Dead Celebrity Alert

Rep. Patsy Mink, a fierce liberal who co-authored landmark gender equity legislation and had been expected to easily defeat her GOP opponent in the November general election, died Saturday. She was 74.

The Hawaii Democrat died at Straub Clinic and Hospital, where she had been treated since Aug. 30 for viral pneumonia stemming from chickenpox, said her spokesman, Andy Winer. The disease is usually mild when it occurs in children but can lead to serious infections.

Mink had been a member of the House for 24 years over two different stretches. She won re-election two years ago by a nearly two-to-one margin, and had been considered a sure winner in this year’s race against Republican state Rep. Bob McDermott.

“Hers was a spirit like no other,” Gov. Ben Cayetano said in a statement. “Through several generations, she served as a powerful force which shaped not only Hawaii, but our nation.” … Read full obituary

Tim Rose, a raw-voiced folk-rocker who recorded memorable versions of “Hey Joe” and “Morning Dew,” has died at 62, according to obituaries published in British newspapers.

Rose died Tuesday at Middlesex Hospital in London, The Independent and The Times reported. Rose died shortly after surgery for bowel cancer, according to his Web site.

“I’ve never made it so I can never be a has-been,” Rose once said, ruefully surveying a career of missed opportunities including, he said, an offer to join The Rolling Stones after the death of Brian Jones. …

Rose worked with Cass Elliott, a future member of the Mamas and Papas, in a group called The Triumvirate. When James Hendricks — who later married Elliot — joined the group, it was renamed The Big Three. … Read full obituary

Angelo Buono Jr., whose gruesome killing of young Los Angeles women in the 1970s earned him the nickname “Hillside Strangler,” died Saturday in his prison cell, corrections officials said.

Buono, 67, was found dead in his cell at Calipatria State Prison in Imperial County, said Bob Martinez, a spokesman for the state Department of Corrections.

The cause of death was not immediately known but Martinez said Buono suffered from heart problems. There were no signs of trauma, and Buono alone in his own cell when he died.

In November 1983, Buono was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole after being convicted of killing nine young women and dumping their nude bodies on Los Angeles-area hillsides, earning him the nickname “Hillside Strangler.”

His adoptive cousin, Kenneth Bianchi, pleaded guilty to five of the murders and testified against Buono. Bianchi is serving his prison sentence in Washington state, where he killed two other women. … Read full obituary

SEDONA, Ariz. (AP) Sept. 18 — James Gregory, a character actor who played Inspector Luger on the television show “Barney Miller,” died on Monday at his home here. He was 90. … Read full obituary

LaWanda Page, the acid-tongued comedienne who, as the cantankerous Aunt Esther, traded barbs with Redd Foxx on the 1970’s sitcom “Sanford and Son,” died on Saturday in Los Angeles. She was 81.

The cause was complications of diabetes, The Associated Press reported. … Read full obituary

As was suspected, punk rock pioneer Dee Dee Ramone died of an accidental heroin overdose, according to this final report from the Los Angeles coroner’s office. The Ramones co-founder and songwriter (real name: Douglas Colvin) had a long history of heroin abuse, and cops responding to a 911 call on June 5 found a syringe with “possible drug residue” and five balloons with “possible drug contents” in the musician’s Hollywood apartment. … Read full story

Related:
Dee Dee Ramone found dead in Los Angeles

Cliff Gorman, a stage, film and television actor who won a Tony Award for his dynamic portrayal of Lenny Bruce in the Broadway play “Lenny,” died last Thursday at his home in Manhattan. He was 65.

The cause was leukemia, said his wife, Gayle, his only survivor. …

The performance won Mr. Gorman a Tony for best leading actor in 1972, but it was not his first dramatic accolade. Four years earlier he had won an Obie Award and became an instant celebrity for portraying a flamboyantly effeminate gay character named Emory in the Off Broadway play “The Boys in the Band.” He also played the role in the 1970 film version. … Read full obituary

BALTIMORE — Johnny Unitas, the Hall of Fame quarterback who broke nearly every NFL passing record and won three championships with Baltimore Colts in an 18-year career, died Wednesday. He was 69.

Unitas died of a heart attack, Baltimore Ravens spokesman Chad Steele said. Steele had no other details.

Unitas underwent emergency triple-bypass surgery in March 1993 after a heart attack.

He was the first to throw for 40,000 yards in his career and now ranks seventh, surpassed by a group of quarterbacks who played in an era when the rules made passing easier. … Read full obituary

Obit to come.

Kim Hunter, the versatile actress who won a supporting Oscar in 1951 as the long-suffering Stella in “A Streetcar Named Desire” and appeared in three “Planet of the Apes” movies, died Wednesday. She was 79. …

A shy, modest person, Hunter enjoyed a long and busy career in theater and television, less so in films, partly because she was blacklisted during the red-hunting 1950s and didn’t fit the sexpot pattern for female Hollywood stars. …

Her screen career entered a lull in the late ’50s, after Hunter, a liberal Democrat, was listed as a communist sympathizer by Red Channels, a red-hunting pamphlet that influenced hiring by studios and TV networks.

Her return to film was “Lilith” (1964), which starred Warren Beatty, Jean Seberg and Peter Fonda. Four years later came “Planet of the Apes.” … Read full obituary

J. Lee Thompson, the director of “The Guns of Navarone,” the original “Cape Fear” and dozens of other films in England and the United States, died on Friday at his summer home in Sooke, British Columbia. He was 88 and lived in Los Angeles.

Mr. Thompson, who was born in Bristol, England, had a long career in theater and film, beginning as an actor and playwright. He had two plays produced in London before he was 20; one of them, “Murder Without Crime,” went to Broadway and was the first film he directed, in 1950. … Read full obituary

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) - John E. Lerro, the harbor pilot who crashed a freighter into the Sunshine Skyway bridge more than two decades ago, collapsing part of the span and killing 35 people, has died after a long battle with multiple sclerosis. He was 59.

Lerro slipped into a coma last week and died Saturday, said his wife, Laila Lerro.

“He finally quit being haunted by what happened,” she said. “He finally could stop thinking about it all.”

On May 9, 1980, Lerro was piloting the 608-foot Summit Venture into the Port of Tampa when a sudden squall knocked out the ship’s radar and reduced visibility nearly to zero. …

The Summit Venture plowed into a pier, shearing a bridge support during morning rush hour. A section of concrete roadway plummeted 150 feet into the water along with a bus carrying 26 people and several cars.

Lerro was threatened and was called an alcoholic. … Read full obituary