No, Celebrity Deaths Do Not Come in Threes

[snopes]

It happens time and time again. Two celebrities — like Robin Williams
and Lauren Bacall — die within a couple days of each other, and people
start holding their breath. “Celebrities always die in threes,” they
say, post and tweet. “Who’s next?”

Probably nobody, if history is any guide. Despite the all-too-human
desire to find patterns in life, there really are none here.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/15/up...in-threes.html

[zarchery]

This is one of those things that I wonder if anyone actually believes. Or is it one of those things everyone sarcastically pretends to believe, like that 2012 Mayan apocalypse thing? I know that I made a post last week regarding Bacall's death and asking "ok who's number 3", but I was being tongue in cheek.

[Alarm]

Everyone, everywhere, every time dies in threes...
and fours, and fives, and thousands...

After all, there's always people dying, now, aren't there?

If you wait long enough, there's bound to be another aged celebrity death, a drug overdose, drunk driving accident, illness. It's called life, you don't get out of it alive.

[Dondi]

And even if such the case, the third "celebrity" usually turns out to be some minor actor you've barely even heard of. But celluloid heroes never really die...

[UEL]

Originally Posted by Dondi

And even if such the case, the third "celebrity" usually turns out to be some minor actor you've barely even heard of. But celluloid heroes never really die...

Although it was said with tongue in cheek here on the board, some of my Facebook acquaintances are using the death of Arlene Martel (who?) as evidence of this as a phenomenon.

For the record, I had to look up her name. I remember T'pring, but that was it.

[fitz1980]

Originally Posted by zarchery

This is one of those things that I wonder if anyone actually believes. Or is it one of those things everyone sarcastically pretends to believe, like that 2012 Mayan apocalypse thing? I know that I made a post last week regarding Bacall's death and asking "ok who's number 3", but I was being tongue in cheek.

I think you are overestimating people if you think that the 2012 people were just sarcasticlly pretended to believe. In 2014 it's easy to pretend you never gave it serious consideration. But back in 2011-2012 I remember it differently. Sort of like how you would be hard pressed to find someone who will admit to believing Y2K was going to destroy our infrastructure, but they existed. I has some neighbors who turned their garage into a Y2K shelter.

[DawnStorm]

Originally Posted by UEL

Although it was said with tongue in cheek here on the board, some of my Facebook acquaintances are using the death of Arlene Martel (who?) as evidence of this as a phenomenon.

For the record, I had to look up her name. I remember T'pring, but that was it.

Don Pardo recently died.

[TripleAAA]

I just noticed this today. I thought it was quite funny.

[Dondi]

I've been anticipating a lot of my favorite celebrities deaths, especially the ones I grew up with that are now into their eighties and above, like:

Clint Eastwood, William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, Dick Van Dyke, Gene Hackman, Carl Reiner, Tim Conway, Michael Caine, Robert Duvall, Sean Connery, Sophia Loren, Shirley MacLaine, Betty White, Carol Burnett, Debbie Reynolds, Doris Day, Rita Moreno...to name a few.

Not that I'n anxious for them to pass, but there is a lot of actors and actress that I'll be sad to see go. They just aren't going to live forever.

[Lainie]

I was really struck the first time I heard Nimoy speak and his voice sounded like an old man's. He was an old man, of course, and hadn't been young since I was a child, but it still made an impression on me.

[Psihala]

I get the same feeling whenever I hear John Cleese speak these days as well.

~Psihala

[TripleAAA]

Originally Posted by Lainie

I was really struck the first time I heard Nimoy speak and his voice sounded like an old man's. He was an old man, of course, and hadn't been young since I was a child, but it still made an impression on me.

He really does sound like an old man!

[UEL]

He's been speaking recently about his diagnosis with COPD. I'm wondering if that has wreaked havoc on his voice.

[Lainie]

I don't think so, what I'm describing was several years ago, and it was the same voice change I've heard in older people without respiratory disease.