# People you were surprised to find out are dead **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 13, 2012, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-you-were-surprised-to-find-out-are-dead/625026 "2012-06-13T16:15:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Meltdown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Meltdown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meltdown)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2012, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-you-were-surprised-to-find-out-are-dead/625026/1 "2012-06-13T16:15:32Z")
For some reason, I was thinking about Robert Palmer the other day (singer from the 80s, had big hits with “Addicted to Love” and “Simply Irresistable” and wondered what he had been up to lately. [Turns out, not too much.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Palmer_(singer)#Later_life_and_death) He died in 2003 at the age of 54. I don’t remember hearing about it at the time, and if I did, it obviously didn’t stick. It got me thinking about what other famous people had passed while I remain blissfully ignorant of it. Rather than look up random people on Wikipedia, I thought I’d see if this has happened to anyone else. ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2012, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-you-were-surprised-to-find-out-are-dead/625026/2 "2012-06-13T16:59:48Z")
Tupac ---
**Author:** ![yanceylebeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yanceylebeef/32/12290_2.png) [@yanceylebeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yanceylebeef)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2012, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-you-were-surprised-to-find-out-are-dead/625026/3 "2012-06-13T17:00:17Z")
Not really on topic, but every time I hear Phil Hartman’s voice on the Simpsons, I’m surprised and taken aback again that he is dead. ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2012, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-you-were-surprised-to-find-out-are-dead/625026/4 "2012-06-13T17:00:23Z")
> [@Enderw24](#): > > Tupac What are you talking about? He just played Coachella! ---
**Author:** ![Labtrash](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/labtrash/32/528_2.png) [@Labtrash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labtrash)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2012, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-you-were-surprised-to-find-out-are-dead/625026/5 "2012-06-13T17:02:28Z")
Abe Vigo… never mind ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2012, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-you-were-surprised-to-find-out-are-dead/625026/6 "2012-06-13T17:06:37Z")
> [@Meltdown](#): > > For some reason, I was thinking about Robert Palmer the other day (singer from the 80s, had big hits with “Addicted to Love” and “Simply Irresistable” and wondered what he had been up to lately. > > [Turns out, not too much.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Palmer_(singer)#Later_life_and_death) > > He died in 2003 at the age of 54. I don’t remember hearing about it at the time, and if I did, it obviously didn’t stick. Uhm…wow, yeah, this. o.o That’s a surprise. The last similar surprise I can remember is Steve Allen, but rather than _almost a decade_ after the fact, I found out only a year or two after he’d passed. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2012, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-you-were-surprised-to-find-out-are-dead/625026/7 "2012-06-13T17:08:14Z")
> [@Meltdown](#): > > [Turns out, not too much.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Palmer_(singer)#Later_life_and_death) Yeah, 2003 was a bad year for Power Station fans. [Tony Thompson](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Thompson) died about 6 weeks later. ---
**Author:** ![yellowval](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/919ad9/32.png) [@yellowval](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yellowval)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2012, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-you-were-surprised-to-find-out-are-dead/625026/8 "2012-06-13T17:09:35Z")
When I was in my early teenage years, I thought Christopher Pettiet, who played Jesse James on Young Riders was about the most handsome boy alive. I was surprised and saddened when I decided to look him up on imdb a couple of years ago and learned that he died of a drug overdose in 2000. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2012, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-you-were-surprised-to-find-out-are-dead/625026/9 "2012-06-13T18:39:47Z")
If you would have asked me which one is dead, Gilligan or The Professor, I would have probably bet that it was The Professor. How did I miss Bob Denver dying? ---
**Author:** ![Raskolnikov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ac8455/32.png) [@Raskolnikov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raskolnikov)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2012, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-you-were-surprised-to-find-out-are-dead/625026/10 "2012-06-14T00:44:37Z")
Martin Sheen’s wife ---
**Author:** ![Astroboy14](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/df705f/32.png) [@Astroboy14](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Astroboy14)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2012, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-you-were-surprised-to-find-out-are-dead/625026/11 "2012-06-14T01:08:26Z")
Me! **Falls over** \* ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2012, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-you-were-surprised-to-find-out-are-dead/625026/12 "2012-06-14T01:14:38Z")
Sarah Jane from Doctor Who. The guy from Weezer. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2012, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-you-were-surprised-to-find-out-are-dead/625026/13 "2012-06-14T03:34:42Z")
> [@Morbo](#): > > Sarah Jane from Doctor Who. How did you miss that? The entire board went into mourning. Well, the Sarah Jane fans did. Nobody else counts. ---
**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:** [June 14, 2012, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-you-were-surprised-to-find-out-are-dead/625026/14 "2012-06-14T04:01:42Z")
I usually keep up on these things via Celebrity Deathpool and People magazine and such. But Jerry Reed slipped by me. He died in September 2008 when I was in the hospital and I never heard about it until a few months later when magazines were doing their end-of-the-year tributes to celebrities who had died that year. ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2012, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-you-were-surprised-to-find-out-are-dead/625026/15 "2012-06-14T04:51:48Z")
> [@Raskolnikov](#): > > Martin Sheen’s wife Wait, do you have a cite for this? As far as I am aware, she is still alive – or were you referring to a fictional wife? ---
**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:** [June 14, 2012, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-you-were-surprised-to-find-out-are-dead/625026/16 "2012-06-14T05:00:23Z")
One I just found out about today (because I hadn’t thought of him in probably 25 years, even though I met him once): [Animal trainer Gunther Gebel-Williams](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunther_Gebel-Williams). ---
**Author:** ![JuliaSqueezer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/82dd89/32.png) [@JuliaSqueezer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JuliaSqueezer)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2012, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-you-were-surprised-to-find-out-are-dead/625026/17 "2012-06-14T13:39:39Z")
> [@SpoilerVirgin](#): > > Wait, do you have a cite for this? As far as I am aware, she is still alive – or were you referring to a fictional wife? I believe Raskolnikov means \*\*Martin Short’\*\*s wife. ---
**Author:** ![August\_West](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/august_west/32/18069_2.png) [@August\_West](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/August_West)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2012, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-you-were-surprised-to-find-out-are-dead/625026/18 "2012-06-14T14:10:08Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I usually keep up on these things via Celebrity Deathpool and People magazine and such. > > But Jerry Reed slipped by me. He died in September 2008 when I was in the hospital and I never heard about it until a few months later when magazines were doing their end-of-the-year tributes to celebrities who had died that year. Wow, that is exactly the name I came in here to post! My nearly 2-year-old son LOVES Jerry Reed and I thought it would be cool to send Mr. Reed a video of my kid going bonkers over “Are you From Dixie?” Then I learned he was dead, so I guess I won’t be doing that. ---
**Author:** ![picker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/picker/32/13969_2.png) [@picker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picker)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2012, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-you-were-surprised-to-find-out-are-dead/625026/19 "2012-06-14T14:50:02Z")
> [@Hampshire](#): > > If you would have asked me which one is dead, Gilligan or The Professor, I would have probably bet that it was The Professor. > How did I miss Bob Denver dying? He crashed his coconut plane into the side of a mountain. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2012, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-you-were-surprised-to-find-out-are-dead/625026/20 "2012-06-14T18:14:52Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > How did you miss that? The entire board went into mourning. > > Well, the Sarah Jane fans did. Nobody else counts. I avoid Doctor Who threads for spoiler purposes. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-you-were-surprised-to-find-out-are-dead/625026.md?page=2)