# The Celebrity Death Pool 2007 **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Tags:** death-pool\ **Created:** [December 2, 2006, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-celebrity-death-pool-2007/382620 "2006-12-02T22:07:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Captain\_Carrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@Captain\_Carrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Carrot)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2006, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-celebrity-death-pool-2007/382620/21 "2006-12-03T02:33:48Z")
In no particular order: 1. Gerald Ford (others have a point) 2. Fidel Castro 3. Gene Simmons (I just have a feeling) 4. John McCain (same deal) 5. Gene Shalit 6. Hutton Gibson (Mel’s dad; dunno if he really counts as a celebrity, but he’s been in the news tangentially) 7. Mel Brooks 8. Anne McCaffrey 9. Gene Hackman 10. Sir Stephen Hawking 11. Bill Gates 12. Joe Haldeman 13. Larry Niven alternates: i. Ursula K. LeGuin ii. Ray Romano iii. Bob Barker ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2006, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-celebrity-death-pool-2007/382620/22 "2006-12-03T02:47:09Z")
1. Tammy Faye Bakker Messner, 2. Gerald R. Ford, Former American President 3. Art Buchwald, American humorist 4. Billy Graham, American churchman 5. ‘Lady Bird’ Johnson, Former First Lady 6. Kirk Douglas, American Actor 7. Charlton Heston, American Actor, President of the National Rifle Association. 8. Margaret Thatcher, Former British Prime Minister 9. Elizabeth Taylor, Anglo-American Actress 10. Ronnie Biggs, British thief 11. Harold Pinter, British author, Nobel Prize winner 12. Abdelaziz Bouteflika, President of Algeria 13. Fidel Castro, Cuban Dictator Alternate: 14. Muhammad Ali, American boxer ---
**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:** [December 3, 2006, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-celebrity-death-pool-2007/382620/23 "2006-12-03T02:53:16Z")
[QUOTE=the chicken of exeter] 10) Peter Jennings [/QUOTE] He died in 2005. ---
**Author:** ![gwendee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/35a633/32.png) [@gwendee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gwendee)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2006, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-celebrity-death-pool-2007/382620/24 "2006-12-03T02:58:06Z")
1. Glynnis Johns 2. Jack Klugman 3. Imelda Marcos 4. Jane Wyman 5. Ike Turner 6. David Hockney 7. Bruce Jenner 8. Carl Reiner 9. Bob Barker 10. Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh 11. George H.W. Bush 12. Mark David Chapman 13. Jerry Lewis Alternates Barbara Billingsley Trini Lopez Joan Fontaine ---
**Author:** ![the\_chicken\_of\_exeter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ac8455/32.png) [@the\_chicken\_of\_exeter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_chicken_of_exeter)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2006, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-celebrity-death-pool-2007/382620/25 "2006-12-03T03:42:44Z")
[QUOTE=Andrew 21] He died in 2005. [/QUOTE] Sorry, weird brain spasm, i meant Pat Jennings. He looked pretty old at George Best’s funeral. Let’s try again. 1. Fidel Castro 2. Ozzy Osbourne 3. Margaret Thatcher 4. Rod Stewart 5. Bruce Forsythe 6. Mohammed Ali 7. Pete Doherty 8. Charlie Watts 9. Colin Powell 10. Pat Jennings 11. John Lydon 12. Elizabeth Taylor 13. Osama bin Laden ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2006, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-celebrity-death-pool-2007/382620/26 "2006-12-03T03:46:47Z")
What’s with listing alternates? And I picked Hawking already, dammit. You can see the time check on my Word file.🙂 ---
**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:** [December 3, 2006, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-celebrity-death-pool-2007/382620/27 "2006-12-03T04:00:37Z")
This year I’m going once again for an almost Killer K list: Conservatives who thought the Iraq war a good idea: 1. \*\*Henry Kissinger \*\* - American diplomat, but he deserves to be called [Killinger](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Know_Why_the_Caged_Bird_Kills) 2. **Charles Krauthammer** – Neocon, Pointed at Lebanon and Palestine democracy “progress” to be a result of the Iraq war. Actors: 3) **Jack Klugman** – Soon to make the odd couple a couple again. 4) **Kirk Douglas** – Tough guy not so tough now. Porn Kings: (not with a K on the name, but I think they will kick the bucket next year) 5) **Bob Guccione** – Penthouse 6) **Hugh Heffner** - Playboy 7) **Larry Flint** - Hustler World Rulers: 8) \*\*King Harald V \*\* of Norway – Bad health 9) \*\*Hamid Karzai \*\* Afghan President – In constant danger by the Taliban 10) **Kim Jong Il** of North Korea – He’s so [ronery](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wO28NQc9tW4)! (You Tube video) 11) **Fidel Castro** – Dictator finally goes away. (well, his name does sound like a “k” no?) The rest: 12) **Evel Knievel** – Former daredevil, now pushing an oxygen tank. 13) **Jack Kevorkian** – I think it will be a shame for the American government when he dies in jail. Alternates: **Kalashnikov, Mikhail** – Inventor of the AK-47. \*\*Edgar Ray Killen \*\* killer for the Ku Klux Klan, needs killin… \*\*Jeane Kirkpatrick \*\* – Neocon, did not see a south American dictator she did not like. **Bil Keane** – Actually, it is his comic strip “The Family Circus” that needs to die! ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2006, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-celebrity-death-pool-2007/382620/28 "2006-12-03T04:28:26Z")
[QUOTE=carnivorousplant] What’s with listing alternates? And I picked Hawking already, dammit. You can see the time check on my Word file.🙂 [/QUOTE] If someone on your list dies on 31 Dec 2006 at 11pm and you don’t get online to update your list for next year you are out of luck. If you list alternates then your first alternate steps up to the plate. I had Jerry Orbach drop dead three days before it would count. ---
**Author:** ![Borborygmi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/borborygmi/32/217_2.png) [@Borborygmi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Borborygmi)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2006, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-celebrity-death-pool-2007/382620/29 "2006-12-03T06:32:38Z")
I’ve always been _really_ uncomfortable about these threads but I am trying to get over myself and what better way than to jump on in: 1. **Calvert DeForest** , actor, 15 pts (14 after July 22) 2. **Russell Johnson** , actor, 18 pts (17 after November 10) 3. **Tom Lehrer** , musician, 22 pts (21 after April 9) 4. **Burt Bacharach** , musician, 22 pts (21 after May 12) 5. **Neil Armstrong** , astronaut, 24 pts (23 after August 5) 6. **Mark Russell** , political satirist, 26 pts (25 after August 23) 7. **Kim Jong-il** , Korean dictator, 36 pts (35 after February 15) 8. **Roger Ebert** , film critic, 36 pts (35 after June 18) 9. **John Major** , British prime minister, 37 pts (36 after March 29) 10. **Keith Richards** , musician, 37 pts (36 after December 18) 11. **Tom Arnold** , actor, 53 pts (52 after March 6) 12. **Suge Knight** , rap mogul, 59 pts (58 after April 19) 13. **Warren Sapp** , athelete, 66 pts (65 after December 19) alt 1. **Gerald Ford** , US president, 7 pts (6 after July 14) alt 2. **Zsa Zsa Gabor** , actress, 11 pts (10 after February 6) In the death pool now. I feel so dirty… ---
**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:** [December 3, 2006, 10:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-celebrity-death-pool-2007/382620/30 "2006-12-03T10:03:52Z")
> [@](#): > > Hmm. Whaddaya think, Little Nemo? Others? Bueller? I dunno. The original “over 18” rule was instituted because somebody picked a celebrity’s child who had a terminal illness. I may have been sick enough to start this whole thing but betting on a five year old’s death went too far for me. But I figured by 18, a celebrity’s old enough to be a fair target. ---
**Author:** ![Anastasaeon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/73ab20/32.png) [@Anastasaeon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anastasaeon)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2006, 10:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-celebrity-death-pool-2007/382620/31 "2006-12-03T10:42:19Z")
1. J.D. Salinger 2. Bob Barker 3. Elizabeth Taylor 4. Michael Jackson 5. Ringo Starr 6. Paul McCartney 7. Keith Richards 8. Harrison Ford 9. Henry Winkler 10. Britney Spears 11. Courtney Love 12. Hugh Heffner 13. Regis Philbin alt 1: Yogi Berra alt 2: Larry Bird ---
**Author:** ![if6was9](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e47c2d/32.png) [@if6was9](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/if6was9)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2006, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-celebrity-death-pool-2007/382620/32 "2006-12-03T10:58:02Z")
I’m in this year… 1. Benny Parsons (NASCAR racer and announcer) 2. Joe Paterno 3. George Steinbrenner 4. Peter Graves 5. Gerald Ford 6. Lady Bird Johnson 7. Billy Graham 8. Mike Wallace 9. Ravi Shankar 10. Jim McKay 11. Darryl Strawberry 12. Pope Benedict XVI 13. Tony Bennett alternates: Fidel Castro Stephen Hawking Yogi Berra ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2006, 11:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-celebrity-death-pool-2007/382620/33 "2006-12-03T11:03:43Z")
[QUOTE=Argent Towers] 1. Augusto Pinochet [/QUOTE] Oh and by the way, [he just had a heart attack.](http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061203/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/chile_pinochet) 17 minutes ago. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2006, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-celebrity-death-pool-2007/382620/34 "2006-12-03T11:30:12Z")
1. Nouri Al-Maliki (Prime Minister, Iraq) 2. Muqtada Sadr (Parliamentarian, Iraq) 3. George Shultz (former Sec. of State) 4. Hugh Hefner 5. Barbara Bush (the former first lady, not daughter of W) 6. Nancy Reagan 7 Jack Vance (author) 7. Paris Hilton 8. Don Pardo (obligatory SNL inclusion) 9. Ed McMahon 10. Bob Barker 11. Alexander Haig 12. Adam West ---
**Author:** ![Wallet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e99b99/32.png) [@Wallet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallet)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2006, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-celebrity-death-pool-2007/382620/35 "2006-12-03T12:43:11Z")
1. Hamid Karzai (President - Afghanistan) 2. Nestor Kirchner (President - Argentina) 3. Hugo Chavez (President - Venezuela) 4. Pope Benedict XVI 5. Juan Carlos I (King - Spain) 6. King Abdullah (Saudi Arabia) 7. Vladimir Putin (President - Russia) 8. Felipe Calderon (President - Mexico) 9. Kim Jong-il (aka Kim Jong II) (North Korea) 10. Ariel Sharon (former PM - Israel) 11. Donald Rumsfeld 12. Fidel Castro 13. Dick Cheney alt: Gerald Ford Osama bin Laden ---
**Author:** ![Catamount](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/catamount/32/2840_2.png) [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2006, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-celebrity-death-pool-2007/382620/36 "2006-12-03T13:45:17Z")
[QUOTE=mobo85] 1. Carol Channing, actress, age 85 (86 in January 2007)- just because I can’t get the [theme song to _Skidoo_](http://www.newsfromme.com/archives/2006_12_02.html#012507) out of my head. Damn you, Evanier! [/sub] [/QUOTE] I clicked on the link. I watched the video clip. :eek: I have absolutely no freakin’ clue what that was all about. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Jurph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/50afbb/32.png) [@Jurph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jurph)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2006, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-celebrity-death-pool-2007/382620/37 "2006-12-03T14:46:10Z")
**Spies Like Us** 1. Mario Scaramella - Associate of the late Victor Litvinenko, tested positive for [sup]210[/sup]Po, may be the guilty party in his poisoning.\* 2. Boris Berezovsky - 2007 is going to be a bad year for Putin’s critics 3. Helen Thomas - … and what the hell, Bush’s critics, too. Call it an “apparent heart attack”. **Spies Don’t Like Us** 4. Nour Al-Maliki - the President of Iraq 5. Fidel Castro - the President of Cuba 6. Ariel Sharon - the former Prime Minister of Israel, currently in a coma (I know, I know, it’s serious) 7. Jihad Azour - Lebanese Minister of Finance, pro-Hariri 8. Charles Rizk - Lebanese Minister of Justice, also pro-Hariri 9. Gerald Ford - former U.S. President **Not Actually Spies At All** 10. Whitney Houston - OD or car crash while intoxicated 11. Harrison Ford - plane crash **Clark and Dagger** 12. Ramsey Clark - Saddam’s attorney, and getting kind of old (wild guess: “apparent heart attack”) 13. Dick Clark - is finally going to drop the ball - - Even though he hasn’t been accused or tried yet, would I still qualify if he were executed by a government? …by a government’s Judicial system, I mean. Super-Paranoid Alternate: Sen Barack Obama, in a plane crash, just like former Senator Wellstone and former Governor Carnahan. ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2006, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-celebrity-death-pool-2007/382620/38 "2006-12-03T16:10:44Z")
[QUOTE=SpazCat] I clicked on the link. I watched the video clip. :eek: I have absolutely no freakin’ clue what that was all about. :dubious: [/QUOTE] Neither do I. But the credits song is very catchy. ---
**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2006, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-celebrity-death-pool-2007/382620/39 "2006-12-03T16:34:02Z")
My picks: 1. Gerald Ford (former President) 2. Dan Fogleberg (80s pop singer) 3. Tammy Faye Baker Messner 4. Kirk Douglas 5. Prince Phillip of Edinburgh 6. Ryan O’Neal 7. Jerry Lewis 8. Bob Barker 9. Eunice Kennedy Shriver 10. Joan Kennedy 11. Jim McKay (famed sportscaster) 12. Muhammed Ali 13. Art Donovan (NFL Hall of Famer, 60s Baltimore Colt) Alternates: 14. Teri Garr 15. Mary Tyler Moore 16. Queen Elizabeth ---
**Author:** ![Monstera\_deliciosa](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monstera_deliciosa/32/109_2.png) [@Monstera\_deliciosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monstera_deliciosa)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2006, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-celebrity-death-pool-2007/382620/40 "2006-12-03T21:39:01Z")
Okay, let’s see how my first year of this goes. In alphabetical order, for easy reference: 1. Bobby Brown (W. Houston’s ex) 2. Fidel Castro 3. Farrah Fawcett 4. John Hope Franklin (historian) 5. Andy Griffith 6. Hal Holbrook 7. P.D. James (author) 8. Lady Bird Johnson 9. Jack Klugman 10. Tammy Faye Messner 11. Pauline Phillips (the original Dear Abby) 12. Anna Nicole Smith 13. Brian Wilson (Beach Boys) alternates: Olivia de Havilland, Hugo Chavez, Dick Clark [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-celebrity-death-pool-2007/382620.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-celebrity-death-pool-2007/382620.md?page=3)