Famous and Gravy

He was born in Kingston, Jamaica but spent much of his childhood in Brooklyn. In the late 1980s, the influential music producer Rick Rubin signed his group. In 1991, he had an early brush with death when he was shot in the right eye. He was born with dwarfism and stood approximately 3 feet 8 inches tall. He was a member of the Houston-based rap group the Geto Boys, who’s biggest singles were ”Mind Playing Tricks on Me“ and “Damn It Feels Good To Be A Gangsta”...

His early passion was for football, and he played halfback at Florida State University. He was part Cherokee. He had an often turbulent career that spanned some 100 films and countless television appearances. He had a volatile temperament, but he himself projected an air of nonchalance and professed not to take his career too seriously. He was a self-mocking charmer with laugh-crinkled dark eyes, a distinctive mustache and a hairy chest...

He was once described by his coach as “the single most devastating force in the history of the game.” He took part in the 1963 March on Washington and was seated in the front row for Martin Luther King Jr’s “I Have a Dream” speech. In 2011, President Obama awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom. He was remembered for his ability to enhance the talents of his Boston Celtics teammates even as he dominated the action, and to do it without bravado...

He wrote his most famous screenplay while teaching creative writing at Princeton University. Eight of his films each grossed more than $100 million domestically. He was an outspoken critic of the movie industry, and made headlines when he declared, “Nobody knows anything.” He was called the world’s greatest and most famous living screenwriter. He wrote ‘The Princess Bride’ and ‘Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Today’s dead celebrity is William Goldman...

She amassed No. 1 hits, chart-topping albums and four records that sold more than two million copies each. Her consistently benign music and initial squeaky-clean image caused many to compare her to Doris Day. More than anything else, she was likable, even beloved. For years she was a prominent advocate for cancer research, starting a foundation in her name. She played Sandy in the musical “Grease” alongside John Travolta and had a massive hit in the 1980s with the song “Let’s Get Physical...

She was just 19 years old when she first played her most iconic role. She offered wry commentary in her books on the paradoxes and absurdities of the entertainment industry. Her first book was made into a movie, directed by Mike Nichols. She had a recurring role on the British comedy “Catastrophe”. She dated Dan Aykroyd and was married to Paul Simon. Her mother was the actress Debbie Reynolds. She played Princess Leia in Star Wars. Today’s dead celebrity is Carrie Fisher...

In his last year of college, he won a student Academy Award for a documentary. After his sister died of a rare autoimmune disease called systemic scleroderma, he became a board member of the Scleroderma Research Foundation. He was cast in the 1987 Richard Pryor film, “Critical Condition.” He directed “Dirty Work,” a comedy starring Norm Macdonald and Artie Lange...

In 2009, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Although often simmering with repressed anger, his characters responded to injustice with quiet determination. He once wrote “I felt very much as if I were representing 18 million people with every move I made.” In a departure from acting, he directed the 1980 comedy “Stir Crazy,” starring Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor. He was the first black performer to win the Academy Award for Best Actor...

This person died in 2021, age 61. His brother Neil once told a reporter that he almost joined the newspaper business as a young man, but that he had deliberately botched an interview. By 1984, he spent four months opening for the comedian Sam Kinison. His sense of humor sometimes got him in hot water. A 2018 article about him said “The dedicated fan will identify two patterns in his television work: It is invariably funny, and it is invariably canceled...

This person died in 2016 at age 99. She appeared as a nightclub manager in Orson Welles’ 1958 “Touch of Evil”, and the same year as a sexy alien in “Queen of Outer Space.” She appeared on scores of talk shows, game shows, comedy specials, and episodic dramas. In 1989, she was arrested for slapping a police officer. She was married at least eight times, and called everyone “Dahlink.” Today’s dead celebrity is Zsa Zsa Gabor...