by The Grim ~V~eeper
Greetings,
everyone...and welcome to this edition of
Celebrity Cemetary, the Grim ~V~eeper's Obituary Page.
As
Alice Cooper might say, Hello! Hooray!
Da Grim ~V~eep is sun-dried, rested and ready for the
this two month extravaganza...AND...We HAVE player points
for the Death Poll 2001 game
...MOO HOO HOO HAA HAA HAAAAH!
 June 21: Carroll
O'Connor, whose portrayal of irascible bigot Archie
Bunker on All in the Family helped make the
groundbreaking TV comedy part of the American dialogue on
race and politics, died of a heart attack. He was 76. Sooo, Smiles, Mad
Dog, and Mary Xmas profited with 24 points a piece. They
were all tied for 2nd place, trailing Gemmie's Mike by 27
points. But if that wasn't good news enough, less than a
week later...
June 27: Jack Lemmon, the two-time
Oscar winner whose acting talents ranged from adroit
comedies The Apartment and Some Like It Hot
to the dramatic intensity of Days of Wine and Roses
and Tuesdays with Morrie, died from
complications of cancer. He was also 76. Again, Smiles,
along with Pikey, score 24 points.
We got a game now, bay-bee, with the scores as follows:
Gemmies Mike - 51
Smiles - 48
Mary Hoho - 24
Mad Dog - 24
Pikey - 24
All others - zip, nada, crabs and icewater,
zilch...
Yesss...we are heating up, just in time for summer...stay
tuned, players...Remember, a roll of Mentos and a
yet-to-be-revealed mystery prize is on the line...not to
mention your name engraved upon the imaginary-yet-coveted
Esther Rolle Memorial Trophy.
So, for our featured celebrity corpses on parade, we have
it all: a Mexican-
Irish guy, a Coco, a Como, Astronaut, girl jock, and a
Hooker...
TV
& CINEMA
June 3: Anthony Quinn, the Mexican Irish
Academy Award-winning actor whose earthy portrayals of
such characters as Zorba the Greek and the patriarch in The
Children of Sanchez made him larger than life to
millions, died of respiratory failure in a Boston
hospital. He was 86.
May 22: Whitman Mayo, the actor who
made "good goobily goop!" a part of the 1970s
American lexicon as Grady Wilson, the gray-bearded
sidekick of Redd Foxx on television's popular Sanford
and Son, died of a heart attack at the age of 70.
Mayo had continued to take occasional roles and was
teaching drama at Clark Atlanta University, in suburban
Atlanta.
May 10: Deborah Walley, the perky young
actress who succeeded Sandra Dee as the "girl
midget" in the first Gidget sequel, starred
in several of the 1960s beach frolic movies and became a
writer and producer aiding children and Native Americans,
died of cancer. She was 57.
June 2: Imogene Coca, the versatile
comedian who starred with Sid Caesar in the legendary
television hit Your Show of Shows, died of
natural causes at her home in Westport, Conn. She was 92.
On the big screen, she played Aunt Edna in National
Lampoon's Vacation.
May 31: Arlene Francis, the actress and
television personality who was perhaps best known as a
regular panelist on the long-running quiz show What's
My Line?, died of natural causes at Kaiser Hospital
in San Francisco. She was 93.
MUSIC
June 30: Chet Atkins, whose guitar
style influenced a generation of rock 3  musicians even as
he helped develop an easygoing country style to compete
with it, died at home at the age of 77. Atkins had
battled cancer for several years. Atkins recorded more
than 75 albums of guitar instrumentals and sold more than
75 million albums. He played on hundreds of hit records,
including those of Elvis Presley ("Heartbreak
Hotel"), Hank Williams Sr. ("Your Cheatin'
Heart," "Jambalaya") and The Everly
Brothers ("Wake Up Little Susie").
May 12: Perry Como, 88, the crooning
baritone barber famous for his relaxed vocals, cardigan
sweaters and television Christmas specials, died after a
lengthy illness. In 1945, Como had his first
million-selling hit, "Till the End of Time." It
was among many songs including "Prisoner of
Love" that topped the charts. He competed with Frank
Sinatra and Crosby to be the era's top crooner.
June 21: Veteran bluesman John Lee
Hooker, whose foot stompin' and gravelly voice on
songs like "Boom Boom" and "Boogie
Chillen'' electrified audiences and inspired generations
of musicians, died of natural causes as he slept at his
home in Los Altos, CA, south of San Francisco. He was 83.
SPORTS
June 10: John McKay, who led Southern
California to four national football championships before
becoming the first coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers,
died of kidney failure due to complications from
diabetes. He was 77.
June 15: Sam Jethroe, 83, one of the
first black baseball players in the major leagues and the
oldest player to win rookie of the year honors, died in
Erie, Pa. Jethroe, nicknamed "The Jet" for his
speed, was the first black player on the Boston Braves
when he made his major league debut in 1950. He was named
rookie of the year that season at age 32.
May 12: Former WNBA Sacramento Monarchs' Corissa
Yasen was found dead at her home in Couer
D'Alene, Idaho of a precription drug overdose. She was
27. Yasen was Purdue University's female athlete of the
year in 1994-95 and 1995-96, and became Purdue's first
female NCAA track champion in 1996 when she won the
heptathlon.
MISC
. . .
 May 24:
Patricia Hilliard Robertson, 38, a NASA
astronaut, died of severe burns received in the crash of
a small plane outside Houston. Robertson, scheduled to
take a space shuttle mission in 2002, was the passenger
in a plane which was practicing landing and takeoff
maneuvers. Witnesses said the plane cartwheeled and
crashed into some trees, bursting into flames seconds
later.
June
1: Hank Ketcham, whose lovable
scamp "Dennis the Menace"  tormented cranky
Mr. Wilson and amused readers of comics for five decades,
died at the age of 81 at his home in Pebble Beach.
Ketcham, had suffered from heart disease and cancer. The
strip inspired several books of cartoons, a television
show, a musical, a 1993 movie and a playground in
Monterey, where Ketcham had his studio. The TV show,
starring Jay North as Dennis, ran on CBS from 1959 to
1963.
 May 11:
Douglas Adams, the author of
"The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy," died
in Santa Barbara, California, after a heart attack at the
age of 49. Adams became a household name in Britain when
his 1979 cult science fiction saga, about a group of
galactic travelers who survive the demolition of earth to
build a space by-pass, sold more than 14 million copies
worldwide.
And
finally...
May
28: "The Remington MicroScreen shaver
shaves as close as a blade. . . I liked it so much I
bought the company."
Victor
K. Kiam II, the salesman's salesman known for turning
around failing companies like Benrus watches and
Remington shavers and prodding other bosses to pitch
their own products on television, died at the  age of 74. Kiam, the football
zealot who was unable to inspire the same turnaround in
the fortunes of the New England Patriots team he once
owned, died at his home in Stamford, Conn. The chain
smoker with the internationally known gravelly voice had
suffered several heart attacks.
A national incident occurred Sept. 17, 1990, when the
Boston Herald's Lisa Olson conducted a postgame interview
near the Patriots' shower area. She later sued Kiam, the
team general manager and three players for sexual
harassment, charging that the players had made lewd
comments and exposed themselves. To which Dennis Miller
quipped "He liked Zeke Mowatt's penis so much, he
bought the Patriots".
So,
farewell til next time,
DG~V~
Celebrity
Death Poll 2001 player's picks
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