# Celebrity Death Pool 2019 **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Tags:** death-pool\ **Created:** [January 9, 2020, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-death-pool-2019/825390 "2020-01-09T05:00:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2020, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-death-pool-2019/825390/1 "2020-01-09T05:00:00Z")
It’s the most wonderful time of the year!!! And let me tell you, it’s great to be back as Death Mistress. I want to give a huge, I tell you, huge shout out to **phungi** for handling this sucker for 2017 and 2018. So, I’m ready to wield the ceremonial scythe again, after having some time off. Here, once again, are the rules. Please read and follow them, especially if you are playing for the first time. Following the format makes it so much easier for me. \*\* The Rules\*\*: 1. You pick 13 celebrities (that’s thirteen, _ **not** _ ten) whom you predict will die within the calendar year 2018. If any of your celebrities dies, you score 100 points minus their age at death. Whoever has the most points at the end of the year wins the undying _snort_ admiration of the SDMB. 2. All picks must be time- and date-stamped by midnight Chicago time, Dec. 31st, 2018. (That’s U.S. Central time, which is six hours behind Greenwich.) 3. Valid picks are **not** : a. already dead b. a fictional character c. non-human d. under age 18 at death, 'cause we’re macabre but not _THAT_ macabre. e. a registered member of the SDMB, 'cause that would be weird f. hostages held by terrorist organizations g. famous solely as a result of their illness or associated actions/events. It’s really hard to define “celebrity” Best we can do is someone who’s death is rather widely reported in major media outlets, because of something they’ve done, be it art, politics, athletics, science, music, the military, or even serial murder. It’s not going to be your Aunt Mabel who was in the local paper because her apple pie won first place in the county fair. **HOWEVER** , if you **DO** have a question about whether or not someone’s choice qualifies, please, I’d prefer a PM about it to start off with, rather than thrashing it out in public and possibly causing resentment. Remember, people, it’s only a _game_! It’s supposed to be fun! 1. You can pick people who are 100 or more years old but you won’t score points for them. See the “Quantity Not Quality” award, below. 2. If we are uncertain about the celebrity’s age at death, we will go by the higher age (lower score). 3. Prisoners held on death row will be valid for scoring points only if they die by means other than official execution. I call this the “Whitey Bulger“.rule. 4. Any poster who kills or otherwise contributes to the death of any celebrity mentioned in this thread is disqualified. It’s just a _ **game** _, people. The only exceptions to this rule would be deaths caused by those posters serving as members of the police or armed forces of any country, in the line of duty. 5. Editing your choices: be careful! You can make changes to your list before the end of the year, but it has to be clear which names are your _ **final** _ choices. It might be advisable to submit one or more “alternates” with your list, in the event that one of your picks dies during December 2018. If you have no alternates, and one of your picks has died the remaining twelve will be all you have. You may have no more than 13 picks. If you pick more than 13, or if any of your picks is otherwise invalid, I may ask for clarification. Otherwise, I will submit the first 13 names on your list. Do me a favor: check twice, post once. We have no rule about submitted lists having to be unique, despite claims of “copying” anyone else’s list. We will just turn up our noses at you if you do this. Sharing news of celebrities in ill health and whatnot is up to individual posters. If a poster playing the game gets banned during the year, this does not invalidate their entry, although they won’t be able to gloat in the thread if and/or when they do get points. If a player changes their username at some point, post this news on the thread, or PM me, so I know who you are. Some celebrities have common, identical or similar names. It is helpful to be specific. Spelling counts! Please try to spell celebrities’ names correctly. Names that weren’t originally spelled in English can be tricky, I know, but if you aren’t sure of a name, try looking at what a major news outlet, like CNN or the BBC, uses. While all deaths garnering points must occur during the calendar year, I know that a death might go unreported for a day or so. So, I will not post official total points for 48 hours after 12/31/2019. If you find that one of your picks died, say, late on 12/31/2019, and you didn’t hear about it until Jan. 2, 2020(this is a not so subtle hint to check your lists)then post a cite by midnight, Jan. 2, 2020, and you will get your points. After that you will be out of luck. Additional awards: The “Opening Kickoff” Award: awarded to the poster or posters who pick the first listed celebrity to die in 2019. The “Quantity Not Quality” Award: awarded to the poster or posters who pick the greatest number of celebrities who died, regardless of their actual point value. The “Inside Track With the Grim Reaper” Award: awarded to the poster or posters who had the most unique picks that died. The “Robbing the Cradle” Award: awarded to the poster or posters who pick the youngest celebrity to die in 2019, but see rule 3.d. The “Final Hours” Award: awarded to the poster or posters who pick the last listed celebrity to die in 2019. List Format: I have two spreadsheets that allow me to post game standings and produce various other statistics. The pain is “loading” the data into the sheets. I can do each list in a single cut and paste if you do the following two things. First, please observe, what I, **Baker** , refer to as the “Pope” rule, that is, use the name a celebrity is most commonly known by. It isn’t necessarily their birth name. If a person is known primarily by a titled name, please use that. So it wouldn’t be Jorge Bergoglio, it would be Pope Francis. And don’t put down Elizabeth Windsor, put down Queen Elizabeth II. For all I know there are other celebrities with the plain names. If you do pick George or Lizzy, under their lesser known names, I might not notice it, to give you those points if and when they shuffle off this mortal coil and go to join the choir invisible. And second, post your list in a plain format. An example of a plain list follows here: Sam Brownback Jeff Colyer Pat Roberts Jerry Moran Tim Huelskamp Mike Pompeo Kevin Yoder Derek Schmidt Kris Kobach Ron Estes Ken Selzer Donald Trump Mike Pence However, I know that many of you like to include commentary within your lists, such as: Donald(Pumpkin-in-Chief)Trump Sam(only 26% approval rating as governor)Brownback That’s fine, it’s entertaining. But if you do that, please include the list again in plain format for me to copy & paste. It’s _good_ to be the Death Mistress! Have fun, sickos, and \*\* “May the odds be ever in your favor!”\*\* ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2020, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-death-pool-2019/825390/2 "2020-01-09T05:39:54Z")
Our Death Mistress is in the house!! ETA: Damn, this means I’ve got to start putting together my 2019 list! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2020, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-death-pool-2019/825390/3 "2020-01-09T06:44:51Z")
I have to remove George Bush from my potential list. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2020, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-death-pool-2019/825390/4 "2020-01-09T06:49:45Z")
Queen Elizabeth Meat Loaf Jimmy Carter Rosalynn Carter The Amazing Johnathan Pat Boone Pat Robertson Joe Piscopo John Rhys-Davies Hal Holbrook Donald Trump Larry Flynt James Randi Alternates: Mary-Kate Olsen Ashley Olsen Dan Rather ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2020, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-death-pool-2019/825390/5 "2020-01-09T07:16:21Z")
The Shroom is Dead! Long live the Mistress! ---
**Author:** ![Lancia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lancia/32/17174_2.png) [@Lancia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lancia)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2020, 9:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-death-pool-2019/825390/6 "2020-01-09T09:47:50Z")
Are we doing the “two separate lists in two separate threads” nonsense this year for those of us with themed lists? ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2020, 10:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-death-pool-2019/825390/7 "2020-01-09T10:53:28Z")
As usual, I post a preliminary list that will usually change in the last day, just in case I do forget to make the changes later or on time. Kaing Guek Eav Olivia Newton-John Artie Lange Fernando Ricksen Leah Bracknell Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi Linda Nolan Marieke Vervoort Kamala Little Richard Ric Flair José José Sean Connery Alts: Donald Trump Dick Cheney **Baker**. Will you set an email to get secret lists from posters as we did last year? ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2020, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-death-pool-2019/825390/8 "2020-01-09T10:58:13Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > **Baker**. Will you set an email to get secret lists from posters as we did last year? I’m not familiar with the “secret lists” thing. Why are they secret? I’ll PM \*\*phungi \*\*about it. ---
**Author:** ![swampbear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/swampbear/32/467_2.png) [@swampbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swampbear)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2020, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-death-pool-2019/825390/9 "2020-01-09T11:29:43Z")
Thank you, oh great **DeathMistress** for once again taking up the reins of this most gruesome, macabre, somewhat disgusting but dang fun game! You might want to change calendar year 2018 to calendar year 2019 in rule number one. I shall wait a few days at least to post my list. I must first decide who deserves to become immortal. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2020, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-death-pool-2019/825390/10 "2020-01-09T11:44:02Z")
I have never scored a single point. ☹ Prince Phillip Johnny Knoxville Queen Elizabeth Charlie Sheen Steve-O Travis Pastrana Bam Margera Andy Bell Josh Todd Bombshell McGee Danny Bonaduce Michael Schumacher Max Verstappen Again, a perverse pleasure in sandwiching the Queen between Knoxville and Sheen. ---
**Author:** ![Stephe96](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Stephe96](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stephe96)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2020, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-death-pool-2019/825390/11 "2020-01-09T12:20:49Z")
Julia Louis-Dreyfus John Williams Gene Hackman David Geffen Valerie Harper Dustin Hoffman Stephen King Tina Turner William Hurt Val Kilmer Kevin Spacey Penny Marshall Art Garfunkel Alternates: Matt Lauer Steven Spielberg Madonna ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2020, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-death-pool-2019/825390/12 "2020-01-09T13:22:50Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > I’m not familiar with the “secret lists” thing. Why are they secret? I’ll PM \*\*phungi \*\*about it. I did it for him. Let me know if you want to use it again. ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2020, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-death-pool-2019/825390/13 "2020-01-09T18:25:48Z")
Marla Gibbs Fred Willard Steven Tyler Ringo Starr Nichelle Nichols Dick Van Dyke Billy Joel Wilford Brimley Deep Roy Olivia Newton John Alternates; Stephen King Richard Dreyfuss Harvey Keitel ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2020, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-death-pool-2019/825390/14 "2020-01-09T18:35:31Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > I’m not familiar with the “secret lists” thing. Why are they secret? The idea is, some players don’t want other players to benefit from their research. (Fair enough, though taking it a wee bit overseriously, IMHO.) One way to handle this is to wait until 11:59pm CST 12/31 to post one’s list, but as mentioned, **Mahaloth** came up with a way of submitting lists secretly before the deadline, with the lists submitted that way being revealed by the DM on January 1. A lot of people took advantage of that in this year’s game. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2020, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-death-pool-2019/825390/15 "2020-01-09T18:46:43Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > The idea is, some players don’t want other players to benefit from their research. (Fair enough, though taking it a wee bit overseriously, IMHO.) > > One way to handle this is to wait until 11:59pm CST 12/31 to post one’s list, but as mentioned, **Mahaloth** came up with a way of submitting lists secretly before the deadline, with the lists submitted that way being revealed by the DM on January 1. A lot of people took advantage of that in this year’s game. You know, I do think that a secret list is taking things too seriously. I want to encourage participation but that means I’d be posting someone’s list for them on 1/1. And I have things I’d rather be doing the morning after my birthday. If not having secret lists would stop someone from playing I’ll take them, so just PM me the list and I’ll put it aside in a special file. ---
**Author:** ![zadscmc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a183cd/32.png) [@zadscmc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zadscmc)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2020, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-death-pool-2019/825390/16 "2020-01-09T19:13:23Z")
For the past two years I waited to the last minute and then missed the deadline. So, I am here, now posting: Henry Kissinger Joni Mitchell Ralph Nader Willie Mays Ronnie Wood Don Newcombe Whitey Ford Red Schoendienst Girma Wolde-Giorgis Pope Benedict XVI ALTS: Hosni Mubarak Ciriaco Di Mita Dick Van Dyke ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2020, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-death-pool-2019/825390/17 "2020-01-09T19:31:38Z")
For the last few weeks I’ve actually had the wherewithal to add names to my list when I stumble upon celebrity illness articles. So for the first time in a while my list is peopled with new names. Mel Brooks Ruth Buzzi Sean Connery Billy Connolly Tim Conway Windsor Davies Glenn Fabry Marie Fredriksson Liza Minnelli Bob Newhart Betty White June Whitfield John Williams BACKUPS David Attenborough Quentin Blake Gary Glitter NOTES Glenn Fabry is a British comic book artist Windsor Davies and June Whitfield are British sitcom actors Marie Fredrikkson is from the band Roxette ---
**Author:** ![Andrew\_21](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bcef8e/32.png) [@Andrew\_21](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andrew_21)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2020, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-death-pool-2019/825390/18 "2020-01-09T20:03:23Z")
> [@zadscmc](#): > > Red Schoendienst He died in June. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2020, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-death-pool-2019/825390/19 "2020-01-09T21:19:57Z")
> [@zadscmc](#): > > Red Schoendienst > [@Andrew\_21](#): > > He died in June. If you’re looking for a suggestion, Tommy Lasorda took his place as the oldest living baseball hall of famer. ---
**Author:** ![boffking](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/858c86/32.png) [@boffking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boffking)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2020, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-death-pool-2019/825390/20 "2020-01-09T21:53:18Z")
Paul Lepage Eddie Lampert Prince Phillip Orrin Hatch Jaromir Jagr Damien Hess aka MC Frontalot Justin Bieber Hugh Jackman Jon Bon Jovi Steven King Jeff Bezos Bashar Al Assad Shigeru Miyamoto Alternates: Elvis Costello Dale Earnhardt Jr. Emmanuel Macron [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrity-death-pool-2019/825390.md?page=2)