05 GOOD THINGS COME IN THREES

Robert Mitchum, Jimmy Stewart; two of the all time greats passed within days of each other. Heath Ledger dies of an overdose at the peak of his career. Burned to a cinder.
Leading me not to romance their careers (I'll leave that to others), but to a superstition that celebrity deaths always come in threes.
Nobody wants to see anyone of merit join the Great Beyond before his or her time; and we don't need third-rate celebrities achieving undue fame by jumping off buildings, drinking to implosion or otherwise. But some people will do anything for fame.
Anyone remember Brian Keith? [LINK: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001417/ ]
Was he the first of three (making the triad Keith, Mitchum, Stewart)? Jacques Cousteau also departed (no, he did not drown in the bathtub), A celebrity yes, but not an actor (making a triad Keith, Cousteau, Mitchum somewhat dubious).
I've got Babylon in my blood; maybe we all do. Untimely death is fascinating. Admit it, folks! Decapitated blondes, directors buried under hot tubs, coke-blown rockers wearing .38 caliber carnations. Celebrity deaths level the playing field. Grab the bone, suck out the marrow.
I convinced a lady friend (for a while, anyway) that Rex Harrison was pecked to death by super-intelligent Rhode Island Reds in a secret experimental chicken coop. [LINK: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001322/ ]
I invented grisly details of brain hormones injected in the feed, radiation treatments, ESP. Harrison was doing 'method research' for a sequel to Doctor Dolittle, but that damn theme song kept ringing in his head, driving the super-intelligent mind-reading chickens into a murderous frenzy. Friend and benefactor of the animal world expires in a flurry of feathers.
Anyone who's ever had that song in his head will understand (I had to play Dr. Dolittle and sing that stupid song in fourth grade with a black cardboard tophat three sizes too big, so believe me, I know). It also ties in with Roswell (Dolittle's demise, not my fourth grade histrionics) - but we'll save that for another time.