Dead Celebrity Alert

Emmy Award-winning actor Tony Randall, best known for his comic role as the fastidious photographer Felix Unger in The Odd Couple, has died at age 84.

Joe Trentacosta of Springer Associates, which represented Randall, says the actor died in hospital after battling a long-term illness since January.

The US actor underwent triple-bypass heart surgery late last year but developed pneumonia.

He recently had shown signs of recovering and growing stronger but Mr Trentacosta says he suffered a setback two days ago and died in his sleep at New York University Medical Centre. …

Randall became a father for the first time at age 77 after marrying his second wife, Heather, 50 years his junior. The couple had two children, Julia Laurette, seven, and Jefferson, five. … Read full obituary

Samuel Iwry, 93, a scholar of the Dead Sea Scrolls whose life story could rival the plot of an international adventure novel, died of a stroke May 8 at Sinai Hospital in Baltimore.

Mr. Iwry, a professor emeritus at Johns Hopkins University, was one of the world’s leading Hebrew scholars. An endowed chair in Near Eastern studies, an honorary doctorate of Hebrew letters degree at Baltimore Hebrew University, an annual lecture at Johns Hopkins, and a University of Maryland faculty fellowship fund all bear his name.

Mr. Iwry made his mark as a scholar when he was a graduate student studying under the renowned archaeologist William Foxwell Albright at Johns Hopkins. His Hebrew language skills helped identify and verify the importance of the Dead Sea Scrolls. … Read full obituary

Olive Osmond, matriarch of one of America’s first families of entertainment, died Sunday morning of complications from a massive stroke suffered 2 1/2 years ago. She was 79.

Many of Osmond’s nine children were at her bedside on Mother’s Day at her Provo home, said family spokesman Ron Clark. …

Osmond suffered a stroke in November 2001 in St. George, and, after months of rehabilitation, moved to a home in Provo with George, her husband of almost 60 years. Her health began to deteriorate last month, bringing the large Osmond family to her bedside for prayers, reminiscences and songs.

Olive May Davis was born May 4, 1925, in Samaria, Idaho. … Read full obituary

California state senator William J. “Pete” Knight, who sponsored the state’s same-sex marriage ban and took it directly to voters after twice failing to get it through the legislature, has died of leukemia. He was 74.

Knight died of an acute form of the cancer Friday night at City of Hope National Medical Center in Duarte, his communications director, David Orosco, said Saturday. Knight, a Republican from Palmdale, had been absent from his seat since April 12 because of his illness. “The worst thing about this is, he wanted to keep working, going, contributing,” said Knight’s wife, Gail. “He wanted to live. He wanted to try. God had a different plan.” …

Knight was best known as author of the state’s Defense of Marriage Act, which says that only marriages between a man and a woman are recognized as valid in California. After failing to get similar legislation through the Democrat-controlled legislature, Knight took it to voters; the measure passed with 61% approval in 2000. He later used the courts to keep state agencies from granting spousal rights to same-sex couples. His nonprofit group is at the center of the legal challenges to San Francisco’s same-sex wedding spree.

Knight’s son, David Knight, married Joseph Lazzaro, his partner of 10 years, at San Francisco’s City Hall earlier this year, just two days before the California supreme court halted the weddings. … Read full obituary

Alan King, 76, the dyspeptic wisecracker whose withering stare, Brooklyn accent and mockery of modern American life made him a comic favorite for six decades, died May 9 at a hospital in New York. He had lung cancer.

The comedian, known also for his ever-present cigar, amused audiences in nightclubs and on stage and television with routines about the ailments of suburban living. His acts exemplified an old school of Jewish New York humor in which one could practically hear the rimshot after each line. …

Mr. King was born Irwin Alan Kniberg in a tough part of Brooklyn where he learned to use his mouth as a weapon. He also boxed, just in case words failed him. …

His breakthrough came in 1956 when mainstream reviewers caught his act on the same bill with Judy Garland at the Palace Theatre in New York. With excellent feedback, he and Garland toured Europe and performed for royalty, including Queen Elizabeth II.

After that show, he had an audience with the queen, who asked, “How do you do, Mr. King?”

He replied: “How do you do, Mrs. Queen?” … Read full obituary