There are lots of them that I know for sure are dead. There’s only one that I checked up on recently enough to know he’s alive. There are the ones that I haven’t heard anything about in ages. And then there’s the trickiest category of all; the ones I’ve heard something about, but can’t remember if it was because they died or something else. For example:I heard an NPR interview with Marcel Marceau a few years ago. I can’t remember if it was for something current he was doing, or if it was one of those Fresh Air “we’re going to rerun an interview from the mid-90’s because he just died” kind of things.
With that in mind, here’s my best guess.
[spoiler]Kirk Douglas (actor)
J.D. Salinger (author)
Dionne Warwick (singer)
Little Richard (singer)
Brigitte Bardot (actress)
If Marcel Marceau is still alive and I got the other four right, I’m going to be quite disappointed.[/spoiler]
Several of you did VERY well, but a few of you missed them by a mile. It really is hard to determine if someone is alive - unless they have been in the news lately.
So as to allow people to continue to guess and play the game, I will make the answer a little tricky to find. Let’s just say that amarone’s answers were 100% correct (as of today’s date). Simply scroll back up to that post to see how well you did in this.
Here is a site I used to check my guesses after I posted them. I’m going to spoiler it so I don’t influence those who are still playing. But if you want to check your results after, this is a very good site.
I’m absolutely positive about three of these, about 90% sure on the fourth, and the last one is a complete WAG.
Positive about Kirk Douglas, JD Salinger, and Little Richard.
Pretty damn sure about Dionne Warwick.
Complete WAG on Brigit Bardot - couldn’t decide between her, Pavarotti, or one of the Gallos.
Alive: Kirk Douglas, Brigitte Bardot, J.D. Salinger. Pretty sure of those. Then I’ll say Little Richard and Boris Yeltsin, though I considered Dionne Warwick.