Hey Old Timer Gossip:Who is dead and who is alive?

Publication: National Examiner
Date: 10 January 2011

The low rent Examiner has pictures of five movie and TV stars whose careers started in the 1940s or 1950s and promise to tell their fans, who are getting along in years and might be a little forgetful, whether these shining stars of yesteryear are above the lawn or below it.

Hey old timer! You know that thing you are reading the words on? Your computer connected to the Internets? They've got this place called The Wikipedia, and if you go there and type in the name of somebody famous, they will tell you when that person was born AND when they died. If they haven't died yet, then there's just the birth date.

Pretty easy, huh? Let's try it ourselves.

• John Forsythe (pretty easy, he died earlier this year)
• Esther Williams (still alive)
• Lauren Bacall (still alive)
• Maureen O'Hara (still alive)
• James Arness (still alive)

See how easy? I knew you could do it.

You're welcome.

The Globe bids farewell to the stars we lost in 2010.

Publication: Globe
Date: 3 January 2010

The Globe often has a story in contention for Meanest Story of the Week, but not this time around. They take up most of the cover in tribute to people who died this year, and all they have is pictures with no teaser headlines about tragic secrets or the like. The list includes several people whose deaths wer not mentioned in the Globe before this issue. In no particular order, the names are:

• Tony Curtis
• Dennis Hopper
• John Forsythe
• Rue McLanahan
• Elizabeth Edwards
• Barbara Billingsley
• Leslie Nielsen
• Gary Coleman

And the only person on the list who I will print a picture of here, not out of any disrespect for the others but out of special respect for her. 'Cos she's purdy.

• Miss Lena Horne

Best wishes to the family and friends of all the people on this list, from a fan.

Kick a corpse, why don'tcha?John Forsythe's family battles over millions

Publication: National Examiner

Date: 26 Apr. 2010

There are a lot of people who say don't speak ill of the dead, but I used to be on a newsgroup called alt.obituaries, and we spoke ill of the dead all the time.

We also defended the honor of the dead.

We were all about the dead, both positive and negative.

With a guy like John Forsythe, I prefer to be on the positive side. Sure, you could make fun of Kitten With A Whip. That's pretty much what it's there for. But I prefer to think about his underrated work in In Cold Blood.

So there's the silly and the serious. But finding out about his family squabbling over his money now that he's gone? That's the last topic I want to hear discussed.

Discussing topics that I'd rather see left alone? That's pretty much what the National Examiner is there for.

Late to the Party alert:John Forsythe

Date: 19 Apr. 2010

Publications: People, Globe

Two of the Only Ten Magazines That Matter acknowledge the passing of John Forsythe, a celebrity death that was not foretold by the tabs in any way. People goes classy with "Farewell John Forsythe". The Globe goes with the tacky "John Forsythe's Sad Last Days". This is why I consider the "Last Days" story the highest level of alert, because the tabs will use it either as a warning or to make it look like they were on top of a story they actually missed completely until after the fact.

There have been times in the past when a tabloid posted a Brave Last Days headline and the celebrity in question died the same week. If I recall correctly, that was the timing for Walter Matthau. But in 2010, their track record is exceedingly bad, with 24 warnings so far and none of them yet come true.

Update: In an odd coincidence, another Dynasty actor is in the obituaries this morning. Christopher Cazenove, who played the black sheep brother Ben Carrington, died on April 7 at the age of 64.