Mrs. Slocombe is no longer free. Actress Mollie Sugden has died at 86, after a long illness. Best known as the irascible Mrs. Slocombe in the long running British sitcom "Are You Being Served?" who famous cared a great deal about her pussy.
posted by dnash on Jul 1, 2009 - 84 comments

With the world buzzing about celebrity deaths, it was an opportune moment for hoaxsters. A rumour that Jeff Goldblum had died spread quickly on Twitter, and "'Jeff Goldblum dead' was at 11am the third-most popular search term on Google". The actor's agent quashed the rumour, but not before Australian TV broadcast it as fact, complete with a touching montage tribute. Still, now he knows what it will be like when he really goes: "A surprise funeral? For me?"
posted by robcorr on Jun 26, 2009 - 78 comments

Children interview celebrities: Simon Cowell, Girls Aloud, David Attenborough, Richard Hammond and Quentin Blake. Audio slide show adding among others, David Cameron, Jacqueline Wilson and Jamie Oliver
posted by fearfulsymmetry on Jan 31, 2009 - 16 comments

From A-lister to Aid worker: Does celebrity diplomacy really work? Rock stars," asked Homer Simpson, with his customary sagacity, "is there anything they don't know?" Only these days, of course, it's not just rockers but movie stars and businessmen – and indeed anyone with an above-average public profile – who, for one reason or another, are intent on telling the rest of us how the world should be changed for the better. Or at least, that's how it seems. So much so that a conference of eminent professors of international relations assembled recently in The Hague to explore the modern phenomenon of what they call "celebrity diplomacy", amid fears that it has reached the point where superstar lobbyists are damaging the traditional workings of international diplomacy and global politics.
posted by infini on Jan 16, 2009 - 16 comments

Portraiture of the living dead. [some NSFW; via Bygone Bureau] [more inside]
posted by Korou on Dec 10, 2008 - 31 comments

The 40 Greatest Lost Icons In Pop Culture History
posted by telstar on Dec 7, 2008 - 56 comments

Meet gold-toothed Vegas rapper Thug "Money Man" Presley, cousin to The King. Real name Kristopher Presley, Thug has been serving time in jail and just pled guilty to involuntary manslaughter for running over someone with an SUV in 2004. [more inside]
posted by miss lynnster on Sep 2, 2008 - 53 comments

Celebrity computer endorsements throughout the ages.
posted by Artw on Aug 21, 2008 - 65 comments

The theory is one thing - but if you have ever dreamed of having the chance to conduct a full, professional orchestra at a major concert then you are almost certainly (*) out of luck. Sorry. Unless you are a celebrity in which case the BBC might fix it for you (full program trailer on YT). Giving it their first go are actors Jane Asher and David Soul, Drum and Bass star Goldie, Blur bassist Alex James, broadcasters Katie Derham and Peter Snow, and comedians Sue Perkins and Bradley Walsh as they compete to be the "Maestro" [i-player link for UK only unfortunately]
posted by rongorongo on Aug 13, 2008 - 25 comments

Garry McDonald, aka Norman Gunston, aka the "little aussie bleeder," may be well known out Australia way. For most Americans, however, Norman G remains far, far down under the radar. But he's the forefather of the UK's Ali G; he's Canadian Nardwuar thee Human Serviette's nerdier dad; he's America's Lazlo Toth (US) with a combover and a microphone; he's Jiminy Glick's Jack Sprat. Perhaps you saw Norman long ago in a segment on USA Network's Night Flight variety show. [bonus: many many youtubes of Night Flight segments, courtesy of this awesome website.] But I bet you didn't know he released a KIckaSS single (among others), jammed with Frank Zappa, and was at the right place and time to upstage a piece of Australian History. Not bad for someone whom Keith Moon dumped his drink on and called a "great pooftah." [more inside]
posted by not_on_display on May 4, 2008 - 21 comments

Children's TV host Mark Speight found dead in a remote part of Paddington station in London.
posted by auralcoral on Apr 13, 2008 - 23 comments

Max Koch is a writer/actor who does a few impressions, the most notable being an uncanny Tony Soprano. Also worth seeing: Gary Busey, Jack Nicholson and Al Pacino. Audio NSFW.
posted by davebush on Apr 8, 2008 - 33 comments

"It’s been six months since a sobbing plea on YouTube rocketed the then-19-year-old from Internet cult status to internationally-recognized icon. Yes kids, I said “icon.”" Previous pre-"leave britney alone" mefi post. [more inside]
posted by flyinghamster on Mar 25, 2008 - 70 comments

George Clooney meets the internet.
posted by flatluigi on Mar 17, 2008 - 89 comments

Marilyn Manson did it on home. Iggy Pop landed on his feet. Ingmar Bergman was (unsurprizingly) seized with icy terror. Burt Reynolds (surprisingly) not in a car. Paul Krassner epigrammatically. Zsa Zsa Gabor was taken by a god king. And there's Kirk Douglas... Dana Cook of Nerve.com compiles celebrities first times. (Language possibly NSFW)
posted by Smedleyman on Mar 4, 2008 - 40 comments

Excuse me, Ms. Ono, Mr. Gehry, Sen. Wellstone—pardon me Mr. Chomsky, Mr. Castellanetta, Gov. Ventura—would you mind signing this paper?
Oh no, don't sign your name. Sign mine.
posted by Partial Law on Feb 29, 2008 - 18 comments

The 10 Worst Celebrity Video Games Ever. Your favorite celebrity cash-in video game sucks. [more inside]
posted by Dr-Baa on Feb 29, 2008 - 35 comments

Papa Palmérino Sorgente, the Pope of Montréal [more inside]
posted by XMLicious on Feb 28, 2008 - 8 comments

She is intelligent enough to understand what the world wanted of her: that she was created as a virgin to be deflowered before us, for our amusement and titillation. She is not ashamed of her new persona — she wants us to know what we did to her.
posted by dhammond on Feb 26, 2008 - 147 comments

Hitchcock Classics as illustrated in the 2008 Hollywood Portfolio from Vanity Fair.
posted by dhammond on Feb 8, 2008 - 34 comments

Alison Jackson takes paparazzi shots of celebrity lookalikes. (NSFW) [more inside]
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane on Dec 19, 2007 - 8 comments

Though best known for his role as hunky Lance Rocke in Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, the actor/author was also distinguished by a career as a beefcake pin-up boy. Sadly, he has passed away at the age of 67.
posted by dhammond on Dec 6, 2007 - 25 comments

Who would you slap? (audio NSFW) Osama? Bush? Still want to slap Blair? Maybe Paris? Jerry? Maggie? [Thanks urban75 editor!]
posted by iffley on Oct 25, 2007 - 3 comments

Being Rachel Zoe (NYTimes) The life of a celebrity stylist. [more inside]
posted by ThePinkSuperhero on Sep 15, 2007 - 65 comments

What do James Stockdale, Drew Carey, Mike Wallace and Nadia Comaneci have in common? They, along with a long list of others, have all, at one time or other, believed suicide was the only answer to their various problems.
posted by Oriole Adams on Sep 5, 2007 - 76 comments

Lee Hazlewood died.
posted by tugena13 on Aug 6, 2007 - 36 comments

In a recent interview, Dita Von Teese discussed the time, effort, and manpower necessary to turn a regular person into a celebrity. Luckily, Planet Hiltron is here to undo all that work through the magic of Photoshop. Hiltron imagines an alternate world in which Pamela Anderson is just Pam from accounting, Anna Wintour lounges around in a terrycloth romper, and Nicole Kidman has all the Australian beauty of an Outback Steakhouse. Luckily, they always have their education to fall back on.
posted by Help, I can't stop talking! on Aug 3, 2007 - 55 comments

Celebrity Chef Christopher Walken prepares Chicken with Pears.
posted by Dave Faris on Jul 29, 2007 - 69 comments

William Shatner hawked Commodores. IBM tried the cast of M*A*S*H, but without Alan Alda, who played Atari. Bill Cosby was a Texas Instruments man. Compaq gave us some funny ones with John Cleese. Bill Bixby pushed Tandy with a straight face. Buzz Aldrin, The Pointer Sisters, Tommy LaSorta, and Tip O'Neil pitched the Amiga. I guess I should include George Plimpton's Intellivision spots. Apple's covered by everyone else. Who did I miss?
posted by Chinese Jet Pilot on Jun 21, 2007 - 41 comments

Turns out that Golden Globe-winning actress Natalie Portman (formerly known as Natalie Hershlag) is quite an accomplished scholar. In addition to being a Harvard psychology student, she worked in Dr. Abigail Baird's research lab and was the co-author of a peer-reviewed journal article investigating the neuroscience underlying the development of object permanence in infants. Quite impressive, in an age where Lindsay Lohans and Paris Hiltons dominate the headlines.
posted by charmston on Jun 19, 2007 - 101 comments

Mick Jagger joins his little brother Chris onstage in a pub. It's safe to say the 40-odd people in attendance at the The Bull's Head pub in southwest London were more than a little surprised to see the pair performing "Dead Flowers."
posted by dhammond on Jun 9, 2007 - 76 comments

People of the Web --very well done short video profiles of interesting people online. Mike Rogers of blogactive is on the front page now. Links to previous profiles are on the right, including Kirk Cameron, Caleb Shikles, Sherman Austin, and Josh Wolf.
posted by amberglow on Jun 1, 2007 - 3 comments

Amongst the many companies with offices in Manhattan is a multibillion-dollar French conglomerate that handles "diversified commodities, energy, shipping, real estate, manufacturing, and communications." The owner, Gerard, is one of the richest men in the world, and, at 75, his children and grandchildren stand to inheirit a tidy sum of perhaps half a billion each upon his passing. Unless you've been in a cave for a few decades, one of them has — given syndication, perhaps even daily — been making you laugh for a long, long time. A heiress and princess who you first met live from New York (where she met her husband), then a yuppie in a movie of Christmas indignities, and finally in a small, barely aired show about, er, nothing ... meet Elaine Julia, the multibillion-dollar heiress, Northwestern dropout, Emmy-winning actress, and even a distant relative of Richard Dreyfuss. And then compare her to a certain other celebrity heiress.
posted by WCityMike on May 2, 2007 - 52 comments

Famousr is a sort of celebrity hot or not.
posted by cgc373 on Apr 10, 2007 - 57 comments

Google Patent Search can be a gold mine for a historical trivia. See the design for bucket seats patented by Steve McQueen, the secret communication system co-created by Hedy Lamarr that paved the way for the frequency hopping used by modern cell phones, the disposable infant garment made by Jamie Lee Curtis, the interactive music generation system made by Thomas Dolby of "She Blinded Me With Science" fame, and other unusual celebrity patents made by inventors that range from Abraham Lincoln to Zeppo Marx.
posted by jonp72 on Apr 7, 2007 - 15 comments

Tattoos of Celebrities. "You really have to wonder how this person is gonna feel a few years down the road." [flash]
posted by Dave Faris on Feb 25, 2007 - 117 comments

Keep Burberry British. The 150 years old very british brand is now under a new management that decided to ...*surprise* move production to China closing Treorchy plant, firing 310 workers , despite a 25% increase in profits ! Celebrities from Prince Charles to Tom Jones are supporting the protest.
posted by elpapacito on Jan 28, 2007 - 72 comments

The 40 Best Celebrity Rumors Ever --from the editors at Nerve (and maybe nsfw, textwise). Sex, drugs, rock n roll, deaths, more sex, more drugs, etc. Dive in. But be careful. This stuff doesn't wash off.
posted by amberglow on Dec 12, 2006 - 27 comments

From Broadband to Broadway Video bloggers are the newest phenomenon to go from online to the mainstream. For example, Amanda Congdon, former host of Rocketboom, has a new gig as an ABC contributor. In fact, major movie and TV studios are increasingly looking to the Web for new talent for both on and off-line projects. Here's a list (with pictures) of the up and comers.
posted by PreacherTom on Nov 14, 2006 - 19 comments

Oodles of past and current interviews with both living and dead celebrities and interesting nobodies over at the support website for Andrew Denton's Australian television show Enough Rope. You will find video excerpts, some full interviews as audio downloads (the more recent ones), and lots of transcripts.
posted by sjvilla79 on Nov 7, 2006 - 11 comments

Celebrity Star Wars via CityRag via Egotastic
posted by geekyguy on Oct 25, 2006 - 6 comments

Would you like a little head from Tom Cruise? Drew Barrymore? Brad Pitt? Lou Costello? Faces of Fame can help you... lifemasks from dozens and dozens of famous people.
posted by crunchland on Sep 15, 2006 - 42 comments

Mike Douglas dead.
posted by KevinSkomsvold on Aug 11, 2006 - 42 comments

You might be a redneck if ... you enjoy Jeff Foxworthy Jerky. Or maybe you'd prefer some NASCAR brand meat. Remember when sports food tie-ins were simpler? Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio? via spofi
posted by mr_crash_davis on Mar 30, 2006 - 13 comments

America's First Superstar. He was the highest paid actor in the world, beloved by fans so passionate about his performances that a riot (23 people killed, more than a hundred wounded) ensued when a rival dared to perform the role that had made him famous. He enjoyed all the trappings of a superstar's life: portraits taken by America's most famous photographer, a large mansion (now a historic landmark), and of course a scandalous divorce trial (he lost). He was also one of the most prominent book collectors in the country. Edwin Forrest was born 200 years ago.
posted by matteo on Mar 21, 2006 - 19 comments

Creative Americans: The Carl Van Vechten Photographs Collection at the Library of Congress consists of 1,395 photographs taken by American photographer Carl Van Vechten (1880-1964) between 1932 and 1964. The bulk of the collection consists of portrait photographs of celebrities, including many figures from the Harlem Renaissance. Portraits include those of Tallulah Bankhead, Salvador Dali, Truman Capote, Dizzy Gillespie, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Eartha Kitt, and Joe Louis. They are all available in medium or high resolution JPEG’s or uncompressed archival TIFF versions.
posted by ND¢ on Feb 17, 2006 - 10 comments

Murder for hire, hypnotism, celebrity marriage, Federal agents, million-dollar yachts, hang-gliding "accidents", collegiate endowments, and diploma mills. Even the author of the piece has an interesting back-story.
posted by BitterOldPunk on Feb 10, 2006 - 7 comments

Redneck get busy. Video clip presenting the collapse of celebrity culture.
posted by The Jesse Helms on Jan 26, 2006 - 30 comments

What Would Tyler Durden Do is the latest home for Brendon, the one time head writer over at celebrity gossip sites thesuperficial.com & idontlikeyouinthatway.com (while his writing remains sharp & inventive, the domain names of the sites he writes for are getting longer & less original with each move). The usual content (updated several times daily) involves photographic embarassing invasions of celebrity privacy and absurdist writing.

Oh, I almost forgot - for the undoubtedly small percentage of the reading audience interested in watching Colin Farrel have sex with a playboy playmate, a digital copy of the illegal tape stolen from Farrel's house is the lead post on wwtdd.com currently.
posted by jonson on Jan 18, 2006 - 36 comments

Dead Celebrity Songs picks up where Elton John left off, providing custom versions of "Candle In The Wind" for a wide range of celebrity corpses including (but not limited to) George Mikan, Estee Lauder, and Spaulding Grey.
posted by jtron on Dec 14, 2005 - 4 comments