Dead Celebrity Alert

Actor Glenn Ford, who played strong, thoughtful protagonists in films such as “The Blackboard Jungle,”"Gilda” and “The Big Heat,” died Wednesday, police said. He was 90.

Paramedics called to Ford’s home just before 4 p.m. found Ford dead, police Sgt. Terry Nutall said, reading a prepared statement. “They do not suspect foul play,” he said.

Ford suffered a series of strokes in the 1990s. …

Failing health forced Ford to skip a 90th birthday tribute on May 1 at Hollywood’s historic Grauman’s Egyptian Theatre. But he did send greetings via videotape, adding, “I wish I were up and around, but I’m doing the best that I can…. There’s so much I have to be grateful for.” …

Ford appeared in scores of films during his 53-year Hollywood career. The Film Encyclopedia, a reference book, lists 85 films from 1939 to 1991.

He was cast usually as the handsome tough, but his acting talents ranged from romance to comedy. His more famous credits include “Superman,” “Gilda,” “The Sheepman,” “The Gazebo,” “Pocketful of Miracles” and “Don’t Go Near the Water.” … Read full obituary

Joseph Stefano, wrote the screenplay for Alfred Hitchcock’s “Psycho”; was co-creator of TV’s “The Outer Limits.” August 25 at Los Robles Hospital and Medical Center.

Australian Democrats founder Don Chipp has died in a Melbourne hospital, aged 81, following a long battle with Parkinson’s Disease.

Democrats deputy leader Senator Andrew Bartlett said today that Mr Chipp died in Melbourne yesterday. …

Mr Chipp was preselected for the Liberal Party for the eastern Melbourne seat of Higinbotham in 1960 and served under prime ministers Robert Menzies, Harold Holt, John Gorton, William McMahon and Malcolm Fraser.

He was appointed Minister for the Navy in 1966, then served as Minister for Customs and Excise from 1969 to 1972. … Read full obituary

August 21, 2006 — Creighton Brown, a wellknown racing entrepreneur and a man who helped Ron Dennis win control of McLaren, has died of cancer. …

He … decided to go into business on his own and invested in farming and as his business empire grew so too did his involvement in motor racing and in 1972 turned his hobby into a business and started to race semi-professionally with commercial sponsorship, building several very successful Supersports cars. … Brown became a shareholder and director of the new McLaren International and would remain a McLaren director until 1992. During that period the team won 15 world titles. … Read full obituary

Best known for his trumpet performance on the theme to “Rocky” (”Gonna Fly Now”); in Ojai, California.

Bruce Gary, the rock drummer who worked with George Harrison, Bob Dylan and Stephen Stills but is best known as The Knack’s original drummer — the man who played on the group’s No. 1 hit “My Sharona” — has died. He was 55.

Gary died Tuesday at Tarzana Medical Center of lymphoma, said Helen Gary, the drummer’s mother.

Besides Harrison, Dylan and Stills, he recorded with Cream’s Jack Bruce, Rod Stewart, Sheryl Crow, Bette Midler, Yoko Ono, Harry Nilsson and The Doors’ guitarist Robby Krieger, according to the Web site www.brucegary.com. (The Web site had been suspended as of Thursday morning.) … Read full obituary

Robert K. Hoffman, one of three founders of the irreverent National Lampoon magazine, has died. He was 59.

Hoffman, a noted Dallas philanthropist, died Sunday at an area hospital. He had been suffering from leukemia since December, according to his family.

He was a co-founder and managing editor of the humorous National Lampoon, spawned from the Harvard Lampoon, created while he was a student at the university. …

“National Lampoon never would have happened, and none of the things that came out of it would have happened, without Robert,” Henry Beard, one of the other co-founders of the magazine, said in Tuesday’s editions of The Dallas Morning News. “He had an exceptional pair of talents — he was extremely smart, and utterly fearless.”

The third founder, Doug Kenney, died in the early 1980s. … Read full obituary

Joe Rosenthal, Pulitzer prize-winning Associated Press photographer who shot the spontaneous (and ubiquitous) picture of World War II soldiers raising an American flag over Iwo Jima; Sunday, at age 94.

Alexander C. Cushing, the founder and chairman of Squaw Valley Ski Resort, died of pneumonia this weekend at his summer home in Newport, Rhode Island.

Cushing was 92.

He opened the resort in 1949 with one chairlift, a rope tow and a 50-room lodge. …

Ironically, Cushing acknowledged he was never much of a skier. … Read full obituary

Retired Major General Kathryn George Frost, highest-ranking woman in the U.S. Army upon her retirement in 2005; Friday, of breast cancer.

The father-in-law of embattled Tour de France winner Floyd Landis was found dead in his car after committing suicide, coroner’s officials said Wednesday.

The body of 57-year-old David Witt was discovered at a parking garage Tuesday afternoon, said Paul Parker, an investigator with the San Diego County Medical Examiner. He had a gunshot wound to the head, and the death was ruled a suicide, Parker said. …

Witt was the stepfather of Landis’ wife, Amber.

Landis’ close friend, Dwight van Slyke, said he did not believe the recent doping allegations against the cyclist directly led to the suicide. … Read full obituary

Alex Buzo, the playwright and novelist whose acerbic, satirical work tackled issues such as racism, alienation and the moral emptiness of late-’60s Australia, has died at the age of 62.

Buzo, who had battled cancer for the past five years, died yesterday morning at his home in Sydney. He is survived by his wife, Merrilyn, and three daughters.

Born in Sydney and educated at the University of NSW, Buzo, along with David Williamson and Jack Hibberd, was one of the pioneers of a new form of Australian drama in the 1960s and ’70s. His best-known works include his 1968 play about racism, Norm and Ahmed, his 1969 satire on hedonism and consumerism, Rooted, 1971’s Macquarie: A Play and 1974’s Coralie Lansdowne Says No. … Read full obituary

HAMILTON, New Zealand, Aug. 16 (UPI) — A weeklong period of mourning has been declared in New Zealand for Maori Queen Te Arikinui Te Atairangikaahu who died at age 75.

Te Atairangikaahu, who reigned for 40 years as the sixth holder of the Maori Kingship established in 1858, died Tuesday at a hospital near Hamilton after being on dialysis for several months, reports Radio New Zealand.

Te Atairangikaahu’s body will lie in state for a week at Turangawaewae, the headquarters of her Kingitanga movement, in New Zealand’s North Island. She will be buried with her ancestors on the sacred mountain of Taupiri, says the report. Her successor is expected to be announced next week. … Read full obituary

The actor passed away in Los Angeles on Monday (14.08.06) from complications related to leukaemia — a disease he had only recently been diagnosed with.

His widow, Lynn Sellers, said in a statement: “We are incredibly grateful for the outpouring of support we have received from Bruno’s fans and colleagues who have admired and respected his work over the past 30 years.

“Bruno’s spirit will continue to live on not only in his rich body of film and television work but also through the lives of individuals he has touched throughout his life.” Bruno, 57, starred in a host of Hollywood films, including ‘When Harry Met Sally’, ‘City Slickers’ alongside Billy Crystal, ‘The Godfather: Part II’ and ‘Good Morning Vietnam’. … Read full obituary

Obit to come.