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. …

Hundreds of people attended her funeral yesterday at Corinth Baptist Church in London. It was the same church where she had married Brent Joseph Morris, a UK medical student, a little more than two weeks ago. …

She appeared in the television shows Grace Under Fire and The Nanny. Mrs. Morris played True Danziger in the science-fiction show Earth 2. … 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.

Three people were arrested on suspicion of the kidnapping and macabre murder of Mr Roveraro, a banker who had been questioned by investigators in connection with the spectacular €14bn (£9.5bn) collapse of the Parmalat food empire in 2003. …

The killing recalled the murder of Roberto Calvi, the Italian financier known as “God’s Banker” for his links to the Vatican, who was found hanged fromBlackfriars Bridge in London in 1982. … 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.

The conservative former Republican state senate majority leader was diagnosed in early 2003 with colon cancer that later spread to his liver. A statement issued by University of Washington Medical Center said his family and pastor were at his side at the Seattle hospital. …

Seven months after The Spokesman-Review newspaper began publishing results of a computer “sting” it conducted to track the mayor’s online activities in a gay chat room, West was ousted from office on Dec. 6, 2005, on a single charge that he used his office for personal benefit.

West was the first Spokane city official to be recalled from office, ending a 27-year career in city and state politics.

The former Spokane city councilman, Boy Scout leader and sheriff’s deputy had frequently opposed gay-rights bills during his 20 years in the state House and Senate. … 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.

Warden, who lived in Manhattan, died Wednesday at a hospital in New York, Sidney Pazoff, his longtime business manager, said here Friday. …

Warden was nominated twice for best supporting actor Oscars in two Warren Beatty movies. He was nominated for his role as a businessman in 1975’s “Shampoo” and the good-hearted football trainer Max in 1978’s “Heaven Can Wait.”

He won a supporting actor Emmy Award for his role as Chicago Bears coach George Halas in the 1971 TV movie “Brian’s Song” and was twice nominated in the 1980s for best leading actor in a comedy for his show “Crazy Like a Fox.”

Warden, with his wild white hair, weathered face and gravelly voice, was in demand for character parts for decades. … 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.

The company announced the death. The Associated Press said an autopsy found he died of unspecified natural causes.

Mr. Brooks, who was raised as a Methodist on a tobacco farm lacking plumbing and electricity, might have seemed an odd sort to lead an empire based on hot pants and pitchers of beer. When he first invested in Hooters, he said he did not know that the name and owl-eyes logo were meant as a reference to the female anatomy. …

He proceeded to open Hooters franchises from San Diego to São Paulo to Shanghai, at 430 locations in all. He started a magazine, pro golf tour, stock car racing series, credit card and casino, all under the Hooters name. His boldest venture, Hooters Air, an airline with hostesses in the familiar orange shorts and white tank-tops, began flying two years ago, but was grounded by high fuel prices. … 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. …

After starting out in comic books Spillane wrote his first Mike Hammer novel, “I, the Jury,” in 1946. Twelve more followed, with sales topping 100 million. Notable titles included “The Killing Man,” “The Girl Hunters” and “One Lonely Night.”

Many of these books were made into movies, including the classic film noir “Kiss Me, Deadly” and “The Girl Hunters,” in which Spillane himself starred. Hammer stories were also featured on television in the series “Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer” and in made-for-TV movies. In the 1980s, Spillane appeared in a string of Miller Lite beer commercials.

Besides the Hammer novels, Spillane wrote a dozen other books, including some award-winning volumes for young people. … 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.

The cause was stomach cancer, Agence France-Presse reported.

Mr. Spencer gained a reputation for wielding his cue with immense power and mastering the “deep screw” shot, which involves exaggerated backspin. But it was his dapper manner, wry jokes and debonair look in the required tuxedo that drew mention. … 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.

Buttons died of vascular disease at his home in the Century City area of Los Angeles, publicist Warren Cowan said. He had been ill for some time, and was with family members when he died, Cowan said.

With his eager manner and rapid-fire wit, Buttons excelled in every phase of show business, from the Borscht Belt of the 1930s to celebrity roasts in the 1990s.

His greatest achievement came with his “Sayonara” role as Sgt. Joe Kelly, the soldier in the post-World War II occupation forces in Japan whose romance with a Japanese woman (Myoshi Umeki, who also won an Academy Award) ends in tragedy. …

Buttons’ Academy Award led to other films, both dramas and comedies. They included “Imitation General,” “The Big Circus,” “Hatari!” “The Longest Day,” “Up From the Beach,” “They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?” “The Poseidon Adventure,” “Gable and Lombard” and “Pete’s Dragon.” … 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. …

The kind-eyed actor, who seemed to slide inside the skin of any of the various characters he played, might be best remembered for his humane performance as an Irish father in Hugh Leonard’s Da (1978). …

His career, which began in 1934 with one line in the Shakespeare Fellowship Repertory Company production of The Taming of the Shrew, spanned seven decades and over 400 roles on Broadway, and in television and films, appearing opposite such varied stars as Richard Burton, Robert Preston, George C. Scott, Alfred Drake, Lillian Gish, Christopher Plummer, Lauren Bacall, Alec Baldwin, Nicol Williamson, Bill Murray, Glenn Close, Kiefer Sutherland, Michael J. Fox, Jon Voight, Vanessa Redgrave, Rosemary Harris, Walter Matthau and Whoopi Goldberg. … Read full obituary

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

Williams died Sunday at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, said JoAnn Geffen, a spokeswoman for the band.

Williams, who played keyboards, was one of the founding members for the Commodores, which formed in 1968 while all the members were in college at the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. The group, whose best-known member was singer Lionel Richie, had a series of hits during the 1970s and 1980s, including “Brick House,” “Easy” and “Three Times A Lady.” … 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.

The spokeswoman — who declined to give her name until the band made an official announcement — confirmed media reports that he had died. She said Barrett died several days ago, but she did not disclose the cause of death. Barrett had suffered from diabetes for many years.

Barrett co-founded Pink Floyd in 1965 with David Gilmour, Nick Mason and Rick Wright, and wrote many of the band’s early songs. …

However, Barrett suffered from mental instability, exacerbated by his use of LSD. His behavior grew increasingly erratic, and he left the group in 1968 — five years before the release of Pink Floyd’s most popular album, “Dark Side of the Moon.” He was replaced by David Gilmour. … 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. …

During World War II, American GIs pinned up photos of Rita Hayworth and Betty Grable, but June Allyson was the girl they wanted to come home to. Petite, blonde and alive with fresh-faced optimism, she seemed the ideal sweetheart and wife, supporting and unthreatening. …

With typical wonderment, Allyson expressed surprise in a 1986 interview that she had ever become a movie star:

“I have big teeth. I lisp. My eyes disappear when I smile. My voice is funny. I don’t sing like Judy Garland. I don’t dance like Cyd Charisse. But women identify with me. And while men desire Cyd Charisse, they’d take me home to meet Mom.”

Allyson’s real life belied the sunshiny image she presented in films of the ’40s and ’50s. As she revealed in her 1982 autobiography, she had an alcoholic father and was raised by a single mother in the Bronx in New York. Her “ideal marriage” to actor-director Dick Powell was beset with frustrations. … 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.

Smith died of leukemia July 3 at his home in Westlake Village, said Dorris Halsey, a longtime friend.

Smith began a singing career in the early 1930s and worked many years in radio, but is perhaps most remembered as host of the ABC series in its final season in 1958. He took over from Art Baker.

The show invited viewers to send in suggestions for unusual things that they wanted to see on the air, like people with uncommon talent or seeing the inside vault at Ft. Knox.

Smith returned as host of a syndicated version of “You Asked for It” in the 1971-72 season, and the show was produced sporadically until 1977. … 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.

Suffolk County police officers, called by concerned neighbors, said they found him dead in bed on Monday; the cause was a gunshot to the head, they said.

Mr. Hendrickson was a member of the first graduating class of the Juilliard School of Drama, along with Kevin Kline and Patti LuPone. He appeared on Broadway in the early 1980’s in the title role of “The Elephant Man” and in the 1984 revival of “Awake and Sing!” … Read full obituary