2006
Gerald Ford, Tony Stewart, B.B. King, Walter Cronkite, William Shatner, Courtney
Love, Nick Nolte
December 2005
Richard Pryor, Ozzy Osbourne & Queen Elizabeth, Nick Nolte, Hugh Hefner,
Tony Bennett, Tony Stewart, David Blaine
November 2005
George Michael, Courtney Love, William Shatner, Muhammad Ali
October 2005
Rosa Parks, William Shatner, Joe Namath, B.B. King, Jerry Lewis, Tony Stewart,
Arnold Palmer, Richard Pryor, Jack Klugman, Michael Waltrip, Hugh Hefner,
Dale Jarrett
September 2005
Courtney Love, Ozzy Osbourne, B.B. King, Michael Waltrip, Willie Nelson, Courtney
Love, Jerry Lewis, Arnold Palmer
August 2005
William Shatner, Vin Scully, Ron Popeil, Hugh Hefner, Dale Jarrett, Keith
Richards, Ozzy Osbourne, John Madden, Courtney Love, Richard Pryor, Sterling
Marlin, Tony Stewart, Tony Bennett, Don Knotts, Jerry Lewis
July 2005
Arnold Palmer, Richard Pryor, Courtney Love, Jerry Lewis, Muhammad
Ali, Kirk Douglas, Bob Barker, Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Stewart, Dale Jarrett,
Phyllis Diller, Michael Waltrip, Gerald Ford, Mickey Rooney, Jack Klugman,
Keith Richards, Nick Nolte, Rosa Parks, Luther Vandross
June 2005
Jim Otto, Vin Scully, Tony Bennett, Gerald Ford, Tony Stewart, Queen Elizabeth,
Muhammad Ali, Ozzy Osbourne, Jack Klugman, John Madden
May 2005
Michael Waltrip, Queen Elizabeth, Fidel Castro, Tony Stewart, Walter Cronkite,
Arnold Palmer, B.B. King, George Michael, Vin Scully, Keith Richards, Don
Knotts, Brian Dennehy, Michael Waltrip, Wilford Brimley, Ozzy Osbourne, Willie
Mays, Bob Barker, Nick Nolte, Jim Otto
April 2005
Larry Hagman, Richard Pryor, Willie Mays, Phyllis Diller, David Blaine, Tony
Stewart, Queen Elizabeth, Muhammad Ali, Nick Nolte and William Shatner, B.B.
King, Ozzy Osbourne, Rosa Parks, Luther Vandross, Pope John Paul II
March 2005
Ozzy Osbourne, Pope John Paul II, Courtney Love, Phyllis Diller, Vin Scully,
Fidel Castro, Ed Asner, Bob Barker, B.B. King, Arnold Palmer, Keith Richards,
Muhammad Ali, Jack Palance, Jack Klugman, Sterling Marlin, Joe Namath, Charlton
Heston, Jerry Lewis, Horatio Sanz
February 2005
Pope John Paul II, Wilford Brimley, Tony Stewart, Queen Elizabeth, Willie
Nelson, B.B. King, Ozzy Osbourne, Dale Jarrett, Fidel Castro, Phyllis Diller,
Courtney Love, Gerald Ford, Larry Hagman, Rosa Parks, Mickey Rooney, Hugh
Hefner
January 2005
Willie Mays, Ozzy Osbourne, Arnold Palmer, B.B. King, Vin Scully, John Madden,
Johnny Carson, Brian Dennehy, Kirk Douglas, William Shatner, Rosa Parks, Jerry
Lewis, Courtney Love, Pope John Paul II, Willie Nelson, Mickey Rooney, Gerald
Ford, Bob Barker
December 2004
Richard Pryor, Queen Elizabeth, Ozzy Osbourne, Keith Richards, Rosa Parks,
Nick Nolte, Don Knotts
November 2004
Kirk Douglas, Ozzy Osbourne, Arnold Palmer, Jerry Lewis, Larry Hagman, Johnny
Carson, Queen Elizabeth, B.B. King, Muhammad Ali
October 2004
Courtney Love, Keith Richards, Tony Bennett, Fidel Castro, Ernest Borgnine,
Mickey Rooney, Willie Nelson, Jack Klugman, Jack Palance, Pope John Paul II,
Hugh Hefner, Rodney Dangerfield
September 2004
Courtney Love, Arnold Palmer, Rosa Parks, Rodney Dangerfield, Bob Barker,
Nick Nolte, Tony Bennett
August 2004
Arnold Palmer, Rodney Dangerfield, Bob Barker, Brian Dennehy, Ernest Borgnine,
Rosa Parks, Walter Cronkite, Willie Mays, Pope John Paul II, Fidel Castro,
Julia Child, Jerry Lewis, Mickey Rooney, Joe Namath, B.B. King
July 2004
Rosa Parks, Courtney Love, Fidel Castro, Nick Nolte, Don Knotts, Larry Hagman,
Kirk Douglas, William Shatner
August 3, 2006: Castro seeks to reassure Cubans his health is stable
HAVANA
-- State television gave no news about Fidel Castro's condition Wednesday
afternoon, rerunning a government statement that his health was stable after
surgery, his spirits good and the defense of the island guaranteed.
Despite the affirmations that all was well, there appeared to be an increase in police patrols in some working-class neighborhoods and in coastal areas that have seen civil disturbances in the past, like during power blackouts last summer.
Castro's brother and acting president, Raul Castro, remained out of sight, issuing no statements of his own.
''The important thing is that in the country everything is going perfectly well, and will continue to do so,'' read a statement signed by the elder Castro, who temporarily handed over power to his brother on Monday night after surgery.
It was the first time in 47 years that Castro, the world's longest-serving leader, was not in control of his country.
It was unknown when or where the surgery took place or where Castro was recovering. No images of the leader were shown.
From the Associated Press
A LIFE OF CLOSE SHAVES
HAVANA -- When Fidel Castro was 10, he nearly died of appendicitis. Since then, he has survived military assaults and even poisoned cigars and milkshakes. Now, two weeks shy of his 80th birthday, surgery has sidelined Cuba's leader.
After a life filled with near-death experiences, the intestinal bleeding that forced Castro to hand over power may be one of the closest calls yet for the true survivor.
One of his earliest brushes with death came on July 26, 1953, when Castro launched what many would later call a suicidal attack on the Moncada military barracks.
The assault failed miserably. After a series of surprises and miscalculations, Castro called off the mission -- and was almost left to fend for himself, according to historian Manuel Pevida.
''All of a sudden he was all alone, just standing there in the street in front of the barracks,'' said Pevida, also a Communist Party official. ''Everyone in his group had left, but those in the final car realized he wasn't with them and turned back and picked him up.''
Good luck seemed to consistently accompany him.
A few days after the Moncada assault, a lieutenant named Pedro Sarria, sent to capture the attackers, found Castro asleep on the floor of a peasant hut in the hills.
The lieutenant recognized Castro, but kept his identity from patrols that might have killed him. Sarria put Castro in a city jail, where the presence of journalists made it tricky for authorities to make him ''disappear.''
A fight for power
After an amnesty freed him from prison, he formed a rebel army in Mexico, then returned to Cuba on a crowded yacht that nearly sank in a storm.
The vessel landed in the wrong spot, and of 82 rebels aboard, only 12 survived the landing and skirmishes with Batista's forces.
Castro's rebel army ousted Batista on Jan. 1, 1959. Once in power, Castro's luck continued. More than 30 plots to assassinate him failed, including poisoning his cigars, recruiting a former young German lover and hiding a gun in a TV camera.
One plot took place in the cafeteria of the Habana Libre hotel, where Castro often went for milkshakes, according to the book Fidel: A Critical Portrait.
In the book, Tad Szulc quotes former Cuban Interior Minister Ramiro Valdes as saying the CIA hired a young hotel worker to slip a poison pill into Castro's milkshake. The young man hid the pill in the refrigerator and waited for Castro to show up.
''The capsule was frozen and it broke, and the man couldn't slip it into the milkshake. It seems he was very nervous,'' Szulc quoted Valdes as saying.
From the Associated Press, Vanessa Arrington
August 1, 2006: Kirk wins Kirk award
THE
Santa Barbara International Film Festival yesterday gave its inaugural Kirk
Douglas Award for Career Achievement to -- Kirk Douglas.
Douglas, 89, no longer acts but is polishing up his ninth book, which will come out in December, when he turns 90.
"The title is Let's Face It," Douglas, who starred in the film The Man From Snowy River, said.
"I am concerned that the world is in a mess. That's what the book is about."
From the Herald Sun, Australia
August 1, 2006: Madden goes into Hall of Fame as a coach
NEW
YORK - Before the video games, the athlete's foot commercials, the announcing
booth and the six-legged Thanksgiving turkeys, John Madden was a football
coach.
And, as Madden the announcer might put it, he was a pretty darn good one.
On Saturday, Madden will enter the Pro Football Hall of Fame 28 years after coaching his final game, recognition some might say is long overdue for a man that has become, especially for PlayStation lovers, the face and voice of the NFL.
"It means everything to me," said Madden, who was elected by the Seniors Committee. "It's just something that humbles you and excites you more than you've ever been excited."
Madden was only 32 when Al Davis hired him to coach the Oakland Raiders in 1969. Before leaving the sideline for the announcing booth in 1978, Madden led Oakland to a 103-32-7 regular-season record and a victory in the 1977 Super Bowl. Oakland never had a losing record under Madden, winning seven division titles and making the playoffs eight times.
Current NBC broadcast partner Al Michaels likens Madden's short career as a coach to that of Hall of Fame pitcher Sandy Koufax. Only Hall of Fame coaches George Halas and Curly Lambeau reached 100 wins faster than Madden. His .759 regular-season winning percentage stands as the highest ever among coaches with 100 career victories.
And his Raiders teams stand as some of the most successful, and colorful, in league history.
With players such as Ken Stabler, Fred Biletnikoff, Gene Upshaw, Art Shell and Willie Brown, the Silver and Black had plenty of talent - and maybe even more attitude. Even Davis, the team's owner, was brash, proclaiming his mantra to "Just win, baby."
While some coaches Madden's age - he was one of the youngest head coaches in league history when he was hired - may have been intimidated by the cast of characters, it played right into Madden's strength.
"I always thought his strong suit was his style of coaching," said Stabler, the team's quarterback. "John just had a great knack for letting us be what we wanted to be, on the field and off the field. ... How do you repay him for being that way? You win for him."
Madden was never revered as a master tactician. Stabler said "he basically pitched me the playbook and said go play," letting the quarterback lead the offense. But he was at his best when relating to his players, often seeming more like a friend than a coach as a result of his age and demeanor.
"Players loved playing for him," said Shell, now in his second stint as Raiders coach. "He made it fun for us in camp and fun for us in the regular season. All he asked is that we be on time and play like hell when it was time to play."
Said Madden: "Sometimes guys were disciplinarians in things that didn't make any difference. I was a disciplinarian in jumping offsides, I hated that. Being in bad position and missing tackles, those things. I wasn't 'Your hair has to be combed.'"
But what his players saw as a coach letting them be themselves, some observers saw as a young coach simply trying to not mess with a formidable collection of talent.
It may be one of the reasons Madden had to wait nearly three decades to enter the Hall. Another, at least in the beginning, was the possibility he could return to coaching, which he left in part because of a fear of flying. That led to the Madden Cruiser becoming part of the modern sports lexicon.
"It was one of those things that you cannot control so you try not to worry about it," Madden said of the long delay before he was elected. "But to say you don't think about it would be a bunch of baloney. Twenty-seven years ago I was a finalist and one of the reasons they said I didn't make it was because they said they were afraid that I was going to go back into coaching and not stay retired, so they wanted to make sure."
Apparently they're sure now.
From the Associated Press, Connor Ennis, AP Sports Writer Josh Dubow in Napa, Calif., contributed to this report.
August 1, 2006: Castro's Condition
Unknown After Surgery
He Gives Up Power for 1st Time in 47 Years of Rule
HAVANA
— Fidel Castro, who has wielded absolute power in Cuba for nearly half
a century, remained out of sight Tuesday after undergoing intestinal surgery
and temporarily turning over power to his brother Raul.
The surprise announcement that Castro had been operated on to repair a "sharp intestinal crisis with sustained bleeding" stunned Cubans on the island and in exile, and marked the first time that Castro, two weeks away from 80th birthday, had relinquished power in 47 years of rule.
On this island 90 miles south of Florida, people went about their business as normal on the streets of Havana early Tuesday, standing in line for buses to school and work, and jogging along the city's famous Malecon seawall.
Some government work centers called workers to participate in outdoor political gatherings later Tuesday to express their support for Fidel Castro.
The news came Monday night in a statement read on state television by his secretary, Carlos Valenciaga. The message said Castro's condition was apparently due to stress from a heavy work schedule during recent trips to Argentina and eastern Cuba. He did not appear on the broadcast.
Castro, who took control of Cuba in 1959, resisted repeated U.S. attempts to oust him and survived communism's demise elsewhere, also said in the statement that he was temporarily handing over leadership of the Communist Party to his younger brother.
Raul Castro, the defense minister who turned 75 in June, also did not appear on television and made no statement on his own. For decades the constitutional successor to his brother, Raul Castro has assumed a more public profile in recent weeks.
Fidel Castro last appeared in public Wednesday as he marked the 53rd anniversary of his July 26 barracks assault that launched the revolution. The Cuban leader seemed thinner than usual and somewhat weary during a pair of long speeches in eastern Cuba.
"The operation obligates me to undertake several weeks of rest," Castro's letter read. Extreme stress "had provoked in me a sharp intestinal crisis with sustained bleeding that obligated me to undergo a complicated surgical procedure."
The calm delivery of the announcement appeared to signal that there would be an orderly succession should Fidel Castro become permanently incapacitated.
White House spokesman Peter Watkins said U.S. authorities were monitoring the situation: "We can't speculate on Castro's health, but we continue to work for the day of Cuba's freedom."
On Monday, before Castro's illness was announced, President Bush was in Miami and spoke of the island's future.
"If Fidel Castro were to move on because of natural causes, we've got a plan in place to help the people of Cuba understand there's a better way than the system in which they've been living under," he told WAQI-AM Radio Mambi, a Spanish-language radio station. "No one knows when Fidel Castro will move on. In my judgment, that's the work of the Almighty."
Three weeks ago, a U.S. presidential commission called for an $80 million program to bolster non-governmental groups in Cuba for the purpose of hastening an end to the country's communist system.
Castro has resisted U.S. demands for multiparty elections and an open economy and has insisted his socialist system would long outlive him.
Cuban exiles celebrated in the streets of Miami, but Havana's streets were quiet overnight as Cubans awaited further word on Castro's condition.
It was unknown when or where the surgery took place or where Castro was recovering.
Ongoing intestinal bleeding can be serious and potentially life-threatening, said Dr. Stephen Hanauer, gastroenerology chief at the University of Chicago hospitals. He said it was difficult to deduce the cause of Castro's bleeding without knowing what part of the digestive tract was affected.
Ulcers are a common cause of bleeding in the stomach or upper intestine. Stress used to be blamed but is no longer believed to be a cause of ulcers, he said.
A condition called diverticulosis also can provoke bleeding in the lower intestine, especially in people over age 60, Hanauer said. The condition involves weakened spots in the intestinal lining that form pouches, which can become inflamed and provoke bleeding.
Fidel Castro seemed optimistic of recovery, asking that celebrations scheduled for his 80th birthday on Aug. 13 be postponed until Dec. 2, the 50th anniversary of Cuba's Revolutionary Armed Forces.
With Havana's streets calm, an electronic news ticker at the U.S. diplomatic mission provided the only clue that something dramatic had occurred inside Cuba's government: "All Cubans, including those under the dictatorship, can count on our help and support. We respect the wishes of all Cubans."
Waiters at a popular cafe in Old Havana were momentarily stunned by the news but quickly returned to work.
"He'll get better, without a doubt," said Agustin Lopez, 40. "There are really good doctors here, and he's extremely strong."
But Martha Beatriz Roque, a leading Cuban government opponent in Havana, said she believed Castro must be gravely ill to have stepped aside even temporarily.
"No one knows if he'll even be alive Dec. 2 when he's supposed to celebrate
his birthday," she said.
She added that opposition members worried they could be targeted for repression
during a government change especially if authorities fear civil unrest.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, Castro's strongest international ally, expressed distress during a visit to Vietnam. He said he called the Cuban leader's office after hearing the news.
"We wish President Fidel Castro will recover rapidly. Viva Fidel Castro!"
Chinese President Hu Jintao also sent a message of good wishes to Castro, the official Xinhua News Agency said.
Across the Florida straits in Miami, exiles waved Cuban flags on Little Havana's Calle Ocho, shouting "Cuba! Cuba! Cuba!" as drivers honked their horns. Over nearly five decades, hundreds of thousands of Cubans have fled Castro's rule, many of them settling in Miami.
Castro has been in power since the Jan. 1, 1959, triumph of the armed revolution that drove out dictator Fulgencio Batista. He has been the world's longest-ruling head of government and his ironclad rule has ensured Cuba's place among the world's five remaining communist countries, along with China, Vietnam, Laos and North Korea.
The son of a prosperous plantation owner, Castro's official birthday is Aug. 13, 1926, although some say he was born a year later.
Talk of Castro's mortality was taboo until June 23, 2001, when he fainted during a speech in the sun. Although Castro quickly recovered, many Cubans understood for the first time that their leader would eventually die.
Castro shattered a kneecap and broke an arm when he fell after a speech on Oct. 20, 2004, but laughed off rumors about his health, most recently a 2005 report he had Parkinson's disease.
But the Cuban president also said he would not insist on remaining in power if he ever became too sick to lead: "I'll call the (Communist) Party and tell them I don't feel I'm in condition … that please, someone take over the command."
From the Associated Press, Vanessa Arrington in Havana; Laura Wides-Munoz in Miami; Tran Van Minh in Hanoi, Vietnam; and Medical Writer Lindsey Tanner in Chicago contributed to this report.
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