With what i posted here i am suggesting that maybe people confusing some of these deaths with relatives or something along those lines.
As for another possible explanation, I had the same thought as the person above me. Maybe people are confusing some deaths of certain actors with ther
deaths in movies, plays, tv shows, and so on.
Yes, that's my suspicion, too.
And there is another possibility: that they saw the beginning of a report about the person and thought 'why are they showing this person? Did he/she
die?' - and then, for some reason, their "free associating" mind just jumped at that idea and ran with it. (I've seen this particular type of
distraction happen many times - although, in all fairness, it never involved the
death of a person.)
The first one - the option you mentioned - is my favourite theory, though.
I've read a lot about this phenomenon on the website I mentioned earlier, but never had the opportunity to discuss it with people that had actually
experienced it, so I am glad to have this opportunity now.
And BTW, I am NOT saying that this absolutely could not happen - not at all. I am just saying that, in my opinion, in most of the cases distraction
and/or confusion is probably the most likely cause.