Dead Celebrity Alert

A young Brisbane athlete who was carving out a professional baseball career in the US has died suddenly from a heart condition.

Paul Mutch, 21, who was selected by the Minnesota Twins at the age of 17, was back in Brisbane training at the University of Queensland when he died. …

He was expected to represent Australia at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. … Read full obituary

Los Angeles police today arrested a man suspected of decapitating an elderly Hollywood screenwriter and taking his head as a grisly trophy before slaughtering his neighbour.

Officers said the 91-year-old scriptwriter was murdered in his home yesterday. His killer allegedly then leapt a garden fence with the severed head and claimed his next victim, a retired doctor.

Police said they had taken 27-year-old Kevin Graff into custody in connection with the grisly double murder just minutes after making a public appeal for information on his whereabouts. … Read full story

Robert Quine, a noted guitarist of the New York rock scene of the 1970’s and 80’s who played with Richard Hell, Lou Reed and others, died last week in his home in Manhattan. He was 61. …

Mr. Quine’s wife, Alice, died last August. … Read full obituary

Eugene Raskin, a folk singer and architectural scholar who wrote the unusual 1968 hit “Those Were the Days,” died on Monday at his home in Manhattan, his son Michael said. He was 94.

Mr. Raskin, who performed with his wife, Francesca, as Gene & Francesca, wrote the lyrics and music for “Those Were the Days” in 1962, basing the tune on a Russian folk melody. … Read full obituary

ROME, June 11 (AP) — Egon von Furstenberg, a Swiss-born aristocrat who started his fashion career as a buyer for a New York department store and went on to be known as the “prince of high fashion,” died here on Friday. He was 57. … Read full obituary

The legendary R&B musician Ray Charles has died aged 73, in Los Angeles, his publicist has said. …

Charles is considered a pioneer of soul music with hits including Georgia on My Mind and I Can’t Stop Loving You. … Read full obituary

June 5, 2004 — Former President Ronald Reagan, the actor and politician whose conservative vision and sunny outlook transformed America, has died. He was 93. … Read full obituary