This person died in 2019 at age 70. His birth name was Edward Mahoney. He was the son of a police officer, and he was headed for that career himself when he dropped out of the New York Police Academy to move to San Francisco in pursuit of rock stardom – which he found in 1978. He struggled with drugs in the early 1980s, but he staged several comebacks, and found hits later that decade. He and his family had been the focus of a reality television show on AXS TV. His hits include “Baby Hold On” and “Two Tickets to Paradise”. Today’s dead celebrity is Eddie Money.

Famous & Gravy is created and co-hosted by Amit Kapoor and Michael Osborne. This episode was produced by Jacob Weiss. Visit our website at famousandgravy.com and also enjoy our free mobile quiz game at deadoraliveapp.com

If you enjoyed this episode, you may also like Episode 21 “Florida Man” (Tom Petty) and Episode 45 “Rebel Rebel” (David Bowie)

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New York Times Obituary for Eddie Money

“Why Eddie Money Was the Patron Saint of Rock Uncool” article in Rolling Stone

History of Levittown, NY

Eddie Money Geico Commercial

Homer Simpson sings “Two Tickets”

Dead or Alive quiz game

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This person died in 2020 at age 86. Over the years he was a favorite among talk-show hosts, making at least 50 guest appearances on “The Tonight Show”. He made an art of playing characters who are “gloriously out of their depth” and gleefully self-unaware. He appeared in more than 700 films and television episodes over a half-century. He was nominated for Emmy Awards for his roles on “Modern Family” and “Everybody Loves Raymond”. He was a frequent collaborator with the director Christopher Guest with iconic performances in “Waiting for Guffman”, “Best in Show”, and “A Mighty Wind”. Today’s dead celebrity is Fred Willard.

Famous & Gravy is created and co-hosted by Amit Kapoor and Michael Osborne. This episode was produced by Jacob Weiss and features a guest appearance from Saul Austerlitz. Visit our website at famousandgravy.com and also enjoy our free mobile quiz game at deadoraliveapp.com

If you enjoyed this episode, you may also like Episode 39 “Super Funkhouser” (Bob Einstein) and Episode 46 “Love and OJ Jokes” (Norm Macdonald)

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New York Times Obituary for Fred Willard

12 Unforgettable Fred Willard Film and TV Appearances

Fred Willard scene from ‘Best in Show’

“Wha’ Happened?” clip from ‘A Mighty Wind’

Fred Willard ‘Bold and the Beautiful’ appearance

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This person died in 2019 at age 52. His looks were often compared to James Dean. Before his breakout, his main credits had been a handful of soap operas. His mega-stardom was unexpected. In recent years, he made dozens of television appearances, including regular roles on the HBO prison drama “Oz” and the crime drama “Riverdale”. He played Dylan McKay, a bad-boy teenager who struggled with alcoholism on the hit TV show Beverly Hills 90210. Today’s dead celebrity is Luke Perry.

Famous & Gravy is created and co-hosted by Amit Kapoor and Michael Osborne. This episode was produced by Jacob Weiss. Visit our website at famousandgravy.com and also enjoy our free mobile quiz game at deadoraliveapp.com

If you enjoyed this episode, you may also like Episode 51 “Goofball Stud” (Bill Paxton) and Episode 44 “Inner Soprano” (James Gandolfini)

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New York Times Obituary for Luke Perry

Picture of Luke Perry as Freddie Bird

Luke Perry Makes The Cover of AARP

Sideshow Luke Perry scene on The Simpsons

Top 10 Memorable Dylan McKay Moments on 90210

Dead or Alive quiz game

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This person died in 2012 at age 71. In the summer of 1961 she was a summer intern in the Kennedy White House; she once said she was probably the only intern that President Kennedy had never hit on. Her second husband was the Watergate journalist Carl Bernstein. She was a journalist,  essayist, novelist, playwright, Oscar-nominated screenwriter, and a movie director — a rarity in a film industry whose directorial ranks were and continue to be dominated by men. Her box-office successes included “You’ve Got Mail” , “Julie & Julia” , “Sleepless in Seattle”, and “When Harry Met Sally”. Today’s dead celebrity is Nora Ephron.

Famous & Gravy is created and co-hosted by Amit Kapoor and Michael Osborne. This episode was produced by Jacob Weiss and includes a guest appearance from Erin Carlson. Visit our website at famousandgravy.com and also enjoy our free mobile quiz game at deadoraliveapp.com

If you enjoyed this episode, you may also like Episode 47 “Proud Mary” (Mary Tyler Moore) and and Episode 18 “Darling’s Critic” (Roger Ebert)

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New York Times Obituary for Nora Ephron

Nora Ephron’s commencement speech at Wellesley College

Nora Ephron documentary “Everything is Copy” by Jacob Bernstein

‘The Nora Ephron We Forget’ article in The New Yorker

Erin Carlson website, author of ‘I’ll Have What She’s Having’

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This person died in 2016 at age 83. He was an accomplished stage actor as well as a screenwriter, a novelist, and the director of four movies in which he starred. He made his movie debut in 1967 in the celebrated crime drama, “Bonnie and Clyde.” He had haunted blue eyes and an empathy born of his own history of psychic distress. His rule for comedy was simple: Don’t try to make it funny; try to make it real. “I’m an actor, not a clown,” he said more than once. In 1971, he was nominated for a Golden Globe for his performance as the wizardly title character in “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory”. This episode’s dead celebrity is Gene Wilder.

Famous & Gravy is created and co-hosted by Amit Kapoor and Michael Osborne. This episode was produced by Jacob Weiss and includes a guest appearance from Stephanie Okupniak. Visit our website at famousandgravy.com and also enjoy our free mobile quiz game at deadoraliveapp.com

If you enjoyed this episode, you may also like Episode 44 “Inner Soprano” (James Gandolfini) and Episode 35 “Likable Villain” (Alan Rickman)

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New York Times Obituary for Gene Wilder

Pure Imagination scene in ‘Willy Wonka’ sung by Gene Wilder

‘Will and Grace’ blooper scene with Gene Wilder

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This person died in 2016 at age 82. He was an unlikely and reluctant pop star, if in fact he ever was one. In the 1960s, he lived in a house on the Greek island of Hydra, where he wrote a pair of novels. He was 33 when his first record was released in 1967. In the early 1970s, his record company concocted an advertising campaign where they called him “the master of erotic despair.” Around 1994, he abandoned his music career and moved to Mt Baldy monastery, where he was ordained a Buddhist monk. His best-known song, a majestic and meditative ballad which has been endlessly covered, is called “Hallelujah”. Today’s dead celebrity is Leonard Cohen.

Famous & Gravy is created and co-hosted by Amit Kapoor and Michael Osborne. This episode was produced by Jacob Weiss and includes a guest appearance from Christian Swain. Visit our website at famousandgravy.com and also enjoy our free mobile quiz game at deadoraliveapp.com

If you enjoyed this episode, you may also like Episode 45 “Rebel Rebel” (David Bowie) and Episode 29 “Zen Comedian” (Garry Shandling).

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New York Times Obituary for Leonard Cohen

Leonard Cohen’s 75th birthday concert in Barcelona

Kate McKinnon sings “Hallelujah” on SNL after Leonard Cohen’s death

Susan Cain article on Leonard Cohen’s music

Malcolm Gladwell’s Revisionist History podcast on Hallelujah

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This person died in 2022 at age 68.  His act fit comfortably into the category of “family entertainment.”  He had a self-deprecating style that won him legions of fans, among them Johnny Carson, whose early support catapulted him to stardom. He had roles in “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” and “Coming to America”. He hosted “Family Feud” for three seasons. He was nominated 3 times for a supporting actor Emmy, which he won in 2016. His comedy routine often centered around jokes about his own weight, which topped 300 pounds at times. Today’s dead celebrity is Louie Anderson.

Famous & Gravy is created and co-hosted by Amit Kapoor and Michael Osborne. This episode was produced by Jacob Weiss. Visit our website at famousandgravy.com and also enjoy our free mobile quiz game at deadoraliveapp.com

If you enjoyed this episode, you may also like Episode 46 “Love and OJ Jokes” (Norm Macdonald) and Episode 39 “Super Funkhouser” (Bob Einstein)

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New York Times Obituary for Louie Anderson

Louie Anderson’s first appearance on Johnny Carson

Louie Anderson on playing Winston Churchill in Drunk History

“Why Christine Baskets Was One of TV’s Greatest Characters” article from NYT

Louie Anderson official website

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This person died in 2018 at age 88. When he graduated college in 1951 he had enough skill as a baseball player to earn a tryout with the Giants. He earned his PhD in American Studies from Yale in 1957. Beginning in the 1960s he helped create the enormously influential hybrid of fiction techniques into non-fiction known as New Journalism. He was instantly recognizable as he strolled down Madison Avenue — a tall, slender, blue-eyed, boyish-looking man in his spotless three-piece white bespoke suit. He authored “The Electric Kool Aid Acid Test”, “The Right Stuff”, and “Bonfire of the Vanities”. Today’s dead celebrity is Tom Wolfe

Famous & Gravy is created and co-hosted by Amit Kapoor and Michael Osborne. This episode was produced by Jacob Weiss. Visit our website at famousandgravy.com and also enjoy our free mobile quiz game at deadoraliveapp.com

If you enjoyed this episode, you may also like Episode 41 “Viva Bojangles” (Jerry Jeff Walker) and Episode 23 “Book Rancher” (Larry McMurtry)

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New York Times Obituary for Tom Wolfe

Article by Michael Lewis on Tom Wolfe in Vanity Fair

“The Making of Tom Wolfe’s Radical Chic” in Vulture

Trailer for ‘The Right Stuff’ movie

Trailer for ‘The ‘Bonfire of the Vanities’ movie

Tom Wolfe’s guest appearance on The Simpsons

Dead or Alive quiz game

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This person died in 2017 at age 61. He was described as good-natured in assessing his status in Hollywood. In a 1998 interview he said, “I haven’t had a role that’s propelled me into major stardom. I’ve had roles that put me on the playing field.” From 2006 to 2011, he played the lead role of Bill Henrickson on the HBO show “Big Love”. Early in his career, he had small parts in “The Terminator” and “Aliens”,  both directed by James Cameron. He played a car salesman who cheated Jamie Lee Curtis’s character in the movie “True Lies”, a treasure hunter in “Titanic”, an “Apollo 13” astronaut,  and a heroic storm-chaser in “Twister”.  Today’s dead celebrity is Bill Paxton.

Famous & Gravy is created and co-hosted by Amit Kapoor and Michael Osborne. This episode was produced by Jacob Weiss. Visit our website at famousandgravy.com and also enjoy our free mobile quiz game at deadoraliveapp.com

If you enjoyed this episode, you may also like Episode 46 “Love and OJ Jokes” (Norm Macdonald) and Episode 44 “Inner Soprano” (James Gandolfini).

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New York Times Obituary for Bill Paxton

Bill Paxton’s “MVP” IMDB page

How to remember which is Bill Paxton and which is Pullman from NPR’s “How to Do Anything”

Music video for “Fish Heads” directed by Bill Paxton

Bill Paxton given tribute by storm chasers image from The Verge

Conan remembers Bill Paxton clip

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This person died in 2021 at age 99. During World War II she drove a truck delivering soap, toothpaste and candy to soldiers. She began her career in radio by saying one word - “Parkay” - on a popular comedy show. In the early 1960s she was best known as a busy freelance guest with game shows as her specialty. She had a longstanding interest in animal welfare. Her television career spanned seven decades and holds the Guinness World Record as the longest ever for a female entertainer.  One of her best known roles was as Rose on the television hit “The Golden Girls”. Today’s dead celebrity is Betty White.

Famous & Gravy is created and co-hosted by Amit Kapoor and Michael Osborne. This episode was produced by Jacob Weiss and includes a guest appearance from Jennifer Keishin Armstrong.  Visit our website at famousandgravy.com and also enjoy our free mobile quiz game at deadoraliveapp.com

If you enjoyed this episode, you may also like Episode 47 “Proud Mary” (Mary Tyler Moore) and Episode 11 “Stiletto Comic” (Joan Rivers)

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New York Times Obituary for Betty White

Betty White’s Opening Monologue on SNL in 2010

Tina Fey and Betty White ‘census’ skit on SNL

Betty White Snickers Super Bowl Commercial

Forest Service makes actress Betty White honorary ranger

Guest Jennifer Keishin Armstrong’s website

Dead or Alive quiz game

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