# The Celebrity Death Pool 2009 **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Tags:** death-pool\ **Created:** [December 1, 2008, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-celebrity-death-pool-2009/475262 "2008-12-01T23:40:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 62
**Author:** ![PhiloVance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e19adc/32.png) [@PhiloVance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhiloVance)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2009, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-celebrity-death-pool-2009/475262/1221 "2009-07-19T23:23:51Z")
[‘Angela’s Ashes’ Author Frank McCourt Dies at 78l](http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,533941,00.html) ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2009, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-celebrity-death-pool-2009/475262/1222 "2009-07-20T17:21:49Z")
Gordon Waller has died at age 64. Who? > [@](#): > > HARTFORD, Conn. — Gordon Waller of the pop duo Peter and Gordon, who were part of the 1960s British Invasion and had a string of hits including several written by their friend Paul McCartney, has died. He was 64. > > Waller died Friday at The William W. Backus Hospital in Norwich, Conn., nursing supervisor Nity Oris confirmed Monday. The duo’s Web site says Waller, who lived in Ledyard, Conn., went into cardiac arrest Thursday night, and the state medical examiner’s office lists his cause of death as cardiovascular disease. [http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hSP7\_hsBDwu5HPtvMynbxyqLt\_8QD99I9JSO2](http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hSP7_hsBDwu5HPtvMynbxyqLt_8QD99I9JSO2) ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2009, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-celebrity-death-pool-2009/475262/1223 "2009-07-22T16:50:41Z")
> [@PhiloVance](#): > > [‘Angela’s Ashes’ Author Frank McCourt Dies at 78l](http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,533941,00.html) I actually had him one of the years I’ve been doing this. But, alas, not this year. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2009, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-celebrity-death-pool-2009/475262/1224 "2009-07-22T22:43:32Z")
Taco Bell ad star Gidget the Chihuahua [dies at 15](http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090722/ap_on_en_tv/us_obit_taco_bell_dog_8): > [@](#): > > Gidget the Chihuahua, the bug-eyed, big-eared star of 1990s Taco Bell commercials who was a diva on and off the screen, has died. She was 15. > Gidget suffered a massive stroke late Tuesday night at her trainer’s home in Santa Clarita and had to be euthanized, said Karin McElhatton, owner of Studio Animal Services in Castaic, which owned the dog. ---
**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:** [July 22, 2009, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-celebrity-death-pool-2009/475262/1225 "2009-07-22T22:51:04Z")
Gidget the dog is dead. Viva Gorditas! [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sG_LrGPsJB0) That was one one of my favorite commercials. ---
**Author:** ![Rico](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rico/32/3582_2.png) [@Rico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rico)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2009, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-celebrity-death-pool-2009/475262/1226 "2009-07-22T23:36:26Z")
So do you get calendar year points or dog year points? ---
**Author:** ![VunderBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/839c29/32.png) [@VunderBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VunderBob)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2009, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-celebrity-death-pool-2009/475262/1227 "2009-07-22T23:47:01Z")
> [@Rico](#): > > So do you get calendar year points or dog year points? Neither. The rules state the celeb must be human. OTOH, 7 X 15 is 105, you’d score -5 for this pick… ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2009, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-celebrity-death-pool-2009/475262/1228 "2009-07-23T16:17:15Z")
Aw. I loved Peter and Gordon back in the day. Funny how hearing a song like World Without Love or Knight in Rusty Armour can bring back a flood of nostalgia. ---
**Author:** ![amarone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@amarone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarone)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2009, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-celebrity-death-pool-2009/475262/1229 "2009-07-23T17:18:04Z")
> [@VunderBob](#): > > Neither. The rules state the celeb must be human. > > OTOH, 7 X 15 is 105, you’d score -5 for this pick… As this is the second time on this page that the subject has come up, I score picks aged over 100 as zero points, but one correct pick. Hence **42fish** shows in the list as having 0 points but 1 pick and is placed one position above all the DPVs with 0, 0. ---
**Author:** ![VunderBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/839c29/32.png) [@VunderBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VunderBob)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2009, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-celebrity-death-pool-2009/475262/1230 "2009-07-23T20:33:50Z")
> [@amarone](#): > > As this is the second time on this page that the subject has come up, I score picks aged over 100 as zero points, but one correct pick. Hence **42fish** shows in the list as having 0 points but 1 pick and is placed one position above all the DPVs with 0, 0. Uh, well, I wasn’t trying to make a serious point, seein’ as though it was a dog… ---
**Author:** ![amarone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@amarone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarone)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2009, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-celebrity-death-pool-2009/475262/1231 "2009-07-23T20:45:31Z")
> [@VunderBob](#): > > Uh, well, I wasn’t trying to make a serious point, seein’ as though it was a dog… I know, but as it has come up twice twice, and the previous occasion was about a person, I thought I would provide the answer. ---
**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2009, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-celebrity-death-pool-2009/475262/1232 "2009-07-25T15:56:57Z")
[Harry Patch](http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-harry-patch26-2009jul26,0,7608030.story), who had been the last surviving British army veteran of World War I combat, has died at the age of 111. Patch had been wounded in the battle of Passchendaele while serving with the Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry in Belgium. After returning to England, he worked as a plumber. He outlived three wives as well as his two sons. ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2009, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-celebrity-death-pool-2009/475262/1233 "2009-07-25T19:53:55Z")
> [@Sternvogel](#): > > [Harry Patch](http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-harry-patch26-2009jul26,0,7608030.story), who had been the last surviving British army veteran of World War I combat, has died at the age of 111. Patch had been wounded in the battle of Passchendaele while serving with the Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry in Belgium. After returning to England, he worked as a plumber. He outlived three wives as well as his two sons. Great Porn name ---
**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:** [July 25, 2009, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-celebrity-death-pool-2009/475262/1234 "2009-07-25T22:04:14Z")
> [@notfrommensa](#): > > Great Porn name It sounds like a very British Army name to me. I can just imagine Colour-Sergeant Bourne calling his name in the roll at the end of _Zulu._ ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2009, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-celebrity-death-pool-2009/475262/1235 "2009-07-26T14:49:55Z")
[Ex-‘Idol’ contestant struck, killed by car in NJ](http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090726/ap_en_mu/us_american_idol_contestant_death) > [@](#): > > Authorities say a 25-year-old former two-time “American Idol” contestant has been struck and killed by a car in a New Jersey shore town. > The Asbury Park Press reports that Alexis Cohen, of Allentown, Pa., was killed early Saturday in Seaside Heights Alexis was one of the goofball rejects who went apeshit when she was [rejected by the judges at the auditions](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwVk4tb5rsU). ---
**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:** [July 26, 2009, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-celebrity-death-pool-2009/475262/1236 "2009-07-26T18:03:28Z")
July has been a bad month for boxers; Alexis Arguello, Arturo Gatti, and now [Vernon Forrest](http://sports.yahoo.com/box/news?slug=ap-forrestkilled&prov=ap&type=lgns). ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2009, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-celebrity-death-pool-2009/475262/1237 "2009-07-27T12:39:54Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > [Ex-‘Idol’ contestant struck, killed by car in NJ](http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090726/ap_en_mu/us_american_idol_contestant_death)Alexis was one of the goofball rejects who went apeshit when she was [rejected by the judges at the auditions](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwVk4tb5rsU). You know, if she was only \*half \*as fucked up as she seemed on the show, it wasn’t going to be such a great life anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2009, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-celebrity-death-pool-2009/475262/1238 "2009-07-27T14:25:55Z")
Novelist E. Lynn Harris dead at 54. > **[Author E. Lynn Harris dead at 54 - CNN.com](http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/books/07/24/harris.obit/)** > > E. Lynn Harris, the author who introduced millions of readers to the "invisible life" of black gay men, was a literary pioneer whose generosity was as huge as his courage, friends said Friday. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2009, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-celebrity-death-pool-2009/475262/1239 "2009-07-28T15:47:02Z")
[Ronnie Biggs](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1202711/Great-Train-Robber-Ronnie-Biggs-rushed-hospital-worst-condition.html) just may be circling the drain. ---
**Author:** ![anyrose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/54ee81/32.png) [@anyrose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anyrose)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2009, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-celebrity-death-pool-2009/475262/1240 "2009-07-28T22:47:48Z")
not that he was famous outside the New York theatre design world, but one of my college professors just passed away. ☹ (he does have a [museum collection](http://www.newpaltz.edu/map/loc_parker.html) named for him) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-celebrity-death-pool-2009/475262.md?page=61) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-celebrity-death-pool-2009/475262.md?page=63)