Dead Celebrity Alert

SANTA ROSA — Jim Mitchell, the porn czar who co-founded the Mitchell Brothers O’Farrell Theatre and who later shot his brother to death, died Thursday night at his Sonoma County home. He was 63. …

The cause of death was not immediately known, but foul play was not suspected. An autopsy was conducted today, Mana said.

Mitchell grew up in Antioch. He and his brother, Artie Mitchell, opened their adult theater in San Francisco on July 4, 1969. The two also produced a string of pornographic movies, including “Behind the Green Door” with Marilyn Chambers in 1972.

In 1992, Jim Mitchell was convicted of kicking in the door of his brother’s Corte Madera home and shooting him to death. …

Mitchell served five years in San Quentin State Prison before being paroled in 1997. … Read full obituary

Film director Richard Franklin, known for the thrillers Patrick and Roadgames, and more recently the compelling dramas Hotel Sorrento and Brilliant Lies, has died in Melbourne aged 58.

The road movie Roadgames, starring Jamie Lee Curtis, was Australia’s most expensive film when it was made in 1978.

Franklin was one of five directors interviewed last month for Mark Hartley’s documentary Not Quite Hollywood, about 1970s and 80s Australian films.

“I asked him how he would be considered by the Australian film industry,” said Hartley, “and he said ‘very begrudgingly they would probably say I was a half-decent craftsman’. …” Read full obituary

Whether as a television beast or a radio shock-jock, Stan Zemanek was a professional stirrer.

The Sydney broadcaster, who died today aged 60 of a brain tumour, wore political incorrectness like a badge of honour and bragged about being radio’s most complained-about personality.

He described some of his talkback callers as “numb nuts”, “half-wits” and “left-wing loonies”, told others to “give yourself an uppercut” and asked those who sounded slow if they were smoking “wacky-tobaccy”. …

Zemanek’s red-neck style was not everyone’s cup of tea, least of all Melburnians and even some of his fellow broadcasters. …

His official website describes him as “the broadcaster people love to hate”. … Read full obituary

AUSTIN, Texas — Lady Bird Johnson, the former first lady who championed conservation and worked tenaciously for the political career of her husband, Lyndon B. Johnson, died Wednesday, a family spokeswoman said. She was 94.

Johnson, who suffered a stroke in 2002 that affected her ability to speak, returned home late last month after a week at Seton Medical Center, where she’d been admitted for a low-grade fever.

She died at her Austin home of natural causes and she was surrounded by family and friends, said spokeswoman Elizabeth Christian.

Even after the stroke, Johnson still managed to make occasional public appearances and get outdoors to enjoy her beloved wildflowers. But she was unable to speak more than a few short phrases, and more recently did not speak at all, Anne Wheeler, spokeswoman for the LBJ Library and Museum, said in 2006. She communicated her thoughts and needs by writing, Wheeler said.

Lyndon Johnson died in 1973, four years after the Johnsons left the White House.

The longest-living first lady in history was Bess Truman, who was 97 when she died in 1982.

Other former first ladies remembered Johnson on Wednesday as deeply devoted to her family and the environment. … Read full obituary

Obit to come.

SANTA MONICA, Calif. (AP) — Charles Lane, the prolific character actor whose name was little known but whose crotchety persona and roles in hundreds of films made him instantly recognizable to generations of moviegoers, has died. He was 102. …

Lane, whose career spanned more than 60 years, appeared in such film classics as “It’s a Wonderful Life,” “Mr. Deeds Goes to Town” and “Twentieth Century.” He also had a recurring role as the scheming railroad man, Homer Bedloe, on the 1960s TV sitcom “Petticoat Junction” and appeared often on “I Love Lucy.”

His crisp, stage-trained voice and no-nonsense appearance made him a natural for playing authority figures. …

Lane continued to act into his 90s, and when he accepted an award from cable television’s TV Land channel in honor of his 100th birthday, he made a point of saying he was still available for work.

A widower with a son and daughter, Lane had no formula for his longevity, although he noted his mother lived to be nearly 100.

He was a lifelong teetotaler. But his son noted that his father smoked a pack of cigarettes a day for 70 years, quitting only when he became short of breath.

“I know that smoking kills people, and I must be the exception,” Lane said then. … Read full obituary

Doug Marlette, the North Carolina-born cartoonist who won a Pulitzer Prize and created the popular strip ”Kudzu,” was killed in a car accident Tuesday morning in Mississippi, authorities said. He was 57.

Marlette, who joined the Tulsa (Okla.) World last year, was the passenger in the car, which struck a tree after skidding on a rain-slicked road, said John Garrison, the coroner in Mississippi’s Marshall County. …

Marlette’s editorial cartoons and his strip, ”Kudzu,” are syndicated worldwide. The ”Kudzu” strip deals humorously with rural Southern life, featuring characters such as the Rev. Will B. Dunn.

Born in Greensboro, Marlette began drawing political cartoons for The Charlotte Observer in 1972.

He won the Pulitzer in 1988 for his editorial cartooning in both Charlotte and at the Atlanta Constitution, which he had joined the year before. … Read full obituary

Lady Nancy Fairfax died on Saturday, aged 90, after a long illness.

Lady Fairfax was the wife of late businessman, pastoralist, benefactor and charitable worker Sir Vincent, and mother of John B. Fairfax, a director of Fairfax Media. … Read full obituary

Australia’s oldest Olympian Eileen Wearne died last week aged 95, the Australian Olympic Committee announced today.

Wearne, who died on Friday, competed in athletics at the 1932 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.

She finished fourth in heat three of the women’s 100m. … Read full obituary

Beverly Sills, the acclaimed Brooklyn-born coloratura soprano who was more popular with the American public than any opera singer since Enrico Caruso, even among people who never set foot in an opera house, died Monday night at her home in Manhattan. She was 78.

The cause was inoperable lung cancer, said her personal manager, Edgar Vincent.

Ms. Sills was America’s idea of a prima donna. Her plain-spoken manner and telegenic vitality made her a genuine celebrity and an invaluable advocate for the fine arts. Her life embodied an archetypal American story of humble origins, years of struggle, family tragedy and artistic triumph. … Read full obituary