Tag Archives: obituary

Deadline Hollywood reports: Billie Hayes, whose portrayal of the flamboyantly and comically wicked witch Witchiepoo on the 1969-70 Saturday morning live-action children’s classic H.R. Pufnstuf, died of natural causes April 29 at Cedar’s Hospital in Los Angeles. She was 96. A Broadway veteran by the time she reached national fame as the flute-stealing nemesis to a psychedelic dragon, Hayes had …

The Washington Post reports: Walter F. Mondale, the former Democratic senator and vice president whose unusually candid and forward-looking bid for the pinnacle of American politics was blocked by President Ronald Reagan’s landslide reelection victory in 1984, died April 19 at his home in Minneapolis. He was 93. Family friend and spokeswoman Kathy Tunheim announced the death but did not …

From the magazine of the far-right John Birch Society: Like Judith the Biblical heroine, Dr. Reisman was fearless and stood against the great powers of the world in our time. When her countrymen were ready to surrender to the mighty Assyrian army, the Biblical Judith, trusting in God, walked into the enemy camp — and walked out with the head …

The Associated Press reports: Bernie Madoff, the financier who pleaded guilty to orchestrating the largest Ponzi scheme in history, died early Wednesday in a federal prison, a person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press. Madoff died at the Federal Medical Center in Butner, North Carolina, apparently from natural causes, the person said. Last year, Madoff’s lawyers filed court …

The Associated Press reports: DMX, the raspy, growling New York rapper who rose to fame with his 1998 blockbuster debut, “It’s Dark and Hell Is Hot,” and became a chart and tabloid mainstay for years after, has died at age 50. He was hospitalized on April 2 after suffering a heart attack following a reported drug overdose, and had been …

NBC News reports: Prince Philip, Queen Elizabeth II’s husband and the longest-serving consort of any British monarch, has died at age 99. Philip spent 65 years supporting the queen, retiring from his public role in 2017 and staying largely out of the view since. In his active years, he helped set a new course for the monarchy under a young …

NBC News reports: G. Gordon Liddy, the political operative who supervised the Watergate burglary, which brought down President Richard Nixon, died Tuesday, his family said. He was 90. Liddy’s family said in a statement that he died Tuesday morning at his daughter’s home in Mount Vernon, Virginia. His son, James, said that the cause was not related to Covid-19, and …

Variety reports: Jessica Walter, an Emmy-winning actress known for her work as the stalker in Clint Eastwood’s “Play Misty for Me,” and for the TV series “Arrested Development” and “Archer,” died Wednesday in New York. She was 80. Walter received an Emmy nomination in 2005 for outstanding supporting actress in a comedy for playing the manipulative alcoholic Lucille Bluth in …

Variety reports: George Segal, whose long career included playing Albert “Pops” Solomon on “The Goldbergs,” and garnering an Oscar nom for supporting actor for “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf,” died Tuesday. He was 87. His wife Sonia announced his death, saying, “The family is devastated to announce that this morning George Segal passed away due to complications from bypass surgery.” …

Fox News reports: Rush Limbaugh, the monumentally influential media icon who transformed talk radio and politics in his decades behind the microphone, helping shape the modern-day Republican Party, died Wednesday at the age of 70 after a battle with lung cancer, his family announced. Limbaugh’s wife, Kathryn, made the announcement on his radio show. The radio icon learned he had …

Los Angeles’s ABC News affiliate reports: Frederick K.C. Price, one of Los Angeles’ most prominent religious leaders and founder of the Crenshaw Christian Center, has died from COVID-19 at the age of 89. Apostle Price, who led services in the landmark FaithDome for many years, died Friday evening, according to a statement issued by EIF Ministries. Price founded the Crenshaw …

The New York Post reports: Larry Flynt — the controversial porn peddler who built an empire that included “Hustler” magazine — reportedly died on Wednesday. He was 78. Flynt, who was paralyzed from the waist down in a 1978 murder attempt, succumbed to heart failure in Los Angeles on Wednesday morning, TMZ reported. The mogul was known for his myriad …

Variety reports: Vocalist Mary Wilson, who co-founded the Supremes as a 15-year-old in a Detroit housing project and stayed with the fabled, hitmaking Motown Records trio until its dissolution in 1977, died on Monday night at her home in Las Vegas. She was 76. Wilson’s longtime publicist, Jay Schwartz, reported that she died suddenly. The circumstances of her death were …

The Dallas Morning News reports: U.S. Rep Ron Wright of Arlington died Sunday night after a battle with COVID-19. He was 67. His family and spokesperson confirmed Wright’s death Monday morning. The congressman, who was reelected in November, had been battling cancer. Wright is the first member of Congress to die of COVID-19. According to the statement, Wright had been …

Variety reports: Christopher Plummer, the Canadian-born Shakespearean actor who starred in films including “The Sound of Music” and “Beginners,” died on Friday morning at his home in Connecticut. He was 91. Plummer was best known for playing Captain Von Trapp in the Oscar-winning musical “The Sound of Music.” He also won an Oscar in 2012 for his supporting turn in …

TMZ reports: Dustin Diamond — best known for playing the lovable Samuel “Screech” Powers on the hit NBC sitcom, “Saved by the Bell” — has died, TMZ has learned. A rep for Dustin tells us he died Monday morning. His condition had greatly declined since last week, and he was taken off of breathing machines in an attempt to get …

Yahoo News reports: Cicely Tyson, the pioneering Black actor who gained an Oscar nomination for her role as the sharecropper’s wife in “Sounder,” a Tony Award in 2013 at age 88 and touched TV viewers’ hearts in “The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman,” died Thursday at age 96. Tyson’s death was announced by her family, via her manager Larry Thompson, …

Variety reports: Oscar winner and multiple Emmy winner Cloris Leachman, best remembered as the delightfully neurotic Phyllis Lindstrom on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” and her own subsequent sitcom, died of natural causes on Tuesday in Encinitas, Calif. She was 94. The daffy, self-absorbed Phyllis, a character she claimed was close to her own persona, brought the actress two Emmys …

Rolling Stone reports: Larry King, the award-winning TV and radio host who became a household name with his long-running CNN show Larry King Live, died Saturday morning at the age of 87. “With profound sadness, Ora Media announces the death of our co-founder, host, and friend Larry King, who passed away this morning at age 87 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center …

Atlanta’s ABC News affiliate reports: He is the one man that Muhammad Ali said he idolized “more than myself.” He became known to the world as “Hammerin’ Hank.” Legendary Atlanta Brave and Major League Baseball record holder Hank Aaron died Friday at the age of 86, according to Aaron’s daughter. Aaron won the National League batting title in 1956 and …