Dead Celebrity Alert

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (Reuters) — Former South African President P.W. Botha, the defiant face of white rule at the height of the anti-apartheid struggle, died at his home on Tuesday aged 90, the South African Press Association reported. …

Botha, known widely as “The Great Crocodile” for his adamant stance against black rule in South Africa, died at his home in Wilderness, about 350 km (220 miles) east of Cape Town, SAPA said.

Botha, who presided over some of the worst excesses of the apartheid era during the 1970s and 1980s, had been in hospital in October for what were described as routine tests.

He was toppled in a cabinet rebellion in 1989 and replaced by F.W. de Klerk, who repudiated almost everything the finger-wagging hardliner had stood for, including the laws that were the foundation of apartheid.

De Klerk later guided South Africa’s white rulers through the delicate negotiations that ultimately brought the African National Congress (ANC), led by Nelson Mandela, to power in multi-racial elections in 1994.

Although Botha’s security forces killed more than 2,000 people and an estimated 25,000 people were detained without trial and often tortured, he refused to apologize for apartheid and denied he had known about the torture and assassinations. … Read full obituary

HOUSTON — Quick with a joke or a smile, Joe Niekro was the life of the Houston Astros’ clubhouse for more than a decade.

He also became their most successful pitcher, earning a franchise-record 144 victories in 11 seasons.

Niekro died Friday in Florida from a brain aneurysm at age 61. … Read full obituary

Fans of Australian rock music have lost one of their most revered figures, with Ian Rilen’s death from cancer yesterday.

Rilen, 58, was a founding member of Rose Tattoo and best known as the co-writer — with Pete Wells — of Bad Boy for Love. Wells died of prostate cancer in March. … Read full obituary

David P. Conn, known as an aggressive but fair deputy district attorney who won the high-profile Menendez brothers’ case in 1996, has died. He was 56.

Conn died Tuesday, about five months after he was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig’s disease, said his wife Rosemary.

Conn was best known as the prosecutor who salvaged the Menendez case after a first trial ended in a hung jury. He won first-degree murder convictions and life sentences for Erik and Lyle Menendez, accused of murdering their millionaire parents in August 1989. Conn also helped police during the grand jury phase of the O.J. Simpson trial. … Read full obituary

Trevor Berbick, a former world heavyweight boxing champion, has died after suffering a violent assault on his home island of Jamaica.

The fighter was the last boxer to beat the legendary Muhammad Ali on December 11, 1981 and held the world heavyweight title briefly in 1986 before losing it to Mike Tyson.

Berbick, 51, suffered a gaping head wound in the attack in his native Norwich village, 146 miles east of Kingston, and was pronounced dead at the Port Antonio Hospital early yesterday, police said.

Detectives believe said the assailant was carrying a weapon such as a machete or hatchet that cut a deep “chop wound”.

Berbick represented Jamaica at the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal; he later settled in Canada. …

However, he returned to Jamaica in 2003 after being deported from the United States for a parole violation. He had been in trouble with the law several times. … Read full obituary

More:
Police arrest man in slaying of Berbick

Red Auerbach, the Hall of Fame coach who led the Boston Celtics to nine NBA championships in the 1950s and 1960s, died Saturday. He was 89.

Auerbach won 938 games with the Celtics and was the winningest coach in NBA history until Lenny Wilkens overtook him in the 1994-95 season. As general manager, the straight-talking Auerbach, who celebrated victories with a postgame cigar, was also the architect of Celtics teams that won seven more titles in the 1970s and 1980s.

Auerbach’s death was announced by the Celtics, for whom he still served as team president. The team said the upcoming season would be dedicated in his honor. … Read full obituary

Veteran character actor Arthur Hill, whose dozens of television and movie appearances included the title role in the series “Owen Marshall, Counselor at Law,” has died. He was 84.

Hill died Sunday at a Pacific Palisades care facility after a long battle with Alzheimer’s disease, his friend Walter Seltzer said Thursday.

Hill, who hadn’t worked in the motion picture or television business since 1990, was a well-known face on TV, appearing on “Alfred Hitchcock Presents,” “The Defenders,” “Ben Casey,” “The Untouchables,” “The Nurses,” “The FBI,” “Mission Impossible,” “The Fugitive” and “Marcus Welby, M.D.”

He was the star of “Owen Marshall, Counselor at Law” from 1971 to 1974. … Read full obituary

The musician who scared us silly in the ‘Jaws’ soundtrack has died

The notes will live forever in the minds of horror movie fans and anyone who’s ever tried to scare their girlfriend or boyfriend when swimming. …

Tommy Johnson, the tuba player who brought the tension to John Williams’ score with that dum-dum, dum-dum sound, has died. The Los Angeles Times reports today that he passed away Oct. 16 at the age of 71. …

Among the other soundtracks on Johnson’s resume: The Godfather, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and the Indiana Jones trilogy. … Read full obituary

A renowned rock climber and author who scaled peaks around the world fell 500 feet to his death in Yosemite National Park, a spokeswoman said Tuesday.

Todd Skinner was rappelling Monday after he and a partner worked on pioneering a new route near Bridalveil Fall, said Adrienne Freeman, a park spokeswoman. …

Skinner, 47, of Lander, Wyo., was celebrated for having climbed hundreds of rock faces from Canada’s Yukon Territory to the Himalayas using a technique called free climbing, in which climbers ascend upward using no artificial aid to climb — only a rope to protect against falls. … Read full obituary

SAN DIMAS, California (AP) — Sandy West, whose ferocious drumming fueled the influential all-female ’70s rock band the Runaways, which she co-founded with Joan Jett, has died of lung cancer. She was 47.

West died Saturday night at a hospice in San Dimas, east of Los Angeles, her manager Mara Fox said. She was diagnosed a year ago.

West was only 16 when she started the Runaways in 1975 with Jett, a singer and guitarist.

Along with band members Lita Ford and Cherie Currie, they had such hits as “Cherry Bomb” and “Born to Be Bad.” …

Born in 1959 and raised in Huntington Beach, West was a bona fide California girl, splitting her time between surfing and skiing, Currie said. …

The Runaways headlined shows with such performers as Cheap Trick and Tom Petty as opening acts.

Following the band’s breakup in 1979, West continued to perform as a singer, guitarist and drummer with the Sandy West Band. She also released a solo CD. … Read full obituary

More at the official Runaways site

SANTO DOMINGO — Nelson de la Rosa, the world’s shortest actor and a ubiquitous good-luck charm for the Boston Red Sox during their victorious 2004 World Series run, died at a New York hospital on Sunday, his agent said.

De la Rosa, who was about 2-foot-4, died of unknown causes, producer Andres Duran told The Associated Press. He was 38.

He fell ill shortly after arriving in Miami on Friday from Chile, where the Dominican national had been working in a circus. On Saturday he flew to New York, where two of his brothers live, Duran said. …

De la Rosa’s body will be sent back to the Dominican Republic after an autopsy and then could be put on display in a museum, his agent said. … Read full obituary

LOS ANGELES — Jane Wyatt, the lovely, serene actress who for six years on “Father Knows Best” was one of TV’s favorite moms, has died, her son Christopher Ward said Sunday. She was 96.

Wyatt died Friday in her sleep of natural causes at her Bel-Air home, according to publicist Meg McDonald. She experienced health problems since suffering a stroke at 85, but her mind was sharp until her death, her son said.

Wyatt had a successful film career in the 1930s and ’40s, notably as Ronald Colman’s lover in 1937’s “Lost Horizon.”

But it was her years as Robert Young’s TV wife, Margaret Anderson, on “Father Knows Best” that brought the actress her lasting fame. … Read full obituary

Ironically, Ms. Kirk’s death was announced the same day as that of Spoony Singh, founder of the Hollywood Wax Museum.

LOS ANGELES, Oct 22 (Reuters) Actress Phyllis Kirk, famous for her role as the damsel in distress in the 1953 3-D horror classic ”House of Wax,” has died at age 79, her former publicist said.

Kirk died on Friday from a post-cerebral aneurysm at the Motion Picture & Television Hospital in Woodland Hills, California, publicist Dale Olson said yesterday. …

She is also well-known for her role as Nora Charles in the late 1950s television series ”The Thin Man,” with Peter Lawford playing her husband. … Read full obituary

LOS ANGELES — Spoony Singh, who once said he founded the world famous Hollywood Wax Museum to give tourists who couldn’t find any real celebrities in Hollywood the next best thing, has died. He was 83.

Singh died Wednesday at his Malibu home of congestive heart failure, his family announced Friday.

It was while touring Hollywood looking for famous faces in 1964 that Singh thought of the museum. The closest he came to spotting a celebrity was seeing stars’ footprints in the courtyard of Grauman’s Chinese Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard. …

Singh, who handed over day-to-day operation of the museum to family members in 1990, shrugged off critics who called the museum cheesy over the years.

“Look, I know other museums are more stately and artistic,” he told the Los Angeles Times in 1970. “But on Hollywood Boulevard, dignity kind of gets lost in the shuffle.” … Read full obituary

Related:
Movieland Wax Museum creator Allen Parkinson

CBS News is reporting the death of veteran correspondent Christopher Glenn, who retired earlier this year. He was 68 years old.

Glenn will be inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame in Chicago on November 4th.

Glenn was an integral part of CBS Radio News since 1971, where he first started as a special events producer. He became a correspondent in 1976.

In addition to his weekday hourly news anchor responsibilities, Glenn was anchor of the “CBS World News Roundup,” the longest-running news program in broadcasting. He came to the “Roundup” in April, 1999, after spending 11 years in a similar capacity for “The World Tonight.”

Glenn may have been best known for his coverage of the space program, including memorably anchoring coverage of the Shuttle Challenger disaster on January 26, 1986.

He also covered numerous assignments for CBS News Television. Glenn was the reporter/narrator for the Emmy award-winning “IN THE NEWS” series of current event broadcasts for young viewers throughout its 15 year history (1971-1986). … Read full obituary