List of premature obituaries

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Various notable people have had their death announced in error. This page lists both formal obituaries and published or broadcast reports of deaths (but not mere rumours of deaths).

Alan Abel, who staged his own death as an elaborate hoax in 1979 to get his obituary published in the New York Times.
Nnamdi Azikiwe, reported dead by Nigerian newspapers days before his actual death.
William Baer (a New York University professor), published in the New York Times in 1942 as a result of a hoax by his students.
Tom Baker, erroneously reported in several (unidentified) reference books published in the late 1980s as having died of a drug overdose in 1982. (See Tom Baker article.)
Pope Benedict XV, announced by an (unidentified) New York newspaper with the front-page headline "Pope Benedict XV is dead", followed by a later edition headlined "Pope has remarkable recovery."
Jello Biafra: Reports of Biafra being shot to death in his bathroom were posted on the Internet in the mid-to-late 1990s ; Biafra later mocked these rumors on his 2000 spoken word album Become the Media.
James Brady, who was shot in the 1981 assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan. Some media reports announced that Brady had died.
Kurt Cobain, was declared dead by CNN after an overdose in Rome in March, 1994.
Jeffrey Combs had been declared dead in the hours after the September 11, 2001 attacks when he was confused with a man named Jeffrey Coombs (note the extra 'o' in the last name) - who was aboard hijacked American Airlines Flight 11, which was later crashed into the World Trade Center. Combs the actor was pronounced dead by news media outlets and had to announce publicly that he was still alive.
Alice Cooper: when Melody Maker magazine confused readers by publishing a satirical concert review in the form of a mock obituary. Alice Cooper later reassured fans: "I'm alive, and drunk as usual."
Lord Desborough on 2 December 1920, when The Times confused him with Lord Bessborough.
Joe DiMaggio, broadcast by NBC in 1999 following newspaper reports that he was close to death.
Ian Dury, announced on XFM radio by Bob Geldof in 1998, possibly due to hoax information from a listener disgruntled at the station's change of ownership. The incident caused music paper NME to call Geldof "the world's worst DJ."
Will Ferrell, reported to have died on March 15, 2006 by iNewswire. A press release claimed that Ferrell died in a para-gliding accident in Torrey Pines, California. Ferrell has never been para-gliding.[link]
Louise Fletcher, reported to have died on August 29, 2005 by the Internet Movie Database. The deceased was later discovered to have been another person of the same name. (See also Harley Race)
Frank Gorshin, when a Los Angeles newspaper misreported his motor accident in 1957. He had suffered a fractured skull and was unconscious for four days.
Robert Graves, reported dead in 1916 after receiving life-threatening injuries at the Battle of the Somme. (The report however may only have been made to his family.)
Ernest Hemingway, After the author and his wife Mary Welsh Hemingway were in an African plane crash in 1954, newspapers around the world reported that both had died. Hemingway suffered extensive injuries in the crash, not least of all to his pride: it is rumored that he received the Nobel Prize later that year when the Swedish Academy regretted that they had almost let him die without it.
Michael Heseltine MP in 1994, when then-DJ Chris Morris implied on BBC Radio 1 (as a joke) that he had died. This led to an on-air tribute by fellow MP Jerry Hayes (during which Morris managed to make Hayes laugh innappropriately), and Morris's subsequent suspension. (See also Jimmy Savile)
Bob Hope had two premature obituaries - one in 1998 erroneously posted on the Associated Press web site and then announced in the United States House of Representatives, and another in 2003 when several famous figures had pre-written obituaries published on CNN's web site due to a lapse in password protection.
Pope John Paul II: on the eve of his death on April 1, 2005 after reports went out that his ECG had gone flat. The claim was removed after the Vatican clarified that they had no ECG at his bedside. Also in the CNN incident (see list below)
James Earl Jones, erroneously announced in 1998 by a radio baseball commentator when James Earl Ray died.
Nikita Khrushchev, announced in 1964 by a Cologne radio station which had received a (hoax?) telex report.
Rudyard Kipling, published in an (unidentified) magazine, to which he wrote: "I've just read that I am dead. Don't forget to delete me from your list of subscribers."
Larry Kramer, when his deterioration after an operation was misinterpreted by Internet journalists [N.B. it is not clear whether any mainstream news source reported his death, though it seems to have a connection with AP (Associated Press)].
Titan Leeds, publisher of an almanac competing with Benjamin Franklin's Poor Richard's Almanac. Franklin had repeatedly predicted the death of Leeds in his publication, and when the date of Leeds' supposed passing had come and gone, published Leeds' obituary anyway. (See the somewhat similar case of John Partridge below)
Gabriel García Márquez, published in Peruvian daily La Republica in 2000.
Jerry Mathers, put out by Associated Press and United Press International when a similarly-named soldier was killed in Vietnam in December 1969 (or 1968; sources differ).
Victor Mature, in an (unidentified) film book.
Paul McCartney, proclaimed dead in 1969 by radio DJ Russ Gibb on WKNR-FM in Detroit, leading to interminable rumours that McCartney's supposed death (hinted at by a trail of clues in various Beatles songs) had been covered up and he had been replaced by a look-alike. For more information, Paul is dead.
Thomas Menino: as an April Fool's Day prank in 1998, shock jocks Opie and Anthony claimed on WAAF-FM radio that the Boston mayor had died in a car accident; they were fired as a result.
Jayaprakash Narayan, erroneously announced by the Indian prime minister in 1979, causing a brief wave of national mourning, including the suspension of parliament and regular radio broadcasting, and closure of schools and shops.
Alfred Nobel: the erroneous publication in 1888 of a French newspaper obituary condemning his invention of dynamite is said to have prompted his founding of the Nobel Prize in order to improve his posthumous legacy.
Sharon Osbourne, when a pre-written obituary [link] was accidentally published on the ABC News web site in October 2004.
Robert Palmer, when a music critic of the same name died.
Eduardo Paolozzi, published by an (unidentified) magazine when he suffered a near-fatal stroke in 2001 (source: The Times (London), 23 April 2005).
John Partridge, an astrologer whose death Jonathan Swift (writing under a pseudonym) 'predicted' in a 1708 hoax almanac and later 'confirmed', prompting numerous anti-Partridge newspaper obituaries.
Harold Pinter, who said on Newsnight on 13 October 2005 (the day his Nobel Prize was announced) that he had been reported dead on Sky News earlier that day. (Pinter had been suffering from cancer, and had also recently fallen and injured his head, which may have caused the report.)
Velupillai Prabhakaran, reported by the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation as having died in the December 2004 tsunami.
The Queen Mother's death was erroneously announced in the Australian media in 1993 after a Sky News internal rehearsal for her death was misinterpreted by a London-based employee, who phoned his mother in Australia with the 'news'. (The employee was sacked for the mistake, but then won a tribunal for wrongful dismissal.)
Harley Race, reported by a St. Louis newspaper to have committed suicide by handgun in 1998; the victim turned out to be a similarly named person unrelated to the former wrestler.
Lou Reed, by numerous US radio stations in 2001, caused by a hoax email (purporting to be from Reuters) which said he had died of an overdose.
Adam Rich, by Might magazine, edited by Dave Eggers, in 1996. A hoax, which Rich was himself party to, the subject was originally intended to be Crispin Glover.
Bertrand Russell, twice in the Japanese press - first in 1920 when he had been seriously ill with pneumonia in Beijing. Incorrect Japanese reports of his death caused The Times to print his obituary. The second time was in 1954 after Japanese journalists were refused an interview with him because he was seriously ill with bronchitis.
Jimmy Savile in 1994, when then-DJ Chris Morris announced on BBC Radio 1 (as a joke) that he had collapsed and died. Savile began legal action against Morris. (See also Michael Heseltine)
Terri Schiavo: a draft of her obituary appeared briefly on CBS's web site in advance of her death.
Katharine Sergava, published in 2003 in the Daily Telegraph and repeated a few days later in the New York Times.
Britney Spears, whose supposed death in a car crash was announced on the radio in 2001 by two Texas DJs as a joke; the radio station (KDGE) was sued and the DJs were fired.
John Stonehouse MP, who faked his own death in order to escape financial difficulties; he was subsequently discovered in Australia and imprisoned.
Dave Swarbrick: published in the Daily Telegraph in April 1999, prompting the remark "It's not the first time I have died in Coventry."
Ana Torroja, the death of Spanish pop group Mecano's singer was anounced two times, one of them on Spanish national news.
Thuy Trang, who rose to fame in the mid-1990s playing "Trini Kwan/The Yellow Ranger in Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers, was incorrectly reported dead following an automobile accident in 1997. Ironically, Trang did subsequently die in a car accident, four years later.
Mark Twain: published in the New York Journal, prompting his famous comment "the reports of my death are greatly exaggerated."
Abe Vigoda, reported in 1982 by People magazine. Vigoda then posed for a photograph showing him sitting up in a coffin, holding the magazine in question. To avoid doubt in future, Vigoda's 'current status' (alive or dead) is provided continuously on [abevigoda.com], and can also be displayed on your computer using [this web browser extension].
Alan Whicker, while reporting on the Korean war. He was flying with an aerial spotter in a Piper Aztec airplane behind enemy lines, as part of a story. His plane landed safely, but a similar craft was shot down on the same day. This was misinterpreted by British newspapers as being Whicker's plane.[link]
James McNeill Whistler, following a heart attack. Whistler wrote to the Dutch newspaper concerned, saying that reading his own obituary induced a "tender glow of health."
Edward Osborne Wilson, listed as dead in a 2005 San Francisco Chronicle article.
Mara Wilson, in 2000 was listed as dead on the Internet Movie Database with the cause being "broken neck."

The CNN.com incident

These are people whose pre-written obituaries were erroneously made publicly available on the CNN website [link] on (or perhaps before) 16 April, 2003. Due to a lapse in password protection, partial or complete obituaries were publicly visible on a development area of the website in the form of pre-written memorial pages. These pages were not linked to from the main CNN site, so they may have been publicly accessible for some time before they were actually noticed.

Fidel Castro
Dick Cheney
Bob Hope - also in 1998 (see list above)
Gerald Ford
Pope John Paul II - the CNN template also had his birth year incorrect, stating that he was born in 1913 instead of 1920. He would also have another such incident occur days before his death in 2005.
Nelson Mandela
Ronald Reagan

External links

[Dead People Server] - database of dead celebrities; includes list of people incorrectly rumoured to be dead
[Dead or Alive] - allows you to check whether celebrities are dead or alive
[Smoking Gun page about the leaked CNN obituaries]

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