Photos: Celebrity death hoaxes

By Emily Christianson, Todd Martens, Jevon Phillips and Lora Victorio, Los Angeles Times staff

In case you hadn't heard, Will Smith is alive and well. It seems the movie star has become the latest celebrity to undergo the Google-age ritual of fake death hoaxes. According to reports that circulated online Sunday, the actor was driving his Porsche in the Hollywood Hills, when he lost control and flipped the car.

This wasn't true. But as one writer speculated, the rumor could have gotten its start when a wire story about Carolina Panthers wide receiver Steve Smith that said "he will play" after being in a car accident may have tripped search engines with the key words "will," "smith" and "car accident."

That, combined with Twitter accounts and a high-tech version of the telephone game led "Will Smith is dead" to become one of the hottest search terms on Google by Sunday night.

Smith is just the latest celebrity to fall victim to a death hoax. Let's take a look back at some of the rest.