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 … 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. …

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

Deputy district attorney who prosecuted parent-murdering brothers Lyle and Erik Menendez.

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. … Read full story

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. … 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. … Read full obituary

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. … 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. …

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. … 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. … 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. … 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. …

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. … 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. …

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

Gerry E. Studds, who championed environmental, maritime, and fisheries issues during 24 years in the US House and lent an eloquent voice to health and human rights matters, died early Saturday. … Read full obituary

Freddy Fender, the “Bebop Kid” of the Texas-Mexico border who later turned his twangy tenor into the smash country ballad “Before the Next Teardrop Falls,” died Saturday. He was 69. … Read full obituary

Johnny Callison, Philadelphia Phillies outfielder; hit winning homer in ninth inning of 1964 All-Star game; Thursday, in Philadelphia.

ROME (Reuters) — Gillo Pontecorvo, the Italian film director famous for “The Battle of Algiers,” a starkly realistic depiction of Algeria’s war of independence from France, has died in Rome, aged 86. … Read full obituary

A small plane with New York Yankees pitcher Cory Lidle aboard crashed into a 50-story condominium tower today on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, killing at least two people — including Lidle — and raining flaming debris on sidewalks, authorities said. … Read full story

…in NYC plane crash. Details to come.

Buck O’Neil, Negro Leagues goodwill ambassador; Friday night at a Kansas City hospital.

BALTIMORE, Maryland (AP) — Tamara Dobson, the tall, stunning model-turned-actress who portrayed a strong female role as Cleopatra Jones in two “blaxploitation” films, has died.

Dobson, 59, died Monday of complications from pneumonia and multiple sclerosis at the Keswick Multi-Care Center, where she had lived for the past two years, her publicist said. … Read full obituary

R. W. Apple Jr., who in more than 40 years as a correspondent and editor at The New York Times wrote about war and revolution, politics and government, food and drink, and the revenge of living well from more than 100 countries, died early this morning in Washington. He was 71. … Read full obituary

Numerous reports out now; not mentioned in this one: Her daughter-in-law was driving; Chenoweth was not wearing a seatbelt, despite holding her 5-month-old grandchild on her lap; both Chenoweth and the baby were thrown from the car but the baby survived with only minor injuries. The three were on their way to Tonopah from Chenoweth’s Monitor Valley ranch via Hwy 376 when the SUV they were in “drifted” left; the driver overcompensated, swerved right, and flipped the vehicle. — JR

Former U.S. Rep. Helen Chenoweth-Hage, who held “endangered salmon bakes” and once accused federal agents of using black helicopter gunships, died Monday in a car crash, her daughter said. She was 68. … Read full obituary

See also:
Helen Chenoweth at Conservative Babylon