Most readers responding to a Vanity Fair magazine survey said they would choose Princess Diana if they could resurrect a celebrity. In fact no one else came close to Di’s 35% of the vote.
Steve Jobs was a distant second with 14%. Michael Jackson and Whitney Houston were tied with 11% and then in the distance, Heath Ledger and Kurt Cobain.
I’d like Diana back as well but mostly because she’d be a grandmother now and she would delight in the way her boys have turned out.
But she wouldn’t be my first choice. No, number one would be Brandon Lee. He was going to be a huge star, guaranteed. The son of Bruce Lee, Brandon was just 28 when he was shot by a bullet fragment in a prop gun on the set of the excellent, dark film The Crow. He was engaged to be married and seemed like a very decent man. That was 20 years ago. His death shocked me and chipped a little piece off my heart. Lee would have had a stellar career, I just know it.
Atheism proponent and professional poop-disturber Christopher Hitchens should still be here and writing his essays. Hitchens died in 2011, arguing to the end that there would be no bright light or angels to greet him. He had an amazing command of the language and was a force of nature.
Frank Zappa. The world was a more interesting place with him in it and not just because he came up with original names for his kids. Long before there was an Apple or a Banjo there were Dweezil and Moon Unit. There are so many and the ones I would choose wouldn’t be the most popular selections but they left a little hole in the universe when they left, usually too soon. I’d like to have them all over for a dinner party. The conversation would be incredible. Who would you add?
Wow! I’m trying to envision how a conversation between Hitchens and Frank Zappa would go! I think throwing in Mark Twain and Tupac might make it the most interesting dinner party in the history of the universe…..oh hey! Speaking of the universe, what about Carl Sagan? And Jennifer Aniston! I realize she’s still very much alive, I just want her there.
Thanks for reminding me about Christopher Hitchens. His essays in Vanity Fair were always the delectable dessert trolley after an already-satisfying meal. And I looked forward to his take on everything – whether I agreed with it or not. To paraphrase, he burned the candle at both ends, but oh, what a brilliant light!
only the good die young………………