Dead Famous (TV)
Encyclopedia
Dead Famous: Ghostly Encounters is a British paranormal reality television series that originally aired on LivingTV
from June 15, 2004 to June 13, 2006. The program searches for the alleged ghost
s of famous deceased people. Curious skeptic Gail Porter
and clairvoyant Chris Fleming
take a road trip through America looking for the haunted locations where legends of stage, screen, and music reside. Described by the channel as "like a sharper, sexier, and funnier Mulder
and Scully
", the duo visits places where celebrity spirits are claimed roam: their hotel rooms, diners, gardens, film lots, and theatres.
The show was produced by Twofour
originally for broadcast on LivingTV
, but because of its popularity, it can be seen in many countries and is currently aired on the Biography Channel.
Both series 1 and 2 are available on DVD, there is no news on when series 3 will be released.
and clairvoyant Chris Fleming look into events of paranormal
proportions about legends like James Dean
, Lucille Ball
, Jim Morrison
, Marilyn Monroe
, and John Wayne
. Part travelogue
, the show explores the intimate haunts where the famous dead are said to remain.
In each episode, the show visits three locations that have some link or connection to the dead celebrity, although some of these connections seem nebulous at best. All of the locations are researched for their historical connection and presented in a factual way.
LIVINGtv
Sky Living is a UK television channel owned by British Sky Broadcasting, who purchased the Living TV Group group in 2010. Originally launched as UK Living in 1993, the channel changed its name to Living TV in 1997 and then to Living in 2007. On 1 February 2011 Living changed its name to Sky Living...
from June 15, 2004 to June 13, 2006. The program searches for the alleged ghost
Ghost
In traditional belief and fiction, a ghost is the soul or spirit of a deceased person or animal that can appear, in visible form or other manifestation, to the living. Descriptions of the apparition of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to...
s of famous deceased people. Curious skeptic Gail Porter
Gail Porter
Gail Porter is a Scottish television presenter.- Life and career :Porter attended Portobello High School. She studied a BTEC HND in Media Production at West Herts College...
and clairvoyant Chris Fleming
Chris Fleming
Christopher Fleming is an American medium, paranormal researcher, television personality, and public speaker. He has written numerous articles and produced various print and online publications on the topics of paranormal activity and psychic phenomena.Fleming has appeared on several...
take a road trip through America looking for the haunted locations where legends of stage, screen, and music reside. Described by the channel as "like a sharper, sexier, and funnier Mulder
Fox Mulder
FBI Special Agent Fox William Mulder is a fictional character and protagonist in the American Fox television shows The X-Files and The Lone Gunmen, two science fiction shows about a government conspiracy to hide or deny the truth of Alien existence. Mulder's peers consider his theories on...
and Scully
Dana Scully
FBI Special Agent Dana Katherine Scully, M.D. is a fictional character and protagonist on the Fox television series The X-Files , played by Gillian Anderson. She also appeared in two theatrical films based on the series...
", the duo visits places where celebrity spirits are claimed roam: their hotel rooms, diners, gardens, film lots, and theatres.
The show was produced by Twofour
Twofour
Twofour is a UK independent media group that was founded in 1988 by Charles Wace, a former TV news producer and brother of financier Ian Wace. It has grown to become one of the largest independent media groups in the UK, employing over 350 people internationally....
originally for broadcast on LivingTV
LIVINGtv
Sky Living is a UK television channel owned by British Sky Broadcasting, who purchased the Living TV Group group in 2010. Originally launched as UK Living in 1993, the channel changed its name to Living TV in 1997 and then to Living in 2007. On 1 February 2011 Living changed its name to Sky Living...
, but because of its popularity, it can be seen in many countries and is currently aired on the Biography Channel.
Both series 1 and 2 are available on DVD, there is no news on when series 3 will be released.
Episode format
Each week, skeptic Gail PorterGail Porter
Gail Porter is a Scottish television presenter.- Life and career :Porter attended Portobello High School. She studied a BTEC HND in Media Production at West Herts College...
and clairvoyant Chris Fleming look into events of paranormal
Paranormal
Paranormal is a general term that designates experiences that lie outside "the range of normal experience or scientific explanation" or that indicates phenomena understood to be outside of science's current ability to explain or measure...
proportions about legends like James Dean
James Dean
James Byron Dean was an American film actor. He is a cultural icon, best embodied in the title of his most celebrated film, Rebel Without a Cause , in which he starred as troubled Los Angeles teenager Jim Stark...
, Lucille Ball
Lucille Ball
Lucille Désirée Ball was an American comedian, film, television, stage and radio actress, model, film and television executive, and star of the sitcoms I Love Lucy, The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour, The Lucy Show, Here's Lucy and Life With Lucy...
, Jim Morrison
Jim Morrison
James Douglas "Jim" Morrison was an American musician, singer, and poet, best known as the lead singer and lyricist of the rock band The Doors...
, Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe was an American actress, singer, model and showgirl who became a major sex symbol, starring in a number of commercially successful motion pictures during the 1950s....
, and John Wayne
John Wayne
Marion Mitchell Morrison , better known by his stage name John Wayne, was an American film actor, director and producer. He epitomized rugged masculinity and became an enduring American icon. He is famous for his distinctive calm voice, walk, and height...
. Part travelogue
Travelogue (TV show)
Travelogue is an adventure tourism television series produced by China Central Television. Each episode features a host who travels with a camera crew to a new destination in China or around the globe and experiences the sights, sounds, and culture that the location has to offer.The show often...
, the show explores the intimate haunts where the famous dead are said to remain.
In each episode, the show visits three locations that have some link or connection to the dead celebrity, although some of these connections seem nebulous at best. All of the locations are researched for their historical connection and presented in a factual way.
Season One
# | Original Airdate | Location |
101 | June 15, 2004 | Al Capone Al Capone Alphonse Gabriel "Al" Capone was an American gangster who led a Prohibition-era crime syndicate. The Chicago Outfit, which subsequently became known as the "Capones", was dedicated to smuggling and bootlegging liquor, and other illegal activities such as prostitution, in Chicago from the early... and the Mob American Mafia The American Mafia , is an Italian-American criminal society. Much like the Sicilian Mafia, the American Mafia has no formal name and is a secret criminal society. Its members usually refer to it as Cosa Nostra or by its English translation "our thing"... |
102 | June 22, 2004 | Frank Sinatra Frank Sinatra Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the... |
103 | June 29, 2004 | Marilyn Monroe Marilyn Monroe Marilyn Monroe was an American actress, singer, model and showgirl who became a major sex symbol, starring in a number of commercially successful motion pictures during the 1950s.... |
104 | July 6, 2004 | James Dean James Dean James Byron Dean was an American film actor. He is a cultural icon, best embodied in the title of his most celebrated film, Rebel Without a Cause , in which he starred as troubled Los Angeles teenager Jim Stark... |
105 | July 13, 2004 | Jim Morrison Jim Morrison James Douglas "Jim" Morrison was an American musician, singer, and poet, best known as the lead singer and lyricist of the rock band The Doors... |
106 | July 20, 2004 | Lucille Ball Lucille Ball Lucille Désirée Ball was an American comedian, film, television, stage and radio actress, model, film and television executive, and star of the sitcoms I Love Lucy, The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour, The Lucy Show, Here's Lucy and Life With Lucy... |
107 | July 27, 2004 | Return to Thunderbird Lodge Thunderbird Lodge (Lake Tahoe, Nevada) The Thunderbird Lodge is a waterfront estate located on the east shore of Lake Tahoe. It was built in 1939 as the summer home of George Whittell Jr., an heir to one of San Francisco's wealthiest families... |
108 | August 3, 2004 | Return to Alcatraz |
Season Two
# | Original Airdate | Location |
201 | January 11, 2005 | Alfred Hitchcock Alfred Hitchcock Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE was a British film director and producer. He pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres. After a successful career in British cinema in both silent films and early talkies, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood... |
202 | January 18, 2005 | Houdini |
203 | January 25, 2005 | John Wayne John Wayne Marion Mitchell Morrison , better known by his stage name John Wayne, was an American film actor, director and producer. He epitomized rugged masculinity and became an enduring American icon. He is famous for his distinctive calm voice, walk, and height... |
204 | February 1, 2005 | Joan Crawford Joan Crawford Joan Crawford , born Lucille Fay LeSueur, was an American actress in film, television and theatre.... |
205 | February 8, 2005 | John Lennon John Lennon John Winston Lennon, MBE was an English musician and singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles, one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music... |
206 | February 15, 2005 | Bette Davis Bette Davis Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis was an American actress of film, television and theater. Noted for her willingness to play unsympathetic characters, she was highly regarded for her performances in a range of film genres, from contemporary crime melodramas to historical and period films and occasional... |
207 | February 22, 2005 | Buddy Holly Buddy Holly Charles Hardin Holley , known professionally as Buddy Holly, was an American singer-songwriter and a pioneer of rock and roll... |
208 | March 1, 2005 | Bonnie and Clyde Bonnie and Clyde Bonnie Elizabeth Parker and Clyde Chestnut Barrow were well-known outlaws, robbers, and criminals who traveled the Central United States with their gang during the Great Depression. Their exploits captured the attention of the American public during the "public enemy era" between 1931 and 1934... |
209 | March 8, 2005 | Jayne Mansfield Jayne Mansfield Jayne Mansfield was an American actress working both in Hollywood and on the Broadway theatre... |
210 | March 15, 2005 | Elvis Presley Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King".... |
Season Three
# | Original Airdate | Location |
301 | January 31, 2006 | Mae West Mae West Mae West was an American actress, playwright, screenwriter and sex symbol whose entertainment career spanned seven decades.... |
302 | April 18, 2006 | Nat King Cole Nat King Cole Nathaniel Adams Coles , known professionally as Nat King Cole, was an American musician who first came to prominence as a leading jazz pianist. Although an accomplished pianist, he owes most of his popular musical fame to his soft baritone voice, which he used to perform in big band and jazz genres... |
303 | April 25, 2006 | Billy the Kid Billy the Kid William H. Bonney William H. Bonney William H. Bonney (born William Henry McCarty, Jr. est. November 23, 1859 – c. July 14, 1881, better known as Billy the Kid but also known as Henry Antrim, was a 19th-century American gunman who participated in the Lincoln County War and became a frontier... |
304 | April 4, 2006 | Bing Crosby Bing Crosby Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby was an American singer and actor. Crosby's trademark bass-baritone voice made him one of the best-selling recording artists of the 20th century, with over half a billion records in circulation.... |
305 | January 10, 2006 | Carole Lombard Carole Lombard Carole Lombard was an American actress. She was particularly noted for her comedic roles in the screwball comedies of the 1930s... and Clark Gable Clark Gable William Clark Gable , known as Clark Gable, was an American film actor most famous for his role as Rhett Butler in the 1939 Civil War epic film Gone with the Wind, in which he starred with Vivien Leigh... |
306 | May 16, 2006 | Andy Warhol Andy Warhol Andrew Warhola , known as Andy Warhol, was an American painter, printmaker, and filmmaker who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art... |
307 | February 28, 2006 | Grace Kelly Grace Kelly Grace Patricia Kelly was an American actress who, in April 1956, married Rainier III, Prince of Monaco, to become Princess consort of Monaco, styled as Her Serene Highness The Princess of Monaco, and commonly referred to as Princess Grace.After embarking on an acting career in 1950, at the age of... |
308 | February 21, 2006 | Howard Hughes Howard Hughes Howard Robard Hughes, Jr. was an American business magnate, investor, aviator, engineer, film producer, director, and philanthropist. He was one of the wealthiest people in the world... |
309 | April 11, 2006 | Rita Hayworth Rita Hayworth Rita Hayworth was an American film actress and dancer who attained fame during the 1940s as one of the era's top stars... |
310 | June 13, 2006 | Janis Joplin Janis Joplin Janis Lyn Joplin was an American singer, songwriter, painter, dancer and music arranger. She rose to prominence in the late 1960s as the lead singer of Big Brother and the Holding Company and later as a solo artist with her backing groups, The Kozmic Blues Band and The Full Tilt Boogie Band... |
Live
Between 11 and 13 November 2005, Dead Famous broadcasted live over three nights from Los Angeles. The show was hosted by Christopher Parker. Gail Porter and Chris Fleming were present during the show. Medium Carla Barron joined the team in this live show.See also
- LivingTVLIVINGtvSky Living is a UK television channel owned by British Sky Broadcasting, who purchased the Living TV Group group in 2010. Originally launched as UK Living in 1993, the channel changed its name to Living TV in 1997 and then to Living in 2007. On 1 February 2011 Living changed its name to Sky Living...
- Gail PorterGail PorterGail Porter is a Scottish television presenter.- Life and career :Porter attended Portobello High School. She studied a BTEC HND in Media Production at West Herts College...
- Biography Channel
- GhostGhostIn traditional belief and fiction, a ghost is the soul or spirit of a deceased person or animal that can appear, in visible form or other manifestation, to the living. Descriptions of the apparition of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to...
- Ghost huntingGhost huntingGhost Hunting is the process of investigating locations that are reported to be haunted by ghosts.Typically, a ghost hunting team will attempt to collect evidence claimed to be supportive of paranormal activity...
- Haunted houseHaunted houseA haunted house is a house or other building often perceived as being inhabited by disembodied spirits of the deceased who may have been former residents or were familiar with the property...
- Haunting
- ParanormalParanormalParanormal is a general term that designates experiences that lie outside "the range of normal experience or scientific explanation" or that indicates phenomena understood to be outside of science's current ability to explain or measure...