Dead Celebrity Alert

LOS ANGELES — John Drew Barrymore, the sometimes troubled heir to an acting dynasty and absent father of movie star Drew Barrymore, died Monday. He was 72.

“He was a cool cat. Please smile when you think of him,” Drew Barrymore said in a statement issued by her publicist’s office.

No information was released about the cause of death or where in Los Angeles he died.

John D. Barrymore was part of an acting clan that included his father, the famed stage and early film actor John Barrymore, and his father’s siblings, Lionel Barrymore and Ethel Barrymore. Drew Barrymore was his daughter by his third wife, Ildiko Jaid Barrymore.

John D. Barrymore was born in Beverly Hills on June 4, 1932. His mother was actress Dolores Costello.

He started his career while a teenager, appearing professionally first as John Barrymore Jr. and then as John Drew Barrymore. He had movie roles in the 1950s in “The Sundowners,” “High Lonesome,” “Quebec,” “The Big Night,” “Thunderbirds” and “While the City Sleeps.”

But along the way there were problems with drugs, drunken driving and violence, domestic and otherwise. By the early 1960s he had left Hollywood for Italy to work in European movies. … Read full obituary

Obit to come.

Barry “J.T.” Rogers, known as Johnny Rahm in scores of gay sex movies, committed suicide in Atlanta on Nov. 7. He was 39.

Rogers hung himself with a wire on the fence line of the Atlanta Botanical Garden, according to the Atlanta Police Department. …

Rogers was born June 11, 1965, in Milledgeville, Ga. He was buried there next to his grandmother on Nov. 10, said Jamey Rousey, Rogers’ cousin.

Rogers, who was HIV-positive, is survived by his parents, two sisters and a brother, according to Rousey.

Rousey said he and Rogers were raised fundamental Baptists and attended a Christian high school in Macon and also attended Bob Jones University in Greenville, S.C. … Read full obituary

The rap artist O.D.B., who lived a life as wild as his lyrics, collapsed and died inside a recording studio Saturday, his record label said. He was 35.

O.D.B. had complained of chest pains before collapsing at the Manhattan studio, ccording to a statement from Roc-a-Fella records. … Read full obituary

DALLAS — Dale Paschal Jones, a former Baylor University regent and president of Halliburton Corp. who was known as much for his devotion to Christian ministry as his business skills, has died of complications from a head injury. He was 68.

Jones, who led the multi-billion-dollar oil-services corporation before Vice President Dick Cheney took over in 1995, died Nov. 6 at a Houston hospital.

He had struck his head while hurrying under a closing garage door after triggering an inside control, his family said.

Though his injury appeared to be minor, it caused internal bleeding that put pressure on his brain. … Read full obituary

PARIS, France (CNN) — Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat, 75, the leader who passionately sought a homeland for his people but was seen by many Israelis as a ruthless terrorist and a roadblock to peace, died early Thursday in Paris.

“The last two days were very painful, very difficult days,” said chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat, who confirmed Arafat’s death Thursday morning. “And now, after these painful days of President Arafat, he is dead.”

The speaker of the Palestinian parliament, Rawhi Fattuh, will be sworn in as Palestinian Authority president on an interim basis at noon (5 a.m. ET), according to Palestinian officials.

Palestinian Foreign Minister Nabil Sha’ath said Fattuh’s first order of duty will be to “declare free and open public elections within 60 days.” …

Arafat had been sick with an unknown illness that had been variously described as the flu, a stomach virus or gallstones.

He flew to Paris October 29 seeking medical treatment and was hospitalized with what Palestinian officials said was a blood disorder.

He had been on a respirator since slipping into a coma November 3. … Read full story

Howard Keel, the broad-shouldered baritone who romanced his way through a series of glittery MGM musicals such as “Kiss Me Kate” and “Annie Get Your Gun” and later revived his career with television’s “Dallas,” died Sunday. He was 85.

Keel died Sunday morning of colon cancer, according to his son, Gunnar.

Keel starred in Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals in New York and London before being signed to an MGM contract after World War II. The timing was perfect: He became a star with his first MGM film, playing Frank Butler to Betty Hutton’s Annie Oakley in “Annie Get Your Gun.”

Keel’s size and lusty voice made him an ideal leading man for such stars as Esther Williams (”Pagan Love Song,” “Texas Carnival,” “Jupiter’s Darling”), Ann Blyth (”Rose Marie,” “Kismet”), Kathryn Grayson (”Show Boat,” “Lovely to Look At,” “Kiss Me Kate”) and Doris Day (”Calamity Jane”). His own favorite film was the exuberant “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.” … Read full obituary

John H. Waller, a former high-ranking official in the CIA who also wrote a half-dozen books on espionage and other topics, died of complications from pneumonia Nov. 4. He was 81.

Waller was a historian who wrote full time after retiring from the CIA as its inspector general in 1980.

Perhaps best known among his writings was “Beyond the Khyber Pass: The Road to British Disaster in the First Afghan War,” published by Random House in 1990. … Read full obituary

SAN FRANCISCO — Former San Francisco sheriff and police Chief Richard Hongisto died early Thursday morning at the age of 67, the city medical examiner’s office announced.

Hongisto was pronounced dead at his Third Street home at 3:03 a.m., according to the medical examiner’s office. An autopsy was being performed, but Hongisto’s friend Lee Houskeeper said he died of an apparent heart attack. He “had a bout with prostate cancer” about two years ago but had not been ill recently, Houskeeper said.

Hongisto was a longtime public servant in San Francisco and had worked as a police officer, assessor and supervisor and ran unsuccessfully as a candidate for San Francisco Mayor in addition to being sheriff and police chief. … Read full obituary

Sergei Zholtok, the popular, introspective center who played almost three full seasons with the Wild, died Wednesday during a game in Minsk, Belarus. He is believed to have died of heart failure.

Zholtok, 31, was playing for HC Riga 2000 when he left the bench late in a tie game and collapsed in or near the visiting locker room, according to NHL agent Neil Sheehy. Paramedics unsuccessfully attempted to revive Zholtok, Sheehy said.

In a convergence of time and place, another former Wild player, Darby Hendrickson, was playing with Riga because of the NHL lockout. He accompanied Zholtok to the locker room. And, according to Sheehy, Zholtok died in Hendrickson’s arms. … Read full obituary

DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES — The president of the United Arab Emirates, who oversaw the transformation of a cluster of tiny desert Persian Gulf sheikdoms into a leading oil and business hub with skyscrapers and sprawling shopping malls, has died. He was 86.

Sheik Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, one of the richest rulers in the world according to Forbes magazine, forged close ties with the United States and the West during his rule of the country, which is the world’s ninth-largest oil producer.

Sheik Zayed was expected to be succeeded by his eldest son, Sheik Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan. The leaders of the seven emirates that make up the country will appoint the new president within 30 days. … Read full obituary

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands — A Dutch filmmaker who criticized the treatment of women under Islam in a recent movie and in newspaper columns was murdered in Amsterdam, media reported Tuesday.

Police confirmed a fatal shooting occurred outside a city government office, but did not give the victim’s name.

Amsterdam television station AT5 cited witnesses saying the victim was filmmaker Theo van Gogh. A bystander was also reportedly injured in a shootout between the culprit and police. …

Van Gogh also wrote columns about the Islam which were published on his Web site, www.theovangogh.nl, and Dutch newspaper Metro. He had reportedly received death threats following the airing of the film.

The short television film “Submission” aired on Dutch television in August and enraged the Muslim community in the Netherlands. …

Theo van Gogh, 47, has often come under criticism for his controversial movies. In December, his next movie “06-05,” about the May 6, 2002 assassination of Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn, is scheduled to debut on the Internet. … Read full obituary