List of Premature Obituaries - B

B

• William Baer, a New York University professor, was declared dead by his New York Times obituary in May 1942 as a hoax by his students.
  
• Luca Barbareschi was one of four actors whom the Italian police believed had been murdered while making the 1980 horror film Cannibal Holocaust. The film was so realistic that shortly after it was released its director, Ruggero Deodato, was arrested for murder. The actors had signed contracts to stay out of the media for a year in order to fuel rumours that the film was a snuff film, and the court was only convinced they were alive when the contracts were cancelled and the actors appeared on a television show as proof.
• Edward Bartlett was reported in the 1934 edition of Wisden Cricketers' Almanack to have died "about February" the previous year. In fact, he lived until 21 December 1976 (1976-12-21).
• John Basedow was reported by PRWeb to be have died in Thailand due to the tsunami resulting from the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake; the story was quickly retracted.
• Lal Bihari, Indian founder of the Association of the Dead, an organisation which highlights the plight of people in Uttar Pradesh who are incorrectly declared dead by relatives in order to steal their land, usually in collusion with corrupt officials. Bihari himself was officially dead from 1976 to 1994 as a result of his uncle's attempt to acquire his land. Among various attempts to publicize his situation and demonstrate that he was alive, he stood for election against Rajiv Gandhi in 1989 (and lost). He was awarded the Ig Nobel Peace Prize in 2003 for his 'posthumous' activities.
• Osama bin Laden had been reported as killed or having had died of natural causes on several instances prior to his actual death in May 2011.
• Paul Blais, a US Air Force serviceman, was listed as one of 19 people believed killed in a 1996 Saudi bombing. However, it transpired that he was alive, though in a coma, having been confused with another airman who had died.
• Lucien Bouchard: the former Quebec premier (who had been seriously ill) was reported dead by CTV in September 2005. The network began broadcasting a live tribute to the politician, but cut it short with a sheepish confirmation that he was in fact alive, blaming Radio-Canada for the error. CTV and Radio-Canada continued to blame each other thereafter.
• Zach Braff (TV actor) In 2007, a webpage was set up by a Scrubs fan announcing that Zach Braff had committed suicide. It was an attempt to fool some friends and film their reactions, however he neglected to take the web-page down and it became a Facebook and Twitter sensation.
• Peter Boyle (TV and movie character actor), was briefly and incorrectly declared deceased in 1990, a few weeks following a massive stroke where he was nearly paralyzed and could not move or speak for nearly six months. His incorrect lifespan of 1933-1990 is listed in the book Cult Movie Stars by author Danny Peary. Boyle made a complete recovery and continued acting despite multiple and persistent health problems. He died in December 2006.
• James Brady, White House Press Secretary, was shot in the head in the 1981 assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan. Three hours later, amid confusion about the extent of his injuries, all three U.S. broadcast TV networks erroneously announced that Brady had died, triggering an on-air outburst by ABC News anchor Frank Reynolds when the information was revealed incorrect. This led to greater subsequent caution about issuing death reports during rapidly developing situations.
• Bob Barker (former American television game show host) was reported in 2007 to have died (He retired in 2007). Since then, his death has become a YouTube sensation.
• Rodger Bumpass (voice actor), reported in August 2006 to have died during heart surgery, by Jonesboro, Arkansas station KAIT, the Internet Movie Database, and Arkansas State University's newsletter. This was apparently due to confusion with the 2005 death of a (differently spelled) Roger Bumpass.
• Pat Burns (NHL Coach), reported on September 17, 2010 by the Toronto Star. He died the following November 19.
• Steve Burns, host of children's show Blues Clues, was rumored to have died from a drug overdose in 1998. Burns went on The Rosie O'Donnell Show to debunk those rumors.
• George W. Bush, or George H.W. Bush, when the moving banner headline on South African television's ETV News read "George Bush is dead". A technician who was testing the banner accidentally pressed the "broadcast live for transmission" button, according to the BBC.