You know, I’ve had the experience of being surprised to find out someone is dead, but I can’t really remember any of them at the moment. It stands to reason, I guess. If they were such a small blip on the radar that I’d forgotten they were dead, I’m not likely to remember that I’d forgotten they were dead. The only one I can think of is Jonathan Brandis, from SeaQuest DSV.
Somewhat related is when I see an old movie, look up some of the actors, and are surprised by the timing of their deaths. I saw My Man Godfrey; Carole Lombard died only six years after it was made, William Powell died in '84 when I was already in college.
Easy-E from NWA. I was shocked once by that news, promptly forgot, and then got shocked again a few years later. I plan to remember it this time but you never know.
I was surprised to learn of the death of character actor Lane Smith (picture). He was a regular on Lois and Clark and appeared in countless vehicles as a barracuda in “Aw shucks, I’m just a country boy” clothing. The way I learned he was dead was after seeing a couple of movies that had characters that were so “Lane Smith role” you’d think they were written for him but were cast with others, and it made me wonder if he was unavailable. (Turns out he was due to a relatively [mercifully?] fast advancing case of ALS.)
Martin Short and Martin Sheen were wife swappers? No wonder Charlie’s so screwed up.
I was at a huge, all-night benefit rock concert the night Sam Kinnison died and missed the news. I didn’t learn he’d died until a couple of years later.
I can’t think of anyone specific, but it depresses me to discover a “new” talent, only to learn the performer/artist has already died. Yeah, I know, it sucks more for them, but still…
From Wikipedia:
Rick officially left the film industry in 1997, six years after the 1991 loss of his wife, Anne, to liver cancer. He later explained that he began to “pull out” of making movies in about '96 or '97. “I’m a single parent and I just found that it was too difficult to manage raising my kids and doing the traveling involved in making movies. So I took a little bit of a break. And the little bit of a break turned into a longer break, and then I found that I really didn’t miss it”. http://www.usatoday.com/life/people/2005-10-12-rick-moranis_x.htm
I watched him sign off 60 Minutes. He died about a month after retiring, and I didn’t learn of his death till months after that. I thought someone made a mistake until I Googled him.
Yeah, it was only a few months after the fact, but it was still surprising given his recent retiring.
BTW: I didn’t know most of the people in this thread were alive, let alone dead. People I am not instantly familiar with and would have to look up:
Tony Thompson
Sarah Jane
The guy from Weezer
Jerry Reed
Gunther Gebel-Williams
Jonathan Brandis
William Powell
Lane Smith
Warren Oates
J.T. Walsh
Oates and Walsh I can understand. I just had “where have I seen that guy before” moments and looked them up. And then I started recognizing them in even more movies. I even saw Warren Oates in an old episode of The Twilight Zone, and J.T. Walsh is in Executive Decision which one of the cable channels has been showing of late. They were both dead by the time I knew who they were. You’ve almost certainly seen them, but not in headlining roles where you’d be sure to know their names.
But not knowing William Powell is inexcusable. Go rent a copy of The Thin Man.
