Again as I said I take upset to be much stronger than saddened. I fell sad whenever I hear about the death of someone I enjoy. But it rarely upsets me. But you did remind me of this. I’m a big fan of the Opie and Anthony show on XM. Patrice was on so often it felt like I lost a friend. So young and just about to hit it big. Just about the most consistently funny guy I knew. He would just be sitting in on the show and be able to be hilarious about any subject that came up. This weekend on the channel they are commemorating the 1 year anniversary with all his best appearances.
John Ritter. So totally unexpected.
Clarence Clemmons. I met him once and he seemed like such a nice guy.
Oh, yeah, Mitch Hedburg. 
He is one of my favorite comedians.
David Foster Wallace, I loved his essays.
This is what I came to post.
I don’t know, most celebrity deaths it’s meh, or it’s sad (Pete Postelwaite! 
) because I enjoyed their work and won’t get anymore.
But George Carlin… I dunno. It was like losing a favorite uncle or something. I still find myself wondering what George would think of this or that, or wishing he was still around to give commentary on things.
I miss the guy.
Me too. I don’t look back on my childhood and remember Mister Rogers being a real big part of it. I have a couple of nice memories attached to his show, but I don’t remember making it a point to watch the show every day or anything. But I remember sitting at my desk at work in 2003 crying when I heard he had died.
Leslie Nielsen - Even though some of his latter works was less than great, *Airplane!, The Naked Gun *and Forbidden Planet have all brought a lot of joy over the years.
Neil Armstrong
It misses the cut-off by a year, but I still want to walk into a bookshop and buy the latest by Douglas Adams
A quick wiki check shows that Joe Strummer just makes the cut. I was sold on the Clash within 15 seconds of hearing the beginning of London Calling. He just seemed too young to be passing on, and it seemed to come out of nowhere. I wasn’t really upset, just sad that he was gone.
Steve Gerber, comic book writer and creator of Howard the Duck–a big influence on me in my teen years.
Johnny Carson–a favorite my mom turned me on to when I was a kid.
Richard Pryor.
Dimebag Darryl, not only was Pantera one of my favorite bands, but the way he went, shot onstage at a club. Never saw it coming in a million years.
Steve Irwin, the Crocodile Hunter. I had watched him for years and felt like he had shared his life with his fans. He was fun to watch and passionate about animals.
Heath Ledger. One of my favorite actors. He had so much talent and so much left to give. Just very, very sad.
George Carlin. Once in a lifetime comediene.
John Entwistle, George Carlin, Mitch Hedburg, and Ronnie James Dio are the ones who pop into my head.
Mr. Rogers and Whitney Houston. Loved Mr. Rogers as a kid and Whitney Houston as a teen, both big parts of my younger years.
Anne Bancroft. The first movie that ever struck a powerful chord with me was the Miracle Worker. No one could steal a movie even in a five minute part the way she could (as in Malice). I’m sad there will be no more Anne Bancroft performances, ever.
Steve Irwin, also. He was so alive and full of energy, and provided a great real-life role model for kids. I guess a part of me admired him like a little kid would… I assumed he was immortal. And it was such a stupid way to die.
I’m another of those callous people who is never fazed by celebrity deaths. Their passing usually only makes me think of missed points in the death pool.
For this reason I was shocked at my own reaction to Mitch Hedberg’s death. I felt really sad and pissed off when I heard the news on the radio, and couldn’t figure out why it affected me so strongly. It made me concerned that my heart might grow three sizes that day.
I’ve never felt that way about another celebrity before or since, but that one really put me in a weird funk for a week or so. It wasn’t just a matter of his death coming too soon, or the fact that the drugs he joked about eventually did him in, or that the world was robbed of his humor. Those same things could be said about thousands of other people to whom I never gave a second post-mortem thought, but Mitch’s death touched a nerve in me that I didn’t even know I had, and to this day still don’t understand.
It always impresses me to see his name come up so often in these memorial threads… comedians are a dime a dozen, but his death seems to have resonated similarly with a lot of people.
Robert Palmer. I’ve been a giant fan all the way back to the Island and Compass Point days - love him still (in spite of Addicted to Love and Power Station). I was surprised at how the news hit me, though. I cried in the bathroom at work for a long time that day.
Mr Rogers, too.
For some reason, lately I’ve been thinking about the eventual celebrity deaths that are going to devastate me when the time comes. David Bowie, Stevie Wonder are up there. Donald Fagan too.
None have really upset me, not like when Jim Henson died. But I was seriously saddened by Heath Ledger’s, Steve Irwin’s, and Paul Hester’s deaths. Very Australia-centric of me, I notice.
On a lesser-localised-celebrity death note, radio personality Richard Marsland’s death was completely unexpected too.
Paul Newman
Paul Scofield
David Carradine
Jack Wild
Darren Macgavin
Elizabeth the Queen Mother
Thor Heyedahl
Joseph Bonanno
James Coburn
Dolly the sheep
Idi Amin
Yasser Arafat
Charles Bronson
Red Adair
Marlon Brando
Pat Morita
James Doohan
Bob Denver
Frank Gorshin
Pope John Paul II
I HAVEN’T EVEN REACHED 2006! These are all my favorites, childhood heroes and villains.
Jack Lemon and Ray Walston don’t make the list as they died in 2001.
Neil Armstrong.