Dead Celebrity Alert

The actress Rachel Kempson, of the Redgrave acting dynasty, has died aged 92. She died on Friday night at the home of her granddaughter, the actress Natasha Richardson and her husband Liam Neeson, in Millbrook, New York state. …

Kempson, the widow of Sir Michael Redgrave, also leaves actress daughters Lynn and Vanessa Redgrave, and granddaughters Joely Richardson and Jemma Redgrave.

Kempson was born in Dartmouth, Devon, in 1910 and trained as an actress at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (Rada) in London. …

Her film debut came in the 1941 romantic comedy Jeannie, in which she starred alongside her husband.

In 1963, she appeared with daughter Lynn in Tom Jones, which was directed by her son-in-law, Tony Richardson.

She also appeared with both Vanessa and Corin in The Charge of the Light Brigade in 1968.

Kempson, who would have been 93 on Wednesday, had parts in many television dramas and films, including Lorna Doone, Jane Eyre, The Black Tower and For the Greater Good. …

Her husband suffered from Parkinson’s disease in the latter years of his life and died in 1985, aged 77. … Read full obituary

Dame Wendy Hiller, an English actress whose performances were celebrated for spirit and integrity and who became a major film personality despite only a relative handful of movie performances, died at her home west of London on Wednesday, her family said. She was 90.

A favorite actress of George Bernard Shaw, in her 20’s she became an international film star by playing Eliza Doolittle, exchanging brickbats and grimaces with a phonetics teacher (Leslie Howard), in the classic 1938 film “Pygmalion.” She also played a dedicated Salvation Army worker matching wits with her professorial fiancé (Rex Harrison) in “Major Barbara” (1940). … Read full obituary

Country music singer-songwriter June Carter Cash, the wife of Johnny Cash, died in Nashville on Thursday after complications from heart surgery, a spokeswoman said. She was 73.

“She passed away this evening at 5.04 p.m. Central Time (6:04 p.m. EDT),” said Jennifer Jackson, director of public relations at Baptist Hospital, where Cash had undergone heart surgery on May 7.

Her family, including her husband, was at her side, Jackson told Reuters. The funeral will be private, she said later, adding that no additional details would be released.

Cash, the daughter of country music pioneer Maybelle Carter, mother of Carlene Carter and stepmother of Rosanne Cash, also country singers, co-wrote “Ring of Fire,” a No. 1 country hit for Johnny Cash in 1963. They were married five years later, and their union was one of the strongest in the entertainment business. … Read full obituary

LOS ANGELES — Robert Stack, whose granite-eyed stare and menacing baritone spelled trouble for television’s fictional criminals in “The Untouchables” and real ones in “Unsolved Mysteries,” died at his home. He was 84.

Stack’s wife Rosemarie found him slumped over at about 5 p.m. Wednesday. He died of heart failure, she said. The actor had undergone radiation treatment for prostate cancer in October. …

Although he had a lengthy film career beginning in 1939 with “First Love,” Stack’s greatest fame came with the 1959-63 TV drama “The Untouchables,” in which he played Chicago crimebuster Eliot Ness and won a best actor Emmy. … Read full obituary

Rock musician Noel Redding, best known for his stint as the bassist of the Jimi Hendrix Experience, was found dead yesterday at his home in Ireland of unknown causes, his manager Ian Grant has confirmed to Billboard.com. He was 57. Redding, an accomplished guitarist based in the U.K., joined Hendrix’s band in 1966 and played on the three Jimi Hendrix Experience albums — writing two songs as well as playing bass — before parting ways with the legendary guitarist in 1969. …

His mother reportedly died last week. … Read full obituary

Read full obituary