The DeathList 2022

14 / 50 dead

Here is DeathList 2022. This is a list of 50 celebrities chosen by the DeathList committee, before the start of the year, for the fact they may die in 2022. The concise summary of the DeathList rules: Candidates must be famous enough such that their death is confidently expected to be reported by the UK media; Candidates cannot be famous solely for the fact they are likely to die imminently and only 25 candidates can reappear from the previous year’s list. After the record-breaking year of 2020, DeathList 2021 was a bit of a let-down with only 12 deaths, well short of the record of 20. Plenty of new blood on the list this year might give DeathList a much needed boost…

The 2022 List

Rank	Prev Year	Appear	Name	Age	Description
1	3	7	Dick van Dyke	97	Actor
2	13	10	Henry Kissinger	99	Diplomat
3	10	4	Angela Lansbury	97	Actress
4	11	6	Bob Barker	99	The Price is Right
5	12	4	Alan Greenspan	96	Economist
6		1	Nigel Starmer-Smith	78	Rugby Commentator
7	6	3	Loretta Lynn	90	Country singer
8	14	4	June Brown	95	Eastenders Dot Cotton
9	15	7	Jimmy Carter	98	Ex US President
10	22	5	Tony Bennett	96	Crooner
11	24	4	Dick Cheney	81	Politician
12	25	4	Queen Elizabeth II	96	Queen
13	26	4	Harry Belafonte	95	Singer
14	36	3	Mel Brooks	96	Comedian / Director
15		2	Mikhail Gorbachev	91	Former Soviet leader
16		1	Sir Bobby Charlton	85	Footballer
17		2	David Attenborough	96	Broadcaster and Natural Historian
18	5	5	Emperor Akihito	89	Japanese Emperor
19	16	7	Leslie Phillips	98	Comedy Actor
20	23	2	Rosalynn Carter	95	Ex- FLOTUS
21		3	Sandy Gall	95	TV News Reporter
22		1	Desmond Morris	94	Zoologist
23		1	Ted Kaczynski	80	Unabomber
24	39	3	Jean-Marie Le Pen	94	French Neo-Nazi
25		1	Estelle Harris	94	Actor
26		1	James Whale	71	Broadcaster
27		2	Cleo Laine	95	Jazz Singer
28		1	Bill Turnbull	66	TV Presenter
29		2	Jerry Lee Lewis	87	Rocker
30	17	3	Jacques Delors	97	French Politician
31		1	Denis Law	82	Footballer
32	20	6	Prunella Scales	90	Sybil Fawlty
33	40	3	Sidney Poitier	95	Actor
34	42	2	Burt Bacharach	94	Singer Songwriter
35	45	3	Stanley Baxter	96	Comedian
36		1	Robert Durst	79	Jinxed Murderer
37		1	Noam Chomsky	94	Intellectual
38		1	Bill Treacher	92	Eastender Arthur Fowler
39		1	Norman Tebbit	91	Politician
40	19	3	David Crosby	81	Crosby, Stills and Nash
41		1	Pelé	82	Footballer
42		1	Michael Gambon	82	Actor
43		1	Douglas Hurd	92	Politician
44		1	Silvio Berlusconi	86	Former Italian Premier
45		1	Marianne Faithfull	76	Singer
46		1	Milan Kundera	93	Author
47		1	Linda Ronstadt	76	Singer Songwriter
48		1	Jean-Luc Godard	92	Movie Director
49		1	Joss Ackland	94	Actor
50	48	4	Shane MacGowan	65	Pogue

Latest News

29th December 2022

Pelé rejoins Cosmos

Legendary football player, Pelé, has finally succumbed to cancer to provide DeathList 2022 with another success in the 90th minute of the year. Brazilian Pelé is considered by most to be the greatest footballer of all time. He scored 77 goals for Brazil in 92 appearances at a time when Brazilian football was at its peak winning the 1958, 1962, and 1970 FIFA world cups with Pelé starring in each. Ironically some of his greatest world cup highlights were where he narrowly missed goals. Pelé played most of his club football at Santos in Brazil, although famously played for the New York Cosmos in the North American Soccer League for two years at the end of his career. He suffered significant bouts of poor health in his later years, passing at the age of 82 from complications due to colon cancer. Pelé was making his first appearance on DeathList, being selected at number 41.

1 appearance: 2022 (41)

14th Death
Age: 82, Footballer, Cause of death: Colon Cancer
8th November 2022

No howler picking Fowler!

Bill Treacher, actor famed as Eastenders Arthur Fowler, has given DeathList 2022 yet another success. 92-year-old Treacher, while making his first appearance on the list. Treacher landed his first role on British TV in the 1970s with minor parts in a series of popular shows. However, it was in 1984 when he found major success being cast as Fowler at the launch of Eastenders on BBC TV. He played the role until 1996, having some infamous storylines including suffering an epic breakdown on Christmas Day 1986. In 1993 Fowler gets hit in the head with a frying pan by his wife Pauline who then throws a TV at him (maybe some meta comment about the quality of programming on it?). In 1996 he drops dead on his allotment after suffering a blow to the head in a prison riot a few days earlier. Treacher’s own life was, thankfully, nowhere near so eventful. He passed away after a long illness, suffering from ataxia since 2015.

1 appearance: 2022 (38)

13th Death
Age: 92, Eastender Arthur Fowler, Cause of death: Ataxia
8th November 2022

Ding Gone!

Leslie Phillips, star of Carry On films and the voice of The Sorting Hat in the Harry Potter movies, has passed away at the age of 98 to provide DeathList 2022 with another success. Phillips's movie career started in the late 1930s although it wasn’t until the late 1950s that he started to find success, appearing in three Carry On movies in 1959 and 1960. He had a knack for creating catchphrases - “Well hello…”, “I say…” and “Ding Dong” being the most memorable. He also appeared in the “Doctor” series of movies in the 1960s. He continued to be busy throughout the 1970s, 80s and 90s before his roles in the Harry Potter in the 2000s. Phillips was making his seventh appearance on DeathList, at number 19 this year.

7 appearances: 2022 (19), 2021 (16), 2020 (21), 2018 (21), 2017 (17), 2016 (29), 2015 (24)

12th Death
Age: 98, Comedy Actor, Cause of death: TBC
28th October 2022

Great falls to Hellfire!

Legendary rock and roller, Jerry Lee Lewis, has been laid to rest, to provide DeathList 2022 with another hit. Lewis's career took off in the 1950s as a pianist who pioneered rock and roll. In 1957 he had his first big hit with "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On", immediately following it with the monster "Great Balls of Fire". However, scandal derailed his career later that year when his third marriage was to his 13 old first cousin once removed. He continued as a recording artist for many decades although with significantly less success, in time transitioning to country music. He would also go on to have four more marriages, his fourth and fifth wives dying while he was married to them. His life was always full of incident, being arrested outside Graceland in 1976, allegedly intending to shoot Elvis and having multiple run-ins with the IRS being made bankrupt in 1988. He was truly a wild man. Lewis was only making his second appearance on DeathList, this year at number 29., having survived to the ripe old age of 87.

2 appearances: 2022 (29), 1993 (47)

11th Death
Age: 87, Rocker, Cause of death: TBC
11th October 2022

Not Murder, they wrote,...

Murder, She Wrote star, Angela Lansbury, is the latest contributor to the rich vein of form in which DeathList 2022 finds itself. British born Lansbury had a very long career in movies and TV, receiving an Oscar nomination as far back as 1949 for her performance in the movie Gaslight and also starred in the hit movie National Velvet in 1944. In 1962 she appeared in The Manchurian Candidate, however her most famous role started in 1984 in the hugely successful TV series, Murder, She Wrote, playing Jessica Fletcher. The show ran for 12 years and 264 episodes, providing Lansbury with 10 Golden Globe nominations along the way. In 2014, she was made a dame by Queen Elizabeth II. She was making her fourth appearance on DeathList, climbing to number and passing at the age of 96.

4 appearances: 2022 (3), 2021 (10), 2020 (14), 2010 (44)

10th Death
Age: 97, Actress, Cause of death: TBC
4th October 2022

Loretta not getting better...

Country singing legend, Lorretta Lynn has provided DeathList 2022 with another success. Lynn married at the age of 15, a marriage which would prove to be an inspiration for her songwriting which followed. Lynn signed her first recording contract in 1960 and soon found a level of success that grew through the 60s and 70s, perhaps peaking with her 1967 song Don't Come Home A-Drinkin' and 1970 hit Coal Miner's Daughter. She continued to be a very active artist through the 80s and 90s, eventually releasing her final album in 2021. Lynn died at the age of 90, making her third appearance on DeathList, breaking into the Top Ten at number 7 this year.

3 appearances: 2022 (7), 2021 (6), 2019 (39)

9th Death
Age: 90, Country singer, Cause of death: TBC
13th September 2022

Godard's Breathless

French/Swiss movie director, Jean-Luc Godard, has passed to provide DeathList 2022 with another success. Godard was born in Paris in 1930, to a French father and Swiss mother. He started to come to prominence with his first major film, Breathless, in 1960, which used many unconventional techniques and styles and was very successful generating much interest in the “French New Wave”. Later in 1960 he filmed The Little Solider which starred Anna Karina who was to go on to be his wife and star in a number of his early films. During his career he made more than 40 feature films and became a legend of French cinema, making his last film in 2018. He died at the age of 91 by way of assisted suicide, only the second DeathList candidate ever not to die of natural causes. Godard was making his first appearance on DeathList this year, at number 48.

1 appearance: 2022 (48)

8th Death
Age: 92, Movie Director, Cause of death: Assisted Suicide
8th September 2022

From Sceptre to Spectre

After 70 years on the throne of the United Kingdom and 96 years on the planet, Queen Elizabeth II, has passed away to provide DeathList 2022 with one of the highest profile deaths in its history. Elizabeth’s reign started in 1952 at the age of just 25, following the passing of her father, King George VI. Generally a popular figure, she steered the monarchy carefully through many changes and challenges, plenty arising from her offspring where failed marriages and other activities regularly led to the role of the Royal Family being called into question. She was an avid fan of horse racing, owning many successful racehorses, and also owned some 30 or so corgis throughout her life. Her final formal duty as Queen was an audience with Boris Johnson and Liz Truss, to appoint the latter as the new Prime Minister. It’s unclear how much this contributed to her ultimate demise. Elizabeth was making her fourth appearance on DeathList, in number 12 this year.

4 appearances: 2022 (12), 2021 (25), 2017 (24), 1990 (10)

7th Death
Age: 96, Queen, Cause of death: Old Age
1st September 2022

Breakfast host is toast

British TV presenter, Bill Turnbull, has passed away to provide DeathList 2022 with its sixth score. Turnbull was most famous for being a presenter on BBC’s Breakfast TV show, a role which he had from 2001 until 2016. His career in the media started on local radio and progressed to being a US correspondent for BBC news. Later in his career, he also joined the BBC religious show Songs of Praise. In 2017 he announced that he had been diagnosed with incurable prostate cancer, the disease which would eventually take his life. He was 66 when he died and was making his first appearance on DeathList, at number 28.

1 appearance: 2022 (28)

6th Death
Age: 66, TV Presenter, Cause of death: Prostate Cancer
30th August 2022

Red and dead!

Former Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, has passed after a long illness at the age on 91. Gorbachev entered the world stage in 1985 when he succeeded Konstantin Chernenko as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Gorbachev undertook a program of significant reforms including perestroika and glasnost. Over time Soviet countries steadily gained greater autonomy and the Soviet Communist party’s influence started to slip. Ultimately, in 1991, the Soviet Union collapsed, and Gorbachev was superseded by Boris Yeltsin, who became president of the new Russian Federation. In recent years Gorbachev had become a critic of Vladimir Putin but didn’t live to see the end of the latter’s attempt to rebuild a Russian Empire. Gorbachev was making his second appearance on DeathList, this year in 15th spot.

2 appearances: 2022 (15), 2019 (40)

5th Death
Age: 91, Former Soviet leader, Cause of death: TBA
4th April 2022

June Brown Bread

June Brown, better known as Eastenders’ Dot Cotton, has passed away at the age of 95 to provide DeathList 2022 with a quick follow-up. Brown’s acting career began in the early 1970s with a series of small parts in British TV shows. It wasn’t until 1985 that she made her big breakthrough, landing the role of Eastenders launderette attendant, Dot Cotton, mother of the evil Nick Cotton. Dot Cotton went on to become a household name, involved in endless implausible storylines, eventually leaving the show in 2020. Brown was making her fourth appearance on the list, this year selected at number 8.

4 appearances: 2022 (8), 2021 (14), 2019 (21), 2018 (36)

4th Death
Age: 95, Eastenders Dot Cotton, Cause of death: TBA
3rd April 2022

Mrs Potato Dead

Comedy actress, Estelle Harris, has passed at the age of 93. Harris was born in 1928 and started to make a number of low-key appearances in TV commercials and shows in the 1980s. In 1992 she landed the role for which she became famed, Estelle Constanza in the highly successful TV show, Seinfeld, playing George Constanza’s short-fused mother. After the end of Seinfeld in 1998, Harris continued to be active in TV and movies, including many voice roles. In 1999 Harris voiced Mrs Potato Head in Toy Story 2, a role she reprised in the subsequent Toy Story movies. Harris was making her first appearance on the list, selected at number 25.

1 appearance: 2022 (25)

3rd Death
Age: 94, Actor, Cause of death: Natural causes
10th January 2022

Ashes to ashes, Durst to dust!

Robert Durst, the recently convicted murderer, has quickly brought his full life prison sentence to an end, passing away from a cardiac arrest. Durst was a multimillionaire real estate heir, although had little involvement with the family business, the Durst Organization. Durst shot to fame when he was the star of an HBO Documentary “The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst”, which set out to explore the terrible series of misfortune that had followed Durst since the sudden disappearance of his wife in 1982. In 2000, Susan Berman, Durst’s friend was mysteriously gunned down in her home. In 2001, misfortune struck again, when an elderly neighbour of Durst’s disappeared and turned up dismembered, floating in a nearby bay. In 2010 Durst contacted movie director Andrew Jarecki inviting him to interview him about the misfortunes he had suffered. The series was shown in 2015. In the final interview with Durst, while alone in a room with his microphone still on, Durst appears to admit to the murders. Durst was arrested and tried in 2021 for the murder of Susan Berman. He was found guilty and sentenced to life. During the trial, Durst’s health deteriorated including a bout of Covid-19. Durst was making his first appearance on DeathList, lasting just 10 days at number 36.

1 appearance: 2022 (36)

2nd Death
Age: 79, Jinxed Murderer, Cause of death: Cardiac Arrest
7th January 2022

Poitier not coming to dinner!

Sidney Poitier, pioneering black actor, has kicked off DeathList 2022 with a bang, passing at the age of 94. Poitier’s movie career started in 1950 and developed through the next two decades with his most famous appearances being in To Sir, With Love, In The Heat of the Night and Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, all roles addressing racial issues. In 1964 he became the first black actor to win an Oscar for a leading role in Lilies of the Field. In the 1970s Poitier became a director, his most well-known work being Stir Crazy starring Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor. In 2002 Poitier was awarded an Honorary Academy Award for his contribution to American cinema. Poitier was making his third appearance on DeathList, this year at number 33.

3 appearances: 2022 (33), 2021 (40), 2019 (36)

1st Death
Age: 95, Actor, Cause of death: Natural Causes