Dead Celebrity Alert

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (AP) — Barry Cowsill, a member of the popular 1960s singing family The Cowsills, was found dead on a wharf nearly four months after he disappeared when Hurricane Katrina flooded the city. He was 51.

Cowsill’s body, recovered December 28 from the Chartres Street Wharf, was identified with dental records Tuesday, said Dr. Louis Cataldie, head of the state hurricane morgue in Carville. …

Cowsill, who lived on and off in New Orleans, had not been heard from since he left phone messages for his sister September 1, his family’s Web site said. …

The Cowsills — the inspiration for the TV series “The Partridge Family” — recorded a series of top hits between 1967 and 1970, including “The Rain, The Park and Other Things,” “Indian Lake” and “Hair.” They also were spokespersons for the American Dairy Association, appearing in commercials and print ads for milk. … Read full obituary

(CNN) — Lou Rawls, whose mellifluous baritone was featured on hits ranging from his own “You’ll Never Find Another Love Like Mine” to Sam Cooke’s “Bring It on Home to Me,” has died. He was 72.

Rawls died Friday morning at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California. He was hospitalized last month for treatment of lung and brain cancer, said his publicist, Paul Shefrin. His wife, Nina, was at his bedside when he died.

The singer was as well known for his charitable activities as he was for his smooth four-octave range. He founded the Lou Rawls Parade of Stars Telethon, which raised millions of dollars for the United Negro College Fund. …

In a 1994 interview, CNN asked the legendary singer how he would like to be remembered. “Just somebody that took the problem in hand and tried to deal with it,” he said. … Read full obituary

Australian television actress Sophie Heathcote has died in the American state of Connecticut, reportedly from an aneurism. The actress, who died yesterday, was also believed to have been suffering from skin cancer.

Melbourne-born Heathcote, 33, appeared in television shows including A Country Practice, Water Rats and Raw FM. Her theatre work included playing the lead role of Jennifer in the Melbourne Theatre Company’s 1998 production of The Misanthrope, directed by Simon Phillips. …

In 2003, Heathcote and her husband, advertising agency chief Chris Clarke, established the annual Celebration of Life neonatal unit fundraiser for the Royal Children’s Hospital after staff saved the life of their first child, Madeleine. The event raised $500,000 in its first year. … Read full obituary

Former Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Bill Skate, who once bragged of being a criminal godfather who could order gangs to kill people, will be given a state funeral after he suffered a stroke.

PNG officials confirmed Skate, 52, died in hospital in Brisbane early on Tuesday.

Acting PNG Prime Minister Moi Avei on Wednesday announced a state funeral was scheduled for Thursday, January 12. …

Skate was prime minister from 1997 to 1999 but lost office after being secretly videotaped authorising bribes and bragging about being the godfather of the country’s notorious “Raskol” crime gangs. … Read full obituary

The ruler of Dubai, United Arab Emirates Vice President Sheikh Maktoum bin Rashid al-Maktoum, died yesterday on Queensland’s Gold Coast.

The UAE’s official news agency confirmed his death in Australia. He died at the Palazzo Versace resort from a suspected heart attack.

The horseracing figure was in Australia in preparation for the Magic Millions yearling sales. …

Diplomats said Sheikh Maktoum suffered heart problems and was in his mid-60s.

The UAE’s Defence Minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, is Sheikh Maktoum’s brother and heir, and will automatically take over as ruler of Dubai. …

Sheikh Maktoum is best known as co-owner of Dubai’s Godolphin stables, which competes in major horse races. …

Dubai’s stockmarket halted trading after the news. The UAE has declared 40 days of mourning and government institutions will be closed for a week. … Read full obituary

The World War II resistance fighter who captured Italy’s fascist dictator Benito Mussolini as he tried to escape Allied forces died late on Tuesday.

Urbano Lazzaro, best known under his nom de guerre ‘Partisan Bill’, stormed into Italy’s history books on April 27, 1945, when he halted a Nazi truck in the village of Dongo and discovered Il Duce disguised as a Nazi soldier inside. …

Lazzaro, a member of the largely communist 52nd Garibaldi Brigade, then found Mussolini’s mistress, Clara Petacci, and high officials of his rump fascist republic hidden in the retreating column of Nazi troops headed for Switzerland.

Lazzaro died in a hospital in the northern town of Vercelli, near Turin, a hospital spokesman said. He was 81.

His death is likely to revive speculation about the details of Il Duce’s execution, which has long been the stuff of legend and controversy. … Read full obituary

Candy Barr, an exotic dancer whose hardscrabble life became Texas legend as she befriended Jack Ruby (who killed President John F. Kennedy’s assassin), dated a mobster, shot her husband went to prison for drug possession, and starred — unwillingly, she insisted — in a famous stag film, died on Friday in Victoria, Tex. She was 70.

The Slavik Funeral Home in Edna, Tex., confirmed the death, but provided no details. The Associated Press said she died of pneumonia.

Miss Barr said she was forced in 1951 at 16 to play the lead in a grainy black-and-white erotic movie titled “Smart Aleck.” … Al Di Lauro and Gerald Rabkin, in their 1976 book, “Dirty Movies: An Illustrated History of the Stag Film,” called it “the single most popular film of the genre.” They refer to Miss Barr as “the first pornographic star” and liken her to Lenny Bruce as a subverter of official morality. The film was not shown in theaters, but was a hit on the bachelor party and smoker circuit. …

For students of the Kennedy assassination, it is her friendship with Mr. Ruby, a nightclub owner, that is most provocative. … Read full obituary

Dawn Lake and Bobby Limb. Bobby Limb and Dawn Lake. The names of two of Australia’s best-loved entertainers are almost always mentioned in the same breath, rarely separated.

Bobby died in 1999. On Sunday night, Dawn, his long-time wife and performing partner, followed him. She was 78.

Born in the Sydney working-class suburb of Balmain, Dawn Lake was a comedienne and entertainer when Bobby Limb came to see her singing-comedy act in a Sydney club in the early 1950s. …

They married in 1953 and went to Britain to try their luck. For several years they honed their show business skills in British music halls. …

Back in Australia, their partnership was cemented on the fledgling medium of television. …

Dawn also appeared in films and several other TV series as an actress. … She was also a regular on Graham Kennedy’s Blankety Blanks. …

Long-time friend and industry colleague Bert Newton describes Dawn Lake as “our greatest comedienne — Australia’s Lucille Ball”. … Read full obituary

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