Rock Monster Wrote:I have one suggestion for a change. Right now, if that celebrity bites it in January, you get 11 points, and in December, you get 0 points. Shouldn't it be 12 for Jan, down to 1 for December?

Howie Feltersnatch Wrote:how about some sort of bonus if they weren't ill with anything...

like say if I pick Ben Stiller, who (to my knowledge) isn't ill or addicted to drugs...and he ups and dies...sorta a luck of the draw thing

I'm still thinking on my list...and wondering if it will condem me to hell

Jiggy Wrote:Keith Richards
Fidel Castro
Artie Lange
Billy Graham
Rush Limbaugh
Farrah Fawcett
Patrick Swayze
Mike Wallace
Amy Winehouse
Don Imus

plumpenut Wrote:10. Bob Barker

Quote:Patrick Swayze has pneumonia and has checked himself into a hospital for observation, it was revealed Friday at a press event for the Television Critics Association in Los Angeles.

"As we arrived here this morning we have some news," said A&E president Abbe Raven. "Patrick Swayze has checked himself into the hospital. However, he asked us specifically to go forward with today's panel. We wish him the very best with his recovery."

Bob DeBitetto, the president and general manager of A&E, delivered the news that Swayze had decided to check himself into the hospital after he came down with pneumonia.

Swayze, who is battling pancreatic cancer, had been expected to discuss his new show, The Beast, scheduled to begin airing Jan. 15.


'He's still fighting'
"Patrick is undergoing treatment and he's still fighting," a source close to the star tells PEOPLE. "He felt so bad that he couldn't be at the TCAs. He's fighting and doing well, and that's all anybody can hope for at this stage. He is not at death's door. Nobody ever knows with cancer, but he's doing alright. As soon as he's out, he's going to try to reschedule as much as he can.

Adds another source close to the situation, "He knows he's not a miracle. There's only so much he can do. He needs to take care of himself, so he checked himself in to get the help he needs."

During an interview that aired Wednesday on ABC, the actor told Barbara Walters that his road has been difficult. "You can bet that I'm going through hell," he said. "And I've only seen the beginning of it."

Swayze, 56, who went public with his diagnosis last March, said the disease has taken an emotional toll. "There's a lot of fear here," he said. "Yeah, I'm scared. Yeah, I'm angry. Yeah, I'm [asking], why me."

Despite his difficult year battling cancer, Swayze is still looking ahead. "I keep dreaming of a future, a future with a long and healthy life," he said, "not lived in the shadow of cancer, but in the light."


Colleagues Praise Patrick
At the TCA event in L.A., Swayze's colleagues on the show opened up about the actor's personal struggle. "[He's] been an absolute inspiration, he's an amazing guy," said costar Travis Fimmel. "He makes the little things seem not important."

Bill Rotko, creator of The Beast, said: "Although you forget sometimes that Patrick's going through treatment for cancer, it brings you very close together. There's a tremendous amount of respect going on."

Beast executive producer John Romano added that Swayze gives the show 100 percent. "He's bringing the force of his own personal struggle into the performance," he said. "He does it five days a week, 12 hours a day."

Jiggy Wrote:Amy Winehouses name was put on a list for "top jews to target" for extremists. I want points but not like this. If she could just die wallowing in her own self pity I would be happier.

Opus Wrote:Since a couple of you have him, thought you might like to know that Patrick Swayze checked into the hospital today with Pneomonia.

zetsyuk Wrote:

Jiggy Wrote:Amy Winehouses name was put on a list for "top jews to target" for extremists. I want points but not like this. If she could just die wallowing in her own self pity I would be happier.

where is this list and how do you know who's on it?

Quote:(CNN) -- Bea Arthur, the actress best known for her roles as television's "Maude" and the sardonic Dorothy on "The Golden Girls," has died of cancer, a family spokesman said Saturday.

Spokesman Dan Watt said that Arthur died Saturday morning at her home in Los Angeles, her family by her side.

She is survived by her sons Matthew and Daniel and grandchildren Kyra and Violet, he said.

No funeral services are currently planned, Watt said, adding that the family asked that donations be made to either the Art Attack Foundation or PETA in lieu of flowers.

Arthur's opinionated Maude first appeared on Norman Lear's "All in the Family" as Edith Bunker's cousin, and was so popular that Lear created a spin-off series.

In the '70s, "Maude" was ahead of the social curve, tackling hot topics not usually mentioned on situation comedies -- pornography, race relations and, in an episode titled "Maude's Dilemma," abortion.

That episode spawned demonstrations and generated hate mail for Arthur -- when Maude and husband Walter (Bill Macy) decided on that episode they were too old to raise a child.

But many saw Maude as an enduring icon for women's liberation -- a big deal for the shy, Jewish girl born Bernice Frankel in New York City.

During the Depression, Arthur's family left the Big Apple and opened a clothing store in Cambridge, Maryland. By the time she was 12, Arthur was nearly 5 feet, 10 inches tall, and self-conscious about her height.

But she masked her insecurity with comedy and eventually returned to New York to study acting. Along the way, she had a short-lived marriage she never spoke about, but she kept the last name -- Arthur.

The young Bea Arthur earned a living singing and doing stage work on Broadway and off-Broadway. Critics delighted in her haughty, serpent-tongued deliveries.

Her first television appearance came in 1951 in a long-forgotten series called "Once Upon a Tune," but she quickly made a name for herself with appearances on "Studio One," "Kraft Television Theatre" and "The Sid Caesar Show."

Arthur drew attention in "Threepenny Opera" on Broadway with Lotte Lenya, but she really turned heads in 1964 originating the role of Yente the Matchmaker in "Fiddler on the Roof."

In 1966, Arthur won a Tony Award for the caustic Vera Charles in the play "Mame," playing opposite Angela Lansbury in the title role. Eight years later, she reprised the role in the film version opposite Lucille Ball, but by then she was already well-established as Maude.

Arthur left "Maude" in 1978, making television and some film appearances afterward. She starred in a short-lived series, "Amanda's," in 1983 and then joined the cast of "The Golden Girls" in 1985 with Betty White, Rue McClanahan and Estelle Getty.

Her role as Dorothy Zbornak gave Arthur her other major television success as one of four older women living together in Florida. (Getty, the youngest of the four, played Arthur's mother). The role earned Arthur a second Emmy -- the first was for "Maude."

Arthur left the show after Dorothy remarried at the end of the 1991-92 season. White, McClanahan and Getty continued for another season on the show, renamed "The Golden Palace," but the show lasted only one season without Arthur.

Arthur entered semi-retirement after the show ended in 1992, returning to television in sporadic guest appearances and appearing at several celebrity roasts. In the early part of this decade, Arthur appeared in several one-woman shows.

Her last stage appearance was in 2006. Her last television appearance was on "The View" in 2007.

Quote:LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- Dom DeLuise, who spiced up such movies as "Blazing Saddles," "Silent Movie" and "The Cannonball Run" with his manic delivery and roly-poly persona, has died, his son's publicist told CNN.

Publicist Jay Schwartz did not disclose the cause of death, but DeLuise, 75, had been battling cancer for more than a year.

DeLuise was surrounded by family when he died in a Santa Monica, California, hospital Monday night, son Michael DeLuise told CNN affiliate KTLA-TV.

DeLuise was most famous for his supporting roles in a number of Mel Brooks films, including 1974's "Saddles" -- in which he played a flamboyant musical director who led dancers in a number called "The French Mistake" -- and 1976's "Silent Movie," in which he played the assistant to Brooks' director Mel Funn. He was also in the Brooks-directed "The Twelve Chairs" (1970), "Spaceballs" (1987) and "Robin Hood: Men in Tights" (1993).

But he could also assay more serious roles, most notably in the 1980 dark comedy "Fatso," directed by Brooks' wife, Anne Bancroft, in which he played an overweight man trying to wean himself from comfort food.

DeLuise was also part of the supporting cast in the Burt Reynolds crash-'em-up vehicles "Smokey and the Bandit II" (1980), "Cannonball Run" (1981) and "Cannonball Run II" (1984). Other DeLuise films include "The End" (1978), "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas" (1982) and "Johnny Dangerously" (1984).

His voice was featured in such films as "An American Tail" (1986) and its sequels, "All Dogs Go to Heaven" (1989) and its 1996 sequel, and "Oliver & Company" (1988).

Dominic DeLuise was born in Brooklyn, New York, on August 1, 1933. In the 1960s he had bit parts in a handful of movies, including "Fail Safe" (1964), but became well known as a regular on "The Entertainers" and a Dean Martin variety show. He had his own summer replacement show in 1968 and was a regular on Glen Campbell's "Goodtime Hour" in 1971-72.

DeLuise had three sons -- Peter, Michael and David -- who all became actors.

His wife of 40 years, actress Carol Arthur, appeared in several movies with him, including "Blazing Saddles" and "Silent Movie," according to DeLuise's Web site.

A frequent collaborator with DeLuise, Burt Reynolds released a statement to "Entertainment Tonight" on his friend's death.

"I was thinking the other day about this. As you get older you think about this more and more, I was dreading this moment. Dom always made everyone feel better when he was around. I never heard him say an unkind word about anyone. I will miss him very much," Reynolds says.

Quote:(CNN) -- American actor David Carradine has been found dead, hanging by a nylon rope in a hotel room closet in Bangkok, Thailand, according a Thai police official.

Carradine, who became famous in the 1970s when he starred as traveling Shaolin monk Kwai Chang Caine in the television series "Kung Fu," was 72.

The rope was believed to be from the hotel room curtains, Bangkok Police Lt. Col. Pirom Chanpirom said Thursday.

He said investigators found no sign of forced entry into Carradine's room.

An autopsy was being conducted at a Bangkok hospital, but no results will be available for another day, he said.

A Carradine family spokeswoman issued a short statement saying the family "is devastated by the news of David's passing."

"Circumstances surrounding his death are still unknown, and there will be no further comment until more information can be confirmed," the statement said.

"The family appreciates the many expressions of condolence, and asks for privacy at this time."

Police provided Carradine's family with information about their investigation, said Tiffany Smith, Carradine's personal co-manager.

Smith said that she was "in complete shock" and that suggestions that Carradine took his own life are unbelievable.

"Knowing David, he would never commit suicide," and his death comes at a time when his "career is on a roll," she said.

Carradine was in Bangkok for filming of the movie "Stretch," being produced by a United Kingdom-based company, she said. He was the only American cast member.

Modern audiences may best know Carradine as "Bill" in Quentin Tarantino's "Kill Bill" films. He earned a 2005 Golden Globe nomination for his role in the second movie in the two-part saga.

His career included more than 100 feature films, two dozen television movies and theater work, according to the Internet Movie Database. See photos of some of his notable roles »

"He was clearly an actor who followed his own path," said Leah Rozen, the movie critic for People magazine.

"He was never a guy who talked a whole lot. You knew as an actor, the characters he played, you knew they had a past, you knew there was probably some unhappiness there, but he wasn't going to talk about it."

Carradine made appearances in television series including "Gunsmoke" and "Alfred Hitchcock Presents." His first starring role in a series was as the title character in "Shane" in 1966.

He worked with such directors as Martin Scorsese in "Box Car Bertha" in 1972 and Robert Altman in "The Long Goodbye" in 1973. iReport: Share memories of David Carradine

Carradine was nominated for a Golden Globe for his role as folk music legend Woody Guthrie in the 1976 movie "Bound For Glory," according to a biography on his official Web site.

His theater career began while he studied drama at San Francisco State College in California.

He later landed roles on Broadway in "The Deputy" and "The Royal Hunt of the Sun."

Carradine's legacy will probably be the "Kill Bill" movies and the "Kung Fu" series, Rozen said.

The "Kill Bill" casting was particularly smart, she added.

"Tarantino was tapping into his just natural coolness, but more to the point, Tarantino was playing off that he still had this whole following from the 'Kung Fu' TV series," Rozen said. Watch Carradine talk about his 'Kung Fu' role »

Carradine, who was married five times and divorced four, is survived by his widow, Annie Bierman, according to People magazine.

Carradine was part of an acting dynasty. He was the son of actor John Carradine, a character actor who had appeared in hundreds of films, plays and television episodes. David Carradine also acted with his brothers Keith and Robert.

"David's career as an artist did not begin on the stage, though some of his early career was on and off Broadway. His earliest work was as a sculptor and painter," Carradine's official Web site says.

The site also includes an "Art Bio" in which the actor opens up about his life.

"I've always had an especially hard time with everything I've tried to do," Carradine wrote.

"I've made it pretty big as an actor in spite of being terminally shy. ... Invariably, I had huge obstacles to overcome in anything I tried. Had to work against my genes to achieve my dreams."

schuyler16 Wrote:1. Sen. Ted Kennedy
2. Courtney Love
3. Amy Winehouse
4. Pres. Barrack Obama
5. Lindsay Lohan
6. Jeff Conaway
7. Susan Boyle
8. Paula Abdul
9. Patrick Swayze
10. Farrah Fawcett

Quote:You will choose 10 different celebrities who as of 12/31/2008 @ 11:59 PM are still living. (Yes you can edit your selections if you choose now and someone dies before the end of the year). Any edits after 11:59 PM on 12/31/08 will disqualify you from the game.