Steve "Air" McNair, Dead at 36
Published July 4, 2009 @ 17:01 in Celebrity Death Watch

Steve "Air" McNair was 36. He quarterbacked the Tennessee Titans and Baltimore Ravens to success in the National Football League, winning the NFL MVP award in 2003 and starting Super Bowl XXXIV.

I really liked Air McNair's game. He, of course, was the Titans QB during the Music City Miracle game against the Buffalo Bills that broke my heart and irrevocably turned me off the NFL. I wrote more about that game here.

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Karl Malden, Dead at 97
Published July 1, 2009 @ 15:53 in Celebrity Death Watch

Karl Malden was 97. He starred in the 1970s TV series "The Streets of San Francisco", won an Oscar playing his Broadway-originated role as Mitch in "A Streetcar Named Desire," and made famous the American Express catchphrase "Don't leave home without it."

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Billy Mays, Dead at 50
Published June 28, 2009 @ 14:40 in Celebrity Death Watch

Billy Mays was 50. He was the burly, bearded television pitchman known for his boisterous hawking of products such as Orange Glo and OxiClean.

When I read that Billy Mays had passed away, I asked myself a simple question. Who's Billy Mays? I hit up YouTube and didn't recognize his face or voice at all. Furthermore, I had never heard of Orange Glo or OxiClean. I figured if I had never heard of Billy Mays, he was most likely too minor a celebrity to warrant an entry.

I tweeted that I hadn't heard of Billy Mays and quickly got this reply from @SimonOstler, Assignment Editor & Producer at Global Edmonton.

@torontomike you've never come home late, sat down on the couch surfed through channels and seen Billy Mays. He is the MJ of infomercials.

I figured the MJ of infomercials was worthy of an entry, even if I had never heard of him. Further validation was this very recent appearance on The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien, an episode I've PVR'd but not yet seen.

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Michael Jackson, Dead at 50
Published June 25, 2009 @ 21:37 in Celebrity Death Watch

I loved the Thriller album. We had that on vinyl and cassette, and I eventually had to get a second cassette because it got played so often. Thriller was one of my first favourite albums. To this day I'll put on "Billie Jean" or "Human Nature", the two tracks from that album that stayed most relevant to my ears. Without a doubt, Michael Jackson was an exceptional pop singer who could dance up a storm.

By the time Bad came out, I was digging the singles but questioning the man behind the artist. "Man in the Mirror" was a stunning song, but Jacko seemed lost in his celebrity. The man's songs were always supported by amazing videos, and we anxiously waited for their premieres, but meanwhile we watched his skin lighten, his nose disappear and his Neverland Ranch eccentricities escalate. Wacko Jacko's strangeness, his Jesus Christ posing and the accusations against him shone brighter than his dwindling talent. He had peaked creatively and his crazy behaviour turned me off that awesome Thriller album for years.

Today, as I drove to a softball game, I learnt he was dead. Dead at 50 from cardiac arrest. I keep wondering what could have been. What if Michael Jackson was "normal", for lack of a better word. What if he didn't have that creepy Peter Pan complex, didn't overfeed the tabloids and didn't spend the last 25 years of his life as a punch line. What if he was just a crazy talented pop singer and performer? That would have been an artist I could get behind. Instead, we lost Michael Jackson long before today.

As it is, the man gave us a killer album and several other great singles. He also gave us The Simpson's Stark Raving Dad and this song that brought my son a great deal of joy as a toddler. Thanks for that, Michael.

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Farrah Fawcett, Dead at 62
Published June 25, 2009 @ 13:29 in Celebrity Death Watch

Farrah Fawcett was 62. Her luxurious tresses and blinding smile helped redefine sex appeal in the 1970s as one of TV’s "Charlie’s Angels."

Let's face it, in 50 years we'll have forgotten she was one of Charlie's Angels and she'll only be remembered for her iconic “red swimsuit” poster.

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Romeo LeBlanc, Dead at 81
Published June 24, 2009 @ 15:50 in Celebrity Death Watch

Romeo LeBlanc was 81. He was a longtime Liberal MP, cabinet minister and then senator before being named Canada's 25th Governor General.

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Billy Red Lyons, Dead at 77
Published June 23, 2009 @ 14:21 in Celebrity Death Watch

Billy Red Lyons was 77. He was the Canadian wrestling personality who promoted WWF live events throughout Canada from the mid-1980s through early 1990s, with the phrase “don’tcha dare miss it” becoming a signature ending to his promos.

I can't tell you how many times I heard him say "don’tcha dare miss it" during Maple Leaf Wrestling, a show I watched every Saturday afternoon as a kid.

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Ed McMahon, Dead at 86
Published June 23, 2009 @ 09:00 in Celebrity Death Watch

Ed McMahon was 86. He was the longtime pitchman and Johnny Carson sidekick whose "Heeeeeeerre's Johnny!" became a part of the vernacular.

Without Ed McMahon's "HIYOOOOOOO!", there would be no Hank Kingsley's "Hey now!". For inspiring one of my favourite television characters, I am eternally grateful.

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Allan King, Dead at 79
Published June 15, 2009 @ 19:57 in Celebrity Death Watch

Allan King was 79. He was the acclaimed Canadian documentarian who took viewers on a harrowing journey into a home for troubled children in "Warrendale" and trained his unflinching lens on a crumbling marriage in "A Married Couple."

I record The View From Here, a fantastic documentary series that airs on TVOntario. A recent doc that aired during this program struck such a chord in me I haven't been able to let it go. It was called "Dying At Grace" and it was an Allan King film.

As recently as yesterday I was telling my mom about "Dying At Grace", a film I urge you to see next time it's on television. It's about five patients dying in the Palliative Care Unit of the Salvation Army Toronto Grace Health Centre. We meet them, spend time with them and then we watch them die.

We literally watch them take their last breath. It's terribly chilling, totally effective, and in many ways, absolutely reassuring. A fantastic documentary form a fantastic filmmaker who will be missed.

Here's Allan King talking about making "Dying At Grace."

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David Carradine, Dead at 72
Published June 4, 2009 @ 11:10 in Celebrity Death Watch

David Carradine was 72. He was best known for his role as Kwai Chang Caine in the 1970s TV series Kung Fu, which spawned sequels in the '80s and '90s, but I knew him best as Bill in Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill films.

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