James Owen Sullivan (February 10, 1981 – December 28, 2009), better known by his stage name, The Rev, or The Reverend Tholomew Plague was the drummer and back-up vocalist for the band Avenged Sevenfold, and lead vocalist in the avant-garde metal band Pinkly Smooth with fellow Avenged Sevenfold guitarist Synyster Gates. Sullivan lived in Huntington Beach, California and was married to Leana MacFadden aka Leana Silver. He was found dead on December 28, 2009, aged 28.
Death of James Sullivan Sullivan was found dead at his home in Huntington Beach on Monday, December 28, 2009, at 11:00 a.m. The Orange County Police Department is investigating his death; they said that it appeared to be due to natural causes.
James Victor "Vic" Chesnutt (November 12, 1964 – December 25, 2009) was a singer-songwriter living in Athens, Georgia. He had been writing songs since he was five years old. Injured in a car accident in 1983, the paraplegic artist’s first big breakthrough to commercial success came with the release of the tribute album Sweet Relief II: Gravity of the Situation.
An adoptee, Chesnutt was raised in Zebulon, Georgia, where he first started writing songs at the age of 5. At 18, a car accident left him partially paralyzed, though it wasn’t long afterward that he realized he could still play guitar. After his recovery he left Zebulon and moved to Nashville, Tennessee; the poetry he read there (by Stevie Smith, Walt Whitman, Wallace Stevens, W. H. Auden, Stephen Crane, and Emily Dickinson) served to inspire and influence him.
Death of Vic Chesnutt On December 25, 2009, Chesnutt died from an overdose of muscle relaxants that had left him in a coma in an Athens hospital.
George Michael (March 24, 1939 – December 24, 2009) was a sportscaster best known nationally for his long-running American sports highlights show called The George Michael Sports Machine. Started as a local show in 1980 called George Michael’s Sports Final and then nationally syndicated in 1984, the nationally broadcast show was distributed for syndication by NBC until it left the air following the March 25, 2007 airing. Michael won a Sports Emmy in 1985 for his work on The George Michael Sports Machine.
Death of Geroge Michael Michael died on December 24, 2009 at 70 years old after a 2 year battle with cancer.
James Gurley (December 22, 1939 – December 20, 2009) was an American musician. He is best known as the guitar player of Big Brother and the Holding Company, a psychedelic/acid rock band from San Francisco.
Relationship with Janis Joplin A few weeks after Janis Joplin joined the band, James began having an affair with her. Once James and Janis became involved, he moved out of the apartment he shared with his wife and moved in with Janis. According to Janis, that arrangement ended the day Nancy came barging through the front door of Janis’s apartment. "What an embarrassing situation," Janis told Jim Langdon later. "His old lady comes marching into my bedroom with the kid and the dog and confronts us." James continued his affair with Janis for a while, but eventually returned to Nancy, who forgave both him and Janis, with whom she had a close friendship. In 1966, the members of Big Brother, along with their wives and children, all moved into a single house in Lagunitas, California.
Death of James Gurley James Gurley passed away on December 20, 2009, of a heart attack at home in Palm Desert, Ca, just two days before his 70th birthday.
Big Brother & The Holding Co. feat. Janis Joplin, James Gurley on Guitar
Brittany Murphy (November 10, 1977 – December 20, 2009) was an American actress and recording artist. She starred in films such as Just Married, Clueless, Girl, Interrupted, 8 Mile, Sin City, The Dead Girl, Uptown Girls, Riding in Cars with Boys and Spun.
Murphy starred in many successful films, including Clueless (1995), Girl, Interrupted (1999), Don’t Say a Word (2001), the TV adaption of the novel The Devil’s Arithmetic (2001), 8 Mile (2002) and Uptown Girls (2003) as well as many lesser-known films, such as Spun (2003). In 2004, she starred in the romantic comedy Little Black Book, and the critically acclaimed Sin City (2005). She starred in two Edward Burns films: Sidewalks of New York (2002) and The Groomsmen (2006). In 2009, she was cast in the Lifetime TV movie, Tribute, as the main character, Cilla.
Death of Brittany Murphy On December 20, 2009, Murphy was rushed to the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and pronounced dead. Her family said Brittany Murphy suffered flu-like symptom before death.
Cause of death February 4, 2010, the Los Angeles County coroner stated that the primary cause of Murphy’s death was pneumonia, with secondary factors of iron-deficiency anemia and multiple drug intoxication.
February 25, 2010, the coroner released a report stating that Murphy had been taking a range of over-the-counter and prescription medications, with the most likely reason being to treat a cold or respiratory infection. These included “elevated levels” of hydrocodone, acetaminophen, L-methamphetamine and chlorpheniramine. All of the drugs were legal and the death was ruled to be an accident, but the report observed: “the possible adverse physiological effects of elevated levels of these medications cannot be discounted, especially in her weakened state”
Brittany Murphy on Letterman
Updates
July 26, 2010 – Investigation is underway for possible toxic mold that might have killed both Brittany Murphy & her husband Simon Monjack.
February 25, 2010 – Brittany Murphy’s death was ruled “Accident”
February 4, 2010, the Los Angeles County coroner stated that the primary cause of Murphy’s death was pneumonia, with secondary factors of iron-deficiency anemia and multiple drug intoxication.
Dec 23, 2009: Retailers are pulling Brittany’s new movie poster “Deadline” – The poster shows Brittany in the bath tub (looked like she’s dying).
Dec 21, 2009: Autopsy is completed, but it may take up to 6 weeks for the result to be released (especially toxicology result). Autopsy found no signs of trauma. The family said she suffered “flu like symptom” before death.
Dec 21, 2009: Hulu & YouTube pulled ‘SNL’ Brittany Murphy skit.
Dec 20, 2009: Autopsy is underway. Her husband originally didn’t want autopsy. He claimed autopsy was against his Jewish belief.
Arnold Stang (September 28, 1918 – December 20, 2009) was an American comic actor who played a small and bespectacled, yet brash and knowing big-city type.
In films, he played Sparrow in The Man with the Golden Arm (1955) with Frank Sinatra and Kim Novak. In It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963) he played Ray, who along with his partner Irwin (played by Marvin Kaplan), owns a gas station that is destroyed by Jonathan Winters. He appeared in Hello Down There (1969). In one of the oddest movie pairings, he partnered with Arnold Schwarzenegger (billed as "Arnold Strong") in the latter’s first film, the camp classic Hercules in New York (1970).
As a voice actor for animated cartoons, Stang provided the voice for Popeye’s pal Shorty (a caricature of Stang), Herman the mouse in a number of Famous Studios cartoons, Tubby Tompkins in a few Little Lulu shorts, the famous Hanna-Barbera lead character Top Cat (modeled explicitly on Phil Silvers’s Sgt. Bilko), and Catfish on Misterjaw. He also provided many extra voices for the Cartoon Network series Courage the Cowardly Dog. On television, he appeared in commercials for the Chunky candy bar, where he would list all of its ingredients, smile and say, "Chunky, what a chunk of chocolate!" He provided the voice of the Honey Nut Cheerios Bee in the 1980s and was also a spokesman for Vicks Vapo-Rub.
Stang appeared on an episode of The Cosby Show with guest star Sammy Davis Jr. In one TV ad he played Luther Burbank, proudly showing off his newly-invented "square tomato" to fit neatly in typical square slices of commercial bread, then being informed that the advertising bakery had beat him to it by producing round loaves of bread. He played the photographer in the 1993 film Dennis the Menace with Walter Matthau.
Death of Arnold Stang Arnold Stang died of pneumonia in Newton, Massachusetts, on December 20, 2009. Arnold Stang was 91 years old at the time of his death.
Kim Peek (11 November 1951 – 19 December 2009) was an American prodigious savant known as a megasavant. He had a photographic or eidetic memory, but also social developmental disabilities, possibly resulting from congenital brain abnormalities. He was the inspiration for the character of Raymond Babbitt, played by Dustin Hoffman, in the movie Rain Man. He was not autistic and likely had FG syndrome.
Kim Peek was born with macrocephaly, damage to the cerebellum, and, perhaps most important, agenesis of the corpus callosum, a condition in which the bundle of nerves that connects the two hemispheres of the brain is missing; in Peek’s case, secondary connectors such as the anterior commissure were also missing. There is speculation that his neurons made other connections in the absence of a corpus callosum, which results in an increased memory capacity.
Death of Kim Peek Peek died on 19 December 2009, of a heart attack. He is survived by his father. He was 58 years old at the time of his death
Connie Hines (March 24, 1931 – December 18, 2009) was a retired American actress, best-remembered for playing Alan Young’s wife, Carol Post, on the 1960s syndicated and then CBS sitcom Mister Ed.
Death of Connie Hines Hines died from heart problems at her home in Beverly Hills, California. She was 78 years old.
Mister Ed: Ed Saves Christmas Part II of III Connie Hines is Carol (Blonde)
Jennifer Jones (March 2, 1919 – December 17, 2009) was an American actress. A five-time Academy Award nominee, Jones won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in The Song of Bernadette
Death of Jennifer Jones Jones enjoyed a quiet retirement in Southern California close to her son. She granted no interviews and rarely appeared in public. She died of natural causes at her home on December 17, 2009, aged 90
Jones married Selznick on July 13, 1949, a union which lasted until his death on June 22, 1965. After his death, she semi-retired from acting. According to media reports, Jones attempted suicide in November 1967 by jumping off a cliff; she was hospitalized in a coma before eventually recovering. Her daughter, Mary Jennifer Selznick (1954–1976), committed suicide by jumping from a 20th-floor window on May 11, 1976. This led to Jones’ interest in mental health issues.
Jennifer Jones
Jennifer Jones’ Filmography continues on next page
Chris Henry (May 17, 1983 – December 17, 2009) was an American football wide receiver who played five years in the National Football League for the Cincinnati Bengals. He played college football at West Virginia and was drafted by the Bengals in the third round of the 2005 NFL Draft.
Death of Chris Henry On December 16, 2009, Henry was involved in a car accident in Charlotte, North Carolina, where he sustained life-threatening injuries. Charlotte police stated that Henry fell out the back of his fiancee’s moving truck while engaging in a domestic dispute with her. On December 17, 2009, Charlotte police announced that Henry had died at 6:36 a.m. ET. No cause of death was immediately released.
Henry had been involved in a string of legal troubles during his professional career, which include several arrests for such offenses as driving under the influence, marijuana possession, assault, and criminal damage. He was suspended for the first four games of the 2008 season.
Brittany Murphy (November 10, 1977 – 
Kim Peek (11 November 1951 – 
Jennifer Jones (March 2, 1919 – 