Kick a FRESH corpse, why don'tcha? Secret James Arness took with him to the grave.

Publication: Globe
Date: 20 June 2011

Fresh trash on Thursdays! James Arness died last Wednesday, and not surprisingly, one of the rags specializing in Hey Old Timer Gossip has to tell us about a secret he took to the grave.

Breaking news: James Arness dead at 88.

Publication: Associated Press
Date: 3 June 2011

James Arness, the tall, rugged actor who played Marshall Matt Dillon on Gunsmoke for twenty years, died today at the age of 88. The low rent Examiner put him on the tabloid death watch about three months ago. His younger brother Peter Graves died last year.

Best wishes to the family and friends of James Arness.

Meanest Story nominee: Five celebs get the Sad Last Days treatment.

Publication: National Examiner
Date: 14 March 2011

In late January 2010, the low rent Examiner had a Sad Last Days round-up of celebrities, naming four people they said were on their last legs. In general, the vultures of the gutter press are terrible at predictions of who will die and when, but last year's list was Dennis Hopper, Rue McLanahan, Barbara Billingsley and Dick Clark. Of that list, only Dick Clark survived to see 2011, which means they got three out of four, much better than the general prediction rate which stands at about one in ten.

This year's list has five people, three who have been marked for death earlier by the tabloids and two new names. Once again, they pick on Bob Barker, Miss Doris Day and Miss Elizabeth Taylor.

New to the death watch list is former First Lady Nancy Reagan.

Also added to the tabloid tontine is star of Gunsmoke James Arness.

Best wishes to the all the people mentioned, their family and friends.

This gets a nomination for Meanest Story of the Week.

UPDATE: Miss Elizabeth Taylor died on March 23, 2011.

UPDATE: James Arness died on June 3, 2011.