Celebrity picks for Derby Dead Pool 2006: R

 

Raabe, Meinhardt (Died in 2010)
Born 2 September 1915  (Jefferson County, Wisconsin, USA)
Dwarf actor who played a Munchkin coroner in the original 1939 film version of "The Wizard of Oz".
[Picture of Meinhardt Raabe]

 

Rainer, Luise
Born 12 January 1910  (Düsseldorf, Germany)
Actress - the first thesp to win two Oscars in consecutive years (1936 and '37).
[Picture of Luise Rainer]

 

Ramsey, Patsy Patsy Ramsey is no longer with us
Born 29 December 1956  (Parkersburg, West Virginia, USA)

Died 24 June 2006  (Atlanta, Georgia, USA)

Age at death: 49  (read death notice)
Mother of JonBenet Ramsey, a 6-year-old girl who was murdered in Colorado in 1996. Allegations that she committed the crime have neither been proven nor gone away.
[Picture of Patsy Ramsey]

 

Ratzinger, Georg
Born 15 January 1924  (Bavaria, Germany)
Elder brother of the Pope.
[Picture of Georg Ratzinger]

 

Rawls, Lou Lou Rawls is no longer with us
Born 1 December 1933  (Chicago, Illinois, USA)

Died 6 January 2006  (Los Angeles, California, USA)

Age at death: 72  (read death notice)
Soul, jazz and blues singer whose best-known hit was "You'll Never Find Another Love Like Mine". Frank Sinatra once described him as having "the silkiest chops in the singing game", whatever that means. Revealed in late 2005 that he was suffering from both brain and lung cancer; the latter killed him in January '06.
[Picture of Lou Rawls]

 

Rayner, Claire (Died in 2010)
Born 22 January 1931  (Stepney, London, England)
Former nurse who went on to write about family health issues, becoming one of the UK's best-known agony aunts. She has also published a number of books about gardening as well as some fiction. Reportedly close to death in 2003 due to serious complications during surgery on a tendon, resulting in multiple organ failure, pneumonia and septicaemia.
[Picture of Claire Rayner]

 

Rea, Chris
Born 4 March 1951  (Middlesbrough, England)
Gravelly-voiced singer/songwriter of "The Road To Hell" fame.
[Picture of Chris Rea]

 

Reagan, Nancy
Born 6 July 1921  (New York, New York, USA)
Born Anne Frances Robbins, and subsequently nicknamed Nancy, the former First Lady took the surname Davis after her mother's remarriage. Apparently she gives her date of birth as 6 July 1923, though in reality it was two years earlier. She had a relatively short and uneventful career as an actress which ended when she married Ronnie in 1958. Since then she has been known for her anti-drugs campaigning and her dubious astrological beliefs.
[Picture of Nancy Reagan]

 

Reardon, Ray
Born 8 October 1932  (Tredegar, Wales)
Six-times world snooker champion.
[Picture of Ray Reardon]

 

Redford, Robert
Born 18 August 1937  (Santa Monica, California, USA)
Heart-throb actor who didn't make the big time until the age of 32, with his role as The Sundance Kid, alongside Paul Newman's Butch Cassidy. Went on to star in "The Sting" (again with Newman), "A Bridge Too Far", and so forth.
[Picture of Robert Redford]

 

Redgrave, Corin (Died in 2010)
Born 16 July 1939  (London, England)
Member of the Redgrave acting dynasty: son of Sir Michael, brother of Lynn and Vanessa, etc.
[Picture of Corin Redgrave]

 

Redgrave, Lynn (Died in 2010)
Born 8 March 1943  (London, England)
Member of the Redgrave acting dynasty: granddaugter of Roy Redgrave; daughter of Michael Redgrave and Rachel Kempson; sister of Corin and Vanessa Redgrave; aunt of Natasha and Joely Richardson...to name but a few relatives. Her most famous role was probably the title character in 1966's "Georgy Girl".
[Picture of Lynn Redgrave]

 

Reed, Lou (Died in 2013)
Born 2 March 1942  (Freeport, Long Island, New York, USA)
He of Velvet Underground fame.
[Picture of Lou Reed]

 

Reeve, Dana Dana Reeve is no longer with us
Born 19 February 1961  (New York, New York, USA)

Died 6 March 2006  (location of death unknown)

Age at death: 44  (read death notice)
Widow of Christopher Reeve and advocate of paralysis/stem cell research.
[Picture of Dana Reeve]

 

Rendell, Ruth
Born 17 February 1930  (London, England)
Best-selling crime novelist, dubbed by the tabloids "The Queen of Crime".
[Picture of Ruth Rendell]

 

Renton, Lord David (Died in 2007)
Born 12 August 1908  (place of birth unknown)
Conservative MP for Huntingdon, 1945-79. Now the oldest member of the House of Lords.
[Picture of Lord David Renton]

 

Resnais, Alain
Born 3 June 1922  (Vannes, Brittany, France)
French film director.
[Picture of Alain Resnais]

 

Reynolds, Burt
Born 11 February 1936  (Waycross, Georgia, USA)
Prolific US actor and first (nearly) nude male centerfold (1972, Cosmopolitan). Although he acted in some classic movies (Deliverance, Boogie Nights), he will be chiefly remembered for "good ole' boy"-type movies like Smokey and the Bandit, Cannonball Run and The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.
[Picture of Burt Reynolds]

 

Reynolds, Debbie
Born 1 April 1932  (El Paso, Texas, USA)
Was an unknown young actress until she was selected to play the female lead, Kathy Selden, alongside Gene Kelly in "Singin' in the Rain" (1952) - a role for which she had to learn to tap-dance from scratch.
[Picture of Debbie Reynolds]

 

Rice, Anne
Born 4 October 1941  (New Orleans, Louisiana, USA)
Best-selling authoress of numerous works of horror fiction, usually with the words 'Vampire' and/or 'Blood' in their titles. The words 'lard' and 'pies' also seem to have been fairly familiar to her, as by January 2003 she weighed in at 18 stone. Suffering from shortness of breath and high blood pressure, she underwent a gastric bypass operation in January 2003.
[Picture of Anne Rice]

 

Richard, Cliff
Born 14 October 1940  (Lucknow, India)
Actor, singer, colostomy bag-wearer and insufferably smug Christian.
[Picture of Cliff Richard]

 

Richard, Wendy (Died in 2009)
Born 20 July 1946  (Middlesbrough, Cleveland, England)
TV actress who has appeared in many a British sitcom over the last 40 years, most notably in "Are You Being Served?" Since 1985 she has played Pauline Fowler in the BBC soap "EastEnders". She has had two brushes with cancer, most recently in 2002.
[Picture of Wendy Richard]

 

Richards, Keith
Born 18 December 1943  (Dartford, Kent, England)
The guitar-playing Rolling Stone with the distinctive death-warmed-up constitution.
[Picture of Keith Richards]

 

Richie, Nicole
Born 21 September 1981  (Berkeley, California, USA)
Adopted daughter of singer Lionel Richie, former best-friend-forever-until-I-fall-out-with-you to Paris Hilton, and utterly vapid reality TV star.
[Picture of Nicole Richie]

 

Rickles, Don
Born 8 May 1926  (New York, New York, USA)
Stand-up comedian, comic actor and talk show whore.
[Picture of Don Rickles]

 

Rivers, Joan
Born 8 June 1933  (Brooklyn, New York, USA)
Gruff-voiced, surgically-enhanced comedienne, talk show host and general all-purpose celebrity.
[Picture of Joan Rivers]

 

Roach, Max (Died in 2007)
Born 10 January 1924  (New Land, North Carolina, USA)
Jazz drummer of the 1950s and '60s, now suffering from Alzheimer's.
[Picture of Max Roach]

 

Roache, William
Born 25 April 1932  (Ilkeston, Derbyshire, England)
TV actor, who, despite playing the part of Ken Barlow in "Coronation Street" since 1960, still manages to be more wooden than your average Ikea bookcase.
[Picture of William Roache]

 

Roberts, Oral (Died in 2009)
Born 24 January 1918  (Pontotoc County, Oklahoma, USA)
Oddly- yet appropriately-named American TV evangelist.
[Picture of Oral Roberts]

 

Roberts, William William Roberts is no longer with us
Born 29 September 1900  (Hartlepool, Co Durham, England)

Died 30 April 2006  ((unknown))

Age at death: 105  (read death notice)
World War I veteran.
[Picture of William Roberts]

 

Robinson, Eddie (Died in 2007)
Born 13 February 1919  (Jackson, Louisiana, USA)
The most successful (or, as the Yanks would put it, "winningest") coach in American college football history.
[Picture of Eddie Robinson]

 

Robinson, Norman (Died in 2004)
Date and place of birth unknown
World War I veteran. According to the books "The Last Tommy" by Richard van Emden (published Aug 2005) and "Last Post" by Max Arthur (published Oct 2005), he died in December 2004, but since we have no online source to confirm this, we're leaving him in this year's listings.
[Picture of Norman Robinson]

 

Robinson, Robert (Died in 2011)
Born 17 December 1927  (Liverpool, England)
Journalist & presenter on TV (original host of "Ask The Family") and radio (current host of "Brain of Britain").
[Picture of Robert Robinson]

 

Robson, Sir Bobby (Died in 2009)
Born 18 February 1933  (Sacriston, Co Durham, England)
Football manager who has taken charge of, among others, Ipswich Town, PSV Eindhoven, Barcelona, Newcastle United and of course the English national side.
[Picture of Sir Bobby Robson]

 

Rockefeller, David
Born 12 June 1915  (New York, New York, USA)
Absurdly rich banker (of Chase Manhattan fame); son of John D. Rockefeller Jr. and grandson of oil tycoon John D. Rockefeller Sr.
[Picture of David Rockefeller]

 

Rogers, Kenny
Born 21 August 1938  (Houston, Texas, USA)
Bearded country & western singer.
[Picture of Kenny Rogers]

 

Rogers, Peter (Died in 2009)
Born 20 February 1914  (Rochester, Kent, England)
Producer of the "Carry On" films.
[Picture of Peter Rogers]

 

Rolt, Tony (Died in 2008)
Born 16 October 1918  (Bordon, Hampshire, England)
Former Grand Prix driver and Le Mans winner 1953. Also escaped from Colditz Castle, and later developed the four-wheel drive system for road cars. A pretty eventful life on the whole, it could be said.
[Picture of Tony Rolt]

 

Rooney, Mickey
Born 23 September 1920  (Brooklyn, New York, USA)
The young Joe Yule, Jr (as he was then named) had already appeared as Mickey McGuire in 50 short films by the time he was 13. He has followed a fairly busy acting schedule since then, but has never really regained the same recognition as an adult. He underwent surgery for a perforated colon in 1999, and had part of it removed, presumably leaving him with a semi-colon.
[Picture of Mickey Rooney]

 

Ros, Edmundo (Died in 2011)
Born 7 December 1910  (Port-of-Spain, Trinidad)
Musician, vocalist and band leader. Some call him the "King of Latin American Music". Others call him "Edmundo". He's known worldwide for his unique blend of modern and traditional Latin American music. Niiice.
[Picture of Edmundo Ros]

 

Ross, Diana
Born 26 March 1944  (Detroit, Michigan, USA)
Motown diva, of "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" fame. The former Supreme is no stranger to the law, and was recently busted for drink-driving.
[Picture of Diana Ross]

 

Roussos, Demis
Born 15 June 1946  (Alexandria, Egypt)
Tent-sized Greek warbler.
[Picture of Demis Roussos]

 

Rowling, J. K.
Born 31 July 1965  (Chipping Sodbury, Gloucestershire, England)
Absurdly wealthy author of the Harry Potter books.
[Picture of J. K. Rowling]

 

Rugova, Ibrahim Ibrahim Rugova is no longer with us
Born 2 December 1944  (Cerrcë, Kosovo)

Died 21 January 2006  (Pristina, Kosovo)

Age at death: 61  (read death notice)
President of Kosovo and leader of the Democratic League of Kosovo, not to be confused with those splitters in the Kosovan Democratic League. Tchoh.
[Picture of Ibrahim Rugova]

 

Rukeyser, Louis Louis Rukeyser is no longer with us
Born 30 January 1933  (New York, New York, USA)

Died 2 May 2006  (Greenwich, Connecticut, USA)

Age at death: 73  
US television personality. Former presenter of PBS "Wall Street Week", and until recently hosted his own show "Louis Rukeyser's Wall Street" on CNBC.
[Picture of Louis Rukeyser]

 

Rushdie, Salman
Born 19 June 1947  (Bombay (now Mumbai), India)
Novelist who ruffled so many feathers in his native India with his novel "Midnight's Children" that he was forced to leave the country. Clearly having learnt nothing from the experience, he went on to write "The Satanic Verses" in 1988, which was critical of the Islamic faith. It resulted in rioting, book-burning, and Ayatollah Khomeini declaring a fatwa (effectively a death penalty) on his ass. He has been in hiding ever since, and the fatwa was reaffirmed by the new Ayatollah in early 2005.
[Picture of Salman Rushdie]

 

Russell, Jane (Died in 2011)
Born 21 June 1921  (Bemidji, Minnesota, USA)
Well-endowed actress of "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" fame.
[Picture of Jane Russell]

 

Rutherford, Ann (Died in 2012)
Born 2 November 1920  (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada)
Film actress who was in "Gone With The Wind" among others.
[Picture of Ann Rutherford]

 

Ryder, Shaun
Born 23 August 1962  (Little Hulton, Greater Manchester, England)
Lead singer of the Happy Mondays from the end of the '80s to the mid-'90s. Now vocalist with Black Grape.
[Picture of Shaun Ryder]

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