Dead Celebrity Alert

Getting to the nub of Frank Searle is as demanding a task as proving or disproving the verity of the monster he longed to photograph. Searle, detested by many, remembered fondly by others, was in equal measure a showman, a raconteur, a hermit and a charlatan. He produced 20 pictures of “the beast” of Loch Ness which, most now believe, were created using fence posts, logs, tarpaulins and old socks. …

Searle set himself up at one of the loch’s lonelier reaches, at Lower Foyers, until 1985. The police had questioned him about the petrol-bombing of Adrian and Maralyn Shine’s Rosetta Project camp at Achnahannet. Searle fled, and neither his friends nor enemies saw or heard from him again. It was rumoured that he was seeking lost gold in the Hebrides, or in Cornwall, or had died in some misadventure. A filmmaker, Andrew Tullis, sought him out for a documentary called The Man Who Captured Nessie, to be shown on Channel 4 this year. His investigations led him to the seaside town of Fleetwood in Lancashire. It transpired that Searle had lived inconspicuously there for 18 years, and had died in his bedsit just a few weeks earlier. …

Searle was reviled by other Loch Ness researchers. He seemed quite unaware, or unconcerned, that he was affecting “genuine” research. He had a long-running dispute with Adrian Shine, a Fellow of the Royal Geographic Society who, in securing funding and support, had continually to debunk Searle’s photographs. …

Frank Searle, self-styled cryptozoologist, was born on March 18, 1921. He died on March 26, 2005, aged 84. … Read full obituary

LOS ANGELES — Eddie Albert whose lighthearted portrayals made him a favorite in movies and television for more than 50 years has died.He was 99.

Albert died of pneumonia Thursday at his home in the Pacific Palisades area, in the presence of his longtime caregivers and son Albert, family friend Dick Guttman said Friday.

Albert achieved his greatest fame on television’s Green Acres as Oliver Douglas a New York lawyer who settles in a rural town with his glamorous wife played by Eva Gabor.

He was nominated for Academy Awards as supporting actor in “Roman Holiday” (1953) and “The Heartbreak Kid” (1972). … Read full obituary

Indian-born international filmmaker Ismail Merchant died suddenly on Wednesday in a London hospital, a spokesman for his London office said. …

Merchant, born in Bombay (Mumbai) in December 1936 and educated in New York, became a household name when he teamed up with fellow filmmaker James Ivory to form Merchant-Ivory Productions.

Their string of international film credits included hits such as A Room With A View, Howards End, The Remains of the Day, Heat and Dust and The Bostonians. … Read full obituary

LOS ANGELES — Henry Corden, the voice of leopard-suited caveman Fred Flintstone’s “yabba dabba doo!” for more than two decades, has died. The Montreal-born actor was 85.

Corden died of emphysema Thursday night at AMI Encino Hospital, his longtime agent Don Pitts said Friday. Corden’s wife of nine years, Angelina, was with him at the time. …

He took over as the lovable loudmouth Fred Flintstone when original voice Allen Reed died in 1977. Reed had been doing Flintstone since the character was created around 1960. … Read full obituary

FULLERTON, Calif., May 24 (AP) - Thurl Ravenscroft, who provided the long, rumbling “They’re Grrrrreeeat!” for Kellogg’s Tony the Tiger and voiced a host of Disney characters, died here on Sunday. He was 91.

The cause was prostate cancer, said Diane Challis Davy, director of Pageant of the Masters, a program in Laguna Beach for which he provided the narration for 20 years.

For more than 50 years, Mr. Ravenscroft was the affable voice of Tony the Tiger, TV’s popular cartoon pitchman for Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes.

“I’m the only man in the world that has made a career with one word: Grrrrreeeat!” Mr. Ravenscroft told The Orange County Register in 1996. …

He also lent his voice to characters on thrill rides at Disneyland, including the Pirates of the Caribbean, Splash Mountain, the Enchanted Tiki Room and the Haunted Mansion, and he supplied voices for the films “Cinderella,” “The Jungle Book,” “Mary Poppins,” “Alice in Wonderland,” “Lady and the Tramp” and many others. … Read full obituary

LOS ANGELES May 23, 2005 — Howard Morris, best known for playing poetry-spouting hillbilly Ernest T. Bass on the “Andy Griffith Show,” died at his home in the Hollywood section of Los Angeles. He was 85.

Morris died Saturday of natural causes, his son David said Monday.

He enjoyed a long show business career, but is best-remembered as the love-challenged hillbilly on “Andy Griffith.” His fan Web site is named for the character that appeared in just a few episodes, but made a big impact with viewers. …

Morris was born in New York City on Sept. 4, 1919. He married and divorced five times. … Read full obituary

Television legend Graham Kennedy has died at a nursing home in the NSW southern highlands, a close friend says.

The veteran Australian entertainer suffered several long illnesses in recent years after he fell down a set of stairs in 2003, breaking his leg and skull.

Long-time friend Tony Sattler said Mr Kennedy, 71, died about 4.30am.

Mr Kennedy won 19 Logie awards, including five gold statuettes, since bursting onto Australian television screens in 1957. … Read full obituary

A teenager has been found dead in woods near her home just weeks before she was due to star in a reality TV show.

The body of Carina Louise Stephenson, 17, from South Yorkshire, whose family spent four months in Australia living like early settlers for the programme, was found by search teams on Saturday.

Carina was last seen on Thursday at 10am when she left her home at Branton, near Doncaster, on her bike.

When she failed to return home, relatives contacted the police and put posters up in the neighbourhood appealing for information.

The teenager, who had recently revealed she was a lesbian, appeared “happy and normal” in the days before her disappearance, according to her family. She had planned to start her A-levels in September before pursuing a career in the Army. … Read full story

WASHINGTON — Ed Kelleher, an offbeat screenwriter, playwright, and film critic who wrote screenplays for horror movies that have become cult classics, died May 14 at Sleepy Hollow Manor, a nursing home in Annandale, Va. He was 61 and had a degenerative brain disease.

In the 1970s and 1980s, Mr. Kelleher wrote the screenplays of four horror films so outlandish and amateurish that they have become favorites of aficionados. “Invasion of the Blood Farmers” (1972), “Shriek of the Mutilated” (1974), “Lurkers,” and “Prime Evil” (both 1988) had different directors, but featured such standard horror-flick fare as blood sacrifice, cannibals, malevolent ghosts, and religions turned to evil purposes.

In various reviews, the films were called “barely coherent but rarely dull,” “full of inept acting, gore, and ridiculous dialogue,” “deliriously insane,” and “trashy, low-budget, inept filmmaking at its finest.” One critic said anyone who looked closely at the Abominable Snowman, a central figure of “Shriek of the Mutilated,” could see that it was wearing shoes. …

“He knew exactly what he was doing,” said Cindy Lucia, a critic and professor of English and film at Rider University in New Jersey. … Read full obituary

WASHINGTON — Ed Kelleher, an offbeat screenwriter, playwright and film critic who wrote screenplays for horror movies that have become cult classics, died May 14 at Sleepy Hollow Manor, a nursing home in Annandale, Va. He was 61 and had a degenerative brain disease.

In the 1970s and 1980s, Mr. Kelleher wrote the screenplays of four horror films so outlandish and amateurish that they have become favorites of aficionados. “Invasion of the Blood Farmers” (1972), “Shriek of the Mutilated” (1974), “Lurkers” and “Prime Evil” (both 1988) had different directors but featured such standard horror-flick fare as blood sacrifice, cannibals, malevolent ghosts and religions turned to evil purposes. In various reviews, the films were called “barely coherent but rarely dull,”full of inept acting, gore and ridiculous dialogue,” “deliriously insane” and “trashy, low-budget, inept filmmaking at its finest.” One critic noted that anyone who looked closely at the Abominable Snowman, a central figure of “Shriek of the Mutilated,” could see that it was wearing shoes. … Read full obituary

Frank Gorshin, who starred as the Riddler in the TV show “Batman,” died Tuesday in Burbank, Calif., of complications from lung cancer, emphysema and pneumonia. He was 72.

An expert impressionist, Gorshin had a long career in television, features and on stage, but is best known for his role on the 1960s series as Batman’s green-suited nemesis. The role netted him an Emmy nom in 1966. …

Gorshin recently starred as George Burns in the national tour of “Say Goodnight Gracie.” For the show’s Broadway debut, he was nominated for a Drama Desk Award and won the Outer Critics Circle Award in 2002. … Read full obituary

LOS ANGELES — Lane Nakano, who co-starred in the 1951 film “Go For Broke!,” the dramatic story of the Japanese American soldiers who fought in Europe during World War II, has died. He was 80.

Nakano died April 28 after a long bout with emphysema, his family said.

He was a prominent singer in the Japanese American community in his native Los Angeles after World War II when “Go For Broke!” writer-director Robert Pirosh saw him perform and recruited him for the MGM movie.

Nakano, who had played a bit part as a rickshaw driver in the 1949 movie “Tokyo Joe,” found himself playing the lead Japanese American role of Sam in the film about the highly decorated 442nd Regimental Combat Team. … Read full obituary

GLENDALE, Calif. — Artist and writer Joe Grant, who created such Disney characters as the queen-witch character in “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” and co-wrote “Dumbo,” has died. He was 96.

Grant suffered a heart attack on Friday at his Glendale home while working at his drawing board at his studio, according to a statement released by the Walt Disney Co.

Born in New York, Grant was the son of a newspaper news editor and moved to Los Angeles with his family as a boy. He was hired to draw cartoons and caricatures of famous figures for the Los Angeles Record.

Disney hired Grant in 1933 to work on the animated short “Mickey’s Gala Premiere.” He also was tapped to design the queen-witch character in “Snow White.”

Soon after, Grant headed a department that served as a think thank for future animated projects, which included “Pinocchio” and “Fantasia.” … Read full obituary

Western Kentucky basketball player Danny Rumph collapsed and died during a pickup game in his hometown of Philadelphia.

The 21-year-old junior guard was visiting his family when he died Sunday.

According to investigators in Philadelphia, Rumph was pronounced dead at 11:45 p.m. at Albert Einstein Medical Center. An autopsy was being conducted to determine the cause of death.

Rumph’s uncle Marcus Owens said there had been no history of medical problems with his nephew. …

The son of Daniel Rumph and Viola Owens, Danny Rumph started 29 of 31 games last season for Western Kentucky. He averaged 9.1 points in 28.2 minutes and was known as a defensive specialist. … Read full obituary

Washington — Peter Rodino Jr., the Democratic New Jersey congressman and House Judiciary Committee chairman who rose from relative obscurity to national prominence while presiding over articles of impeachment that led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon in 1974, died Saturday of congestive heart failure at his home in West Orange, N.J. He was 95.

Rodino, who represented a Newark district from 1949 to 1989, was among those whose reputations were enhanced through television coverage of the impeachment hearings. A dapper man with a slow and deliberate speaking style, he was seen as a calm and nonpartisan presence in one of the country’s most politically charged episodes. …

Rodino spoke before the House that February [1974]: “Whatever the result, whatever we learn or conclude, let us now proceed with such care and decency and thoroughness and honor that the vast majority of American people, and their children after them, will say: That was the right course. There was no other way.” … Read full obituary