# 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:** 3
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2012, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-you-were-surprised-to-find-out-are-dead/625026/41 "2012-06-16T03:05:06Z")
I was surprised a few years ago to learn that author [Ken Kesey](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Kesey) had died. But apparently he died shortly after 9/11, and the first U.S. attack on Afghanistan, so it didn’t get a lot of news coverage. ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2012, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-you-were-surprised-to-find-out-are-dead/625026/42 "2012-06-16T04:11:34Z")
Shit, I missed Ken Kesey as well. Only finding out about it today. ---
**Author:** ![oreally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7ab992/32.png) [@oreally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/oreally)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2012, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-you-were-surprised-to-find-out-are-dead/625026/43 "2012-06-16T04:15:05Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > **J.T. Walsh** - Big Bob in _Pleasantville_, died before it was released. He was also Lt. Col. Markinson in _A Few Good Men_. The senior enlisted guy in Good Morning Vietnam - he was perfect in that film. Great at playing an ahole. 🙂 Didn’t know this one. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2012, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-you-were-surprised-to-find-out-are-dead/625026/44 "2012-06-16T04:22:39Z")
> [@oreally](#): > > The senior enlisted guy in Good Morning Vietnam - he was perfect in that film. Great at playing an ahole. 🙂 Didn’t know this one. Speaking of which, Bruno Kirby, who played Lt. Hauk, died in 2006 at age 57. ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2012, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-you-were-surprised-to-find-out-are-dead/625026/45 "2012-06-16T05:16:56Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > Speaking of which, Bruno Kirby, who played Lt. Hauk, died in 2006 at age 57. He also played the \*City Slicker \*who wasn’t cheating on his wife. ---
**Author:** ![Ellis\_Aponte\_Jr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@Ellis\_Aponte\_Jr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellis_Aponte_Jr)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2012, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-you-were-surprised-to-find-out-are-dead/625026/46 "2012-06-17T06:57:17Z")
I was recently wondering when Peter, Paul and Mary were going to do another PBS fundraiser performance, overlooking the fact that Mary Travers died in 2009. ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2012, 7:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-you-were-surprised-to-find-out-are-dead/625026/47 "2012-06-17T07:07:15Z")
Very odd coincidence, OP, because just 2 days ago I also looked up Robert Palmer to see what he’d been up to recently and found out he died several years back! I wouldn’t say it “surprised” me, but I definitely had no idea he was dead. Guess that explains why I hadn’t heard anything! ---
**Author:** ![Win\_Place\_Show](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/win_place_show/32/13469_2.png) [@Win\_Place\_Show](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Win_Place_Show)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2012, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-you-were-surprised-to-find-out-are-dead/625026/48 "2012-06-21T03:21:28Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > **J.T. Walsh** - Big Bob in _Pleasantville_, died before it was released. He was also Lt. Col. Markinson in _A Few Good Men_. Not to mention his creepy turn as the lead bad guy in that 1997 movie ‘Breakdown’ with Kurt Russell and Kathleen Quinlan. My contribution: [Skip O’Brien](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0639820/). Saw him in a recent re-run of ‘Cold Case’, and decided to look him up. (I always liked him in the part he played as detective/sergeant O’Riley in the early CSI-Vegas episodes). Sad to hear he passed just after turning 60. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2012, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-you-were-surprised-to-find-out-are-dead/625026/49 "2012-06-21T10:58:12Z")
Is Hitler dead? National Inquirer used to feature regular articles about Hitler’s long vacation in South America. How about Guy Lombardo? ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2012, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-you-were-surprised-to-find-out-are-dead/625026/50 "2012-06-21T12:05:08Z")
> [@picker](#): > > He crashed his coconut plane into the side of a mountain. No that was _John_ Denver. This thread is the first that I heard of Bruno Kirby’s death. Some years ago, I was surprised not by the fact of Steve McQueens death, but that it was back in 1980, when I was 10. ---
**Author:** ![Jman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jman/32/4416_2.png) [@Jman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jman)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2012, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-you-were-surprised-to-find-out-are-dead/625026/51 "2012-06-21T12:53:38Z")
> [@Morbo](#): > > The guy from Weezer. I was really shocked when you said this, as I had heard nothing. I thought you meant Rivers Cuomo (lead singer, guitarist, basically who I think of when I think 'that guy from Weezer.) But then I see the original bassist died last year. ---
**Author:** ![Prelude\_to\_Fascination](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a183cd/32.png) [@Prelude\_to\_Fascination](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prelude_to_Fascination)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2012, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-you-were-surprised-to-find-out-are-dead/625026/52 "2012-06-21T13:05:54Z")
I used to watch _Real People_ because (a) I had no taste, and little to no intelligence at the time, and (b) because Fred Willard was on it. I thought Skip Stephenson was pretty funny, and had forgotten about him, until one of the retro TV channels showed “Battle of the Network Stars” or something, and he was on it (I think the show was from 1979). So I looked up good ole Skip Stephenson, thinking only his career was dead, and according to imdb, he died in 1992 at the age of 52. ---
**Author:** ![a35362](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@a35362](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/a35362)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2012, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-you-were-surprised-to-find-out-are-dead/625026/53 "2012-06-21T13:22:18Z")
Bear with me, these are pretty obscure: Remember Charles’s goofy roommate in _Four Weddings and a Funeral_? Scarlett? Red hair, swears a lot, can’t meet the right guy? She was played by a young actress named Charlotte Coleman. I got curious about what else she had done that I might have seen. She died in 2001 at age 33 from an asthma attack. Wow. ☹ In _Jaws_, Brody has two young sons. The older boy, Mike, is the one who is knocked into “the pond” by the shark and has to spend the night in the hospital for shock. I got curious once how Spielberg had found him, whether he had ever acted before. His name is Chris Rebello, and he died in 2000 at age 37 while on a hunting trip with his pals. He had a heart attack. He had three kids. He never acted in anything other than _Jaws_. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![orcenio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/orcenio/32/1036_2.png) [@orcenio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/orcenio)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2012, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-you-were-surprised-to-find-out-are-dead/625026/54 "2012-06-21T13:33:57Z")
“[Wheels](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derek_Wheeler)” from the Degrassi series died in 2007. ---
**Author:** ![andiepandie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7ba0ec/32.png) [@andiepandie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andiepandie)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2012, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-you-were-surprised-to-find-out-are-dead/625026/55 "2012-06-23T01:32:30Z")
> [@yellowval](#): > > 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. Wow, if you replace “Jesse James on Young Riders” with “Zach Crandall in Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead” I swear this post could have been written by me. I was pretty sure Christopher Pettiet was the cutest boy ever when I was 13. And I had the same reaction when I looked him up a few years ago and saw he had died. It was the last thing I expected to find - I figured he just decided to leave show business or something. So sad. > [@orcenio](#): > > “[Wheels](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derek_Wheeler)” from the Degrassi series died in 2007. The weirdest part about that is that I don’t think anyone knew that he died until a few months ago, not even his own family! That’s another sad story that really bummed me out when I heard about it. I had a serious crush on Degrassi Junior High Wheels who dated Stephanie Kaye (but not Degrassi High Wheels who had a mullet and was mean to his Grannie). ---
**Author:** ![Nema98](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/d2c977/32.png) [@Nema98](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nema98)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2015, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-you-were-surprised-to-find-out-are-dead/625026/56 "2015-07-30T21:09:42Z")
> [@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. > > 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. Really, that is slightly unsettling! I found out Robert Palmer is dead that same day. Recently I found that Yes’ Chris Squire died, but missed it by a day. If I know someone and they die, then 9 out of ten times I’ll quickly realize they’re dead. ---
**Author:** ![Nema98](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/d2c977/32.png) [@Nema98](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nema98)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2015, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-you-were-surprised-to-find-out-are-dead/625026/57 "2015-07-30T21:11:08Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > Yeah, 2003 was a bad year for Power Station fans. [Tony Thompson](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Thompson) died about 6 weeks later. And Bernard Edwards died back in 1996. Basically only the Taylors from Duran Duran are the only living Powerstation members. RIP to all of them. Not really a celeb but I found out yesterday through reading a thread in the Election section that Paul Tsongas, a democratic candidate from the 1992 presidential election had died, 18 years ago in 1997! ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2015, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-you-were-surprised-to-find-out-are-dead/625026/58 "2015-07-31T01:44:24Z")
> [@etv78](#): > > He also played the \*City Slicker \*who wasn’t cheating on his wife. Hell, he was young Peter Clemenza in _ **Godfather II** _! That’s where I remember him from. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2015, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-you-were-surprised-to-find-out-are-dead/625026/59 "2015-07-31T01:55:21Z")
Just found out that Theodore Bikel died on 20 July. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2015, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-you-were-surprised-to-find-out-are-dead/625026/60 "2015-07-31T02:08:39Z")
> [@Nema98](#): > > And Bernard Edwards died back in 1996. Basically only the Taylors from Duran Duran are the only living Powerstation members. RIP to all of them. Michael Des Barres, who replaced Robert Palmer as frontman in Power Station’s live performances, is still alive. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-you-were-surprised-to-find-out-are-dead/625026.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-you-were-surprised-to-find-out-are-dead/625026.md?page=4)