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
Fidel Castro, Kirk Douglas, John Madden
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
Muhammad Ali, Courtney Love, 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
July 31 - Rosa Parks
July 28 - Courtney Love
July 23 - Fidel Castro
July 22 - Nick Nolte
July 22 - Don Knotts
July 19 - Larry Hagman
July 15 - Kirk Douglas
July 8 - William Shatner
July 31, 2004: Rosa Parks Holds Out from OutKast
Civil-rights
hero Rosa Parks has no love below, or above for that matter, for OutKast.
The ailing 91-year-old Parks filed a lawsuit against the Grammy-winning hip-hop duo in 1999, accusing Big Boi and Andre 3000 of profiting off her moniker by appropriating it for the1998 tune "Rosa Parks" and falsely suggesting the song was endorsed by her.
The lawsuit was thrown out by a lower court, then reinstated in 2003 by the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals (news - web sites), a decision that was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court (news - web sites).
Now, a federal judge in Detroit is asking why Parks won't show up to testify that the song caused her "emotional and mental distress."
Parks' lawyers contend that the elderly icon suffers from an unspecified medical condition.
But U.S. Magistrate Judge Donald A. Scheer said Thursday that Parks' doctor must release records relating to her medical condition and explain why she cannot be questioned by the defense.
Lawyers for OutKast also scored another victory in court this week, as Scheer revealed that OutKast is no longer named defendants in the lawsuit--only BMG will now fight the charges.
Apparently, the fact that OutKast's name was misspelled in the original suit factored into that decision.
Outcast? Who's that? Outcaste? Never heard of them.
But Team BMG still has a major battle on its hands, especially with the unenviable gig of fighting one of America's most beloved civil-rights champions.
Parks, of course, made history for refusing to surrender her seat to a white man on a Montgomery city bus. Her subsequent arrest sparked a 386-day boycott by blacks against the city bus system, which led to court rulings eventually desegregating public transportation and repealing the South's Jim Crow laws.
Unless a settlement is reached before Jan. 10, BMG lawyers may have to convince a jury in Detroit that OutKast was not trying to profit off of Parks' name with the hit off of the 1999 Arista/BMG release Aquameni.
BMG lawyers have asserted that the song in question is not about Parks at all, and is really about the entertainment industry.
In 2002, OutKast's lawyers argued that the rap duo's use of Parks' name and "everybody go to the back of the bus" lyric did not constitute false advertising nor infringe on Parks' right to publicity, as Parks' attorneys previously claimed. Rather, the legal eagles said that while Parks' act of defiance inspired the line, it was really a symbolic slam to rival rappers looking to surpass OutKast's success.
Either way, it's going to be a tough sell to a jury that may or may not be familiar with the Atlanta-based rappers.
In March, OutKast won three Grammys, including Album of the Year, for the multiplatinum release Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, but that doesn't mean everyone on a Detroit jury will be singing "Hey Ya!"
This isn't the first time in recent years Parks has sought to defend her rep from pop culture references.
In 2002, several activists, including Jesse Jackson, were upset when Parks' name was used in vain for laughs in the hit MGM movie Barbershop .
from E! Online
July 28, 2004: Courtney Love sentenced to 18 months in rehab in drug case
LOS
ANGELES – A judge sentenced Courtney Love to 18 months in a drug
rehabilitation program and ordered the singer-actress to stop drinking alcohol
.
"I want ... to see if I can do it," Love told reporters Tuesday outside a Los Angeles courtroom. "I think I can do it. Can you do it? Can we all do it?"
Love pleaded guilty to a charge connected to her alleged attempt to break into her ex-boyfriend's home last fall. Authorities arrested her in October and found cocaine and other opiates in her system.
Superior Court Judge Patricia M. Schnegg gave Love until Oct. 29 to enroll in a drug counseling program requiring frequent drug testing.
The judge also barred Love from taking non-prescription drugs, drinking alcohol or being in places that serve alcohol.
Love has had a series of recent legal troubles.
She faces a felony case in Beverly Hills Superior Court for allegedly possessing illegal painkillers, and could face up to three years and eight months in prison if convicted.
Last month, Love was arraigned in New York City on charges of assault and reckless endangerment for allegedly striking a fan with a microphone stand at an East Village club in March.
The most recent case against Love involves an April 25 incident in which she allegedly attacked a 32-year-old woman with a liquor bottle at ex-boyfriend Jim Barber's Los Angeles home. A bench warrant for her arrest was issued earlier this month after she failed to appear for an arraignment.
Although she has been admonished by judges for courtroom outbursts, Love appeared demure during her sentencing Tuesday. Several times she put her hands over her face and shook her head, and thanked the judge when it was over.
Assistant City Attorney Jerry Baik said the sentence was negotiated under a plea agreement with Love's attorneys.
She pleaded guilty May 25 to a misdemeanor count of being under the influence of a controlled substance and agreed to enter a treatment program.
An additional charge of being a disorderly drunk in public was dismissed Tuesday at the prosecutor's request.
Love, the 40-year-old widow of Nirvana singer Kurt Cobain, was the former lead singer of the band Hole.
She and her new band The Chelsea were scheduled to start a tour last month to support Love's new album "America's Sweetheart." Love delayed the tour amid legal troubles.
from the San Diego Union-Tribune
July 23, 2004: Cuban Artists Perform for Fidel Castro
HAVANA - Singer Silvio Rodriguez, a star of a ballad style known as Cuban trova, performed his music alongside maestro Leo Brouwer and a symphony orchestra Thursday night at a free concert in the Cuban capital.
President Fidel Castro sat in the front row and thousands of other Cubans filled the Revolution Plaza to hear Rodriguez sing, without his guitar, to orchestra music conducted by Brouwer.
The orchestra, made up of 200 young musicians from various Cuban provinces, began the event with selections from Carl Orff's "Carmina Burana" before playing Rodriguez's music.
Rodriguez performed nine songs spanning four decades, including "Quedate," "El Problema," and "Canto Arena," a crowd pleaser. He opened with "Oh, Melancolia."
Cuban trova has its roots in the ballads that traveling singers - troubadours - composed during the island's wars of independence.
Modern Cuban trovas recall American protest songs of the 1960s and 1970s that focused attention on social problems through musical storytelling.
The event was dedicated to Antonio Gades, a noted Spanish flamenco dancer and choreographer who died Tuesday in Madrid after a long illness. Gades, who was 67, had close ties to Cuba and supported its communist revolution.
After the final song Thursday, Castro, accompanied by noted Cuban politicians and cultural figures, went up on stage and hugged both Rodriguez and Brouwer.
from the Miami Herald
July 22, 2004: Nolte impresses with home-style counselling sessions
Reformed
hellraiser Nick Nolte is impressing Californian authorities by hosting meetings
at his home to help others deal with alcohol and drug problems.
The actor, who tested positive for drugs after being pulled over by police in 2002, checked himself into rehab before he appeared before a judge to answer charges, calling his arrest "a wake-up call".
And he has so impressed sentencing judge Lawrence Mira, Nolte's legal team are confident he'll have a year shaved off his probation period - if he continues to stay clean and help others.
In court on Tuesday, Mira complimented Nolte for doing "extremely well" and being "very pro-active" in his recovery.
Nolte suggests the road to recovery is very simple: "You've just got to face the pain."
from Ireland Online
July 22, 2004: Don Knotts' hometown to honor him as he turns 80
MORGANTOWN,
W.Va. – Don Knotts' hometown is planning several tributes to one
of its favorite sons, including a possible film festival next year.
Knotts, who celebrated his 80th birthday Wednesday, will be honored over the coming year for his contributions to the film industry, Mayor Ron Justice said. That includes a possible site where people could learn about the comedic icon, his films and his connection to Morgantown.
"He's always remembered his roots," Justice said. "He is our favorite son."
Knotts, who lives in Beverly Hills, has starred in many films and television series, but is still mainly identified with the role that won him five Emmys, that of bumbling Deputy Barney Fife on "The Andy Griffith Show."
That show, which debuted on CBS on Oct. 3, 1960, was actually preceded by a Feb. 15 appearance of Sheriff Andy Taylor on "The Danny Thomas Show," in an episode titled "Danny Meets Andy Griffith."
Once the show became part of the weekly television schedule, most of the rest of the extended cast was introduced: widowed Andy's 6-year-old son, Opie (Ronnie Howard), and his Aunt Bee (Frances Bavier), who moved in with them to help care for the boy; cousin Barney Fife (Don Knotts), the eager-beaver deputy sheriff; barber Floyd Larson, Mayor Pike, handyman Emmet Clark, town clerk Howard Sprague; and the ladies Elly, Thelma Lou and, eventually, Andy's girlfriend, Helen Crump.
"The five years that Don and I worked together were the best five years I ever had in my life," Griffith said in a Union-Tribune interview published March 21, 2002, 73. "Don's manager says there are times when one and one makes three, and that's what Don and I did."
Knotts at the time noted that the long-running comedy "Seinfeld," which star Jerry Seinfeld described as "a show about nothing," really had nothing on "Andy Griffith."
"We began to do little things, have little scenes where we just talked about things that had nothing to do with the plot," Knotts said. "In fact, in the beginning, they didn't want us to do that. But as time went on, you see that in so many shows. I think we were the first to do that." While Griffith was originally slated to play the comic lead in the series, he told TV critics in 2000 that he realized some quick changes were in order.
"I was supposed to be the funny one on the show," Griffith told them. ""But halfway through the second episode, I realized Don should be the funny one and I should play straight man to him. And that's the best thing we ever did. That's what made the show."
Knotts early television appearances date back to the era of when Steve Allen was hosting ""The Tonight Show," appearing as the perilously nervous, stammering Mr. Morrison.
Recently, he has been performing in regional theater with fellow comic Tim Conway. He's also done voices for animated Disney films and is currently doing the voice of a turkey mayor in the story of Chicken Little.
from the San Diego Union-Tribune
July 19, 2004: Don't bury Larry Hagman yet
By ED BARK, The Dallas Morning News
LOS
ANGELES – Hold the obit. Despite reports to the contrary, Larry
Hagman is dead certain that he's still alive and very well."All the rags
have me dead," said the 72-year-old Texan who made J.R. Ewing an indelible
TV icon.
Appearing in the flesh at Sunday night's 20th annual Television Critics Association awards ceremony, Mr. Hagman said reports of his demise took flight after his hospitalization last December.
"I had a bad patch, had parts of my liver removed," he told The Dallas Morning News. "I had an infection in there of some sort. Well, they picked it up in the rags. 'Larry Hagman is ill, has called the children in and made the will.' It accelerated when we went to Europe. Then I'm dead in Europe, right? Then it comes back over here that Larry Hagman's dead. It takes about three months for them to get to all the rags. But here I am! I ain't retired. I'm just outta work."
Factual fiction
Mr. Hagman had a life-saving liver transplant in 1995 after admittedly almost drinking himself to death.
"Oh, I don't drink anything now," he said.
Actually, he does have a beer "once a month or something like that" at a neighborhood brewery near his home in Ojai, Calif. On one of those occasions, a reporter with a cellphone camera caught him in the act. From there, it was easy to picture Mr. Hagman as self- destructively off the wagon.
"They picked it up and made a big deal out of it," he said.
Mr. Hagman and the principal stars of Dallas, which left CBS in 1991 after 13 seasons, are due back at Southfork Ranch in October for a reunion special. They'll reminisce and chortle over old clips and outtakes from the show, Mr. Hagman said.
He hasn't acted since the 1998 TV movie Dallas: War of the Ewings . But he's hoping to co-star in a planned sequel to Easy Rider, playing the 90-year-old father of Peter Fonda's ill-fated, peace-and-love biker.
"It means I can hide behind another character, and they don't really know who I am," Mr. Hagman said. "I think that'd be great."
Mr. Hagman and his wife, Maj, were the guests of a retired Houston TV critic at the TCA awards. They sat in the back of the room and went unnoticed by many. Comedian Bill Maher opened the show with a monologue in which he said the war in Iraq amounts to "a Texas thing."
"New rule. People from Texas can't be president," Mr. Maher said to applause. "They come from a crazy place. They wanted to be their own country and they should have been their own country. They think everything can be solved with either more guns or more Jesus. ... And I'm tired of the cowboy outfits. Bush with his cowboy hat, his cowboy belt, his cowboy boots. Hey, there are no more cowboys, which means you're wearing a costume. You might as well be dressed like Sherlock Holmes or a pirate."
Mr. Maher also said central Baghdad now is known as "the Galleria at Haliburton Square."
Mr. Hagman vocally took offense only when Mr. Maher joked that Bill Clinton's voluminous autobiography My Life is all phone numbers.
"That's a cheap shot," he said.
Otherwise, no problem.
"Oh, I thought he was kind of kind to Bush tonight," Mr. Hagman said.
July 15, 2004: More trouble for Kirk Douglas
Academy
Award-winning stroke victim Kirk Douglas, who just buried his son Eric, is
reportedly embroiled in an upcoming controversial traffic accident lawsuit.
The jury trial will be in the West LA courthouse.
Allegedly, 85-year-old Douglas was driving his wife’s 12-cylinder high-powered BMW when he ploughed into a parked car at 30mph on the street where he lives, avoiding killing the pedestrian owner of the parked car by inches as he stood along side the Cadillac Seville STS.
from Ireland Online
July 8, 2004: William Shatner Sings Again
by Stephanie Lagopoulos, ChartAttack.com
William
Shatner is about to go where several have gone before. Thirty-five years ago
the Star Trek veteran released his debut solo album and on October 5, Shatner
will release a new album, the appropriately titled Has Been, through Shout!
Factory.
Captain Kirk teamed up with Ben Folds (yes, that Ben Folds) to create this pop-driven new album. The majority of the album was written by the duo, with the exceptions of "Trying," co-written by Folds and novelist Nick Hornby (yes, the guy behind High Fidelity), "Real" by Brad Paisley and a cover of "Common People" (with Joe Jackson!) by British band Pulp.
Folds and Shatner have worked together in the past — Ben appeared in some of Bill's popular Priceline.com commercials and Bill was featured on Ben's solo album entitled, Fear Of Pop, Volume 1.
Why has Shatner chosen to break his musical hiatus? Well, Shout! Factory executives Richard and Garson Foos approached Shatner with the idea of recording a new album. Shatner says that his friend Ben Folds had been trying to get him to do the same thing, so the four of them signed on and the project began.
Folds wasn't the only musician involved in the project. Shatner also brought in Aimee Mann, Brad Paisley, Joe Jackson, Henry Rollins, Adrien Belew and U.K. duo Lemon Jelly.
A complete track listing is as follows:
"Common People" (with Joe Jackson)
"It Hasn't Happened Yet"
"You'll Have Time"
"Trying" (with Ben Folds and Aimee Mann)
"What Have You Done"
"Together" (with Lemon Jelly)
"Familiar Love"
"Ideal Woman"
"Has Been"
"I Can't Get Behind That" (with Henry Rollins)
"Real" (with Brad Paisley)