Dead Pool 13th April 2025

No points this week, although there are a few interesting tidbits to read about.  

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Clem Burke, 70, American drummer (Blondie), cancer. 
• Joey D. Vieira, 80, American actor (Lassie, The Patriot, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off). 
• Mel Novak, 90, American actor (Game of Death, Black Belt Jones, An Eye for an Eye). 
• David Sassoon, 92, British fashion designer. 
• Ted Kotcheff, 94, Canadian film director (First Blood, Weekend at Bernie’s, Fun with Dick and Jane). 
• Mike Berry, 82, English singer (“The Sunshine of Your Smile“) and actor (Are You Being Served?, Worzel Gummidge). 
• Mikal Mahdi, 42, American convicted spree killer, execution by firing squad. 
• Lucy Markovic, 27, Australian model, cerebral arteriovenous malformation.  

In Other News

Harry Potter actor Nick Moran has been rushed to hospital with a “life-threatening” condition. The actor’s friend Terry Stone revealed the news on Friday, asking fans of the franchise to send prayers after Moran, who played Scabior in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, underwent “life-saving” spinal surgery. Stone said that Moran’s health concerns began when he started feeling a pain in his neck, which his girlfriend urged him to get checked out. “But, as a bloke, he said, ‘No I’ll put some deep heat on it’ – then he went to the doctors and got sent to A&E and told, ‘We need to take you in for an emergency operation because this is life threatening’,” he told the Flying Monkeys. Stone originally said Moran “may never talk or walk again” but, in a new update, he said his friend was “giving the thumbs up” while “recovering in the ICU” – and revealed “he’s speaking now” and is “shuffling around like a 100-year-old”. He added: “He still needs your support, prayers & love. Let’s pray he fully recovers and is back to normal soon.” Stone said he will provide Moran’s fans with an update on Sunday  – but is now believed to be recovering at home. Moran’s Harry Potter character was a member of the gang led by Fenrir Greyback and appears in the final two Harry Potter films. 

Eric Dane has revealed that he has been diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). ALS, also known as motor neurone disease, is an incurable condition that affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord and causes increasing muscle paralysis over time. Dane, 52, who’s known for the role of Dr Mark Sloan in Grey’s Anatomy, said he will continue filming for season three of HBO series Euphoria, in which he plays Cal Jacobs, regardless of the diagnosis. Speaking to the Flying Monkeys, Dane said: “I have been diagnosed with ALS. I am grateful to have my loving family by my side as we navigate this next chapter. I feel fortunate that I am able to continue working and am looking forward to returning to the set of Euphoria next week,” he added. “I kindly ask that you give my family and I privacy during this time.” Early symptoms of the disease, according to the US National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Strokes, include: muscle twitches in the arm, leg, shoulder or tongue; cramps; tight or stiff muscles; muscle weakness; slurred or nasal speech; and difficulty chewing and swallowing. There is currently no cure for ALS.  

Legendary sports broadcaster Steve Rider has revealed his plans to “sidle away” from TV this summer, marking the end of an illustrious career that spanned nearly 50 years on screen. The 74 year-old is perhaps most recognised for hosting the iconic BBC sports show Grandstand, where he covered a wide range of sports including rugby, golf, rowing and motorsports. He also presented Sportsnight and Sports Personality of the Year, and was the anchor for the corporation’s coverage of every Olympic Games between 1988 and 2004. Rider’s exit from our screens comes a year and a half after he disclosed his diagnosis of prostate cancer. The host shared the news on BBC Breakfast, stating that he had been “incredibly lucky” as the disease was detected early and he immediately underwent “significant” surgery to stop it from spreading. He decided to get tested after one of his mates was diagnosed with the same cancer following a medical examination, and his wife encouraged him to have further tests when his initial check-up results came back “a little high”. “I was cutting it a bit fine,” Rider admitted. “They took one look and said, ‘We’re going to operate in two weeks’. No messing around. We did Brands Hatch for ITV on the Sunday and I had the operation on the Thursday, so it slotted into the schedule quite nicely! It was one operation, whip it all out, off you go and enjoy the rest of your life, second chance. But I was one of the lucky ones,” he added, urging people to get checked for the disease. “Get yourself tested because once this wretched thing develops, as we’ve been seeing from Chris Hoy and Eddie Jordan, it just gallops away and there’s no control. The chance you have is early testing.”

On This Day

• 1964 – At the Academy Awards, Sidney Poitier becomes the first African-American man to win the Best Actor award for the 1963 film Lilies of the Field.
• 1970 – An oxygen tank aboard the Apollo 13 Service Module explodes, putting the crew in great danger and causing major damage to the Apollo command and service module (codenamed “Odyssey”) while en route to the Moon.
• 1997 – Tiger Woods becomes the youngest golfer to win the Masters Tournament.

Deaths

• 1941 – Annie Jump Cannon, American astronomer and academic (b. 1863).
• 1975 – Larry Parks, American actor and singer (b. 1914).
• 2004 – Caron Keating, Northern Irish television host (b. 1962).

Last Meals

A convicted cop killer who became the second death row inmate in South Carolina to die by firing squad chomped on a ribeye steak, mushroom risotto, broccoli, collard greens and cheesecake before he was executed on Friday night.

Mikal Mahdi, 42, had three slugs fired into his heart by trained correctional volunteers at Broad River Correctional Institution in Columbia and was pronounced dead at 6:05 p.m. for the ambush killing of Orangeburg Public Safety Captain James Myers in 2004.

Mahdi, who washed down his hearty last meal with a sweet tea, did not make a final statement before his execution, according to the South Carolina Department of Corrections.

Mahdi was then hooded and strapped to a metal chair that sat on top of a catch basin inside the prison’s death chamber with a white target and red bullseye placed over his chest.

Three members from the state’s corrections department stood behind a wall 15 feet away and simultaneously opened fire through openings in the partition at 6:01 p.m. Each shooter fired one round, with Mahdi flexing his arms and crying out as the bullets struck him.

Mahdi continued to groan and take deep breaths for about two minutes before taking one final gasp – with a doctor affirming his death four minutes after the shots rang out.

Nine witnesses were seated in a room separated from the chamber by bulletproof glass.

One member of the victim’s family, Mahdi’s attorney, a representative from the First Circuit Solicitor’s Office and the Calhoun County Sheriff’s Office and three reporters were among those who witnessed Mahdi’s final moments.

Mahdi, who personally chose the violent punishment over the electric chair or lethal injection, became the second death row inmate executed by the Palmetto State’s new firing squad after double murderer Brad Sigmon became the first person in 15 years be shot to death last month. 

“Faced with barbaric and inhumane choices, Mikal Mahdi had chosen the lesser of the three evils,” his attorney, David Weiss said in a statement after the execution, which he described as a “horrifying act” that doesn’t belong in a “civilised society.”

“Mikal chose the firing squad instead of being burned and mutilated in the electric chair, or suffering the lingering death on the lethal injection gurney.”

Mahdi was sentenced to death after he confessed to shooting Myers at least eight times and then burning his body in a shed that had been the backdrop of the officer’s wedding just 15 months earlier.

The heinous act unfolded three days after he killed Christopher Boggs, a convenience store clerk in North Carolina. Mahdi shot the clerk twice in the head.

He was later arrested in Florida while driving the cop’s unmarked police pickup truck. 

Last-minute appeals to spare Mahdi’s life were rejected this week by both the US and South Carolina Supreme Courts. His defence team argued that his original attorneys made little effort to save his life and failed to call on those who knew him to testify after the prosecution called 28 witnesses.

Republican Gov. Henry McMaster also denied clemency. 

Five inmates have been put to death in the state since September – when executions resumed following a 13-year pause.

Twenty-six inmates remain on death row.

Last Week’s Birthdays

Ron Perlman (75), William Sadler (75), Edward Fox (88), Peter Davison (74), Saoirse Ronan (31), Claire Danes (46), Andy Garcia (69), Ed O’Neill (79), Nicholas Brendon (54), David Letterman (68), Milly Alcock (25), Jeremy Clarkson (65), Matt Ryan (44), Charlie Hunnam (45), Daisy Ridley (33), David Harbour (50), Haley Joel Osment (37), Steven Seagal (73), Peter MacNicol (71), Elle Fanning (27), Dennis Quaid (71), Kristen Stewart (35), Cynthia Nixon (59), Patricia Arquette (57), Katee Sackhoff (45), Robin Wright (59), Dean Norris (62), Jackie Chan (71), Russell Crowe (61), and Francis Ford Coppola (86).