The ALL DEAD Club

O.J. Simpson, the college and NFL football legend, Hollywood actor and pitchman who was famously acquitted of murdering his wife and her friend in 1994, resulting in the televised trial of the century, died Wednesday of cancer, his family has announced. He was 76.

Simpson was accused of murdering his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman outside her West Los Angeles apartment in June 1994 that led to the infamous slow-speed pursuit that captivated the nation and much of the world.

When police sought to question him about the killings, Simpson vowed to turn himself in at LAPD headquarters but failed to show and then was announced to be a fugitive from justice. His white Ford Bronco, driven by longtime friend and ex-teammate A.C. Cowlings, was spotted on an Orange County freeway, and the most famous of all televised TV pursuits was on. Crowds lined the overpasses to witness history, many cheering him on.

Cowlings told police via telephone that Simpson had a gun pointed to his head, and police allowed him to drive the Bronco back to Simpson’s stately home on Rockingham Avenue in Brentwood, where he eventually was taken into custody.

The resulting trial was televised and flat-out mesmerized the country. It would make household names of such people as Johnnie Cochran, Marcia Clark, Kato Kaelin, Robert Shapiro, Mark Fuhrman, Robert Kardashian and many others.

Simpson was among the greatest football players ever, winning a Heisman Trophy and national at USC before moving to the NFL in 1968. He became the first player to rush for more than 2,000 yards, in 1973.

Dickey Betts, the Allman Brothers Band’s Grammy-winning co-founding guitarist, singer and songwriter behind such classics as “Ramblin’ Man,” “Blue Sky” and “Jessica,” died today of cancer at his home in Osprey, FL. He was 80.

Samantha Davis, the wife of Star Wars and Harry Potter actor Warwick Davis, has died aged 53.
Warwick announced the news in a statement shared to the BBC, revealing she had died on March 24.

Samantha co-founded the dwarfism charity Little People UK and featured in the final Harry Potter film, alongside Warwick.
“Her passing has left a huge hole in our lives as a family. I miss her hugs,” Warwick said in the statement to the BBC.
He added that she was his “most trusted confidant and an ardent supporter of everything I did in my career”.

The actor continued: “She was a unique character, always seeing the sunny side of life she had a wicked sense of humour and always laughed at my bad jokes.”
The couple met on the set of George Lucas’s film Willow and married three years later in 1991.
Samantha also played a goblin in Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: Part 2 while her husband played both Professor Flitwick and the goblin Griphook in all eight films in the franchise.

Mike Pinder, who co-founded the Moody Blues and played keyboards and mellotron and sang on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame group’s first nine albums, died Wednesday at his home in Northern California. He was 82 and was the last surviving founding member of the legendary British band.

Marla Adams, best known for her 37 years in the role of Dina Abbott Mergeron on the CBS daytime drama The Young and the Restless, died Thursday in Los Angeles. She was 85 and the cause of death was not disclosed.

Zack Norman, a veteran character and producer who appeared in films including Romancing The Stone, Cadillac Man and several for director Harry Jaglom along with guested on The Nanny, The A-Team, Baywatch and other series, died April 28 of natural causes. He was 83.

Duane Eddy, the twangy, Grammy-winning rock guitarist who had Top 10 instrumental hits including “Rebel Rouser” and “Forty Miles of Bad Road” and scored with a version of Henry Mancini’s “Peter Gunn,” died Wednesday of cancer at a hospital in Franklin, He was 86.

Richard Tandy, who played keyboards for Electric Light Orchestra on all of its records since 1972 including the Top 10 hits “Evil Woman,” “Telephone Line” and “Don’t Bring Me Down,” died Wednesday. He was 76.

Bernard Hill died early on Sunday morning, his agent Lou Coulson confirmed. No cause has been given. He played Captain Edward Smith in the 1997 Oscar-winning film Titanic, and King Théoden in the Lord of the Rings. His breakout role was in BBC TV drama Boys from the Blackstuff, he was 79.

Lightning Round

Ian Gelder, the actor who played Kevan Lannister in HBO’s Game of Thrones, has died at the age of 74.

Susan Buckner, best known to moviegoers as Grease‘s bubbly cheerleader Patty Simcox, died on May 2. She was 72.

Jeannie Epper, a stunt double for Lynda Carter in the 1970s Wonder Woman TV series and performed stunts in such movies as The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift and Kill Bill: Vol. 2, died Sunday. She was 83.

LIGHTNING ROUND 2

Mark Damon, a film producer, sales executive, and spaghetti Western actor, died at 91. Damon, born Alan Harris in Chicago, started his career in Hollywood in 1956 after signing a contract with 20th Century Fox.

Susan Backlinie, whose gruesome death in Jaws scared millions from swimming in the ocean, died Saturday at 77 in her home in Ventura, CA.

Roger Corman, the independent filmmaker known as the “King of the Bs,” has died at the age of 98. The Oscar-winning director and producer of films like 1959’s The Wasp Woman and 1960’s The Little Shop of Horrors, died at his home in Santa Monica on Thursday, May 9th.

Ivan F. Boesky, the disgraced 1980s financier who inspired the cutthroat corporate raider Gordon Gekko character of Oliver Stone’s 1987 film Wall Street, died in his sleep today at his home in San Diego. He was 87.

Alice Stewart, a CNN political commentator who worked on several GOP presidential campaigns, has died at 58. Stewart's body was found outdoors in the Bellevue neighborhood in northern Virginia early Saturday morning. No foul play is suspected.

Dabney Coleman, the prolific, Emmy-winning actor whose six-decade career included a sterling run of 1980s hit movies such as 9 to 5, On Golden Pond, WarGames and Tootsie and whose TV work ranged from Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman and Buffalo Bill to The Guardian and Boardwalk Empire, has died at 92.

Tony McFarr, a stuntman best known as the double for actor Chris Pratt in blockbusters like Jurassic World and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, died of undetermined causes May 13 at his home outside Orlando. He was 47.

John Barbata, who played on the final Jefferson Airplane album and was successor band Jefferson Starship original drummer and also made hit records with The Turtles and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, has died. He was 79.

Charlie Colin, founding bassist of the rock band Train, has died after reportedly slipping in a shower. He was 58. Colin’s mother reported the death. She said her son was housesitting for a friend in Brussels, Belgium, when the bathroom accident occurred.

Oscar-nominated filmmaker Morgan Spurlock, director of the groundbreaking documentary Super Size Me, has died after a private battle with cancer. He was 53.

Darryl Hickman, a child actor in Leave Her to Heaven and The Grapes of Wrath, died at 92 on Wednesday, May 22, his family said. No cause was given. Hickman appeared in more than 40 films, having been a contract player at Paramount and MGM. He portrayed the youngest member of the Joad family.

Doug Ingle, the original lead singer of the rock band Iron Butterfly, has died. He was 78. Ingle was a founding member of Iron Butterfly’s original lineup, which was formed in San Diego, California, in 1966. The original band members included Ingle, Jack Pinney on the drums, Greg Willis on the bass, and Danny Weis on the guitar.