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PODCAST

Famous and Gravy

Wondery | 14th Street Studios

We explore the lives of notable people who’ve just died—celebrities, icons, cultural figures—and asks what their stories can teach us about ourselves. It’s part obituary podcast, part biography, and part existential detective work.Think you know everything about some of modern history’s most recognizable figures? We’re Amit and Michael, two pop culture enthusiasts who upend your assumptions about the iconic and the famous. Because that’s where you find the “gravy” – the rich, flavorful sauce

history

All Episodes

01:07:08

Mountain Boy (John Denver)

Famous and Gravy ·

2025/12/03

This person died in 1997 at age 53. He was born in Roswell, New Mexico, the son of an Air Force pilot who later taught him to fly. He enrolled at Texas Tech in 1961 to study architecture, performed at coffeehouses, then dropped out and moved to Los Angeles, where he adopted a stage name. His first wife once said, “If you listen to his songs, there’s a lot of loneliness there. I don’t think he ever really got how much people loved him.” In songs like Take Me Home, Country Roads, Sunshine on My

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01:07:45

Beloved Light

Famous and Gravy ·

2025/11/19

This person died in 2019, age 88. Her father was a shipyard welder who took such pride in his work that, according to many accounts of her life, when he finished a perfect seam, he would write his initials on it—hidden in the skeleton of the ship. After receiving a bachelor’s degree from Howard University with a major in English and a minor in classics in 1953, she earned a master’s in English from Cornell in 1955. In 1958 she married an architect from Jamaica, but they divorced in 1964. Her novels

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01:04:39

Rolling Thunder

Famous and Gravy ·

2025/11/05

This person died in 2024, age 93. He started out in destitute days working in a diner and living in a $19-a-month cold-water flat. He collected Tonys, Golden Globes, Emmys, Kennedy Center Honors, and an Honorary Academy Award. He once appeared in 18 plays in 30 months, often made a half-dozen films a year, alongside his TV work – and he did it for half a century. He was a bear of a man—six-foot-two with a barrel chest, large head, and emotional fire. He did voiceover work in the original Star Wars

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01:04:37

Blunt Grace

Famous and Gravy ·

2025/10/22

This person died in 2023, age 56. As a child she said her mother physically abused her. As a teen she was arrested for shoplifting and sent to reform school. She would later convert to Islam, adopting a new name while still answering to the one the world knew. She never shrank from controversy—most famously tearing up a photo of Pope John Paul II on Saturday Night Live to protest Catholic Church abuse. Today’s dead celebrity is Sinead O’Connor.If you liked this episode, you might also like

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01:03:17

Southern Expat

Famous and Gravy ·

2025/10/08

This person died in 2016, age 89. Her father was a prominent lawyer with a lofty sense of civic duty. At one point, she transferred to the University of Alabama to study law and go into the family business. In 1949 she moved to New York City, working as a reservations agent for Eastern Airlines and later BOAC. At night, she wrote at a desk made from a door. She won a Pulitzer Prize in 1960, but her public appearances were so rare that each counted as important news. Today’s dead celebrity is Harper

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01:06:48

Reality Distortion (Steve Jobs)

Famous and Gravy ·

2025/09/24

This person died 2011, age of 56. He dropped out of Reed College in 1972 and once said that taking LSD was among the most important things he ever did. In the early years of his career, his obsession with detail drove colleagues crazy, but later he inspired extraordinary loyalty. In the 1990s he bought a small computer graphics spinoff from George Lucas and built it into Pixar. He told the world he would step down as Apple’s CEO if he could no longer meet expectations — and then he did. Today’s dead

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01:03:51

Crazy Sane (Waylon Jennings)

Famous and Gravy ·

2025/09/10

This person died in 2002 at the age of 64, Born in Littlefield, Texas, he became a radio disc jockey at 14 and formed his own band soon afterward. His resonant, authoritative voice was used to narrate The Dukes of Hazzard. Early in his career, his life nearly ended when he gave up his seat on the plane that killed Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and the Big Bopper. With Willie Nelson, he performed duets like Mammas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys and Good Hearted Woman. Today’s dead

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01:01:17

Hungry Ghost (Anthony Bourdain)

Famous and Gravy ·

2025/08/27

This person died in 2018, age 61. He never stopped marveling at the unlikeliness of his own success. Quote: “I should have died in my twenties. I became successful in my forties. I became my dad in my fifties. I feel like I’ve stolen a car, a really nice car, and I keep looking in the rearview mirror for flashing lights.” He emerged as a leading male voice in support of the Me Too movement. He was open about his past addictions to heroin and cocaine. He ate noodles in Hanoi with President Barack

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01:02:48

Frizzy Fitness (Richard Simmons)

Famous and Gravy ·

2025/08/13

This person died 2024, age 76. His TV show went into national syndication in 1980 and ran until 1984, after which he developed an array of products and performances to replace it. He described himself as a loner with few friends, whose main companions were pet dalmatians and live-in maids. Even people who encountered him by chance said he was exactly as he appeared on TV: hyperkinetic, authentic, and totally outrageous. People Magazine once called him “a hyperkinetic elf in an emerald green

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01:00:08

Quiet Dignity (Gregory Peck)

Famous and Gravy ·

2025/08/06

This person died in 2003 at age 87. He had craggy good looks, lanky grace, and a measured voice. He was nominated for the Oscar five times, and his rare attempts at unsympathetic roles usually failed. He conveyed a quiet dignity, served as president of the Motion Picture Academy, and was active in the American Cancer Society, the National Endowment for the Arts, and other causes. His 1962 Oscar-winning role cast him as Atticus Finch, a small-town Southern lawyer who defies public sentiment to defend

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01:02:28

Comic Mythmaker (Stan Lee)

Famous and Gravy ·

2025/07/30

This person died in 2018, age 95. He began reading Shakespeare at age 10 while also devouring pulp magazines, the novels of Arthur Conan Doyle, Edgar Rice Burroughs, and Mark Twain, and the swashbuckler movies of Errol Flynn. He could be startlingly prolific— once saying “almost everything I’ve ever written I could finish in one sitting.” In 1961, he and a partner produced the first issue of Fantastic Four for a company known as Marvel, and he went on to co-create Spider-Man. Today’s dead celebrity

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01:02:46

Secret Capsule (Sally Ride)

Famous and Gravy ·

2025/07/23

This person died 2012, age 61. She was known for keeping her cool under stress. She politely endured a barrage of questions focused on her sex. She once said, “It’s too bad this is such a big deal. It’s too bad our society isn’t further along.” By the time she began studying laser physics at Stanford, women had already broken through into the physics department—once a boys’ club. In her early days at NASA, she trained in parachute jumping, water survival, weightlessness, and the huge G-forces of a

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00:16:57

History Daily | When Bowie Became Ziggy

Famous and Gravy ·

2025/07/16

Today on Famous & Gravy, we’re sharing an episode from one of our favorite history podcasts—History Daily, hosted by Lindsay Graham.Why do we think Famous & Gravy listeners will enjoy this show? Because, like us, they believe that history is human. Each daily episode zooms in on a single moment in time, offering a compelling narrative that’s both immersive and full of unexpected insight. In this episode, we hear the story of how David Bowie—then still going by David Jones—morphed into his

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01:00:43

Space Man (Stephen Hawking)

Famous and Gravy ·

2025/07/09

This person died in 2018, age 76. He published a non-fiction book in 1988 that has sold more than 10 million copies and inspired a documentary film by Errol Morris. He married twice; fathered three children; and was not above appearing on “The Simpsons,” “Star Trek: The Next Generation” or “The Big Bang Theory.” In 1963 he was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's disease, and told he had only a few years to live. In 1973 he set out to apply quantum theory, the weird laws that govern subatomic reality, to

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00:59:12

Mamba Mentality (Kobe Bryant)

Famous and Gravy ·

2025/07/02

This person died 2020, age 41. He won an Academy Award in 2018 – the first African American to win for best animated short. He was fueled by a seemingly endless reservoir of self-confidence. He gave himself the nickname Black Mamba. Today’s dead celebrity is Kobe Bryant.If you enjoyed this episode, you might also enjoy Episode 49 “Hammer Time” (Hank Aaron), Episode 31 “The Greatest” (Muhammad Ali), and Episode 69 “Foul House” (Bob Saget). Famous & Gravy is created and hosted by Michael

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01:00:39

Script Doctor (Michael Crichton)

Famous and Gravy ·

2025/06/25

This person died in 2008, age 66. He changed his major from English to anthropology after a professor’s harsh critique, graduating summa cum laude from Harvard in 1964. He earned a medical degree five years later, then walked away from clinical science altogether. He used fiction to explore the moral and political problems posed by modern technology and scientific breakthroughs. His books sold in the tens of millions and almost routinely became movies, many of them blockbusters like "Jurassic Park",

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00:59:17

Puberty Philosopher (John Hughes)

Famous and Gravy ·

2025/06/18

This person died in 2009, age 59. He began his career as an advertising copywriter in Chicago. While visiting New York during his advertising days, he hung around the offices of National Lampoon magazine and was published when he showed a gift for comedy. As a writer, he occasionally wrote under his pen name, Edmond Dantès, the real name of the Dumas hero in The Count of Monte Cristo. He faded from Hollywood in the early 1990s, and some surmised that he had stepped away simply because, for all his

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01:00:17

Late Bloomer (Betty Ford)

Famous and Gravy ·

2025/06/11

This person died in 2011, age 93. She spoke openly in support of the Equal Rights Amendment, endorsed legalized abortion, and discussed premarital sex. Her dependency on pills began in 1964 after a neck injury, and her drinking worsened as her husband’s political career advanced. When Gerald Ford lost the 1976 election, it was she who read the official concession speech with smiling grace. Today’s dead celebrity is Betty Ford.If you enjoyed this episode, you might also enjoy Episode 48 What

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01:02:31

Gonzo Troubadour (Hunter S Thompson)

Famous and Gravy ·

2025/06/04

This person died 2005, age 67. At his peak, he reached out in his writing to a generation made cynical by the Vietnam War and Watergate, and that was prepared to respond to his visceral honesty. His early work presaged some of the fundamental changes that rocked journalism today. His approach mirrors the style of modern-day bloggers and social commentators who blend news, opinion and personal experience on Internet postings. In 1970 he ran for sheriff in Pitkin County, Colo. It seemed a joke and

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01:05:00

Corgi Whisperer (Queen Elizabeth II)

Famous and Gravy ·

2025/05/28

This person died 2022, age 96. She worked to be a rare bastion of permanence in a world of shifting values. During the Covid pandemic, she said, “Many of us will need to find new ways of staying in touch with each other and making sure that loved ones are safe,” and, “I am certain that we are up to that challenge. You can be assured that my family and I stand ready to play our part.” Her institution was forced to justify its existence in the face of often skeptical public attention and scrutiny. In

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127 results

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