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Six degrees of celebrity deaths

By Colin Day

There's something going on in the celebrity cosmos. From pop stars to pitchmen, the rash of unexpected deaths is likely to have the famous and their fans asking, "Who's next?"

While the untimely passings may seem random, what connects these deaths is as valid as what links every celebrity to Kevin Bacon. Let's play Six Degrees of Celebrity Deaths.

David Carradine, 72, passed away due to autoerotic asphyxiation the first week in June. Attaining star status from his role in "Kung Fu," Carradine also appeared in Quentin Tarantino's film, "Kill Bill." Carradine directed his own film, "You and Me," which co-started Barbara Hershey, with whom Carradine had a domestic partnership. After the two broke up, Barbara Hershey dated Warren Beatty, who in turn dated Mamie Van Doren. In her biography, Van Doren admits that she had an affair with late-night talk show host Johnny Carson, whose sidekick was Ed McMahon, 86, who died June 23.

Carson's second banana on "The Tonight Show," Ed McMahon turned the introduction, "Heeeeere's Johnny!" into a catchphrase. McMahon also appeared on a series of episodes of "Larry King Live," the show where Elizabeth Taylor spoke about a friend's ongoing child sexual abuse trial in 2005. That friend was Michael Jackson, 50, who died June 25.

Although Jackson has fewer links to the movie business, his film "Moonwalker" allows our little experiment to continue. The film features several big names, such as Mick Jagger, the lead singer of The Rolling Stones. In 1971, the rock star married humanitarian activist Bianca Jagger, who was the former girlfriend of Ryan O'Neal, who later dated Farrah Fawcett, who died hours before Jackson at the age of 62.

Well known as an actress and sex symbol, Fawcett is famous for her role on the hit '70s show, "Charlie's Angels." Her husband of eight years, Lee Majors, received an invitation to play for the St. Louis Cardinals football team in the 1960s. In 1965, the team selected Joe Namath out of Alabama as their quarterback of the future. Namath premiered in the inaugural 'Monday Night Football' match in 1970 on ABC, which is now televised by ESPN. A recently made ESPN360 commercial features a pitchman that tries to sell ESPN on your computer. This man, Billy Mays, died June 28 at the age of 50.

Mays shouted OxiClean fascinations into infomercial junkies across the nation. Moving from the As Seen on TV product promotions, Mays promoted his show, "Pitchmen," on one of the last episodes of "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno." Leno packed up his late-night host desk after 17 years, leaving the show's airtime in the capable hands of comedian Conan O'Brien. After O'Brien's first week, the highest ratings went to David Letterman's "Late Show." One of Letterman's regular guests was a comic impressionist named Fred Travalena, 66, who died this weekend.

Known as "The Man of a Thousand Faces," Travalena was consequently the man of a thousand connections. He appeared on a short-lived sitcom called "Good Sports" with Farrah Fawcett, has a star on the same Hollywood Walk of Fame as Michael Jackson, and was a regular on the "Tonight Show" with Johnny Carson and Ed McMahon - bringing the weekend's Six Degrees of Celebrity Deaths a full 360 degrees.

Originally Published: July 1, 2009

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