Celebrity Deaths

[The General]

im not the noid and im sorry but im not trying to troll everyone. its just that robin Williams is a big name actor, now he's dead and everybody is going to make such a big deal about it. its extremely strange, you now. nobody knew him. he was a stranger to them all. but they will mourn him. doesnt that suggest to you that maybe humanity has got their priorities mixed up somewhere along the line? im not happy about his death either,
but why all of the outpouring of emotion for some rich stranger?
it just does not make sense

I pretty much feel the same way.  I enjoyed his movies, but I don't feel any big sadness about his death. I didn't know the man.  I'm sorry he couldn't make wealth, fame, success, love, respect, and notoriety work for him.  Suicide is probably the most selfish act that one could possibly commit, topped only by murder.

I'm sorry if it sounds harsh, I know he was battling addiction and depression.  I do feel very sad for his family, I'm sure they're in unspeakable anguish right now and may God help them through the loss. 

[Tarbaby]

So… What are we saying, that pedophilia is wrong? I thought the "Man boy love Association" was government-subsidized. No?

[WildCard]

Dear George Noory,
If you get a leather belt mailed to you, find one in the studio, or your motel room. it's probably from me.
You know what to do. 

[bateman]

Don't get married, don't get married, don't get married.

Though Williams had one of Hollywood’s most enduring careers, divorce â€" from first wife Valerie Velardi in 1988, and from second wife, Marsha Garces in 2008 â€" had gutted his bank account.

“Divorce is expensive,” he recently said. “I used to joke they were going to call it ‘all the money’, but they changed it to ‘alimony’. It’s ripping your heart out through your wallet.”

http://radaronline.com/exclusives/2014/08/robin-williams-had-serious-money-troubles-in-months-before-his-death-claims-friend-was-the-pressure-too-much/

[Heather Wade]

I cannot seem to shake the sadness.   

[Camazotz Automat]

Suicide is probably the most selfish act that one could possibly commit, topped only by murder.

Murder of course being topped by podcasting, you narcissistic luthier, you. 

When you work yourself into a moment of intense desperation it's like a rage.  It doesn't last long until you come to your senses (so-to-speak),

I agree with GFP's well thought out response. I view it this way:

Williams thought of suicide thousands of times.
He contemplated it hundreds of times.
He seriously considered it many times.
He may have attempted/started the process x amount of times.

Throughout his life, instead of exercising the imp of the perverse, he always successfully temporarily exorcised it (perhaps sometimes helped around it by a good friend, personal assistant, a therapist, or any number of tricks/distractions.)

Unfortunately, it only takes one hard failure at this type of game to be forever lost.

August 11, 2014 was endgame.

I don't view the act as selfish. I view it as painfully tragic. Shakespearean. 

Jesters aren't supposed to kill themselves. It's an abomination to how we perceive them. In fact, the entertainment industry in general can be viewed as the jester/trickster archetype.

I now bring up David Fincher/Michael Douglas again because it is relevant, not because I am OCD about the film (heh):

One reason The Game was so poignant was that it allowed suicide, but provided the grace of a reprieve. That reprieve allowed the luxury of regretting the decision - a critical option unavailable to Nicholas Van Orton's father.

On a basic human level, I wish I had been present to talk Williams out of it. Just a little nudge the other way. Or handcuff him to the doorknob and find out if there were any meds of the black box variety hanging around.

But as Mork might report: "Wish in one hand, cup your spheroids with the other. Tell me, Orson, which one feels as if it's clutching three Orkian fluttergeon eggs? Nevertheless, the people of Earth continue to wish, even though their collective wishing hand remains empty. I remain curious about this strange custom. I ... wish to understand it!"

Orson: Careful, Mork!

Mork: Yes, your globular honkiness. Get down. You shot, you shot my wish baby down.

[attachimg=1]

[wr250]

lauren bacall has passed away
http://www.tmz.com/2014/08/12/lauren-bacall-dead-dies/

[Robert Ghostwolf's Ghost]

lauren bacall has passed away
http://www.tmz.com/2014/08/12/lauren-bacall-dead-dies/

One of my all time favorites.  I bet it would have been to have a few cocktails with her and listen to some of her stories.

Guess I better go buy more candles and sad teddy bears and get busy on her shrine.  There should room in the kitchen if I move the stove into the hallway. 

[popple]

Awww 

Do these things really go in threes or is that just our imagination? Also I didn't know there was going to be a Mrs. Doubtfire 2  I would like to see that script leak because wtf?

[ItsOver]

One of my all time favorites.  I bet it would have been to have a few cocktails with her and listen to some of her stories.

Guess I better go buy more candles and sad teddy bears and get busy on her shrine.  There should room in the kitchen if I move the stove into the hallway.

I didn't even realize she was still around.  Well, at least until today.  She certainly outlasted Bogie, who died way back in the '50s, when the booze and cigs apparently caught up with him.  Sad the way he went.

I haven't thought of this schmaltzy tune in a long time.  Any bets the Nooron will play it tonight?


Bertie Higgins - Key Largo

[yumyumtree]

There was a very big age difference between Lauren Bacall, known as Betty to her friends and Bogie. About 30 years I think.

I always suspected that she did voice overs for Fancy Feast commercials, but couldn't verify it.

[yumyumtree]

25 years. He was born in 1899.

[ItsOver]

25 years. He was born in 1899.

Yes, unfortunately, Bogie checked-out at 57.  Didn't even make it to senior citizen.

[Unquenchable Angst]

Lauren Bacall was 18 when she stared with Bogart(1944)("To Have and Have Not"), She was a doll .

[popple]

Koko Remembers Robin Williams
http://www.koko.org/koko-tribute-robin-williams




http://youtu.be/I9I_QvEXDv0 

[Robert Ghostwolf's Ghost]

I always suspected that she did voice overs for Fancy Feast commercials, but couldn't verify it.

You suspected correctly.  The message I got from those commercials was that if it's good enough for Lauren Bacall, it's good enough for your cat.

[Robert Ghostwolf's Ghost]

Lauren Bacall was 18 when she stared with Bogart(1944)("To Have and Have Not"), She was a doll .

She also had preternatural poise and maturity for her age.  I can't think of any other 18-year-old actress who even came close.  That was also the movie with her iconic line about whistling.

However, my favorite parts of "THaHN" were Hoagie Carmichael's musical numbers, especially "Hong Kong Blues."

[VtaGeezer]

Robin W's TV and movie gigs pale in comparison to his talent as an improv and stand-up comic.  One of his best lines, right after Obama won the 08 election was "Thank God...the Reign of Error is over".

[Morgus]

I always suspected that she did voice overs for Fancy Feast commercials, but couldn't verify it.

Verifiable at this IMDB link:
Lauren Bacall - Other works
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000002/otherworks

(1998) TV commercial: Arby's roast-beef restaurants.
(1990s) Series of TV commercials for Fancy Feast cat food (voiceover).

[Morgus]

The message I got from those commercials was that if it's good enough for Lauren Bacall, it's good enough for your cat.

The most nutritious Fancy Feast cat food flavors are the "Classic" series, though my cat really loves the "Gravy Lovers" flavors. 

[Evil Twin Of Zen]

...preternatural...

i must confess that i have never seen or heard this word before now. i like it. excellent word to use if one is commenting on ones own genitals or someone else's genitals. considering the words synonyms. 

[WOTR]

...I view it this way:

Williams thought of suicide thousands of times.
He contemplated it hundreds of times.
He seriously considered it many times.
He may have attempted/started the process x amount of times.
...

I really appreciate your whole post.  I feel sadness that anybody takes their life and I really wonder how long he suffered with depression.  When I heard the news my mind went back to one of his lesser know or remembered movies that honestly hit me.  I now wonder what portions of that movie drew him to it.

I recall renting "What dreams may come" on VHS and watching it with a friend not really knowing what it was- but we both liked Robin Williams.  Thank God he was asleep shortly into the movie.  I had a girlfriend kill herself certainly within the two years prior to watching it.  As we all know, young men do not cry, and in particular those of us with a disorder that is supposed to separate us from emotion.  Being as nobody was awake to see it, I am pretty certain that it did not happen.

Anyhow, in the movie his kids die in a car crash.  He dies years later (another crash?) and his wife can no longer take it.  She commits suicide and he searches the depths of purgatory looking to get her back.

Looking back on that movie with the darkness and redemption I really wonder how much of his decision to take the part came from something within.  If you get a chance to watch it it is probably a good movie (I was a little biased and it has probably been over 15 years now), but I recall it was well written and well acted.  If you are looking for a Robin Williams comedy- look elsewhere.

[Ms. C]

...   When I heard the news my mind went back to one of his lesser know or remembered movies that honestly hit me.  I now wonder what portions of that movie drew him to it ...

... I recall renting "What dreams may come" on VHS and watching it ...  in the movie his kids die in a car crash.  He dies years later (another crash?) and his wife can no longer take it.  She commits suicide and he searches the depths of purgatory looking to get her back.

Looking back on that movie with the darkness and redemption I really wonder how much of his decision to take the part came from something within.  If you get a chance to watch it it is probably a good movie (I was a little biased and it has probably been over 15 years now), but I recall it was well written and well acted.  If you are looking for a Robin Williams comedy- look elsewhere.

This movie touched me so deeply, the message of what suicide means and the depths of hell that he went to to search for his wife  ...  I still have a copy of it on VCR tape and watched it several times after it came out - (and because of my many moves and also vcr technology no longer around, I rid myself of probably 95% of my old vcr tapes but kept this one --

and I think I'm most traumatized that Robin took his own life because of the message this movie put out (at least what I captured from it).  Oh my, so friggin' sad that Robin was in that much pain from depression that he couldn't hold on to the message he portrayed in this move or the words he spoke in 'World's Greatest Dad' ...

[RcCle]

http://www.infowars.com/weird-coincidence-robin-williams-family-guy-suicide-episode-airs-before-news-of-actors-death/

Family Guy aired an episode with Robin Williams attempting suicide on Sunday.  Didn't that show predict a few deaths? 

[Robert Ghostwolf's Ghost]

Although it was an open secret in Washington and Hollywood, very few other people ever knew about the brief, torrid affair Lauren Bacall and President Harry Truman carried on for a few magical weeks in post-war 1945.  According to J. Edgar Hoover's file on them, she called him "Finger Daddy" and he called her "Fancy Feast."

[attachimg=1]

[attachimg=2]

[Yorkshire pud]

Although it was an open secret in Washington and Hollywood, very few other people ever knew about the brief, torrid affair Lauren Bacall and President Harry Truman carried on for a few magical weeks in post-war 1945.  According to J. Edgar Hoover's file on them, she called him "Finger Daddy" and he called her "Fancy Feast."

[attachimg=1]

[attachimg=2]

Harry Truman is the transvestite sitting on the piano, right?

[popple]

Can't the trolls just take a break?

Robin Williams' Daughter Zelda Deletes Twitter Account Due to Trolls, Abandons Instagram "While I Heal"
http://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-news/news/zelda-williams-quits-twitter-instagram-after-robin-williams-death-2014138

[Yorkshire pud]

Can't the trolls just take a break?

Robin Williams' Daughter Zelda Deletes Twitter Account Due to Trolls, Abandons Instagram "While I Heal"
http://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-news/news/zelda-williams-quits-twitter-instagram-after-robin-williams-death-2014138

I don't know if you've got it there, but two of them have had their accounts suspended. All it needs now, is for them to be found, and thrown out of a helicopter into SF Bay from about 200 feet...

[Robert Ghostwolf's Ghost]

Harry Truman is the transvestite sitting on the piano, right?

You're confusing him with James "Miss Nancy" Buchanan.  It's a common mistake, and it's the question that most people applying for U.S. citizenship get wrong on the exam.

The woman on the piano is Eleanor Roosevelt.

[Camazotz Automat]

I really appreciate your whole post.  I feel sadness that anybody takes their life and I really wonder how long he suffered with depression.  ...

I recall renting "What dreams may come" on VHS and watching it with a friend not really knowing what it was- but we both liked Robin Williams.  ...

Looking back on that movie with the darkness and redemption I really wonder how much of his decision to take the part came from something within.  ...

Thanks, wotr1. I bet many Americans are dusting off their VCRs and digging around for their copy of What Dreams May Come to view it again while filtered in the light of what has happened, though most have long since tossed their VCR players and will search for the film via streaming and then wonder why they have saved any VCR tapes.

On Netflix, I was tracking the activity of the DVD copies of the film that same day, and the status changed from Available to Very Long Wait in a matter of hours. I had always meant to watch it and never did, though will be doing so soon. The special effects for the time were supposedly very good, in addition to the story.

I liked his small role as the disgraced psychiatrist in Dead Again. One could ask the same question as to if he picked that particular film due to the part and subject matter of reincarnation. I remember really liking Dead Again, but I haven't seen it since 1993ish.

At the other extreme of Robins choosing any job, as my granduncle would have said, "Whatever pays the light bill, I'll take it."

It will be a matter of conjecture at best as to his motivation for roles selected, but I think patterns will emerge. He was a therapist in Awakenings with De Niro. (De Noory learned everything borderline scientific he knows about the Ouija board by watching Awakenings. heh.)

I'm sorry about what happened with your girlfriend. I've never experienced that exact permutation of grief and can only imagine how difficult and surreal it must have been. I did visit the same ballpark, when a friend I grew up with since kindergarten killed himself not very long after snagging a really nice drafting job with an architectural company. This was pre-CAD, old school blueprint making, using a large drafting surface. He was doing very well and had all his ducks in a row. The rest of us were obsessed with music and accomplishing absolutely zip. There was no note, which makes me believe it was not so much planned, as deciding to catch a train at the last possible moment.  A pure, unforgiving impulse.

I'm confident he would have evolved into a brilliant architect and I still miss him.

I've told my family and friends that if I'm ever found dead of apparent suicide, there will be a fucking suicide novel left behind. If the novel isn't present, then I was by God murdered and they should call Cohle and Hart to investigate a possible Yellow King angle, since I've been researching R W Chambers for several years and may have possibly rocked some otherworld boat. heh.

Movement Key : G