Much has already been written and spoken about the recent deaths of four people known more for their celebrity than their talent.
And it is without doubt that millions more words will be written and spoken about Michael Jackson, Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett and Billy Mays in the months and years to come.
It would be easy to dismiss their careers as superficial, but perhaps their fame tells us more about ourselves than about them.
Jackson, to be sure, possessed the most talent of the four. We watched him grow up, beginning as the precocious lead singer of the Jackson Five and culminating in his self-proclaimed designation as the "King of Pop."
He was an innovative dancer whose movements seemed to defy the laws of physics. His 1982 "Thriller" music video and recordings set sales records.
He was also _ by all indications _ major-league weird. Whether it was bleaching his skin white, innumerable surgeries on his nose and other parts of his face, more than one child molestation accusation for which he paid many millions of dollars in hush money and ending his life a reported half-billion dollars in debt, Jackson seemed a tortured soul who sought solace in drugs and attempts to recover a lost _ or robbed _ youth.
Jackson died at age 50, preparing for a series of "comeback" concerts beginning in London. When the tour was announced, 750,000 tickets were sold in only five hours.
McMahon, best known as the avuncular second banana to Johnny Carson on the "Tonight Show," died at age 86, also in dire financial straits after profligate spending.
McMahon's "talent" was basically being likeable and laughing uproariously at anything Carson said on the show.
Billy Mays was 50 when he died. With his enthusiasm and irritating voice, he pitched products on cable television from OxiClean to Kaboom, and everything else that could sell for $19.95.
As for Fawcett, she seemed more fantasy than reality to many of her mostly male fans. A 1970s poster of the blonde beauty in a one-piece swimming suit sold more than 12 million copies, making it the top-selling poster ever.
She was one of "Charlie's Angels," but left the popular TV show after only one year to seek better roles.
She gave a creditable performance as a battered wife in 1984's "The Burning Bed." But her finest hour came in her last months as she fought a courageous fight against the cancer that ended her life.
Four celebrities. Were they worthy of their fame? Perhaps. Perhaps not. Either way, we were more than willing to bestow it upon them.
