June 28, 2009 — Is it superstition or fate?

As many have heard celebrity deaths tend to come in threes. This week’s passings seem to further confirm the folklore.

Ed McMahon, known for his hearty “H-e-e-e-e-e-re’s Johnny!” introduction of Johnny Carson on the Tonight Show, died at the age of 86. McMahon was Carson’s straight man and sidekick for 30 years. He was as much a fixture of late night TV as Carson was.

Following the Tonight Show, McMahon went on to host Star Search, which furthered the careers of Justin Timberlake, Usher, LeAnn Rimes, Adam Sandler and Rosie O’Donnell.

He also lent his pitchman persona to American Family Publishers’ sweepstakes, where his face appeared on millions of entry forms and TV commercials.

At the time of McMahon’s death I commented to a fellow colleague that these things normally come in threes.

My immediate thought was the iconic newsman Walter Conkrite would be next. Reports earlier in the week indicated he had been hospitalized and was not doing well. Conkrite was the face of CBS News in the 60s and 70s. Long before the Internet and iPhones, people turned to Conkrite for news of the day.

Many remember when he reported that President John F. Kennedy had died after being shot in Dallas.

It wasn’t Conkrite who made the list of celebrity deaths this week.

It was another entertainer who drew young men to watch the 1970s ABC TV series Charlie’s Angels that died. Farrah Fawcett was 62 and succumbed to anal cancer, which was diagnosed in September 2006.

Fawcett, who only appeared on the series for one season, posed for a poster that appeared in Life magazine in 1976 and became the best-selling pin-up poster of all time, selling more than 12 million copies.

Farrah, who married Lee Majors, TV’s Six Million Man, left the successful Charlie’s Angels to pursue more serious acting.

She did achieve critical acclaim from her role in The Burning Bed, about a woman who fought back after years of abuse from her spouse by setting him ablaze while he slept. She also portrayed Nazi hunter Beate Larsfeld in a made for TV movie, which she garnered a Golden Globe nomination.

Fawcett grew up in Corpus Christi, Texas. As a teen, she had a look that supposedly caused people, mostly guys, to drive by her house just to take a look at her.

She was a striking woman. Her feathered hair-do turned into the style to have in the late 1970s.

The ink was not quite dry on the memorials and remembrances to Fawcett when late Friday afternoon a news bulletin announced the death of Michael Jackson.

Jackson, 50, died of cardiac arrest at his Los Angeles home. It was sudden and has sparked a variety of emotions around the globe.

Dubbed the “King of Pop” Jackson ruled the music industry for nearly four decades. As chubby Michael of the Jackson Five, he and his brothers combined dance and music in such a way that pushed pop music to a new direction and later defined the music video as an art form.

The cute bug of a boy, who began performing at age 11, grew up; his love of showmanship blossomed and a megastar emerged.

With the release of his Thriller album, Jackson never looked back. Thriller is the world’s best -selling record of all time.

His musical sound and “moon walk” left audiences speechless as they fawned over him. His style influenced all genres of music.

While Jackson devotees will return to his music, what many people will never erase from their minds is his erratic behavior. Jackson never really grew up. He was a 50-year-old who still played with children in a gated mansion called Neverland. Accusations of child sex abuse left a stain on Jackson’s image, from which he never recovered. Even the naming of his first and third child Prince Michael I and Prince Michael II seemed strange.

At the time of his death he reportedly was $500 million in debt, but continued to receive royalties from his albums and owned 25 percent of the Beatles library rights and planned a come back tour.

McMahon, Fawcett and Jackson left their marks on the world. They brought joy and sadness.

This week they left us counting in multiples of three.