Famous and Gravy

This person died in 2012 at age 82. His most famous moment lasted 2 hours and 19 minutes. He was a quiet, private man, and at heart an engineer. He was part of a mission that capped a tumultuous and consequential decade.  On July 20th, 1969, he...

This person died in 2020 at age 80. He ran a leg of the Olympic torch relay in advance of the 1996 Games in Atlanta. He was an authoritative and unflappable fixture for millions of Americans. He had impeccable diction, and had a friendly rivalry with...

This person died in 2020 at age 60. FIFA, soccer’s governing body, voted him and Pelé the sport’s two greatest players of the century. His ability to surprise and startle developed a darker edge as he became addicted to cocaine. After he retired...

This person died in 2014 at age 85. In the 1930s, she was a determined child actress who sang and tap-danced her way to the height of Hollywood stardom. In 1972 she held a news conference in her hospital room after her mastectomy, encouraging women...

This person died in 2016 at age 53. He was a handsome, smiling teen-pop idol making lighthearted singles like “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go,” then arriving as a grown-up pop sex symbol with his 1987 album “Faith.” He was the most-played...

This person died in 2013 at age 95. His given name translates colloquially as “troublemaker.” The question most often asked about him was how, after all he’d been through, he could be so evidently free of spite. In 1956, he was arrested on...

This person died in 2014 at age 81.  In the 1960s, she joined the Chicago-based Second City comedy troupe. She was one of America’s first successful female stand-up comics in a tradition that had been almost exclusively male. In 2010 she became...

This person died in 2014 at age 82. He once said his technique of using biographical teasers to introduce songs drew upon the Arabic tradition of storytelling that he witnessed as a child of Lebanese immigrants. His biggest role off the radio was in...

This person died in 2020 at age 81. His career as a solo artist did not gain traction until he was 38.  He sang in a husky voice that exuded sincerity and warmth, and duet recordings were a prominent part of his repertoire. Long before the...

This person died in 2019, age 79. He inspired John Lennon to write the line “I know what it’s like to be dead” in the Beatles’ song “She Said She Said.” In the 1970s and 80s, his career cooled, while that of his sister flourished. He...