Dead Celebrity Alert

Rosemary Clooney, the mellow-voiced singer who costarred with Bing Crosby in “White Christmas” and staged a dramatic comeback after her career was nearly destroyed by drugs and alcohol, has died. She was 74.

Clooney died shortly after 6 p.m. Saturday at her Beverly Hills home surrounded by her family, her publicist said. She had been hospitalized earlier this month after suffering a recurrence of lung cancer.

Clooney soared to fame with her 1951 record of “Come on-a My House,” and became a star in television and films. Her career was sidelined by her marriage to Oscar-winning actor Jose Ferrer and the births of their five children. The pair divorced, and her attempts to return to performing were sabotaged by her erratic behavior. …

Actor George Clooney is Rosemary Clooney’s nephew. … Read full obituary

John Entwistle, the bass player for veteran British rock band The Who, was found dead in his Las Vegas hotel room on Thursday, just one day before the group was set to begin a North American tour in the city, the Clark County Coroner said. Entwistle, a bearded, taciturn type affectionately known as “Ox,” died at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, said coroner Ron Flud. An investigation was under way into the cause of death, he added. …

With Entwistle’ss death, The Who are down to just two original members, singer Roger Daltrey and guitarist/songwriter Pete Townshend. Original drummer Keith Moon died of an accidental pill overdose in 1978. … Read full obituary

Ann Landers, who was reputedly the most widely read columnist in the world and famously urged her readers to “wake up and smell the coffee,” died Saturday at the age of 83, the Chicago Tribune reported.

The Tribune, which had been her home base since 1987, said she died in her Chicago home of multiple myeloma — a malignant tumor of the bone marrow.

Her real name was Esther “Eppie” Pauline Friedman Lederer, and according to the Tribune her column was for 40 years the world’s best read and most widely syndicated — carried by 1,200 newspapers. …

Dispensing guidance that ranged from the practical to the expert and covering topics stretching from sex to religion, her column reached an estimated 90 million people daily.

Lederer along with twin sister Pauline Phillips writing as “Abigail Van Buren” under the “Dear Abby” flag, dominated the advice-giving genre in U.S. newspapers during most of the last half of the 20th century and beyond. … Read full obituary

St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Darryl Kile was found dead in the team hotel Saturday, Chicago police said. He was 33.

Kile apparently died from natural causes, said Michael Chasen, commanding officer of the police’s Area Three Homicide. There were no signs of forced entry and no signs of foul play, he said.

“It appears he died in his bed, in his sleep,” Chasen said.

Kile’s father died at the age of 44 due to a blood clot in his brain. …

Kile pitched the Cardinals into first place in the NL Central on Tuesday night, the same night longtime broadcaster Jack Buck died at 77 after a long illness. … Read full obituary

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Cardinals broadcaster Jack Buck

Hall-of-Fame and St. Louis Cardinals broadcaster Jack Buck died late Tuesday night at Barnes-Jewish Hospital. He was 77.

Buck had been hospitalized since Jan. 3 because of surgeries for a cancerous spot on his lung, an intestinal blockage, the effects of Parkinson’s disease, kidney failure and a series of infections.

Buck, who broadcast almost every professional sport at one time or another in his career, will be widely remembered as the Voice of the St. Louis Cardinals, the team for whom he broadcast games from 1954-2001, and as one of sports’ greatest announcers. … Read full obituary

Bill Blass, a major designer in the world of fashion for more than 50 years who also helped raise funds and consciousness in the fight against AIDS, died from cancer on Wednesday at his home in New Preston, Conn. He was 79 years old.

During his long fashion career, Blass’ creations were favored by Gloria Vanderbilt, Nancy Reagan, Jessye Norman and Brook Astor. His designs were rarely considered cutting-edge, but they were praised for their crisp elegance, quality and simplicity. …

In New York, Blass is also remembered as a generous and influential supporter of AIDS treatment services since the late 1980s. … Read full obituary

Signe Hasso, a Swedish-born stage and film actress who played strong leading ladies in American movies in the 1940s, most notably in George Cukor’s “A Double Life,” has died. She was 91.

Hasso died Friday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. The cause of death was not announced. …

She came to Hollywood in 1940 and signed a contract with RKO, but few acting roles materialized.

As she later said, she was nearly out on the street when she decided to go to New York, where she found work in the theater.

Toward the end of World War II, she returned to Hollywood and signed a contract with MGM. … Read full obituary

Died June 1, 2002, in Los Angeles, of a heart attack, on his 59th birthday.

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John Gotti, who swaggered, schemed and murdered his way to the pinnacle of organized crime in America only to be toppled by secret FBI tapes and a turncoat mobster’s testimony, died at a prison hospital Monday. He was 61.

The U.S. Medical Center for Federal Prisoners in Springfield, Mo., announced the death of the former Mafia boss. Gotti had suffered from throat cancer and had been moved to the prison hospital from the maximum-security federal prison in Marion, Ill. …

Once known as the “Dapper Don” for his fine double-breasted suits and confident bearing, and as the “Teflon Don” after a series of acquittals, Gotti was sentenced to life in 1992 for racketeering and six killings. … Read full obituary

Tony Rose has died of cancer.

The Exeter-born singer was a major figure on the British folk circuit throughout the 1970s and ’80s.

A year ago he was diagnosed with cancer of the colon yet still returned to the scene of some of his greatest triumphs — Sidmouth Festival — to appear at a special concert in his honour. …

He was also a member of the shortlived folk ’supergroup’ Bandoggs, with Nic Jones and Pete and Christine Coe. … Read full obituary

Hollywood producer Herman Cohen, who was behind cult horror classics such as I Was a Teenage Werewolf, has died at the age of 74.

A writer, producer and cameo actor, Herman was behind a host of camp horror films that although pilloried in their day, have become part of horror history.

He was also responsible for launching the film career of Michael Landon, best-known as the father in Little House on the Prairie.

Cohen died of throat cancer at the Cedar-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.

During his movie career, Herman covered many of the classic horror characters including Dracula and Frankenstein. … Read full obituary

Robbin Crosby, one of the original members of ’80s metal band Ratt, died Thursday (June 6) in his Hollywood, California, apartment at age 41.

Spokespeople for the Los Angeles Coroner were unable to confirm whether or not Crosby died of a heart attack, as has been reported, or if the guitarist’s death is related to his eight-year battle with AIDS. Local paramedics reportedly pronounced Crosby dead at 11:15 a.m. PT.

Crosby — the hulking, blond guitarist featured in videos for hit songs like “Round And Round” and “Lay It Down” — was born August 4, 1960. … Read full obituary

Dee Dee Ramone, a founding member of punk pioneers the Ramones, died Wednesday night in his Hollywood home, according to a spokesperson for the L.A. County Coroner’s office. The bassist was 50.

Ramone (born Douglas Glenn Colvin) was found unresponsive by his wife at approximately 8:40 p.m. PT. She then called the Los Angeles Police Department, and L.A. City Fire Department paramedics pronounced him dead at the scene. …

Dee Dee formed the Ramones in the Forest Hills section of Queens, New York, in 1974 with guitarist Johnny Ramone (John Cummings), drummer Tommy Ramone (Tom Erdelyi) and singer Joey Ramone (Jeffrey Hyman), who died of lymphoma last April. … Read full obituary

Albin Krebs, a reporter for The New York Times who specialized in writing obituaries of prominent artists, performers and politicians, died on Friday at his home in Key West, Fla. He was 73.

The cause was cancer, Robert Krebs, his nephew, said.

His obituary subjects ranged from the singing cowboy Gene Autry to the writer Truman Capote and the food authority James Beard. One of the last and most prominent of his advance obituaries to appear was that of the writer Eudora Welty, a fellow Mississippian, who died last year. More recently, his obituary of the writer Walter Lord appeared May 21.

Albin Joseph Krebs was born in Pascagoula, Miss., on March 5, 1929. … Read full obituary

Lew R. Wasserman, the former chairman and chief executive of the Music Corporation of America, who was arguably the most powerful and influential Hollywood titan in the four decades after World War II, died yesterday in Beverly Hills. He was 89.

The man considered the last of the legendary movie moguls, Mr. Wasserman began as a theater usher, became an MCA agent for entertainers and eventually changed the face of the movie business.

Working on behalf of his film-star clients in the late 1940’s, he put an end to the ironclad long-term contracts that turned even big-name actors into high-paid serfs of the major studios. … Read full obituary