willow_25 | Feeling Morbid, Yet Vindicated

All the media coverage of celebrity deaths in the last week, Michael Jackson's especially, made me think of something I had not thought of in a very long time. I remember clearly that Jim Henson died on the same day as Sammy Davis Jr. I also had the vague idea that it was close to my birthday.

I never bothered to do any research that either proved or disaproved this notion, but over the weekend I was talking to my parents and they both thought Davis had died much earlier. I contended that they just didn't realize how long Jim Henson had been dead.

So, today while I was waiting for my bosslady to get back from a meeting, I looked it up. Jim Henson and Sammy Davis Jr. both died on May 16, 1990. Which was also the day Marlon Brando's son shot his sister's boyfriend.

Also today, there was a little article on New York magazine online about celebrities who died on the same day or in the same week, one far overshadowing the other. Obviously last week that was Michael Jackson, taking the attention away from Farrah Fawcett and Ed McMahon.

I don't remember 1990 that well, though. It was 19 years ago, I was younger then. I remember that the trial of Christian Brando got a lot of attention, and being young I was very struck by Henson's passing. Anyone remember which was the big attention getter then?