Dead Celebrity Alert

Stan Berenstain, who with his wife, Jan, created the classic children’s books about the Berenstain Bears, has died at the age of 82.

Berenstain, who lived with his wife in Bucks County, Pa., died Saturday, according to a spokesperson for HarperCollins Children’s Books.

Born in Philadelphia in 1923, Stanley Berenstain met his wife while they were students at the Philadelphia Museum School of Industrial Art.

They began drawing together and, after his stint with the U.S. army during the Second World War, launched a cartooning career that included contributions to publications like The Saturday Evening Post and Collier’s. Together, they created the ongoing illustrated feature It’s All in the Family, which appeared in McCall’s and, later, Good Housekeeping magazine.

The couple eventually moved into book illustration and, in the early 1960s, began to develop their Berenstain Bears series under editor Theodor Geisel, a.k.a. Dr. Seuss, who was head of children’s publishing at Random House at the time. … Read full obituary

LOS ANGELES, California (AP) — Actor Pat Morita, whose portrayal of the wise and dry-witted Mr. Miyagi in “The Karate Kid” earned him an Oscar nomination, has died. He was 73.

Morita died Thursday at his home in Las Vegas of natural causes, said his wife of 12 years, Evelyn. …

In 1984, he appeared in the role that would define his career and spawn countless affectionate imitations. As Kesuke Miyagi, the mentor to Ralph Macchio’s “Daniel-san,” he taught karate while trying to catch flies with chopsticks and offering such advice as “wax on, wax off” to guide Daniel through chores to improve his skills. …

For years, Morita played small and sometimes demeaning roles in such films as “Thoroughly Modern Millie” and TV series such as “The Odd Couple” and “Green Acres.” His first breakthrough came with “Happy Days,” and he followed with his own brief series, “Mr. T and Tina.” …

Morita was prolific outside of the “Karate Kid” series as well, appearing in “Honeymoon in Vegas,” “Spy Hard,” “Even Cowgirls Get the Blues” and “The Center of the World.” He also provided the voice for a character in the Disney movie “Mulan” in 1998. … Read full obituary

Ruth M. Siems, a retired home economist whose best-known innovation will make its appearance, welcome or otherwise, in millions of homes tomorrow, died on Nov. 13 at her home in Newburgh, Ind. Ms. Siems, an inventor of Stove Top stuffing, was 74.

The cause was a heart attack, according to the Warrick County coroner’s office in Boonville, Ind.

Ms. Siems (pronounced “Seems”) spent more than three decades on the staff of General Foods, which introduced the Stove Top brand in 1972. Today, Kraft Foods, which now owns the brand, sells about 60 million boxes of it at Thanksgiving, a company spokeswoman said. … Read full obituary

LONDON, Nov. 21 (AP) — Alfred Anderson, the last surviving soldier to have been present when the guns fell silent along the Western Front in the spontaneous “Christmas Truce” of World War I, died Monday in Newtyle, Scotland. He was 109.

He died in his sleep at his nursing home, said his parish priest, the Rev. Neil Gardner.

More than 80 years after the war, Mr. Anderson recalled the “eerie sound of silence” as shooting stopped and soldiers clambered from trenches to greet one another Dec. 25, 1914.

Born June 25, 1896, he was an 18-year-old soldier in the Black Watch regiment when British and German troops cautiously emerged from the trenches that Christmas Day in 1914. The enemies swapped cigarettes and tunic buttons, sang carols and even played soccer amid the mud, barbed wire and shell holes of no man’s land.

The informal truce spread along much of the 500-mile Western Front, in some cases lasting for days… Read full obituary

John Campo, a New York-based trainer for three decades who saddled Pleasant Colony, the winner of the 1981 Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes, died on Nov. 13 at his home in Hewlett, N.Y. He was 67.

His death was announced by his son Paul, who said he had been treated for diabetes and strokes.

Campo was a brash presence on the New York racing scene, a high school dropout known as the Fat Man (he was 5 feet 7 inches and 250 pounds or so) who roamed his barns in T-shirt and baseball cap, puffing on cigars.

“He’s by Damon Runyon out of a Don Rickles mare,” the actor Jack Klugman once said. … Read full obituary

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The Rev. Adrian Rogers, a three-time president of the Southern Baptist Convention and leader of a conservative takeover of the denomination, died early Tuesday in Memphis. He was 74.

His death was announced by Baptist Press News and by Rogers’ Love Worth Finding ministry.

Rogers was hospitalized earlier this month with pneumonia and cancer, his ministry’s Web site said.

Rogers was elected president in 1979 as part of the conservative takeover of the 16.3 million-member convention, second in size to the Roman Catholic Church in the United States.

His election turned out to be a watershed moment for the denomination, and the group shifted dramatically to the right politically and theologically. … Read full obituary

Red Sarachek, the Yeshiva University basketball coach for a quarter-century who was known for his innovative tactics in a program far from the sport’s limelight, died Monday at his home in Deerfield Beach, Fla. He was 93. …

Sarachek coached at a university that offered no athletic scholarships, had no home gymnasium and demanded much from its students in academic and religious pursuits. But he became a well-known figure on the New York college basketball scene alongside coaches like Red Holzman, Nat Holman, Joe Lapchick, Clair Bee, Howard Cann and Lou Carnesecca. … Read full obituary

Dutch Hiller, one of the three surviving players from the Rangers’ 1940 Stanley Cup hockey champions, died Saturday at a hospital in Glendale, Calif. He was 90 and lived in Montrose, Calif.

The cause was congestive heart failure, his daughter Patricia Ornelas said.

Hiller’s death leaves only Clint Smith, 91, and Alf Pike, 88, as the surviving members of the 1940 championship team. The Rangers did not win the Stanley Cup again for 54 years.

At 5-foot-8 and 170 pounds, Hiller was a left wing who sometimes played wearing glasses. John Halligan, the National Hockey League’s historian, said Hiller was considered the fastest skater of his era. Smith, Hiller’s teammate, once said “Nobody, not in the entire league, could keep up with Dutch. When he got the puck alone, you just didn’t get it back.” … Read full obituary

Broadcasting pioneer Ralph Edwards, who spotlighted stars and ordinary people as host of the popular 1950s show “This Is Your Life,” died Wednesday of heart failure. He was 92.

Edwards, whose career as producer and host included “Truth or Consequences” and “People’s Court,” died in his sleep in his West Hollywood home, publicist Justin Seremet said.

Edwards first hit it big in radio in 1940 with “Truth or Consequences,” a novelty show in which contestants who failed to answer trick questions the “truth” had to suffer “the consequences” by performing some elaborate stunt. … Read full obituary

Preston Robert Tisch, who with his older brother built a multibillion-dollar business empire and who himself was postmaster general, half-owner of the New York Giants football team and leader of many of the city’s top business groups, died yesterday at his home in Manhattan. He was 79 and also had a home in Harrison, N.Y.

The cause was a brain tumor, said Jeffrey Stewart, spokesman for the family.

Wellington Mara, the co-owner of the Giants with Mr. Tisch, died on Oct. 25.

Mr. Tisch was sometimes called “the other Tisch” to differentiate him from his older brother, Laurence, who was known as a no-nonsense financial strategist, partly from being the fiercely cost-conscious chairman of CBS from 1986 to 1995. He died in 2003. … Read full obituary

Related:
NFL Patriarch Wellington Mara, 89

Avril Angers, who has died aged 87, was a comedian, actor, singer and star of radio, theatre — and pantomime. On television she had a career that spanned six decades, beginning in the postwar period with Terry-Thomas, taking in such shows as Coronation Street and Dad’s Army along the way, and ending in the 1990s with Common As Muck and All Creatures Great and Small. A onetime Tiller Girl, Angers had a particular talent for playing beguiling but slightly wacky heroines and she could switch from below-stairs earthiness to instant glamour with ease. … Read full obituary

Avril Angers, who has died aged 87, was a comedian, actor, singer and star of radio, theatre — and pantomime. On television she had a career that spanned six decades, beginning in the postwar period with Terry-Thomas, taking in such shows as Coronation Street and Dad’s Army along the way, and ending in the 1990s with Common As Muck and All Creatures Great and Small. A onetime Tiller Girl, Angers had a particular talent for playing beguiling but slightly wacky heroines and she could switch from below-stairs earthiness to instant glamour with ease.

Born in Liverpool, the daughter of the Liverpool comedian Harry Angers and of Lilian Errol, one of the original Fol de Rols concert party, Angers went to various schools in England and Australia, and first appeared on the boards in 1936 in the chorus of a show on Palace Pier, Brighton. That same year she made her first big impression when she appeared at the Alexandra Theatre, Birmingham, with the tiny comedian Wee Georgie Wood and the great Dame, Clarkson Rose, in the title role of Cinderella. … Read full obituary

MINNEAPOLIS, MN. — Juarez-born and El Paso-raised wrestling icon Eddie Guerrero was found dead in a Minneapolis motel room early Sunday morning.

According to family sources, Mr. Guerrero did not respond to a 7am wake up call. His traveling companion, Chavo Guerrero, Jr. then called the room and got no answer.

Sources close to the investigation go on to say that when knocks on Eddie’s hotel room door went unanswered, security got the door open and Mr. Guerrero was found dead in the bathroom. World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) confirmed later in the morning that Guerrero had indeed passed away in his hotel room. …

Mr. Guerrero debuted in 1987 in the Mexican Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre promotion. He became a star in Mexico long before he ever was a main event star in the United States. … Read full obituary

Sheree North, who aged gracefully from a platinum blond bombshell in the 1950s to older character roles in television productions including “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” and “Seinfeld,” died Friday of complication from surgery in Los Angeles. She was 72.

North initially was groomed as a glamor girl who could substitute for the often unreliable Marilyn Monroe, and did in fact replace Monroe in the 1955 film “How to Be Very, Very Popular.” …

She appeared in such popular stage musicals as “Can-Can” and “Bye Bye Birdie,” and in 2000 played the Southern belle Amanda in a production of Tennessee Williams’ “The Glass Menagerie” at the Laguna Playhouse.

Her decades-long film career included performances in “The Outfit” with Robert Duvall in 1973, “The Shootist” starring John Wayne in 1976 and “Defenseless” in 1991 with Barbara Hershey and Sam Shepard. … Read full obituary

ATLANTA — Investigators suspect Atlanta Hawks center Jason Collier died of a heart problem and will announce their findings Tuesday.

The 28-year-old player died Oct. 15 after he had trouble breathing in his Georgia home.

The autopsy was conducted by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. GBI spokesman John Bankhead says the office performs all Forsyth County autopsies, and Bankhead said this autopsy showed the cause of death to be “heart-related.” …

“It’s a heart abnormality,” said Collier’s agent, Richard Howell. “It certainly appears to be that. Signs point to that.” … Read full story