Celebrity picks for Derby Dead Pool 2006: L

 

La Lanne, Jack (Died in 2011)
Born 26 September 1914  (San Francisco, California, USA)
American TV fitness guru, real name François Henri La Lanne.
[Picture of Jack La Lanne]

 

La Motta, Jake
Born 10 July 1921  (Bronx, New York, USA)
Boxing legend, portrayed by Robert De Niro in "Raging Bull".
[Picture of Jake La Motta]

 

Lacoste, Lily 
Date and place of birth unknown
Heiress of the legendary Chateau Pétrus vineyard. Born 1907, exact date unknown. Died in 2006 but no obit...
[Picture of Lily Lacoste]

 

Laine, Frankie (Died in 2007)
Born 30 March 1913  (Chicago, Illinois, USA)
Crooner of Italian origin (real name Frank Paul LoVecchio), who enjoyed huge success in the 1950s, before rock 'n' roll rendered him obsolete. His UK chart records of 18 consecutive weeks at number 1 (with 'I Believe' in 1953) and a total of 27 weeks in the top slot in that year remain unequalled to this day.
[Picture of Frankie Laine]

 

Laker, Sir Freddie Sir Freddie Laker is no longer with us
Born 6 August 1922  (Canterbury, Kent, England)

Died 9 February 2006  (Miami, Florida, USA)

Age at death: 83  (read death notice)
Entrepreneur who started the cut-price, no-frills airline boom with his transatlantic Skytrain service, which he launched in 1977.
[Picture of Sir Freddie Laker]

 

Lamb, Willis (Died in 2008)
Born 12 July 1913  (Los Angeles, California, USA)
Winner of the 1955 Nobel Prize for Physics.
[Picture of Willis Lamb]

 

Landau, Martin
Born 20 June 1931  (Brooklyn, New York, USA)
Actor - starred in "Mission: Impossible" from 1966-69 and "Space: 1999" from 1975-77.
[Picture of Martin Landau]

 

Lane, Charles (Died in 2007)
Born 26 January 1905  (San Francisco, California, USA)
Skinny, bespectacled American character actor who appeared in minor roles in over 250 films. Born Charles Gerstle Levison.
[Picture of Charles Lane]

 

Lane, Mills
Born 12 November 1936  (Combalee, South Carolina, USA)
Lawyer, boxing referee and TV show host.
[Picture of Mills Lane]

 

Langford, Bonnie
Born 22 July 1964  (Hampton Court, Surrey, England)
Squeaky-voiced, lisping child star who won Hughie Green's "Opportunity Knocks" 'talent' contest and became a member of Equity at the age of 6. Went on to tread the boards on Broadway and in the West End by her early teens, and appeared in "Just William" and "Doctor Who". Had a nervous breakdown in the late '80s.
[Picture of Bonnie Langford]

 

Lansbury, Angela
Born 16 October 1925  (London, England)
British stage and screen actress, who has spent most of her working life in the US, often playing characters much older than herself. Best known as Jessica Fletcher in the long-running TV detective series 'Murder, She Wrote'.
[Picture of Angela Lansbury]

 

Large, Eddie
Born 25 June 1942  (Glasgow, Scotland)
About three-quarters of the famous Little & Large double act.
[Picture of Eddie Large]

 

Laughlin, Tom (Died in 2013)
Born 10 August 1931  (Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA)
Actor whose most successful films by far were 'Billy Jack' (1971) and its sequel 'The Trial of Billy Jack' (1974), after which his career bombed. Was credited in films under 9 different aliases, including, bizarrely, Mary Rose Solti. Announced in 1992 that he was going to run for President, but no-one took him seriously.
[Picture of Tom Laughlin]

 

Laver, Rod
Born 9 August 1938  (Rockhampton, Queensland, Australia)
Australian tennis player who enjoyed his greatest successes in the '60s.
[Picture of Rod Laver]

 

Le Pen, Jean-Marie
Born 20 June 1928  (La Trinité-sur-Mer, Brittany, France)
Founder (and still president) of the right-wing Front National party, who has courted controversy throughout his life. Some of his "achievements" have included practising torture in Algeria (allegedly), and losing his seat in the European Parliament for assaulting a rival socialist candidate during an earlier election campaign.
[Picture of Jean-Marie Le Pen]

 

Lee, Christopher
Born 27 May 1922  (Belgravia, London, England)
Actor who has appeared in countless cheesy horror films, particularly those made by Hammer during the 1950s-70s. Last seen storming off in a massive huff after discovering that his character, Saruman, had been totally written out of the final instalment of Peter Jackson's "Lord of the Rings" trilogy during post-production.
[Picture of Christopher Lee]

 

Lee, Harper
Born 28 April 1926  (Monroeville, Alabama, USA)
Authoress - "To Kill a Mockingbird".
[Picture of Harper Lee]

 

Lee, Stan
Born 22 December 1922  (New York, New York, USA)
Cartoonist who created "Spider-Man" and "The Hulk".
[Picture of Stan Lee]

 

Leigh, Mike
Born 20 February 1943  (Salford, Lancashire, England)
Film director.
[Picture of Mike Leigh]

 

Lesh, Phil
Born 15 March 1940  (Berkeley, California, USA)
Founding member of the band Grateful Dead, and played bass guitar in the band throughout their entire 30-year career.
[Picture of Phil Lesh]

 

Leslie, Ann
Date and place of birth unknown
Daily Mail columnist.
[Picture of Ann Leslie]

 

Lessing, Doris (Died in 2013)
Born 22 October 1919  (Kermanshah, Persia (now Iran))
Novelist whose works are strongly influenced by politics, psychology and her own upbringing in colonial Africa. She has often been described as a feminist writer, although she shuns this label.
[Picture of Doris Lessing]

 

Lévi-Strauss, Claude (Died in 2009)
Born 28 November 1908  (Brussels, Belgium)
Anthropologist and all-round intellectual who, in works such as "Anthropologie structurale", developed theories adapted from the structuralist ideas of linguist Ferdinand de Saussure. No relation to that bloke wot invented jeans.
[Picture of Claude Lévi-Strauss]

 

Lewis, Al Al Lewis is no longer with us
Born 30 April 1910  (New York, New York, USA)

Died 4 February 2006  (New York, New York, USA)

Age at death: 95  (read death notice)
Grandpa Munster. Had to have part of his right leg and some toes on his left foot amputated after problems during surgery in 2003. Some reports after his death claimed that he was in fact only 82 when he died; it doesn't make any difference as far as points are concerned.
[Picture of Al Lewis]

 

Lewis, Jerry
Born 16 March 1926  (Newark, New Jersey, USA)
Actor, writer, director, producer and composer, born Joseph Levitch. Formed a partnership with Dean Martin and made 18 films with him in 10 years, before going on to have his greatest success in 'The Nutty Professor' (1963). Now suffering badly from diabetes and pulmonary fibrosis, and looking increasingly infirm.
[Picture of Jerry Lewis]

 

Lewis, Jerry Lee
Born 29 September 1935  (Ferriday, Louisiana, USA)
The piano-playing rock-n-roller with balls of fire so great that he married his thirteen-year-old cousin and once turned up at Graceland with a gun, threatening to kill Elvis. He has succeeded in surviving where just about everyone around him has failed: his son was killed in a car crash, his fourth wife drowned in a swimming pool, and his fifth wife died of a drugs overdose. Wonder why his nickname is "The Killer"?
[Picture of Jerry Lee Lewis]

 

Lewis, Stephen
Born in London, England  (exact date unknown)
TV actor - played the part of Blakey in "On the Buses". Born 1936.
[Picture of Stephen Lewis]

 

Lightfoot, Gordon
Born 17 November 1938  (Orillia, Ontario, Canada)
Canadian singer/songwriter, perhaps best known in the UK for "If You Could Read My Mind", the backing track often used in Dom Joly's "Trigger-Happy TV".
[Picture of Gordon Lightfoot]

 

Lilian of Sweden, Princess (Died in 2013)
Born 30 August 1915  (Swansea, Wales)
Née Lilian May Davies. Widow of the late Prince Bertil of Sweden. She is still active in the Swedish royal family.
[Picture of Princess Lilian of Sweden]

 

Lincoln, Henry
Born in London, England  (exact date unknown)
Author - wrote "Holy Blood, Holy Grail" (the basis of "The Da Vinci Code") and some of the Doctor Who stories. Born 1930.
[Picture of Henry Lincoln]

 

Linkletter, Art (Died in 2010)
Born 17 July 1912  (Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, Canada)
Presenter of lame shows on US TV, such as "Kids Say the Darnedest Things". A kind of American Denis Norden.
[Picture of Art Linkletter]

 

Lloyd, Fred (Died in 2005)
Born 23 February 1898  (place of birth unknown)
World War I veteran. According to Wikipedia, and also to the books "The Last Tommy" by Richard van Emden (published Aug 2005) and "Last Post" by Max Arthur (published Oct 2005), he died on 28th April of that year, but since we've seen no proper obit, we're leaving him in this year's listings.
[Picture of Fred Lloyd]

 

Lloyd, Hugh (Died in 2008)
Born 22 April 1923  (Chester, Cheshire, England)
TV and stage actor/comic. Was awarded an MBE in 2005 for his services to drama and charity.
[Picture of Hugh Lloyd]

 

Lloyd Webber, Andrew
Born 22 March 1948  (London, England)
Started composing music when still at school, and met Tim Rice in 1965. Together they wrote the scores for, among others, 'Jesus Christ Superstar', 'Evita', 'Cats' and 'Phantom of the Opera'. Three times married, most famously to Sarah Brightman, and older brother of classical musician Julian.
[Picture of Andrew Lloyd Webber]

 

Loaf, Meat
Born 27 September 1951  (Dallas, Texas, USA)
Real name Marvin Lee Aday. Although born in Texas - home of Houston, America's fattest city for the third year running - Mr Loaf moved to the West Coast in the 1960s. After appearing in various musicals, including "Hair" (and the movie of "The Rocky Horror Picture Show", alongside Patricia Quinn, Richard O'Brien and Jonathan Adams), he performed vocals on a number of albums before hitting the big time with "Bat Out Of Hell" in 1977. His partnership with Jim Steinman soon deteriorated, along with his career, and by the end of the 1980s he was bankrupt. But by the mid-1990s they'd kissed and made up, releasing the imaginatively titled "Bat Out Of Hell II: Back Into Hell". In 2003 he collapsed on stage at Wembley Arena, and subsequently underwent heart surgery after being diagnosed with Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome (an illness in which the patient thinks they are a law firm).
[Picture of Meat Loaf]

 

Lofthouse, Nat (Died in 2011)
Born 27 August 1925  (Bolton, Lancashire, England)
England and Bolton Wanderers footballer of the 1940s and '50s, who played over 500 games for his club and scored 30 goals for his country.
[Picture of Nat Lofthouse]

 

Lom, Herbert (Died in 2012)
Born 9 January 1917  (Prague, Bohemia (now Czech Republic))
Actor, born Herbert Charles Angelo Kuchacevich ze Schluderpacheru, but decided that Lom was less of a mouthful, and he may just have been right. Usually played supporting roles, including Peter Sellers' long suffering boss Charles Dreyfus in the Pink Panther movies. Moved into horror films in the 1970s, none of which were particularly memorable.
[Picture of Herbert Lom]

 

Loney, James
Date and place of birth unknown
Taken hostage in Baghdad in November 2005, along with Norman Kember. Released in March 2006.
[Picture of James Loney]

 

Longthorne, Joe
Born 31 May 1955  (Kingston-upon-Hull, Humberside, England)
Light entertainer and erstwhile TV star, now seriously ill with leukaemia and being kept alive by drugs and blood transfusions.
[Picture of Joe Longthorne]

 

Longworth, Eric (Died in 2008)
Born in Shaw, Lancashire, England  (exact date unknown)
TV actor - played the town clerk in "Dad's Army". Born 1918.
[Picture of Eric Longworth]

 

Lordan, Elaine
Born in Islington, London, England  (exact date unknown)
Ex-"EastEnders" actress, born 1966.
[Picture of Elaine Lordan]

 

Loren, Sophia
Born 20 September 1934  (Pozzuoli, Italy)
Glamorous actress, born Sofia Villani Scicolone.
[Picture of Sophia Loren]

 

Love, Courtney
Born 9 July 1965  (San Francisco, California, USA)
The original Riot Grrl, who formed Hole after being kicked out of Babes In Toyland. Wife of the late Kurt Cobain, she has had numerous verbal and legal scuffles with his former Nirvana bandmates. When not busy being controversial, she spends her time bringing up her daughter and taking heroin.
[Picture of Courtney Love]

 

Lovell, Sir Bernard (Died in 2012)
Born 31 August 1913  (Oldland, Gloucestershire, England)
Pioneer of wartime radar and radio astromony. Responsible for the building of the Jodrell Bank radio telescope in Cheshire.
[Picture of Sir Bernard Lovell]

 

Lowe, Ted (Died in 2011)
Born 1 November 1920  (place of birth unknown)
Snooker commentator, nicknamed 'Whispering Ted', due to the fact that he whispers, and his name is Ted.
[Picture of Ted Lowe]

 

Luger, Lex
Born 2 June 1958  (Chicago, Illinois, USA)
WCW wrestler (real name Lawrence Pfohl), whose finishing move is, apparently, the "Torture Rack". His partner and manager, Miss Elizabeth, was found dead at his home in May 2003; during the subsequent investigation the police found banned bodybuilding drugs on the premises, and he was arrested.
[Picture of Lex Luger]

 

Lynch GC, Joseph Joseph Lynch GC is no longer with us
Born 6 November 1912  (Wallasey, Cheshire, England)

Died 7 October 2006  (place of death unknown)

Age at death: 93  (read death notice)
Recipient of the George Cross and British Empire Medal for bravery during WWII.
[Picture of Joseph Lynch GC]

 

Lynn, Dame Vera
Born 20 March 1917  (East Ham, London, England)
A performer from the age of 7, who really made it big during World War II. Her radio programme, 'Sincerely Yours', on which she was both presenter and singer of dreary ballads, made her 'The Forces' Sweetheart'. Ironic, then, that she had her first number 1 hit shortly after the war with a song sung partially in German - 'Auf Wiedersehen, Sweetheart'. Despite this gaffe, she was made a Dame in 1976.
[Picture of Dame Vera Lynn]

 

Lynn, Loretta
Born 14 April 1935  (Butcher Holler, Kentucky, USA)
Country & Western musician, who boasts that her ranch is "the seventh largest tourist attraction in Tennessee". Dizzy heights of fame indeed.
[Picture of Loretta Lynn]

 

Lyonne, Natasha
Born 4 April 1979  (New York, New York, USA)
American actress ("American Pie", "Blade: Trinity", "Scary Movie 2").
[Picture of Natasha Lyonne]

 

Lyttleton, Humphrey (Died in 2008)
Born 23 May 1921  (Buckinghamshire, England)
Jazz musician and quizmaster on Radio 4's 'Sorry, I Haven't Got A Clue'. Still touring and performing with his band.
[Picture of Humphrey Lyttleton]

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