Dead Things Come in Threes

Thanks to Depends, She Did Not Actually Shit the Bed

Or
The Perfectly Dead Wife
(Props to Monty)
June Allyson, whose Depends commercials opened the door to celebrities profiting off their physical infirmities, has died of pulmonary respiratory failure at the age of 88. Without her bold admission of incontinence, we may never have known George Kennedy has bad breath, Jessica Simpson has acne and Bob Dole can’t get it up. She also acted a little. In the 1950s, the wholesome, perky actress was the go-to perfect girlfriend and wife for Van Johnson, Jimmy Stewart and Robert Walker among others, in such films as Two Girls and a Sailor, The Bride Goes Wild, Her Highness and the Bellboy, The Stratton Story, Strategic Air Command. She partnered on and off screen with Dick Powell, sharing a rocky marriage and screen time in some mediocre movies before his death from cancer led to her alcoholism. Other roles included a lesbian murderess in They Only Kill Their Masters, her own variety show, and TV spots in Airwolf, Crazy Like a Fox and Misfits of Science.

Dawn dropped her after 2004 and Mark dropped her after 2005, his 5th premature deletion, allowing Mike to take first place for the first time ever with his third solo hit, building a commanding points lead.

Da End

Or
Da Dead
(Kudos to Michelle)
Crusty character actor Barnard Hughes has died at the age of 90. He was the computer programmer whose chess program was manipulated into the evil Tron. He was cranky country doc Aurelius Hogue in Doc Hollywood. He killed his wife so he could date his high-school sweetheart on a classic episode of Homicide: Life on the Street. He won a Tony in 1978 for best actor in Da, then reprised the role of the lovably lazy Irish widower a decade later on screen. He was sitcom poison, riding Doc, Mr. Merlin and The Cavanaughs into the ground within the first season, albeit with an assist from Christine Ebersole on that last one. He was better in smaller increments, as Bob Hartley’s dad on The Bob Newhart Show and an Emmy-winning guest stint as a senile judge on Lou Grant.

Hughes death was much ado about something for Michelle’s Dead and Deaderer, which moves into 8th.

Sayonara
(An epitaphany shared with Michelle)

Or
Better Dead than Red
(A cap tip to Michelle)

Or
Buttoned Up
(More from the Haus party)
Red Buttons, fiery voice of reason on the doomed ocean liner Poseidon, has died at the age of 87 from vascular disease. Buttons honed his comedy in burlesque and translated it to TV as one of its early stars with a successful self-titled variety show. Buttons won the Oscar in 1957 for best supporting actor for his portrayal of a soldier in a doomed romance in occupied Japan in Sayonara. He also played an unlucky paratrooper in The Longest Day, an innovative animal trapper in Hatari and the vitamin pill-popping bachelor who makes it to the bottom of the Poseidon. He re-teamed with Ernest Borgnine as disaster survivors in When Time Ran Out…

Red’s death puts Steve@the Movies’ in the black, as he joins the logjam at 17th.

And the Worms Ate into His Brain

Or
Dark Side of the Moon

Or
Shine On, You Crazy Dead Man
(Honorifics to Michelle)
Syd Barrett, troubled singer songwriter and co-founder of Pink Floyd, is comfortably numb, having slipped further into obscurity at the age of 60. Led by Barrett, the band set new standards for psychedelic experimental pop with Barrett writing most of the band’s early songs. However, Barrett suffered from mental instability, exacerbated by his daily use of LSD. His behavior grew increasingly erratic – such as smearing his head with Brylcreem and crushed tranquilizers which melted and ran down his face during one performance, or simply staring into space and detuning his guitar in the middle of another - and he left the group in 1968. Pink Floyd became one of the most popular rock bands of the ‘70s, but remembered their founding partner in the song “Shine On You Crazy Diamond,” and in their concept album about insanity “Dark Side of the Moon.” While being treated in various psychiatric hospitals, Barrett continued working on songs that eventually filled two highly regarded solo albums.