celeb deaths
EW.com’s Reports Of Lena Horne’s Death Greatly Exaggerated
7:33AM Seth | We’ve already enjoyed a hearty laugh at Variety’s expense for confounding the two crazy Tracys. A slightly gaucher gaffe, however, comes to us via EW.com, who accidentally went live with Lena Horne’s pre-written obit. More »
6:30AM Kyle Buchanan | Sad News: 37-year-old actor Guillaume Depardieu (son of Gerard) has died from complications linked to a sudden case of pneumonia. The younger Depardieu was a French movie star in his own right (though he may be best-known to U.S. audiences for his unsimulated sex scenes in the controversial import Pola X); he snagged the Cesar award for “most promising young actor” in 1996. Condolences all around. [AP] More »
And Now Your Friday Downer: No ‘Golden Girls’ Made It To Estelle Getty’s Funeral
8:50AM Seth | Uh-oh—don’t let that crying kid on YouTube see this, lest we prepare for a tsunami of waterworks that could very well short-out the entire internet: None of the surviving Golden Girls showed up to Estelle Getty’s funeral. Not even her own daughter. Inside Edition tracked down two of the three to find out where they were: More »
Estelle Getty’s Death Reduces YouTube Eulogist To Puddle Of Tears
7:30AM Seth | We’ll admit to not having yet fully absorbed yesterday’s news that Estelle Getty had shuffled off this mortal coil to the 1912-Sicily-in-the-sky. Stalled as we are in the early, “Why couldn’t it have been someone from Empty Nest?!”-stages of the Kübler-Ross model, we hand you over now to YouTube video diarist fromthe60s. His lachrymal remembrance of “one of the funniest people I ever got to see on TV” is surely the most moving—if not the moistest—user-generated-video testimonial since Leave Britney Alone Guy beseeched us to leave Britney alone. We swear, without the courageousness of Young Gays Who Feel Too Much, there’d be literally nothing to do all day at the office besides work. More »
It’s Hard To Picture It Without Estelle Getty
5:00AM Seth | Estelle Getty, best known for playing The Golden Girls’s stroke-disinhibited Shady Pines-escapee Sophia Petrillo, has passed away at 5:30 a.m. after a long bout with Lewy body dementia. She was 84. Her son told reporters earlier today, “She was loved throughout the world in six continents, and if they loved sitcoms in Antarctica she would have been loved on seven continents. She was one of the most talented comedic actresses who ever lived.” That sounds about right. We leave you now with this Sophia anecdote, and encourage you to leave your own in the comments: More »
8:50AM Seth | A rumour circulating today that Paul Newman has died (gah!) is debunked by Hollywood’s Original Blogger™ Army Archerd: “NEWS FLASH: After hearing reports of Paul Newman’s death from Associated Press and CNN, I found out that acting legend Paul Newman is doing just fine, according to Joanne Woodward. In fact, he’s racing around cars in Texas!” Got it? That reads “Texas,” not “Heaven.” [armyarcherd.com] More »
8:50AM Seth | A rumour circulating today that Paul Newman has died (gah!) is debunked by Hollywood’s Original Blogger™ Army Archerd: “NEWS FLASH: After hearing reports of Paul Newman’s death from Associated Press and CNN, I found out that acting legend Paul Newman is doing just fine, according to Joanne Woodward. In fact, he’s racing around cars in Texas!” Got it? That reads “Texas,” not “Heaven.” [armyarcherd.com] More »
Will Ferrell Adds ‘No Animals’ Clause To Rider After ‘Semi-Pro’ Bear Kills Trainer
8:20AM Seth | Die-hard Will Ferrell fans who endured Semi-Pro will recall a set-piece in which Will’s farm-league basketball team owner Jackie Moon wrestles a bear as a ploy to fill seats. That bear, a 700-lb grizzly named Rocky, fatally attacked a trainer at an exotic animal training facility in Big Bear yesterday. From the LAT: For unknown reasons, the bear lunged at 39-year-old Stephan Miller, a trainer at Randy Miller’s Predators in Action, about 3 p.m. and bit him in the neck, said sheriff’s spokeswoman Cindy Beavers. [...] She added that officials from Cal OSHA and the state Department of Fish and Game were investigating, and it was not immediately known what would happen to the bear. [...] More »
3:27AM Defamer Hollywood | More grim news from the week’s obituary pages: Producer Bill Hayward, one of the unheralded principals who got Easy Rider on the road to cult immortality (and about $40 million in box office on a $400,000 budget), reportedly committed suicide March 9 in “a trailer where he lived” in Los Angeles County. A coroner’s account reveals the cause of death to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the heart. Hayward, 66, is the latest of a snakebitten Hollywood family to meet an untimely demise; drug overdoses previously claimed both his mother, actress Maureen Sullavan, and his sister in 1960. [AP] More »
