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$HTSC UP 9.09% heading into the afternoon trading session.
Pro Football Player Lawrence Taylor Indited on Rape charges ... !!
BREAKING NEWS: 'Golden Girls' Actress Rue McClanahan Dies
Thursday, June 3, 2010 11:41
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'Golden Girls' Actress Rue McClanahan Dies
"Golden Girls" actress Rue McClanahan has died after suffering a stroke, her manager says.
MORE DETAILS: <http://www.wlky.com/tu/5Qdikj7e4.html
Did he? Wow, sad story for all those kids on that show.
Actor Gary Coleman, age 42 has died ... !!
Gary Coleman, now on Life Support ....!
Judge Issues Warrant for Lindsay Lohan's Arrest ... !!
BREAKING NEWS: Conan O'Brien To Host Late-Night Show On TBS...
Monday, April 12, 2010 1:06 PM
Breaking News
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Conan O'Brien Plans Show On TBS
Conan O'Brien heads to TBS to host a late-night talk show expected to debut in
November.
MORE DETAILS: <http://www.wlky.com/tu/5OWhKa4lk.html>
<http://www.wlky.com/tu/5OWhKa5VA.html>
Singer Johnny Maestro dead at 70
NEW YORK, March 26 (UPI) -- Singer Johnny Maestro died of cancer Wednesday at his home in Cape Coral, Fla., his friend and bandmate Les Cauchi confirmed. Maestro was 70.
Born John Peter Mastrangelo in New York, Maestro went on to become the lead singer for the Crests, the Del-Satins and the Brooklyn Bridge. He is perhaps best known for the hits "Sixteen Candles," "The Angels Listened In," "Step By Step" and "The Worst That Could Happen."
"The original Brooklyn Bridge had 11 members, singing and playing," Cauchi told the New York Times. "Now there are six members, without Johnny."
Maestro is survived by his wife, Grace; his brother, Ronald; two daughters, Tracy and Lisa; a son, Brad; and four grandchildren, the Times sa
There goes one of the funniest shows on TV - Two and A Half Men.
" It's Official, Actor Charlie Sheen Facing Felony for Domestic Dispute " ....
Jail time ...
Pernell Roberts, last star of TV's `Bonanza,' dies
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Play Video Movies Video:Mel Gibson & Ray Winstone On 'Edge Of Darkness' CBS 11 Dallas Play Video Movies Video:Ava Gardner grew up near Smithfield WRAL Raleigh Play Video Movies Video:Mel Gibson on 'Edge of Darkness' ABC News Mon Jan 25, 9:18 pm ET
LOS ANGELES – Pernell Roberts, the ruggedly handsome actor who shocked Hollywood by leaving TV's "Bonanza" at the height of its popularity, then found fame again years later on "Trapper John, M.D.," has died. He was 81.
Roberts, the last surviving member of the classic Western's cast, died of cancer Sunday at his Malibu home, his wife Eleanor Criswell told the Los Angeles Times.
Although he rocketed to fame in 1959 as Adam Cartwright, eldest son of a Nevada ranching family led by Lorne Greene's patriarchal Ben Cartwright, Roberts chafed at the limitations he felt his "Bonanza" character was given.
"They told me the four characters (Greene, himself and Dan Blocker and Michael Landon as his brothers) would be carefully defined and the scripts carefully prepared," he complained to The Associated Press in 1964. "None of it ever happened."
It particularly distressed him that his character, a man in his 30s, had to continually defer to the wishes of his widowed father.
"Doesn't it seem a bit silly for three adult males to get Father's permission for everything they do?" he once asked a reporter.
Roberts agreed to fulfill his six-year contract but refused to extend it, and when he left the series in 1965, his character was eliminated with the explanation that he had simply moved away.
"Bonanza," with its three remaining stars, continued until 1973, making it second to "Gunsmoke" as the longest-running Western on TV. Blocker died in 1972, Greene in 1987, and Landon in 1991.
When Roberts left the show the general feeling in Hollywood was that he had foolishly doomed his career and turned his back on a fortune in "Bonanza" earnings.
Indeed, for the next 14 years he mainly made appearances on TV shows and in miniseries, or toured with such theatrical productions as "The King and I, "Camelot" and "The Music Man."
His TV credits during that time included "The Virginian," "Hawaii Five-O," "Mission Impossible," "Marcus Welby, M.D.," "Banacek," "Ironside" and "Mannix."
Then, in 1979, he landed another series, "Trapper John, M.D.," in which he played the title role.
The character, but little else, was spun off from the brilliant Korean War comedy-drama "M-A-S-H," in which Wayne Rogers had played the offbeat Dr. "Trapper" John McIntire opposite Alan Alda's Dr. Benjamin Franklin "Hawkeye" Pierce.
Rogers had left that series after just three seasons.
In "Trapper John, M.D.," the Korean War was nearly 30 years past and Roberts' character was now a balding, middle-aged chief of surgery at San Francisco Memorial Hospital. He no longer fought the establishment, having learned how to deal with it with patience and wry humor.
The series, praised for its serious treatment of the surgical world, aired until 1986.
Roberts' other venture into series TV was "FBI: The Untold Stories" (1991-1993), in which he acted as host and narrator.
Pernell Roberts Jr. was born in 1928 in Waycross, Ga. As a young man, he once commented, "I distinguished myself by flunking out of college three times." After pursuing occupations that ranged from tombstone maker to railroad riveter, he decided to become an actor.
Roberts worked extensively in regional theaters, then gained notice in New York, where he won a Drama Desk award in 1956 for his performance in an off-Broadway production of "Macbeth."
He eventually moved to Hollywood, where he appeared in several TV shows and landed character roles in such features as "Desire Under the Elms," "The Sheepman" and "Ride Lonesome" until "Bonanza" made him a star.
Three of Roberts' marriages ended in divorce. His first, to Vera Mowry, produced a son, Jonathan, who died in 1989 at age 37.
and I thought my family was nuts
Nancy Kerrigan's Brother Arrested in Probe of Father's Death
Monday, January 25, 2010
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Nancy Kerrigan
Nancy Kerrigan
Former Olympic figure skater Nancy Kerrigan's brother was arrested and charged with assault in connection with the death of their father, who was found unresponsive inside the family's home on Sunday.
Emergency crews were sent to Kerrigan's childhood home in Stoneham, Mass., at approximately 1:45 a.m. Sunday after receiving reports of an unresponsive man at the scene, MyFoxBoston.com reported.
Police later identified the man as Kerrigan's 70-year-old father, Daniel. The death was labeled suspicious, the TV station reported.
Click here to read more from MyFoxBoston.com
Stoneham Police Chief Richard Bongiorno told the station that Kerrigan's 45-year-old brother, Mark, was arrested and remains in police custody.
Mark Kerrigan was charged with "assault and battery on an elder person resulting in serious bodily injury," according to a police press release.
A 5-page police report, obtained by the Boston Herald, asserts that the two men were arguing over use of the telephone when the younger Kerrigan allegedly put his “hands around his father’s neck."
VideoKerrigan's Father Dies; Brother Arrested
Nancy Kerrigan's Brother Arrested
Kerrigan's son reportedly told police that he thought his father was “faking it” when he fell to the floor, according to the newspaper.
The report says that Mark Kerrigan appeared intoxicated when police arrived on the scene and that he had to be subdued with pepper spray. Police also said they found blood on the kitchen floor, the newspaper reported.
Kerrigan will be arraigned on the charges at the Woburn District Court on Monday.
Stoneham police and Massachusetts state police assigned to the Middlesex District Attorney's Office are conducting an investigation into the circumstances of Daniel Kerrigan's death.
Kerrigan's mother, Brenda, refuted claims that her husband's death was suspicious, telling the Boston Herald that he died of a "massive heart attack."
“My God. He had a heart attack,” she told the newspaper. “That’s what it was.”
Click here to read more from the Boston Herald
"" WHUTCHU Talkin' 'bout, Willis "" ... ?? >>
Actor Gary Coleman jailed in Utah
In this Feb. 26, 2008 file photo, actor Gary Coleman appears on the the NBC 'Today' program in … 40 mins ago
SANTAQUIN, Utah – Actor Gary Coleman was arrested in Utah on a warrant for failing to appear in court, police said.
The 41-year-old former "Diff'rent Strokes" actor was booked into the Utah County Jail Sunday, said Santaquin police officer Shawn Carter.
He said early Monday that he didn't have details on the warrant or know if Coleman was still being held. He said more information would be released later in the day.
The Salt Lake Tribune reported that Utah County Jail records show he was arrested after police received reports of a disturbance at his Santaquin home.
The actor was arrested in Utah in 2008 after a man claimed Coleman tried to run over him in a parking lot when he tried to take a picture with the child star. The case was reportedly been settled out of court.
R&B singer Teddy Pendergrass has died at age 59 ...
Fox News: Conan O'Brien won't do Tonight Show @ 12:05am ... !!!
"I'm getting old, Pat" >> Roy Disney Nephew of Walt, dies @ 79 ... !!
Mary Travers of Peter, Paul and Mary dead at 72
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Slideshow:Singer Mary Travers of Peter, Paul and Mary dies By JAY LINDSAY, Associated Press Writer Jay Lindsay, Associated Press Writer – 55 mins ago
BOSTON – Mary Travers, who as one-third of the hugely popular 1960s folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary helped popularize such tunes as "Puff (The Magic Dragon)" and "If I Had a Hammer," died in a Connecticut hospital Wednesday after battling leukemia for several years. She was 72.
The band's publicist, Heather Lylis, said Travers died at Danbury Hospital.
Bandmate Peter Yarrow said that in her final months, Travers handled her declining health with bravery and generosity, showing her love to friends and family "with great dignity and without restraint."
"It was, as Mary always was, honest and completely authentic," he said. "That's the way she sang, too; honestly and with complete authenticity."
Noel "Paul" Stookey, the trio's other member, praised Travers for her inspiring activism, "especially in her defense of the defenseless."
"I am deadened and heartsick beyond words to consider a life without Mary Travers and honored beyond my wildest dreams to have shared her spirit and her career," he said.
Mary Allin Travers was born on Nov. 9, 1936 in Louisville, Ky., the daughter of journalists who moved the family to Manhattan's bohemian Greenwich Village. She quickly became enamored with folk performers like the Weavers, and was soon performing with Pete Seeger, a founding member of the Weavers who lived in the same building as the Travers family.
With a group called the Song Swappers, Travers backed Seeger on one album and two shows at Carnegie Hall. She also appeared (as one of a group of folk singers) in a short-lived 1958 Broadway show called "The Next President," starring comedian Mort Sahl.
It wasn't until she met up with Yarrow and Stookey that Travers would taste success on her own. Yarrow was managed by Albert B. Grossman, who later worked in the same capacity for Bob Dylan.
In the book "Positively 4th Street" by David Hajdu, Travers recalled that Grossman's strategy was to "find a nobody that he could nurture and make famous."
The budding trio, boosted by the arrangements of Milt Okun, spent seven months rehearsing in her Greenwich Village apartment before their 1961 public debut at the Bitter End.
Their beatnik look — a tall blonde flanked by a pair of goateed guitarists — was a part of their initial appeal. As The New York Times critic Robert Shelton put it not long afterward, "Sex appeal as a keystone for a folk-song group was the idea of the group's manager ... who searched for months for `the girl' until he decided on Miss Travers."
The trio mingled their music with liberal politics, both onstage and off. Their version of "If I Had a Hammer" became an anthem for racial equality. Other hits included "Lemon Tree," "Leaving on a Jet Plane" and "Puff (The Magic Dragon.)"
They were early champions of Dylan and performed his "Blowin' in the Wind" at the August 1963 March on Washington.
And they were vehement in their opposition to the Vietnam War, managing to stay true to their liberal beliefs while creating music that resonated in the American mainstream.
The group collected five Grammy Awards for their three-part harmony on enduring songs like "Leaving on a Jet Plane," "Puff (The Magic Dragon)" and "Blowin' in the Wind."
At one point in 1963, three of their albums were in the top six Billboard best-selling LPs as they became the biggest stars of the folk revival movement.
It was heady stuff for a trio that had formed in the early 1960s in Greenwich Village, running through simple tunes like "Mary Had a Little Lamb."
Their debut album came out in 1962, and immediately scored a pair of hits with their versions of "If I Had a Hammer" and "Lemon Tree." The former won them Grammys for best folk recording, and best performance by a vocal group.
"Moving" was the follow-up, including the hit tale of innocence lost, "Puff (The Magic Dragon)" — which reached No. 2 on the charts, and generated since-discounted reports that it was an ode to marijuana.
Album No. 3, "In the Wind," featured three songs by the 22-year-old Dylan. "Don't Think Twice, It's Alright" and "Blowin' in the Wind" both reached the top 10, bringing Dylan's material to a massive audience; the latter shipped 300,000 copies during one two-week period.
"Blowin' In the Wind" became an another civil rights anthem, and Peter, Paul and Mary fully embraced the cause. They marched with the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in Selma, Ala., and performed with him in Washington.
In a 1966 New York Times interview, Travers said the three worked well together because they respected one another. "There has to be a certain amount of love just in order for you to survive together," she said. "I think a lot of groups have gone down the tubes because they were not able to relate to one another."
With the advent of the Beatles and Dylan's switch to electric guitar, the folk boom disappeared. Travers expressed disdain for folk-rock, telling the Chicago Daily News in 1966 that "it's so badly written. ... When the fad changed from folk to rock, they didn't take along any good writers."
But the trio continued their success, scoring with the tongue-in-cheek single "I Dig Rock and Roll Music," a gentle parody of the Mamas and the Papas, in 1967 and the John Denver-penned "Leaving on a Jet Plane" two years later.
They also continued as boosters for young songwriters, recording numbers written by then-little-known Gordon Lightfoot and Laura Nyro.
In 1969, the group earned their final Grammy for "Peter, Paul and Mommy," which won for best children's album. They disbanded in 1971, launching solo careers — Travers released five albums — that never achieved the heights of their collaborations.
Over the years they enjoyed several reunions, including a performance at a 1978 anti-nuclear benefit organized by Yarrow and a 35th anniversary album, "Lifelines," with fellow folkies Ramblin' Jack Elliott, Dave Van Ronk and Seeger. A boxed set of their music was released in 2004.
They remained politically active as well, performing at the 1995 anniversary of the Kent State shootings and performing for California strawberry pickers.
Travers had undergone a successful bone marrow transplant to treat her leukemia and was able to return to performing after that.
"It was like a miracle," Travers told The Associated Press in 2006. "I'm just feeling fabulous. What's incredible is someone has given your life back. I'm out in the garden today. This time last year I was looking out a window at a hospital." She also said she told the marrow donor "how incredibly grateful I was."
But by mid-2009, Yarrow told WTOP radio in Washington that her condition had worsened again and he thought she would no longer be able to perform.
Travers lived for many years in Redding, Conn. She is survived by her husband, Ethan Robbins and daughters, Alicia and Erika.
Patrick Swayze dies of cancer at 57.
LOS ANGELES, California- Patrick Swayze, whose good looks and sympathetic performances in films such as "Dirty Dancing" and "Ghost" made him a romantic idol to millions, died Monday. He was 57. Swayze died of pancreatic cancer, his publicist, Annett Wolf, told CNN.
Swayze's doctor, Dr. George Fisher, revealed in early March 2008 that Swayze was suffering from the disease.
"Patrick Swayze passed away peacefully today with family at his side after facing the challenges of his illness for the last 20 months," Wolf said in a statement Monday.
Most recently, Swayze starred in A&E Network's "The Beast," which debuted in January. He agreed to take the starring role of an undercover FBI agent before his diagnosis. The network agreed to shoot an entire season of the show after Swayze responded well to his cancer treatment.
In an interview with ABC's Barbara Walters in January, Swayze said his work on that show was exhausting, requiring 12-hour workdays in Chicago, Illinois, doing his own stunts. But he said the show's character "just felt right for my soul."
If I leave this Earth, I want to leave this Earth just knowing I've tried to give something back and tried to do something worthwhile with myself," Swayze told Walters, when asked why he decided to do the show. "And that keeps me going, that gets me up in the morning. My work ... is my legacy."
"The Beast" was canceled in June because of Swayze's illness, after doctors told him the cancer had spread to his liver.
"We are saddened by the loss of one of our generation's greatest talents and a member of the A&E family," a statement from the network said. "Patrick's work on 'The Beast' was an inspiration to us all. He will be greatly missed and our thoughts are with his wife, Lisa, and his entire family during this difficult time."
Swayze was mostly known for a handful of supporting roles when he broke through with his performance as dance instructor Johnny Castle in 1987's "Dirty Dancing." Co-star Jennifer Grey, who played his young lover, Baby Houseman, in the film, described Swayze as "gorgeous and strong."
"Patrick was a rare and beautiful combination of raw masculinity and amazing grace. ... He was a real cowboy with a tender heart. He was fearless and insisted on always doing his own stunts, so it was not surprising to me that the war he waged on his cancer was so courageous and dignified," Grey said in a statement Monday.
Three years after "Dirty Dancing," he became an even bigger star with "Ghost," in which he played an investment banker who dies and learns to tap into his unspoken feelings for his partner (Demi Moore). The film won Whoopi Goldberg an Oscar and helped make him People magazine's "Sexiest Man Alive" in 1991.
"Patrick was a really good man, a funny man and one to whom I owe much that I can't ever repay," Goldberg said in a statement. "I believe in 'Ghost's' message, so he'll always be near."
Swayze told Entertainment Weekly in 1990 that "the movies that have had the most powerful effects on my life have been about romantic characters." He expanded on the effort he put into love scenes for People in 1991.
"It's possibly the scariest thing I do," he said, "doing something so personal and giving people out there the opportunity to see if you're a good kisser or not."
Patrick Wayne Swayze was born on August 18, 1952, in Houston, Texas. His father was an engineering draftsman; his mother was a ballet dancer and later the director of the Houston Ballet Dance Company.
Swayze's career diminished in the late '90s. He broke both legs in 1997 while making a film, "Letters From a Killer," and went into rehab to overcome an admitted drinking problem.
In 2000, he was flying in his own twin-engine plane when the plane depressurized; Swayze landed in a housing development in Arizona. Though some witnesses say he appeared intoxicated, he was later revealed to have been suffering from hypoxia, related to the depressurization and his three-pack-a-day cigarette habit.
Swayze re-established his knack for picking sleepers with "Donnie Darko" (2001), the dark film about a troubled student that became a sensation on video. Swayze played a creepy motivational speaker and won raves for his performance.
Swayze's more recent films included a TV version of "King Solomon's Mines" and 2007's "Christmas in Wonderland."
Though he still had the power to make women's hearts flutter -- 22-year-old Scarlett Johansson, upon receiving Harvard's Hasty Pudding Award in February 2007, said her dream date was "probably Patrick Swayze, my dream come true" -- Swayze wasn't too impressed with himself.
"Good-looking people turn me off," he once said. "Myself included."
Swayze is survived by his wife, Lisa, of over 30 years and his mother, Patsy.
BREAKING NEWS: Guitar Legend Les Paul Dies At Age 94Thursday, August 13, 2009 12:22 PM
From: "Click2Houston.com" <emailnews@click2houston.com>Add sender to ContactsTo: skeballlarry@yahoo.comGuitar Legend Les Paul Dies At Age 94
A representative says guitar legend Les Paul has died at 94.
That's five celebrities (if u count Billy Mays) in just a little over a week.
Actor Karl Malden Dead At 97
The family of Karl Malden, the Academy Award- and Emmy-winning actor, says he has died at the age of 97.
Gale Storm, 87, Is Dead; Earned Television Fame for Her Wholesome Roles
By ANITA GATES
Published: June 29, 2009
Gale Storm, the Texas-born actress who made wholesome perkiness a defining element of television’s golden age on two hit sitcoms, “My Little Margie” and “The Gale Storm Show,” died Saturday at a convalescent hospital in Danville, Calif., according to a representative of the hospital. She was 87.
Storm had been a B-movie actress for more than a decade when “My Little Margie” had its premiere on CBS in June 1952 as a summer replacement for the era’s biggest hit series, “I Love Lucy.” Ms. Storm played a young Manhattanite living with her widowed father (Charles Farrell), an affluent businessman, and often trying to keep amorous single women away from him. Critics dismissed the show as silly, but the public disagreed and the series ran for three full seasons.
A year later Ms. Storm returned to television with another sitcom, “The Gale Storm Show: Oh! Susanna.” The title character was a social director on a cruise ship who, with her beautician sidekick (ZaSu Pitts), regularly confounded the ship’s stuffy captain and, every third episode, burst into song (a condition of Ms. Storm’s contract). The show ran from 1956 to 1960.
During the same decade Ms. Storm had a successful recording career, with a gold record for “I Hear You Knockin’ ” and other pop hits including “Teenage Prayer,” “Tell Me Why” and “Dark Moon.”
After her decade of television fame, Ms. Storm turned to stage work in Las Vegas and to regional theater. But she also battled alcoholism in the 1970s and wrote about her struggle in her 1981 autobiography, “I Ain’t Down Yet.”
“I was the star of my own cornball B movie,” she wrote, alluding to her success and her stable, happy home life, “and suddenly it turned into a horror story.” She gave the credit for her recovery to a California hospital’s aversion-therapy program.
Josephine Owaissa Cottle was born on April 5, 1922, in Bloomington, Tex., a small town near the Gulf of Mexico. She was the youngest of five children (an older sister suggested her middle name, an American Indian word for bluebird). Her father, a potter, died when Josephine was a year old, and her mother became a seamstress to make ends meet.
The family moved to Houston, where Josephine was active in high school dramatics. Two teachers there persuaded her to enter the Gateway to Hollywood talent contest, sponsored by the producer Jesse L. Lasky, RKO Radio Pictures and Wrigley, the chewing gum manufacturer.
In 1939 she won the local competition and traveled with her mother to Hollywood, where she won the national prize, which included the preordained screen name Gale Storm and an RKO contract. In a fairy tale twist, she also met and fell in love with the contest’s male winner, Lee Bonnell, a young actor from Indiana. She married him in 1941.
Ms. Storm made her film debut in the boys’ boarding school drama “Tom Brown’s School Days” (1940), starring Cedric Hardwicke. But RKO soon canceled her contract, and the three dozen or so movies she made during the next decade were less than artistic triumphs.
They included “Freckles Comes Home” (1942), an action-comedy-romance in which the “Our Gang” star Johnny Downs played the title role; “Revenge of the Zombies” (1943), which involved Nazis in Louisiana; “Sunbonnet Sue” (1945), a musical comedy about a tavern owner’s daughter; and “Curtain Call at Cactus Creek” (1950), a comic western with Donald O’Connor.
“Where Are Your Children?” (1943), an early treatment of juvenile delinquency starring Jackie Cooper, garnered some positive attention. She played opposite the cowboy star Roy Rogers in three films, including “Red River Valley” (1941). But her personal favorites among her films were “It Happened on Fifth Avenue” (1947), a holiday comedy with Don DeFore, in which she was cast as a millionaire’s daughter, and “The Dude Goes West” (1948), a Western comedy with Eddie Albert.
After her second series went off the air, Ms. Storm’s screen-acting career largely ended. She did two episodes of “Burke’s Law” in the 1960s and one of “The Love Boat” (considered something of an “Oh! Susanna” copycat) in 1979. Her final screen appearance was on the CBS drama series “Murder, She Wrote,” playing a bridegroom’s mother in a 1989 episode.
Ms. Storm’s marriage to Mr. Bonnell, who abandoned his acting career early on and became an insurance executive, lasted until his death in 1986. They had four children. In 1988 she married Paul Masterson, a former ABC television executive, who died in 1996.
She is survived by three sons, Phillip, Peter and Paul; a daughter, Susie; eight grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren.
In her memoir, Ms. Storm looked back on her greatest success, “My Little Margie,” and the difficulties of doing a weekly series for several years.
“I’d get tired, but I’d wake up every morning looking forward to the day’s work,” she wrote. “I think that the secret to happiness is being surrounded by people you love and having work that you look forward to doing.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/29/arts/television/29storm.html?_r=1&ref=obituaries
LOS ANGELES (1010 WINS) -- TMZ is reporting that Michael Jackson has died after suffering cardiac arrest.
Paramedics apparently responded to a call at Jackson's home around 12:26 p.m. He was not breathing when they arrived, according to the L.A. Times.
The paramedics apparently performed CPR and took him to UCLA Medical Center, which is about two minutes from his home.
The news comes as Jackson, 50, was attempting to make a comeback with dozens of sold out shows this summer in London.
Michael Jackson rushed to Hospital for Cardiac Arrest ... !!!
Oh that poor thing. I watched that documentary. What she went through.
Farrah Fawcett dead at 62
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Farrah Fawcett, whose stunning looks and blinding smile made her a pop icon of the 1970s, has died. She was 62.
Her spokesman, Paul Bloch, says Fawcett died Thursday morning in a Santa Monica hospital. Her 2½-year battle with cancer was depicted in the TV documentary "Farrah's Story."
She burst on the scene in 1976 as one-third of the crime-fighting trio in TV's "Charlie's Angeles." A poster of her in a clingy swimsuit sold in the millions.
She left the show after one season but had a flop on the big screen with "Somebody Killed Her Husband." She turned to more serious roles in the 1980s and 1990s, winning praise playing an abused wife in "The Burning Bed."
(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
He wasn't looking too healthy lately.
whaaaaaaaaaaaaat?
Ed McMahon ( on Johnny Carson ) dies @ 86 ... !!
WOW - that's too bad, and I can't believe he was that old. Kung Fu was my father's most favorite show.
Actor David Carradine found dead in Bangkok
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Jun 4, 10:14 AM (ET)
BANGKOK (AP) - Actor David Carradine, star of the 1970s TV series "Kung Fu" who also had a wide-ranging career in the movies, has been found dead in the Thai capital, Bangkok.
A spokesman for the U.S. Embassy, Michael Turner, confirmed the death of the 72-year-old actor. He says Carradine died either late Wednesday or early Thursday, but he could not provide further details out of consideration for his family.
The Web site of the newspaper The Nation cited unidentified police sources as saying Carradine was found Thursday hanged in his luxury hotel room and is believed to have committed suicide.
Carradine was a leading member of a venerable Hollywood acting family that included his father, character actor John Carradine, and brother Keith.
Blues queen Koko Taylor dies at 80
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Jun 3, 9:17 PM (ET)
By CARYN ROUSSEAU
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CHICAGO (AP) - Koko Taylor, a sharecropper's daughter whose regal bearing and powerful voice earned her the sobriquet "Queen of the Blues," has died after complications from surgery. She was 80.
Taylor died Wednesday at Northwestern Memorial Hospital about two weeks after having surgery for a gastrointestinal bleed, said Marc Lipkin, director of publicity for her record label, Alligator Records, which made the announcement.
"The passion that she brought and the fire and the growl in her voice when she sang was the truth," blues singer and musician Ronnie Baker Brooks said Wednesday. "The music will live on, but it's much better because of Koko. It's a huge loss."
Taylor's career stretched more than five decades. While she did not have widespread mainstream success, she was revered and beloved by blues aficionados, and earned worldwide acclaim for her work, which including the best-selling song "Wang Dang Doodle" and tunes such as "What Kind of Man is This" and "I Got What It Takes."
Taylor appeared on national television numerous times, and was the subject of a PBS documentary and had a small part in director David Lynch's "Wild at Heart."
"What a loss to the blues world," said Chicago blues legend Buddy Guy. "She was one of the last of the greats of Chicago and really did what she could to keep the blues alive here, like I'm trying to do now."
In the course of her career, Taylor was nominated seven times for Grammy awards and won in 1984.
Taylor last performed on May 7 in Memphis, Tenn., at the Blues Music Awards.
"She was still the best female blues singer in the world a month ago," said Jay Sieleman, executive director of The Blues Foundation based in Memphis. "In 1950s Chicago she was the woman singing the blues. At 80 years old she was still the queen of the blues."
Born Cora Walton just outside Memphis, Taylor said her dream to become a blues singer was nurtured in the cotton fields outside her family's sharecropper shack.
"I used to listen to the radio, and when I was about 18 years old, B.B. King was a disc jockey and he had a radio program, 15 minutes a day, over in West Memphis, Arkansas and he would play the blues," she said in a 1990 interview. "I would hear different records and things by Muddy Waters, Bessie Smith, Memphis Minnie, Sonnyboy Williams and all these people, you know, which I just loved."
Although her father encouraged her to sing only gospel music, Cora and her siblings would sneak out back with their homemade instruments and play the blues. With one brother accompanying on a guitar made out of bailing wire and nails and one brother on a fife made out of a corncob, she began on the path to blues woman.
Orphaned at 11, Koko - a nickname she earned because of an early love of chocolate - at age 18 moved to Chicago with her soon-to-be-husband, the late Robert "Pops" Taylor, in search for work.
"I was so glad to get out of the cotton patch and stop pickin' cotton, I wouldn't of cared who come by and said, 'I'll take you to Chicago,'" Taylor recalled in a 2004 interview with The Associated Press.
When she first entered the city, she thought, "Good God, this must be heaven," Taylor said.
Setting up house on the South Side, Koko found work as a cleaning woman for a wealthy family living in the city's northern suburbs. At night and on weekends, she and her husband, who would later become her manager, frequented Chicago's clubs, where many the artists heard on the radio performed.
"I started going to these local clubs, me and my husband, and everybody got to know us," Taylor said. "And then the guys would start letting me sit in, you know, come up on the bandstand and do a tune."
The break for Tennessee-born Taylor came in 1962, when arranger/composer Willie Dixon, impressed by her voice, got her a Chess recording contract and produced several singles (and two albums) for her, including the million-selling 1965 hit, "Wang Dang Doodle," which she called silly, but which launched her recording career.
From Chicago blues clubs, Taylor took her raucous, gritty, good-time blues on the road to blues and jazz festivals around the nation, and into Europe. After the Chess label folded, she signed with Alligator Records.
In most years, she performed at least 100 concerts a year.
"Blues is my life," Taylor once said. "It's a true feeling that comes from the heart, not something that just comes out of my mouth. Blues is what I love, and blues is what I always do."
In addition to performing, she operated a Chicago nightclub, which closed in November 2001 because her daughter, club manager Joyce Threatt, developed severe asthma and could no longer manage a smoky nightclub.
Survivors include her daughter; husband Hays Harris; grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Funeral arrangements will be announced, the label said.
Taylor was a mentor and inspiration to the next generation of female blues singers, said 30-year-old blues singer Shemekia Copeland, who first met Taylor when she was 15 at a club in New York.
"When I saw her, I couldn't speak," said Copeland, the daughter of late blues artist Johnny Copeland. "You can't ask a woman who sings blues right now who influenced them and not say, 'Koko Taylor.' If she didn't pave the way for us we couldn't do this."
---_
On the Net:
http://www.kokotaylor.com
I just looked it up and Netflix has it so I put it in my queue - here it is on Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Lotsa-Luck-complete-Dom-Deluise/dp/B000BTGXZG
No, not THAT one, Pat but I'm thinking of another Series he was in alot ... I'll get it shortly, Methinks ...
Do you remember this show he used to star in called Lotsa Luck? Had to be one the funniest shows I remember but got canceled. Don't know if I would find it that funny nowadays, but loved it when it aired back in the 70's.
Oh, NO!! I loved him, yet haven't seen him recently at all.
Actor Dom DeLuise Dies At 75
Comedy Actor Was 75
POSTED: Tuesday, May 5, 2009
UPDATED: 10:07 am CDT May 5, 2009
Frazer Harrison/Getty Images
Dom DeLuise
Dom DeLuise, the comic actor who starred in several Mel Brooks films, has died, according to TMZ.com.
He was 75.
According to the celebrity gossip site, DeLuise died Monday night at a hospital in Los Angeles.
DeLuise starred in such Brooks films as "Blazing Saddles" and "Spaceballs," and in the action comedy "The Cannonball Run."
Please check back for updates on this developing story.
Phil Spector found guilty of actress' 2003 murder
LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- After about 30 hours of deliberation, a jury on Monday convicted music producer Phil Spector of second-degree murder in the death of actress Lana Clarkson more than six years ago.
Phil Spector will not remain free on bail pending his May 29 sentencing.
Phil Spector will not remain free on bail pending his May 29 sentencing.
Wearing a black suit with a red tie and pocket square, Spector showed no reaction as the verdict was announced. Now 69, he faces a sentence of 18 years to life in prison when he is sentenced May 29.
Asked if he agreed to the sentencing date, Spector quietly answered, "Yes."
Superior Court Judge Larry Paul Fidler declined to allow Spector to remain free on bail pending sentencing, citing Spector's years-long "pattern of violence" involving firearms.
"This was not an isolated incident," Fidler said, noting Spector's two previous firearm-related convictions from the 1970s. "The taking of an innocent human life, it doesn't get any more serious than that."
Spector's wife, Rachelle, was in the courtroom to hear the verdict Monday, as was Clarkson's mother, Donna.
Clarkson, 40, was found dead, slumped in a chair in the foyer of Spector's Alhambra, California, mansion with a gunshot wound through the roof of her mouth in February 2003.
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A mistrial was declared in Spector's first trial in September 2007. After deliberating 15 days, jurors told Fidler that they were unable to reach a verdict. Spector was also charged with second-degree murder in that trial. Jurors deadlocked 10-2 in favor of conviction.
In closing arguments at the retrial, prosecutor Truc Do called Spector "a very dangerous man" who "has a history of playing Russian roulette with women -- six women. Lana just happened to be the sixth."
Defense attorney Doron Weinberg argued that the prosecution's case hinged on circumstantial evidence. He said the possibility that Clarkson committed suicide could not be ruled out.
Do pointed out, however, to jurors that Clarkson bought new shoes on the day of her death -- something a suicidal woman would not have done, the prosecutor said.
Clarkson starred in the 1985 B-movie "Barbarian Queen" and appeared in many other films, including "DeathStalker," "Blind Date," "Scarface," "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" and the spoof "Amazon Women on the Moon." She was working as a VIP hostess at Hollywood's House of Blues at the time of her death.
In the 2007 trial, Spector's attorneys argued that Clarkson was depressed over a recent breakup and grabbed a .38-caliber pistol to kill herself while at Spector's home.
But prosecution witnesses painted Spector as a gun-toting menace. Five women took the stand and claimed he had threatened them with firearms. His driver testified that he heard a loud noise and saw the producer leave the home, pistol in hand, saying, "I think I killed somebody."
Spector's retrial began in October. Fidler ruled that jurors could consider the lesser charge of involuntary manslaughter against Spector.
Spector's professional trademark was the "Wall of Sound," the layering of instrumental tracks and percussion that underpinned a string of hits on his Philles label -- named for Spector and his business partner, Lester Sill -- in the early 1960s.
The roaring arrangements were the heart of what he called "little symphonies for the kids" -- among them No. 1 hits like the Ronettes' "Be My Baby" and the Righteous Brothers' "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'."
Spector co-produced the Beatles' final album, "Let It Be," and worked with ex-Beatles George Harrison and John Lennon on solo projects after the group broke up. His recording of Harrison's 1971 benefit concert for war relief in Bangladesh won the 1972 Grammy award for album of the year.
Spector has won two Grammy Awards and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989, but he stayed out of the public eye for two decades before his 2003 arrest in Clarkson's death.
Natasha Richardson in New York After Ski Accident
British Actress Reportedly Critically Injured, Mother and Sister Arrive in NYC
By SHEILA MARIKAR
March 18, 2009 —
Natasha Richardson remains in a New York City hospital this morning with members of her family by her side. She suffered a potentially serious brain injury after falling on a Canadian ski slope Monday.
The Tony award-winning British actress was transferred from a Montreal hospital Tuesday and is in Lenox Hill Hospital on Manhattan's Upper East Side, ABC News has confirmed.
Neither the hospital nor family members have officially released details about Richardson's condition, and published reports citing friends and relatives have been contradictory as to whether her injuries are life threatening or not.
The New York Times, citing two people close to the family, reports that Richardson is in very serious condition and that her family is "highly distressed."
Hospital officials in Montreal said they expected the Richardson family would release a statement today.
On Tuesday night, Richardson's mother, actress Vanessa Redgrave, was seen entering the New York City hospital. So was Richardson's sister, Joely Richardson. Richardson's husband, Liam Neeson, is also reportedly by her side.
Further details about the nature Richardson's skiing accident emerged Tuesday.
The Toronto Star reported that Richardson, lying heavily wrapped in blankets in an intensive-care bed, tubes covering her face, was loaded into an ambulance outside of Montreal's Hôpital du Sacre-Coeur at 12:30 p.m. Tuesday, in preparation for her flight to New York.
Neeson, was crouched down in the back of the ambulance watching as she was loaded, according to the Star.
The Mont Tremblant ski resort in Quebec, where the 45-year-old actress was skiing Monday, released the following statement regarding her accident:
"Natasha Richardson fell in a beginners trail while taking a ski lesson at Station Mont Tremblant," the statement said. "She was accompanied by an experienced ski instructor who immediately called the ski patrol. She did not show any visible sign of injury but the ski patrol followed strict procedures and brought her back to the bottom of the slope and insisted she should see a doctor."
"As an additional precautionary measure, the ski instructor as well as the ski patrol accompanied Mrs. Richardson to her hotel," the statement continued. "They again recommended she should be seen by a doctor. The ski instructor stayed with her at her hotel. Approximately an hour after the incident Mrs. Richardson was not feeling good. An ambulance was called and Mrs. Richardson was brought to the Centre Hospitalier Laurentien in Ste-Agathe and was later transferred to Hôpital du Sacre-Coeur."
A spokesperson for the resort noted Richardson was not wearing a helmet while skiing and didn't collide with anything when she fell.
Neeson, 56, left the set of "Chloe," a movie he was filming in Toronto, and rushed to his wife's side upon learning the news, according to AccessHollywoood.com.
She and Neeson have two sons, Michael, 13, and Daniel Jack, 12.
"Liam Neeson left the Toronto set immediately to fly to Montreal," Neeson's representatives said in a statement to Britain's Daily Mail. "We do not have any details at this time but we hope for the best and our thoughts and prayers are with Natasha and Liam and their family."
Richardson Part of Acting Dynasty
Richardson is a member of one of Britain's most famous acting dynasties. She is the eldest daughter of Oscar-winning actress Vanessa Redgrave, 72, and director Tony Richardson.
Her father passed away in 1991 due to complications with AIDS. She has long been a supporter of AIDS-related charities, including amfAR, on whose board she has served since 2006.
Asked to comment on her skiing accident, a representative for amfAR told ABCNews.com, "Our thoughts and prayers are with Natasha and her family right now. Obviously we're very saddened and disturbed by this news."
Richardson also donated her services to God's Love We Deliver, an organization that provides fresh meals to people living with HIV/AIDS.
"Everyone at God's Love We Deliver is profoundly saddened to hear about her accident," Karen Pearl, president of the organization, said in a statement to ABCNews.com. "As we hope for the best, our thoughts and prayers are with her, Liam, and their entire family at this difficult time."
Richardson's sister, Joely Richardson, stars in the TV series "Nip/Tuck." Her uncle Corin Redgrave told Britain's Daily Mail, "I have heard this morning from a family representative about Natasha's accident and am very saddened. ... We are very much thinking of Natasha, Vanessa and Joely, and are sending them our love."
Corin Redgrave's wife, Kika Markham, told The Associated Press: "We know that she has had an accident but we really do not know any more details. ... We are very concerned."
ABCNews.com's calls and e-mails to representatives for Richardson, Neeson and Redgrave were not immediately returned.
Richardson's Rich Career
Richardson has starred in many films, including "The Parent Trap," "Maid in Manhattan," "A Month in the Country," "Gothic" and "Nell," in which she appeared with her husband. But her chief experience is in theater. She was trained at London's Central School of Speech and Drama and won a Tony Award in 1998 for playing Sally Bowles in "Cabaret."
In January, Richardson and her mother played the roles of mother and daughter in a one-night benefit concert version of "A Little Night Music," the Stephen Sondheim-Hugh Wheeler musical, on Broadway.
The two also acted alongside each other in the 1985 theatrical revival "The Seagull" and the 2007 movie "Evening." In a 2003 interview with UK newspaper "The Guardian," Richardson talked about taking on the same profession as her mother.
"I don't know if I could ever put myself in the same category as her," she said. "She is one of the greatest actresses of our time, so I'm not sure I would put myself in that bracket."
She expanded further in a 2005 interview with The Independent.
"I know the pressures of being the daughter of a great actress," Richardson told the newspaper. "But it's inspiring. You learn so much that other people don't get to learn until later on. My father being a director, I learnt a real work ethic. You think: 'One day, I'd like to be as good as that.' But when I was starting out professionally, I had a level of attention put on me that I didn't deserve or wasn't ready for. And it was hard, particularly in England, to make my way. That's partly why I moved to New York, where you can be who you are for your work and not so much to do with family baggage."
But in the same interview, Richardson talked about how she doesn't want her sons going into acting.
"They'd be the sons of a great actor," she told The Independent. "And that's quite a gorilla to carry on your back. This profession is very tough and not many people make it , and even if you do, then you can still get slapped in the face constantly. So I hope they do something else -- but if they're determined, so be it."
Additional reporting contributed by ABCNews' Sharyn Alfonsi, Lindsay Goldwert and Luchina Fisher.
Copyright © 2009 ABC News Internet Ventures
But she wants him back. Go figure! And her father says he backs her whatever her decision? What? If my kid got her butt kicked by some animal and she went back to him there is no way I would say I stand behind her decision.
agree--this guy's an animal: punched and bit her,and threatened to kill her--career suicide at its best
DOUBLE good .... !! . 'n it'l happen AGAIN .... always does ...
BREAKING NEWS: Singer Chris Brown Charged With 2 Felonies
Thursday, March 5, 2009 1:22 PM
Chris Brown Charged With 2 Felonies
Singer Chris Brown is charged with two felonies for his alleged assault on fellow music star Rihanna, according to court documents.
MORE DETAILS: <http://www.click2houston.com/tu/5F3lQOQEB.html
Broadcasting pioneer Paul Harvey dies at age of 90
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Delicious Digg Facebook Fark Newsvine Reddit StumbleUpon Technorati Yahoo! Bookmarks Print By RUPA SHENOY, Associated Press Writer Rupa Shenoy, Associated Press Writer – 1 hr 8 mins ago AP – FILE **In this Nov. 16, 1988 file photo, radio commentator Paul Harvey and his wife, Lynne, hold a street …
Play Video Video:Broadcasting pioneer Paul Harvey dead at 90 AP CHICAGO – Paul Harvey, the news commentator and talk-radio pioneer whose staccato style made him one of the nation's most familiar voices, died Saturday in Arizona, according to ABC Radio Networks. He was 90.
Harvey died surrounded by family at a hospital in Phoenix, where he had a winter home, said Louis Adams, a spokesman for ABC Radio Networks, where Harvey worked for more than 50 years. No cause of death was immediately available.
Harvey had been forced off the air for several months in 2001 because of a virus that weakened a vocal cord. But he returned to work in Chicago and was still active as he passed his 90th birthday. His death comes less than a year after that of his wife and longtime producer, Lynne.
"My father and mother created from thin air what one day became radio and television news," Paul Harvey Jr. said in a statement. "So in the past year, an industry has lost its godparents and today millions have lost a friend."
Known for his resonant voice and trademark delivery of "The Rest of the Story," Harvey had been heard nationally since 1951, when he began his "News and Comment" for ABC Radio Networks.
He became a heartland icon, delivering news and commentary with a distinctive Midwestern flavor. "Stand by for news!" he told his listeners. He was credited with inventing or popularizing terms such as "skyjacker," "Reaganomics" and "guesstimate."
"Paul Harvey was one of the most gifted and beloved broadcasters in our nation's history," ABC Radio Networks President Jim Robinson said in a statement. "We will miss our dear friend tremendously and are grateful for the many years we were so fortunate to have known him."
In 2005, Harvey was one of 14 notables chosen as recipients of the presidential Medal of Freedom. He also was an inductee in the Radio Hall of Fame, as was Lynne.
Former President George W. Bush remembered Harvey as a "friendly and familiar voice in the lives of millions of Americans."
"His commentary entertained, enlightened, and informed," Bush said in a statement. "Laura and I are pleased to have known this fine man, and our thoughts and prayers are with his family."
Harvey composed his twice-daily news commentaries from a downtown Chicago office near Lake Michigan.
Rising at 3:30 each morning, he ate a bowl of oatmeal, then combed the news wires and spoke with editors across the country in search of succinct tales of American life for his program.
At the peak of his career, Harvey reached more than 24 million listeners on more than 1,200 radio stations and charged $30,000 to give a speech. His syndicated column was carried by 300 newspapers.
His fans identified with his plainspoken political commentary, but critics called him an out-of-touch conservative. He was an early supporter of the late Sen. Joseph McCarthy and a longtime backer of the Vietnam War.
Perhaps Harvey's most famous broadcast came in 1970, when he abandoned that stance, announcing his opposition to President Nixon's expansion of the war and urging him to get out completely.
"Mr. President, I love you ... but you're wrong," Harvey said, shocking his faithful listeners and drawing a barrage of letters and phone calls, including one from the White House.
In 1976, Harvey began broadcasting his anecdotal descriptions of the lives of famous people. "The Rest of the Story" started chronologically, with the person's identity revealed at the end. The stories were an attempt to capture "the heartbeats behind the headlines." Much of the research and writing was done by his son, Paul Jr.
Harvey also blended news with advertising, a line he said he crossed only for products he trusted.
In 2000, at age 82, he signed a new 10-year contract with ABC Radio Networks.
Harvey was born Paul Harvey Aurandt in Tulsa, Okla. His father, a police officer, was killed when he was a toddler. A high school teacher took note of his distinctive voice and launched him on a broadcast career.
While working at St. Louis radio station KXOK, he met Washington University graduate student Lynne Cooper. He proposed on their first date (she said "no") and always called her "Angel." They were married in 1940 and had a son, Paul Jr.
They worked closely together on his shows, and he often credited his success to her influence. She was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 1997, seven years after her husband was. She died in May 2008.
___
On the Net:
http://www.paulharvey.com
http://www.radiohof.org/news/paulharvey.html
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