Jane Birkin: The Woman, The Legend, The Bag – Unzipped!

Nine years after resigning for the first time in 600 years, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI passed away on Dec. 31, 2022. Benedict resigned on Feb. 11, 2013, saying he was “lacking the strength of mind and body” because of his advanced age. His resignation was the first by a pope since Gregory XII in 1415 and the first on the pope’s initiative since Celestine V in 1294.

Anita Pointer, one of four siblings who won Grammys and critical acclaim as The Pointer Sisters, died at 74 on Dec. 31, 2022. Her publicist didn’t give a cause of death. Between 1973 and 1985, the group had 13 hit songs on the US top 20, won three Grammys, and recorded hit songs like “I’m So Excited.” The Pointer Sisters performed in different lineups, including younger family members, through 1993.

Barbara Walters was known for asking intimate questions during her interviews, including asking President Jimmy Carter if he and his wife slept separately. The first female co-host of “Today” and first female anchor of a network evening news program, Walters died at her Manhattan home on Dec. 30, 2022. She was 93.

Lisa Marie Presley, the singer-songwriter and only child of Elvis Presley, died on Jan. 12, 2023, in Los Angeles. She was 54. In 1977, at age nine, she lost her father, one of the most celebrated performers in music history. In 2020, her only son, Benjamin Keough, committed suicide.

Lisa Marie Presley Facts

She married the singer and songwriter Danny Keough in 1988. From 1994 to 1996, Presley was married to Michael Jackson. In 2002, Presley married Nicolas Cage, and in 2006, she married Michael Lockwood, a guitarist who produced her 2005 album. The two divorced in 2021. She leaves her daughter with Keough, actress Riley Keough, and her twin daughters with Lockwood, Harper, and Finley.

NBC’s Homicide: Life on the Street premiered in 1993, with Richard Belzer playing John Munch. In 1999, after Homicide was canceled, Belzer was offered a regular role on the Law & Order spinoff Special Victims Unit. Munch has appeared in ten series on five networks. He retired after his 22nd season, making him the second longest-running regular character on American TV behind Mariska Hargitay’s character Olivia Benson. Belzer died at his home in Beaulieu-sur-Mer, France, on Feb. 19, 2023, after reportedly suffering from circulatory and respiratory issues for years.

Olivia Newton-John was born in Cambridge, UK, in 1948 to a Welsh father and a German mother who had fled Nazi Germany. She moved to Australia with her family when she was five and later became a dual citizen of both countries. She did not come from Greece, despite playing Sandy in Grease.

Is Olivia Newton-John dead?

A state memorial for Olivia Newton-John took place on Feb. 26, 2023, in Melbourne, Australia, with family and friends paying tribute to the late singer and actor, who died in Aug. 2022 at 73 after a long battle with breast cancer. Newton-John was known for her music, film, and philanthropic work, especially in cancer research and wellness.

Fun fact: Queen Elizabeth II made her a dame in 2019.

“Sweet Home, Alabama” was written by Gary Rossington, Ed King, and Ronnie Van Zant, who was the lead singer of Lynyrd Skynyrd and died in a plane crash in 1977. The song was a response to Neil Young’s songs Southern Man and Alabama, which criticized the South for its history of slavery and segregation. The song also references the Watergate scandal and Alabama governor George Wallace. It became one of the band’s most famous hits and a symbol of southern pride. Gary Rossington, the last surviving original member and guitarist of the band, died at 71 on Mar. 5, 2023.

Barry Humphries was born in Melbourne, Australia, on February 17, 1934. He created the character of Dame Edna Everage, a condescending and snobbish housewife in the mid-50s. Humphries died on April 22, 2023, at 89, in a Sydney hospital due to complications following hip surgery.

Fun Fact: He won a Tony Award in 2000 for his Broadway show “Dame Edna: The Royal Tour.” More Barry Humphries trivia facts here.

Jerry Springer, who died on Apr. 27, 2023, at 79, hosted America’s Got Talent for two seasons, from 2007 to 2008. He replaced Regis Philbin, who hosted the first season and was succeeded by Nick Cannon, who hosted from 2009 to 2016. Springer was best known for his scandalous daytime talk show, which ran for 27 years.

Fun Fact: In 2022, Springer participated in the eighth season of The Masked Singer, another popular competition show, where he was unmasked as “Beetle.” You can find more incredible Jerry Springer trivia facts here.

Pelé, who won three World Cups with Brazil and scored over 1,000 goals in his career, died on Dec. 29, 2022, at 82. His body was placed in a golden casket and laid to rest in a mausoleum in Santos, where he played most of his club soccer.

Fun Facts: The mausoleum has two golden statues of Pelé, artificial grass, images of fans in a stadium, and an endless soundtrack of cheers. It opened to visitors on May 15, 2023. Fans visiting the mausoleum must book a time on the Memorial Cemetery website.

Ted Kaczynski was an American domestic terrorist who killed three people and injured 23 others with mail bombs from 1978 to 1995. He was motivated by a radical anti-technology ideology and wanted to stop industrial society from destroying nature and human freedom. He mainly targeted professors, scientists, and executives in engineering, computer science, psychology, and genetics. Before his identity was revealed, the FBI gave him the case name UNABOM, for University and Airline Bomber. The media adopted this name and called him the Unabomber. He was finally captured in 1996 after his brother David recognized his writing style in a manifesto published in The New York Times and The Washington Post. He pleaded guilty in 1998 and was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole. He died by suicide in prison on June 10, 2023, at 81.

Silvio Berlusconi was Italy’s longest-serving postwar prime minister, serving three non-consecutive terms: 1994-1995, 2001-2006, and 2008-2011. He was known for his lavish lifestyle, controversial policies, and numerous legal troubles. In 2013, he was found guilty of tax fraud in a case involving his media empire. He was sentenced to four years in prison, later reduced to community service. He was also barred from holding public office for six years. He died on June 12, 2023, at 86, two months after being diagnosed with leukemia.

Treat Williams starred as George Berger, a charismatic hippie, in the film, directed by Milos Forman and based on the Broadway musical Hair. Some of his other notable appearances include Things to Do in Denver When You’re Dead, Deep Rising, and TV’s Everwood. Williams died on June 13, 2023, at 71, after a motorcycle accident in Vermont, where he lived. He posted a photo of his lawn mower on Twitter hours before he died.

Cormac McCarthy was a celebrated US novelist who wrote acclaimed books such as The Road, No Country for Old Men, and Blood Meridian. He died of natural causes at his home in Santa Fe, New Mexico, on June 13, 2023, at 89. Stephen King tweeted his tribute to McCarthy, calling him “maybe the greatest American novelist of my time.” McCarthy was known for his bleak and violent visions of the American South and West and his sparse prose that influenced many other writers.

Alan Arkin’s performance as George Aaronow in Glengarry Glen Ross was memorable but did not award him an Oscar. He died on June 29, 2023, at 89. Arkin won an Oscar in 2006 for his performance in Little Miss Sunshine, for which he also won the BAFTA award, and was nominated for three other Oscars and six Emmys in his career. He was also a Tony Award-winning actor and won a Golden Globe award in 1967 for his first major film role in “The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming.”

The Birkin Bag is one of the world’s most coveted and expensive handbags, created by French luxury house Hermès. It was named after British actress and singer Jane Birkin, who died on July 17, 2023, at 76. Birkin sketched the bag design in 1984 on an airplane sickness bag while sitting beside Jean-Louis Dumas, former Hermès chairman. She complained that she couldn’t find a bag suitable for her needs as a young mother. The bag included a dedicated space for baby bottles in the spacious rectangular pouch with a burnished flap and saddle stitching.

Fun Fact: The Birkin Bag is also considered one of the hottest luxury investments. Its value increased by 38% in 2020, eclipsing stock market returns.

O’Connor protested against sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, but many viewers were outraged by her gesture and boycotted her music. She was also banned for life by NBC, the network that aired Saturday Night Live, where she performed the stunt. O’Connor converted to Islam and changed her name to Shuhada Sadaqat in 2018. She was found dead at her London home on July 26, 2023. O’Connor died at 56, 18 months after her son Shane.

Tina Turner was 44 when she released her first solo album, “Private Dancer” in 1984. The album sold five million copies and launched her tour career, which made her a worldwide phenomenon. At the 1985 Grammys, the album won her three awards for “What’s Love Got To Do With It” and a fourth award for “Better Be Good To Me.” Turner died on May 24, 2023, at her home in Küsnacht, Switzerland, near Zurich. She was 83 years old.

Fun Fact: The title song from “Private Dancer” was written by Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits.

Tim Burton directed “Pee-wee’s Big Adventure” in 1985. This was before he became the go-to guy for all things delightfully macabre, like “Beetlejuice,” “Edward Scissorhands,” and the recent Netflix series “Wednesday.” Sadly, Paul Reubens, who brought Pee-wee Herman to life, passed away on July 31, 2023, after a private battle with cancer.

The sun-soaked Jimmy Buffett had fans so devoted they even had a name – Parrot Heads! With hits like “Margaritaville” and “Cheeseburger in Paradise,” who wouldn’t want to be part of that flock? Sadly, on Sept. 1, 2023, Jimmy flew off to the big beach in the sky. He died at 76 of Merkel cell carcinoma, a rare and aggressive skin cancer.

The catchy tune “All Star” that had us all humming, “Hey now, you’re an all star,” was the masterpiece of the band Smash Mouth. This Grammy-nominated pop rock band, led by Steve Harwell, made waves in the late ’90s and early 2000s with hits like “Walkin’ on the Sun.” Sadly, the music world recently mourned Harwell’s death, who died at 56 in Boise, Idaho, on Sept. 4, 2023, from liver failure. Harwell retired from Smash Mouth in 2021 due to severe health issues.

Screenshot: The New York Times YouTube Channel

Born in 1996 and announced in 1997, Dolly, the sheep, was the world’s first mammal cloned from an adult cell. Sir Ian Wilmut, the mastermind behind this groundbreaking achievement, died on Sept. 10, 2023. Wilmut was knighted in 2008 for his services to science. His research has paved the way for advances in stem cell treatments that could cure degenerative conditions in the future.

Fun Fact: Dolly was named after country singer Dolly Parton. We’re too embarrassed to say why.

Chandler Bing and Joey Tribbiani, two of the main characters from the legendary sitcom “Friends,” owned a rooster named “The Chick” (later realizing it wasn’t a chick) and a duck named “The Duck.” Matthew Perry, who brilliantly portrayed Chandler, died at 54 on Oct. 28, 2023, at his home in Los Angeles. Perry’s death was an accident caused by the “acute effects of ketamine.”

Fun Fact: Perry released a memoir titled “Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing” in 2022, which became a bestseller.