Dead Celebrity Alert

For years, she led the kind of life that many little girls can only dream of.

She was a child model and actress who appeared in television shows and movies. She was a cheerleader in college. And on July 8 she got married, then honeymooned in Hawaii.

But early last week, the day after she returned to her new home in Lexington from her Hawaiian honeymoon, J. Madison Wright Morris had a heart attack. She died Friday at University of Kentucky Hospital in Lexington. … Read full obituary

The badly beaten and mutilated corpse of Gianmario Roveraro, one of Italy’s reputedly most pious financiers, was discovered “cut to pieces” under a motorway overpass near Parma yesterday, some two weeks after he was kidnapped while returning home from a meeting of the conservative Roman Catholic group Opus Dei. … Read full obituary

Former Mayor James E. West, who opposed gay-rights bills but was recalled from office over an Internet gay sex scandal, died Saturday of complications from recent cancer surgery. He was 55. … Read full obituary

See also:
Jim West at Conservative Babylon

Jack Warden, an Emmy-winning and Academy Award-nominated actor who played gruff cops, coaches and soldiers in a career that spanned five decades, has died. He was 85. … Read full obituary

Robert H. Brooks, who, as the self-styled “Worldwide Wing Commander” of Hooters restaurants, known for spicy chicken wings and spicier waitresses, took the company to 46 states and 20 countries, died on Sunday at his home in Myrtle Beach, S.C. He was 69. … Read full obituary

Mickey Spillane, the macho mystery writer who wowed millions of readers with the shoot-`em-up sex and violence of gumshoe Mike Hammer, died Monday. He was 88. … Read full obituary

John Spencer, a three-time world-champion snooker player whose suave elegance and assertive style of play helped elevate his sport, a form of billiards, above soccer and cricket on British television in the 1970’s, died Tuesday in Bolton, England. He was 71. … Read full obituary

7/13/2006 9:53 PM ET BERLIN (AP) — The local World Cup coordinator for Berlin died Thursday, four days after he shot himself in an apparent suicide attempt.

Juergen Kiessling, 65, shot himself in the head hours after Sunday’s final and had been in a hospital since. … Read full obituary

LOS ANGELES — Red Buttons, the carrot-topped burlesque comedian who became a top star in early television and then in a dramatic role won the 1957 Oscar as supporting actor in “Sayonara,” died Thursday. He was 87. … Read full obituary

Barnard Hughes, the Tony Award-winning actor who starred in Da on Broadway, and began his professional career in 1934, died July 11 at New York Presbyterian Hospital after a brief illness, his family announced. … Read full obituary

Milan B. Williams, one of the original members of the Commodores, died after a long battle with cancer. He was 58. … Read full obituary

LONDON — Syd Barrett, the troubled genius who co-founded Pink Floyd but spent his last years in reclusive anonymity, has died, a spokeswoman for the band said Tuesday. He was 60. … Read full obituary

June Allyson, the sunny, raspy-voiced “perfect wife” of James Stewart, Van Johnson and other movie heroes, has died, her daughter Pamela Allyson Powell said Monday. She was 88. … Read full obituary

Jack Smith, a singer and recording artist who hosted the popular “You Asked for It” television show, has died. He was 92. … Read full obituary

HUNTINGTON, N.Y., July 7 (AP) — Benjamin Hendrickson, an Emmy Award-winning actor on the “As the World Turns” soap opera, committed suicide at his home on Long Island this week, police officials said. He was 55. … Read full obituary

Prince Tu’ipelehake (nephew of Tonga’s King Taufa’ahau Tupou IV) and his wife, Princess Kaimana, killed by a teenage driver.

Albuquerque, N.M. (AP) — Internationally acclaimed mezzo-soprano Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, whose repertoire ranged from Baroque to the contemporary … died Monday morning at her Santa Fe home with her husband, composer Peter Lieberson, at her side, said Richard Gaddes, general director of the Santa Fe Opera. She was 52. … Read full obituary

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — Kenneth Lay, the former chairman of Enron as well as a founder of the company, is dead, according to a report on CNBC. Lay was convicted of fraud and conspiracy charges by a federal jury in Houston on May 25 for his part in the high-profile collapse of Enron. CNBC said Lay died at his home in Aspen, Colo., of a heart attack. Jeffery Skilling, the ex-CEO of Enron, was also convicted in late May. The pair had yet to be sentenced for the charges, and each man was facing at least 20 years in prison. … Read full obituary

Related:

Ex-Enron exec J. Clifford Baxter suicides out

El Paso Corp. exec Charles Dana Rice, apparent suicide

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Jan Murray, one of the fabled generation of comics who rose from the Catskills to prime time TV, tickling fans of the 1950s game show Treasure Hunt, has died. He was 89. … Read full obituary