When I opened Facebook this morning, the first thing I saw was a post that said Will Smith R.I.P. When I clicked the link, the headline said "Will Smith died making Hancock 2.
Since there is nothing on Google News about him dying, I am 99.9% sure this is NOT true.
gotta be a hoax. I couldn’t find anything
Yes, hoax.
That’s last year’s hoax 
Yes, it’s from a while ago.
DeathMistress, I have a suggestion for a slight rules change for next year. Given the kerfuffle earlier this week, how about announcing unofficial results almost immediately, then give, say, a week for unnoticed deaths to catch up? After the window passes, official tough noogies.
Mostly, the change is stating this in the rules up front.
Way to go, Bob, more work for the Death Mistress! :rolleyes:
Since it’s way after deadline for 2014, here’s my just-for-fun 2014 list of living celebrities from people’s 2000 Death Pool lists, aiming for maximum overlap with 2014 selections:
Nancy Reagan
Jimmy Carter
George H.W. Bush
Fidel Castro
Mikhail Gorbachev
Billy Graham
Stephen Hawking
Muhammad Ali
Kirk Douglas
Jack Nicholson
Keith Richards
Abe Vigoda
Glen Campbell
Again, this is strictly for fun; no need for our DeathMistress to keep track of it.
Actually, that sounds like a really good idea, to extend the grace period. This year I gave just one day, but you and others are right, it is a holiday and getting in the news might take a bit.
I’ll do as you suggest, and extend the period to seven days for the next game.
Just for fun I think I will keep track of those names!
I think this is a good idea. If George H. W. Bush dies, we’ll all hear ab out it right away, but there’s plenty of minor celebs on people’s lists whose deaths won’t make the news in 24 hours. But a week should more than suffice.
I’ll be amused if it outscores my real list. 
Even if it were true, the worst part of that story is that they’re making Hancock 2.
The folks still alive from the 2000 Death Pool:
Abe Vigoda
Al Unser Jr.
Alan Greenspan
Andy Dick
Arnold Schwartzenegger
Art Alexakis (from Everclear)
Art Garfunkle
Barbara Walters
Barry Manilow
Benjamin Netanyahu
Ben Stern (Howard’s Dad)
Bill Clinton
Bill Cosby
Bill Gates
Bill Russell (BB player)
Billy Graham (the evangelist)
Bob Dole
Bob Dylan
Brian Dennehey
Brian Wilson
Brigitte Bardot
Britney Spears
Burt Reynolds
Cal Ripkin Jr.
Calista Flockhart
Carmen Electra
Caroline Kenney Schlossberg
Celine Dion
Charles Barkley (NBA player)
Charles Manson
Charlie Sheen
Chevy Chase
Chris Kattan
Christian Slater
Clint Eastwood
Conan O’Brien
Corey Feldman
Courtney Love
Dalai Llama
Darryl Strawberry
Dave Letterman
David Crosby
Delta Burke
Dennis Rodman
Dolly Parton
Dr. Laura Schlessinger
Eddie Murphy
F. Murray Abraham
Fidel Castro
Fiona Apple
Frank Gifford
Frank Oz
Holly Johnson (singer)
Fred Durst
George H. W. Bush
George Michael
George W. Bush
George Wendt
Glen Campbell
Gregg Allman
Haley Joel Osment
Hillary Clinton
Hugh Downs
Hugh Hefner
Ian McKellan
Iggy Pop
Isaiah Rider
Jack Nicholson
Jackie Chan
James Garner
Janine Garafalo
Jim Carrey
Jimmy Carter
Joan Rivers
Joe Piscopo
Joey Merlino (mobster)
John Daly (golfer)
John Glenn
John Goodman
John Madden
John Rocker
John Travolta
Johnny Depp
Julie Andrews
Kate Moss
Katie Couric
Keith Richard
Kenneth Branagh
Kenneth Starr
Kenny G
Kirk Douglas
Larry King
Leo DiCaprio
Leonard Nimoy
Liam Gallagher
Linda Tripp
Liza Minelli
Loretta Lynn
MacCaulay Culkin
Magic Johnson
Mariah Carey
Marilyn Manson
Mario Cippolini (Bicyclist)
Martha Stewart
Michael Stipe
Mick Jaggar
Mikhail Gorbachov
Monica Lewinsky
Muhammad Ali
Nancy Reagan
Neve Campbell
Norm MacDonald
OJ Simpson
Olivia Newton John
Ozzy Osborne
Perry Farrell (musician)
Prince Charles
Prince William
Queen Elizabeth II
Quentin Tarrantino
Rae Carruth (ex-football player, prison inmate)
Regis Philbin
Richard Petty
Robert Downey Jr
Roseanne
Rosie O’Donnel
Rudolph Giuliani
Ryan O’Neal
Scott Weiland
Sean Combs (“Puff Daddy”, etc)
Sean Connery
Snoop Dogg
Stephen Hawking
Steven Spielberg
Ted Danson
Tiffany Brissette (actress)
Tiger Woods
Tito Jackson (the singer)
Tom Arnold
Tommy Lasorda
Tom Selleck
Tommy Lee Jones
Will Farrell
Woody Allen
Hopefully, I didn’t miss anyone who should be dead. There were approximately 224 initial names. I threw out some nebulous picks (like someone from Hanson) and found some duplicates after I counted, so it’s a little less than that. The above list shows 144 still living, some pretty surprisingly still alive like Magic Johnson and Stephen Hawking.
Although his ineligible for the Death Pool for at least one reason I think his death should be acknowledged here.
Sam Berns, Mass. boy whose premature aging inspired film, dies at age 17.
Warning. Autoplay video embedded in story.
If he last another few months, IMO, he still would not be eligible for the death pool because he was only “famous” because of his disease as per this rule:
I’ve always had a question about this rule - are there exceptions? For instance, someone like Ryan White? He was famous as a result of his illness, but he had a significant effect on the course of AIDS research and public understanding of the disease. (He would have made the age requirement - he was 18 when he died)
The way I see it nobody would have heard of Ryan White if he hadn’t been sick. He had no outstanding achievements that I’m aware of, he wasn’t an actor, hadn’t held a job, hadn’t rescued someone from peril, been elected to public office, etc, etc. and so forth.
I think that’s why that rule was inserted. Anyone could be a celebrity if they got cancer, had a weird tumor, or some other illness. “Celebrity” means doing something on your own.
I played in a death pool, years ago, where the winner picked up close to the maximum points by picking for his pool both of a pair of siamese twins, co-joined at the brain. It was determined that neither could survive without surgery, although it was highly doubtful that both would survive the separation procedure.
The next year, we had the “NO UNDER-18” rule.
It’s a good rule for it prevents all those “That woman who lived with the toilet full of **** in Hoarders”-type votes.
My own personal rule is I have to know about the person before I found their name on a search of soon to be dead people. When doing my search of Moore’s I came up with a Negro League player who might be locally known but I never heard of him. I left him off. I know points is points but I would feel dirty scoring points on someone I could not defend to myself as being a celebrity.
I know of very few celebrities. I am uninterested in sports, rap music and modern actors. I watch two or three TV shows. Limiting myself to people I already knew of would be quite limiting.
Same basic idea here: most bona fide showbiz celebrities are people whose names I wouldn’t recognize. So my list includes people I wouldn’t have heard of apart from my Death Pool research.