On every episode we choose a celebrity who died between 1 and 10 years ago. We then go through a series of structured categories. We start by rating the first line of their NYT obituary on a scale of 1–10. We then look at their life stats, we speculate on their inner lives, and we ultimately answer the question "Would I want that life?" Each category helps weigh the desirability of a given life. Our approach is that of an empathetic biography. Our dead celebrities cross many categories of fame, including film, TV, sports, music, politics, literature, and more. Our goal is to make serious topics fun.
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Mind Traveler
When he moved to California in the early 1960s, he befriended the poet Thom Gunn, began entering weight-lifting competitions and joined the Hells Angels on motorcycle trips to the Grand Canyon. As a medical doctor and a writer, he achieved a level of popular renown rare among scientists. He first won widespread attention in 1973 for his book “Awakenings,” about a group of patients with an atypical form of encephalitis or “sleeping sickness” who responded to a new drug treatment with a partial rebirth. In the film adaptation his character was played by Robin Williams. Today’s dead celebrity is Oliver Sacks
Famous & Gravy is created and co-hosted by Amit Kapoor and Michael Osborne. This episode was produced by Evan Sherer, and features guest host Nicholas Weiler. Play our mobile quiz game at deadoraliveapp.com and sign up for our newsletter at famousandgravy.com
If you enjoyed this episode, you may also like Episode 26 “Wild Thing” (Maurice Sendak) and Episode 35 “Likable Villain” (Alan Rickman).
Links:
Transcript of this episode
New York Times Obituary for Oliver Sacks
Live interview with Radiolab’s Robert Krulwich
From Our Neurons to Yours podcast from Stanford Neuroscience
1989 PBS Newshour Profile of Oliver Sacks
Famous & Gravy official website
Famous & Gravy on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter
Dead or Alive Quiz Game
Half Price Books
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