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. … 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. … 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. … 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. … 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. … 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. … 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. … 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. … 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. … Read full obituary