Dead Celebrity Alert

Lois Maxwell, the Canadian-born actress who was to many fans the definitive Miss Moneypenny in James Bond films, has died in Western Australia aged 80, the BBC reported last night.

It said Maxwell, the demure foil to Bond’s suave rake in 14 films from 1962’s Dr No to 1985’s A View to a Kill, had died in Fremantle Hospital. She had been suffering from cancer.

In the Bond films Moneypenny, as secretary to Bond’s chief, M, has a flirtatious relationship with the spy, evidently attracted to him but never succumbing to his advances. …

She became close friends with Roger Moore, who succeeded Sean Connery as Bond in 1973 and played the character in seven films. “She was a very fine actress and had a great sense of humour,” Moore told BBC television. “It was a great disappointment to her that she had not been promoted to play M. She would have been a wonderful M.” … Read full obituary

September 7, 2007 — Marcia Mae Jones, who launched her career in Hollywood as a child actress and appeared in films of the 1930s such as “The Champ,” “Heidi” and “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer,” has died. She was 83.

Jones died of complications of pneumonia Sunday at the Motion Picture and Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, said her son, Tim Chic.

Born Aug. 1, 1924, in Los Angeles, Jones grew up in the movies. Her mother, Freda Jones, became an extra and actress. Her two brothers, Macon and Marvin, got into the business as stuntmen and actors when they were teenagers. None, however, were as successful as the wholesome, auburn-haired Marcia Mae, who made her screen debut as an infant in the 1926 silent melodrama “Mannequin” and appeared in nearly 50 movies over the next two decades.

Throughout the ’30s, she worked with child stars such as Jackie Cooper (”The Champ”), Jane Withers (”Gentle Julia”), Bonita Granville (”These Three” and “The Garden of Allah”) and Tommy Kelly and Jackie Moran (”The Adventures of Tom Sawyer”).

With Shirley Temple, Jones played the disabled girl Klara in “Heidi” and Lavinia in “The Little Princess.” … Read full obituary

PARIS — Marcel Marceau, who revived the art of mime and brought poetry to silence, has died, French media reported Sunday. He was 84.

France-Info radio and LCI television said the family had announced the death of Marceau. No other details were released.

Wearing white face paint, soft shoes and a battered hat topped with a red flower, the world-famous Marceau played the entire range of human emotions onstage for more than 50 years, never uttering a word. Offstage, he was famously chatty. “Never get a mime talking. He won’t stop,” he once said.

A French Jew, Marceau survived the Holocaust — and also worked with the French Resistance to protect Jewish children. … Read full obituary

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Alice Ghostley, the Tony Award-winning actress best known on television for playing Esmeralda on “Bewitched” and Bernice on “Designing Women,” has died. She was 81.

Ghostley died Friday at her home in Studio City after a long battle with colon cancer and a series of strokes, longtime friend Jim Pinkston said. …

In the 1960s, Ghostley received a Tony nomination for various characterizations in the Broadway comedy “The Beauty Part” and eventually won for best featured actress in “The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window.”

From 1969 to 1972, she played the good witch and ditzy housekeeper Esmeralda on TV’s “Bewitched.” She played Bernice Clifton on “Designing Women” from 1987 to 1993, for which she earned an Emmy nomination in 1992.

Ghostley’s film credits include “To Kill a Mockingbird,” “The Graduate,” “Gator” and “Grease.” … Read full obituary

BEIJING, China (AP) — A man in southern China appears to have died of exhaustion after a three-day Internet gaming binge, state media said Monday.

The 30-year-old man fainted at a cyber cafe in the city of Guangzhou Saturday afternoon after he had been playing games online for three days, the Beijing News reported.

Paramedics tried to revive him but failed and he was declared dead at the cafe, it said. The paper said that he may have died from exhaustion brought on by too many hours on the Internet. …

The report said that about 100 other Web surfers “left the cafe in fear after witnessing the man’s death.” … Read full obituary

WESTPORT, Conn., Sept. 17 (AP) — Brett Somers, the actress and comedian who amused game show fans with her quips on “Match Game,” one of the most popular quiz shows of the 1970s, died on Saturday at her home here. She was 83. The cause was stomach and colon cancer, her son Adam Klugman said. …

Ms. Somers married Jack Klugman, the future star of the television shows “Quincy” and “The Odd Couple,” in 1953. They separated in 1974, but never divorced. She appeared on several episodes of “The Odd Couple,” playing the ex-wife of Mr. Klugman’s character. … Read full obituary

British former world rallying champion Colin McRae was believed to have been killed in a fatal helicopter crash at his home on Saturday, police told AFP.

Four people died in the crash at Jerviswood near the town of Lanark in southern Scotland, Strathclyde Police said.

There were no survivors and formal identification of the bodies was not expected until Sunday.

The Times Online is reporting that it is feared that McRae’s son Johnny, another child and another adult were killed in the crash. …

The Scot won the 1995 World Rally Championship and was the runner-up in 1996, 1997 and 2001.

He was made a Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II in 1996. … Read full obituary

Anita Roddick, the founder of the Body Shop cosmetics store, has died after suffering a major brain haemorrhage. She was 64.

The businesswoman, dubbed the Queen of Green, died today at a hospital in southern England, with her husband and daughters by her side, the family said in a statement. …

Roddick was called the Queen of Green for her trailblazing environmentally-friendly, humane business practices that made her a leader in her native England and around the world.

Greenpeace executive director John Sauven called Roddick an “incredible woman” who would be “sorely missed”. …

Roddick opened her first Body Shop store in 1976 in Brighton, southern England, before fair trade and eco-friendly businesses were fashionable.

The Body Shop has grown into a global phenomenon with nearly 2000 stores in 50 countries. It became part of the French company L’Oreal Group last year, but remains independently run. … Read full obituary

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) — Jane Wyman, the Oscar-winning actress who was Ronald Reagan’s first wife and starred in the popular 1980s television drama “Falcon Crest,” died on Monday at age 90, her longtime manager said.

Wyman married fellow actor and future U.S. President Reagan in 1940 but divorced him in 1948. She died at her home in Palm Springs, California, having been in failing health for several years, business manager Michael Mesnick said in a statement.

Known as “one-take Wyman” for her professional work ethic, Wyman appeared in more than 80 films during a career spanning four decades. …

Starting out as a radio singer, the Missouri-born Wyman broke into the movies in the 1930s as a Goldwyn Girl and signed with Warner Bros. studio in 1936. Her film acting debut came with a bit part in “Gold Diggers of 1937.”

Initially typecast as a perky, sometimes flaky or tart-tongued blonde, Wyman toiled for a decade in mostly B-movie fare and supporting roles in bigger films. She gained notice in 1945 for her role as the girlfriend of a chronic alcoholic in Billy Wilder’s drama “The Lost Weekend.” …

She won the Oscar as best actress for her 1948 role — played when she was 34 — as a teenage deaf-mute raped in “Johnny Belinda.” She and Reagan, once hailed by the Hollywood publicity machine as the ideal couple, saw their marriage collapse. …

She was herself married a total of four times to three different men, divorcing the last in 1965. … Read full obituary

Obit to come.

HARTFORD, Connecticut (AP) — Author Madeleine L’Engle, whose novel “A Wrinkle in Time” has been enjoyed by generations of schoolchildren and adults since the 1960s, has died, her publicist said Friday. She was 88. …

The Newbery Medal winner wrote more than 60 books, including fantasies, poetry and memoirs, often highlighting spiritual themes and her Christian faith. …

“A Wrinkle in Time” — which L’Engle said was rejected repeatedly before it found a publisher in 1962 — won the American Library Association’s 1963 Newbery Medal for best American children’s book. … Read full obituary

LICKING, Missouri (AP) — Actress Miyoshi Umeki, who won an Oscar for her performance as the doomed wife of an American serviceman in “Sayonara” and later starred in the Broadway musical “Flower Drum Song,” has died of cancer. She was 78.

The Japanese-born actress, the first Asian performer to win an Oscar, died August 28 at Licking nursing home, said Michael Hood, her son. …

Umeki also portrayed Mrs. Livingston, the housekeeper, in the ABC series, “The Courtship of Eddie’s Father” (1969-1972), which starred Bill Bixby and Brandon Cruz. In a 1969 Washington Post interview, Bixby called her “the best actress I’ve ever worked with.”

Among her other movies were “Cry for Happy” (1961), “The Horizontal Lieutenant” (1962) and “A Girl Named Tamiko” (1962). … Read full obituary

Effi Barry, 63, a regal first lady of Washington who endured her husband’s very public sex and drug scandal during his tenure as mayor, died early this morning of leukemia at Anne Arundel Medical Center in Annapolis.

Ms. Barry, who most recently worked as an employee in the city health department, was married to former mayor Marion Barry for 12 years. They divorced in 1990, not long after he was captured on videotape smoking crack cocaine in a hotel room with an ex-model and begging her to have sex with him.

She left Washington after the divorce and taught health and sex education at Hampton University, her alma mater, before returning to Washington and supporting her former husband in his successful bid for the Ward 8 D.C. Council seat in 2004. … Read full obituary

Wall Street big shot Seth Tobias was mysteriously found dead yesterday in the swimming pool of his Florida mansion, police said.

Tobias’ wife found the well-regarded CNBC commentator’s body about 1 a.m., floating facedown in his pool in an exclusive section of Jupiter, Fla., near Palm Beach. …

Cops said an autopsy would be performed to determine how the brash moneyman died. “It’s unusual because of his age,” Pascarella said of the 44-year-old.

Tobias, who also had homes on E. 53rd St. and the Jersey Shore, ran the Circle T Partners hedge fund and managed $250 million in assets.

He was a familiar face on the financial network’s popular “Squawk Box” show, and his quotes appeared on a financial Web site yesterday even as cops probed his death. … Read full obituary

Former Rep. Jennifer Dunn, who became the most powerful Republican woman in Washington state history during six terms representing Seattle’s east-side suburbs, died Wednesday after developing a blood clot in her Virginia apartment, said a statement from her family. She was 66.

Dunn, a favorite of both Bush White Houses, was Washington state’s ranking Republican in Congress when she retired in 2004. …

Dunn was known for her work on tax issues, promoting women-owned businesses and sponsoring the Amber Alert bill for locating missing children. … Read full obituary