This past weekend, Dick Tufeld, who provided the voice of the robot on “Lost in Space,” passed away at the age of 85. It was one of the first big TV personality deaths of 2012, and obviously won’t be the last. *Cash register opening noise* If you’re a betting (wo)man who has an inside tip that, say, Emeril Lagasse or Danny DeVito is going to croak this year, then you might want to join the Lee Atwater Invitational Dead Pool on Stiffs.com.
It’s one of the Internet’s most popular death pools, and the rules are as such:
Pick ten famous people you think might die between January 1st and December 31st. Each entry costs you 15 bucks, and at the end of the year, the list with the most dead celebs wins a sh*tload of cash. This year, First Prize is $3000 in cold, hard, American currency.
The highest TV person on the list is a surprising choice: 68-year-old Penny Marshall at #9 with 311 votes. Some very old people come after her, including 94-year-old Phyllis Diller at #29, 82-year-old Dick Clark at #31, and 91-year-old Mickey Rooney at #36. Jiminy jillikers! The further down the list you go, however, is when you start to see the WILD CARD selections, the celebrities with only single-digits votes, like Artie Lange (9), Andy Dick (7), and Bill Cosby and Bob Newhart (6). Then there are the single-VOTE selections, who could win someone a good chunk of change should they fall off a tall building or something. Here are but a few.
(Also: not that you’d ever, EVER wish death upon anyone, but: who do you think will die in 2012?)
Roseanne Barr, 59
Terry Bradshaw, 63
Chevy Chase, 68
Tony Danza, 60
Paula Deen, 65 (I can’t believe she only has a single vote)
Tina Fey, 41
Yakov Smirnoff, 61
Carrot Top, 46
Neither of the last two are TV celebrities, but, I dunno, wishful thinking?
