Dead Celebrity Alert

CHICAGO — Iva Toguri D’Aquino, who was convicted and later pardoned of being World War II propagandist “Tokyo Rose,” died Tuesday of natural causes, said her nephew, William Toguri. She was 90.

Tokyo Rose was the name given by soldiers to a female radio broadcaster responsible for anti-American transmissions intended to demoralize soldiers fighting in the Pacific theater. D’Aquino was the only U.S. citizen identified among the potential suspects.

In 1949, she became the seventh person to be convicted of treason in American history and served six years in prison. But doubts about her possible role as Tokyo Rose later surfaced and she was pardoned by President Gerald Ford in 1977. …

D’Aquino spent the years following her release from prison living a quiet life on Chicago’s North Side. … Read full obituary

MALIBU, Calif. (AP) — Edward Albert, who starred opposite Goldie Hawn in the 1972 comedy Butterflies Are Free and was the son of film and TV star Eddie Albert, has died. He was 55.

Albert died Friday from lung cancer at his home in Malibu, said Alan Silberberg, a family friend.

Albert’s middle name was Laurence — named after family friend and acting legend Laurence Olivier, who was his godfather.

Born in Los Angeles in 1951, Albert made his film debut at 14. He played a runaway who comes across a disturbed Civil War veteran, played by Anthony Perkins, in the 1965 drama The Fool Killer. …

His movies included 40 Carats,The Ice Runner and Guarding Tess. Among his TV credits were appearances on Falcon Crest,Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman and Port Charles.

Albert also was passionate about preserving the environment, serving on both the California Coastal Commission and the state’s Native American Heritage Commission. The Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy named a trail in his honor earlier this year. … Read full obituary

Related:
Actor Eddie Albert, 99

Japanese actor Tetsuro Tamba, known worldwide for his appearance in the James Bond film You Only Live Twice, has died aged 84, it is reported.

The actor’s representatives told the Hollywood Reporter he died in Tokyo as a result of heart failure after a bout of pneumonia.

Tamba appeared in more than 300 films, including as Sean Connery’s ally Tiger Tanaka in 1967’s You Only Live Twice.

He also wrote books and produced documentaries on spiritualism. … Read full obituary

Golfing great Byron Nelson, who won an unprecedented 11 PGA Tour events in a row during 1945, has died at the age of 94. …

A five-times major winner who is widely considered the straightest hitter of the ball in history, American Nelson was known for his elegant swing and chivalrous attitude, earning him the nickname ‘Lord Byron’.

Although he never won the British Open, he claimed the Masters in 1937 and 1942, clinched the PGA Championship in 1940 and 1945 and captured his one US Open crown in Philadelphia in 1939.

Jack Nicklaus, arguably the greatest player of all, paid a special tribute to Nelson on the eve of his 90th birthday in 2002. … Read full obituary

Patrick Quinn, a former president of the Actors’ Equity Association who was about to become its first new executive director in 25 years, died yesterday at his country home in Bushkill, Pa. He was 56 and lived in Manhattan.

The cause was a heart attack, said Maria Somma, a spokeswoman for Actors’ Equity.

In August, Mr. Quinn was appointed to the highest staff position at Equity, the union that represents 45,000 stage actors and stage managers. His tenure was to begin on Oct. 5. …

Mr. Quinn had been a member of Equity since 1970 and was elected to the council in 1977. In 2000, he was elected president, a position he held for six years. …

In 1987, Mr. Quinn helped create Equity Fights AIDS, a nonprofit organization started by the union. It later merged with Broadway Cares. … Read full obituary

September 15, 2006 — LOS ANGELES — Actor Pat Corley, who served sage advice along with drinks as Phil the barkeep on “Murphy Brown,” has died. He was 76.

Corley, a native of Dallas, died of congestive heart failure Sept. 11 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, according to his son, actor-comedian Jerry Corley. The elder Corley had undergone surgery for the placement of coronary stents, his son said Thursday.

Pat Corley’s five-decade career included roles in the films “Coming Home,” “True Confessions” and “Against All Odds.” … Read full obituary

Played saxophone and uttered the word “Tequila!” in the pop song “Tequila”; of complications from pneumonia, at Huntington Beach Hospital in California.

BUDAPEST, Hungary — World-renowned bassist Aladar Pege, who moved with ease from jazz to classics and lifted his bulky instrument to star status, has died, the Hungarian cultural ministry said Sunday. He was 67.

The state MTI news agency cited family members as saying Pege died in the hospital Saturday after “patiently enduring brief suffering.” It did not specify his illness.

“Hungary’s cultural society is once again in mourning,” the ministry of education and culture said in a statement. “Aladar Pege has left us.” … Read full obituary

British composer; won Oscar for scoring “The Bridge on the River Kwai”; Saturday, of a chest infection, at the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital.

Helene Deschamps Adams, a hero of the French Resistance who saved American fliers from capture and Jews from execution by the Nazis, and played a role in secret preparations for Allied invasions of France, died in Manhattan Saturday of heart failure.

When asked why she took on the dangerous role of secret agent, “she was fond of saying, ‘I didn’t like the idea of Nazis taking over my country,’” according to her daughter, Karyn Anick Monget.

Helene Deschamps was born into a French military family at Tientsin, China, in 1921, and grew up in colonial outposts. Studying at a convent when Germany invaded France in 1940, she joined the Resistance. Her duties ranged from being a courier to gathering information on German troop strength, airfields and coastal installations in preparation for the Allied invasion of southern France in 1944. She rescued downed U.S.fliers before the Nazis could find them and guided groups of Jews to safety across the Spanish border in the Pyrenees mountains. … Read full obituary

STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP) — Oscar-winning filmmaker Sven Nykvist, who was legendary director Ingmar Bergman’s cinematographer of choice, died Wednesday after a long illness, his son said. He was 83.

Nykvist died at a nursing home where he was being treated for aphasia, a form of dementia, said his son, Carl-Gustaf Nykvist.

Nykvist won Academy Awards for best cinematography for the Bergman films “Cries and Whispers” in 1973 and “Fanny and Alexander” in 1982.

Nykvist’s sense of lighting and camera work made him a favorite of Bergman’s after their first collaboration on the 1954 movie “Sawdust and Tinsel,” which began a partnership that lasted nearly 30 years. … Read full obituary

Robert Earl Jones, Broadway actor, father of actor James Earl Jones; at the Lillian Booth Actors’ Home.

Former Mr. Universe, actor, ex-husband of blonde bombshell Jayne Mansfield, and father of actress Mariska Hargitay.

Patricia Kennedy Lawford, sister of President John F. Kennedy and widow of actor Peter Lawford; in New York.

Pablo Santos, the 19-year-old star of the WB series Greetings from Tucson, died Friday in a plane crash in Mexico, a hospital official told the Associated Press.

Santos reportedly was riding in a small Piper Malibu plane when it crashed just over a mile short of its runway. The plane was approaching the airport in Toluca, some 35 miles west of Mexico City, the Mexico State Security Agency told AP. …

Born in Monterrey, Santos racked up a string of TV credits, including appearances on Boston Public, Law & Order and American Family. He also appeared in the films Sea of Dreams and Party Animalz. … Read full obituary