The “Star Trek” and acting communities have lost a beloved member.

Kenneth Mitchell, and actor known for roles in “Star Trek: Discovery” and “Captain Marvel” and the husband of “Center Stage” actress Susan May Pratt, has died. He was 49.

The actor passed away Feb. 24 in Los Angeles after a long battle with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS. In addition to his wife, Mitchell is survived by their daughter Lilah, 16, and son Kallum, 11, plus his parents, brother and other family members, according to an obituary posted on his Instagram Feb. 25.

“Ken was diligent and hardworking in everything he did, but as a father these traits found their fullest expression,” it read. “He was extremely dedicated to being a positive and playful force in the lives of his children. Regardless of his later disabilities, Ken discovered a higher calling to be more fully himself for his kids. Ken will be forever proud of who his children have become.”

Celebrity Deaths: 2024’s Fallen Stars

The obituary also included an essay written by Mitchell himself, titled “Connect.”

“When I die, when I leave this life, I want to become a tree, a Ginko, White pine, Jacaranda, Lemon, Cedar, Oak, Myrtle or Maple,” he wrote. “I want to be buried under the roots, so I can be soaked up, all my matter, my energy, my love, my laughter, my tears and I want to reach up through the branches and touch the night sky. I want to twinkle with the stars and when the earth turns, I want to feel the sun on the face of my leaves.”

Mitchell, a Toronto native, made his onscreen acting debut in the early aughts, appearing in Showtime’s “Leap Year.” He later played Eric Green on the series “Jericho” and Sam Lucas on “Ghost Whisperer.” In 2019, he starred on the CW’s “Nancy Drew” and in “Captain Marvel.”

Meanwhile, he had begun appearing on “Star Trek: Discovery,” playing four roles between 2017 and 2021: Klingons Kol, Kol’s dad Kol-Sha and Tenavik, and later, as he began to suffer the effects of ALS, Aurellio, a human character who used a hoverchair, or wheelchair-like device. Mitchell also portrayed several other roles on the animated series “Star Trek: Lower Decks.” Throughout his time on the franchise, he occasionally made appearances at “Star Trek” fan conventions.

Mitchell last appeared onscreen in a recurring role on the FX series “The Old Man,” which stars Jeff Bridges and John Lithgow.

Mitchell was diagnosed with ALS, a neurological disease that causes muscle weakness and paralysis, in 2018 and had used a wheelchair since 2019.

“For five and a half years, Ken faced a series of awful challenges from ALS,” his obituary stated. “And in truest Ken fashion, he managed to rise above each one with grace and commitment to living a full and joyous life in each moment. He lived by the principles that each day is a gift and that we never walk alone. His life is a shining example of how full one can be when you live with love, compassion, humor, inclusion and community. Ken was an inspirational work of art to all the hearts he touched.”

Among those were his friends and colleagues.

“Rest in peace, Ken. Was just thinking of you,” Ethan Peck, who plays Spock on Star Trek: Discovery, commented on the obituary, using an emoji of the Vulcans’ “Live Long and Prosper” hand gesture.

And Jonathan Frakes, who directed several episodes in the series and played William Riker on “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” wrote, “One of the best RIP.”

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The international skiing community is in mourning.

Catherine “Kasha” Rigby, a telemark, big mountain and expedition skier has been killed in an avalanche in a resort in Kosovo, the Associated Press confirmed Feb. 18. She was 54.

Per the outlet, her fiancée Magnis Wolfe Murray said in a Facebook message she died Feb. 13 at the Brezovica mountain resort, while police said, without naming Rigby, that the avalanche hit the athlete as she was skiing out of the tourist lanes and that she did not survive despite Murray’s immediate CPR and rescuers’ medical assistance.

The Kosovo Mountain Search & Rescue Service said in a Feb. 13 statement on Facebook, written in Albanian, that after receiving a call for help from resort personnel about two skiers who had gotten lost in foggy conditions, they carried out a search of an area dubbed “Eagle’s Nest,” which is known for its avalanche risks. There, they found one skier, a foreign citizen, who was injured in an avalanche. They said they administered first aid, but the person did not survive.

Celebrity Deaths: 2024’s Fallen Stars

Rigby, a native of Vermont and resident of Utah, began her skiing career as a teenager. In 1995, she joined The North Face Athlete Team and skied all over the world with them until 2012.

“During those 17 years, she put up many first ski descents, created lasting friendships and encouraged the next generation of explorers,” the company said about Rigby in a tribute shared on Instagram following her death. “She is remembered by our team as a pioneer on and off the mountain, with an authenticity and strength that inspired everyone she met. Our thoughts go out to Kasha’s family and friends.”

In 1998, Rigby appeared on the cover of the inaugural issue of Women Outside magazine, which dubbed her “the best female telemark skier in the known universe.” Throughout her career, she completed the first ski descents of several peaks in places like Lebanon and Kamchatka in Russia and also explored and descended peaks in Siberia, Bolivia and Ecuador.

She also brought her talents to the screen, appearing in projects such as the 2001 documentary film “Cold Fusion” and the National Geographic Channel series “Ultimate Survival Alaska” in 2015.

Following the athlete’s death, her good friend and fellow skier Mary McIntyre wrote an obituary for her, published by SKI magazine. “Rigby had a palpable spark, an inner fire,” she wrote. “She was light-hearted yet driven and always on the move: let’s go here, let’s do this, let’s put sparkles on our cheekbones and do one more run. She was fun. She was the party. She was always ready to dance. She glowed from within with her love for the world and the people around her.”

McIntyre said in recent years, Rigby had concentrated less on skiing and more on humanitarian work, such as helping with earthquake relief efforts in Kathmandu and Turkey. She and Murray, her friend said, had been spending time skiing in Kosovo as they waited for her work visa to come through.

“They had planned to marry at a castle in Scotland this coming September, and all who knew her were looking forward to celebrating with the party of a lifetime,” McIntyre wrote. “She always loved unknown paths, and she followed many of them throughout her life’s beautiful, winding trajectory. She has touched so many lives, and we will all miss her dearly.”

Matt Luber, his manager, said Weathers died Thursday. His family issued a statement saying he died “peacefully in his sleep.”

“Carl Weathers will always be a legend,” Schwarzenegger wrote on Instagram. “An extraordinary athlete, a fantastic actor and a great person. We couldn’t have made ‘Predator’ without him. And we certainly wouldn’t have had such a wonderful time making it.”

Comfortable flexing his muscles on the big screen in “Action Jackson” as he was joking around on the small screen in such shows as “Arrested Development,” Weathers was perhaps most closely associated with Creed, who made his first appearance as the cocky, undisputed heavyweight world champion in 1976’s “Rocky,” starring Sylvester Stallone.

“It puts you on the map and makes your career, so to speak. But that’s a one-off, so you’ve got to follow it up with something. Fortunately those movies kept coming, and Apollo Creed became more and more in people’s consciousness and welcome in their lives, and it was just the right guy at the right time,” he told The Daily Beast in 2017.

Most recently, Weathers has starred in the Disney+ hit “The Mandalorian,” appearing in all three seasons.

Creed, who appeared in the first four “Rocky” movies, memorably died in the ring of 1984’s “Rocky IV,” going toe-to-toe with the hulking, steroided-using Soviet Ivan Drago, played by Dolph Lundgren. Before he entered the ring, James Brown sang “Living in America” with showgirls and Creed popped up on a balcony in a Star-Spangled Banner shorts and waistcoat combo and an Uncle Sam hat, dancing and taunting Drago.

A bloodied Creed collapses in the ring after taking a vicious beating, twitches and is cradled by Rocky as he dies, inevitably setting up a fight between Drago and Rocky. But while Creed is gone, his character’s son, Michael B. Jordan’s Adonis Creed, would lead his own boxing trilogy starting in 2015.

Weathers went on to 1987’s “Predator,” where he flexed his pecs alongside Schwarzenegger, Jesse Ventura and a host of others, and 1988’s nouveau blaxploitation flick “Action Jackson,” where he trains his flamethrower on a bad guy and asks, “How do you like your ribs?” before broiling him.

He later added a false wooden hand to play a golf pro for the 1996 comedy classic “Happy Gilmore” opposite Adam Sandler and starred in Dick Wolf’s short-lived spin-off series “Chicago Justice” in 2017 and in Disney’s “The Mandalorian,” earning an Emmy Award nomination in 2021. He also voiced Combat Carl in the “Toy Story” franchise.

Weathers grew up admiring actors such as Woody Strode, whose combination of physique and acting prowess in “Spartacus” made an early impression. Others he idolized included actors Sidney Poitier and Harry Belafonte and athletes Jim Brown and Muhammad Ali, stars who broke the mold and the color barrier.

“There are so many people that came before me who I admired and whose success I wanted to emulate, and just kind of hit the benchmarks they hit in terms of success, who created a pathway that I’ve been able to walk and find success as a result. And hopefully I can inspire someone else to do good work as well,” he told the Detroit News 2023. “I guess I’m just a lucky guy.”

Growing up in New Orleans, Weathers started performing in plays as early as grade school. In high school, athletics took him down another path but he would reunite with his first love later in life.

Weathers played college football at San Diego State University — he majored in theater — and went on to play for one season in the NFL, for the Oakland Raiders, in 1970.

“When I found football, it was a completely different outlet,” says Weathers told the Detroit News. “It was more about the physicality, although one does feed the other. You needed some smarts because there were playbooks to study and film to study, to learn about the opposition on any given week.”

After the Raiders, he joined the Canadian Football League, playing for two years while finishing up his studies during the offseason at San Francisco State University. He graduated with a B.A. in drama in 1974.

After appearing in several films and TV shows, including “Good Times,” “The Six Million Dollar Man,” “In the Heat of the Night” and “Starsky & Hutch,” as well as fighting Nazis alongside Harrison Ford in “Force 10 From Navarone,” Weathers landed his knockout role — Creed. He told The Hollywood Reporter that his start in the iconic franchise was not auspicious.

He was asked to read with the writer, Stallone, then unknown. Weathers read the scene but felt it didn’t land and so he blurted out: “I could do a lot better if you got me a real actor to work with,” he recalled. “So I just insulted the star of the movie without really knowing it and not intending to.” He also lied that he had any boxing experience.

Later in life, Weathers developed a passion for directing, helming episodes of “Silk Stalking” and and the Lorenzo Lamas vehicle “Renegade.” He directed a season three episode of “The Mandalorian.”

Weathers introduced himself to another generation when he portrayed himself as an opportunistic and extremely thrifty actor who becomes involved with the dysfunctional clan at the heart of “Arrested Development.”

The Weathers character likes to save money by making broth from discarded food — ’There’s still plenty of meat on that bone” and “Baby, you got a stew going!” — and, for the right price, agrees to become an acting coach for delusional and talent-free thespian Tobias Funke, played by David Cross.

Weathers is survived by two sons.

Rivera’s death was announced by her daughter, Lisa Mordente, who said she died in New York after a brief illness.

Rivera first gained wide notice in 1957 as Anita in the original production of “West Side Story” and was still dancing on Broadway with her trademark energy a half-century later in 2015’s “The Visit.”

“I wouldn’t know what to do if I wasn’t moving or telling a story to you or singing a song,” she told The Associated Press then. “That’s the spirit of my life, and I’m really so lucky to be able to do what I love, even at this time in my life.”

In August 2009, Rivera was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest honor the U.S. can give a civilian. Rivera put her hand over her heart and shook her head in wonderment as President Barack Obama presented the medal. In 2013, she was the marshal at the Puerto Rican Day Parade in New York City.

“She was a true Broadway legend,” playwright Paul Rudnick said on X, formerly Twitter. “She always delivered and audiences adored her. The moment she stepped onstage, the world became more exciting and glorious.”

Rivera rose from chorus girl to star, collaborating along the way with many of Broadway’s greatest talents, including Jerome Robbins, Leonard Bernstein, Bob Fosse, Gower Champion, Michael Kidd, Harold Prince, Jack Cole, Peter Gennaro and John Kander and Fred Ebb.

She rebounded from a car accident in 1988 that crushed her right leg and became an indefatigable star on the road. She was on Broadway in a raucous production of “The Mystery of Edwin Drood” in 2012 and the chilly “The Visit” in 2014, earning another best actress Tony nomination.

“She can’t rehearse except for full-out,” said playwright Terrence McNally in 2005. “She can’t perform except for full-out, no matter what the size of the house. She’s going to be there 101% for that audience.”

She won Tonys for “The Rink” in 1984 and “Kiss of the Spider Woman” in 1993. When accepting a Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2018, she said “I wouldn’t trade my life in the theater for anything, because theater is life.”

She was nominated for the award seven other times, for “Bye Bye Birdie,” which opened in 1960; “Chicago,” 1975; “Bring Back Birdie,” 1981; “Merlin,” 1983; “Jerry’s Girls,” 1985; “Nine,” 2003; and “Chita Rivera: The Dancer’s Life,” 2005.

“I don’t think we have enough original musicals,” she told The Associated Press in 2012. “I know I’m being old fashioned, but the theater is the place where music, lyrics, words, scenery and stories come together. And I’ve been blessed enough to have done several shows when they really did. They take you places and they’re daring. That’s what we need.”

Her albums include 16 tracks pulled from her original cast recordings and put out as part of Sony’s Legends of Broadway series and two solo CDs — “And Now I Sing” for a tiny record label in the 1960s and “And Now I Swing” in 2009 for Yellow Sound Label.

In the 1993 musical “Kiss of the Spider Woman,” Rivera played the title role, a glamorous movie star at the center of the fantasy life of an inmate in a South American prison. The story, from a novel by Manuel Puig, had already been made into an Oscar-winning 1985 movie.

In his review, then-Associated Press drama critic Michael Kuchwara wrote that Rivera “is more than a musical theater star. She’s a force of nature — which is exactly what is needed for the role of the Spider Woman. With her Louise Brooks haircut, brassy voice and lithe dancer’s body, Rivera dominates the stage whenever she appears.”

In 1975, she originated the role of Velma Kelly (to Gwen Verdon’s Roxie Hart) in the original Broadway production of “Chicago.” Rivera had a small role in the 2002 film version, while Catherine Zeta-Jones won the best supporting actress Oscar as Velma — just as Rita Moreno had picked up an Oscar for her portrayal of Anita in “West Side Story.”

The songwriters for “Chicago,” Kander and Ebb, also wrote Rivera’s first Tony-winning performance, for “The Rink.” In winning the Tony for best actress in a musical, Rivera topped the show’s top star, Liza Minnelli, who also had been nominated. The two played a mother and daughter who struggle to rebuild their relationship after a long estrangement; the setting is an old-fashioned roller rink that has seen better days.

“Spider Woman” had been her first Broadway show since 1986, when she suffered a broken leg in the traffic accident while she was appearing in “Jerry’s Girls,” a Broadway tribute to the songs of Jerry Herman.

At the Tony awards a few weeks later, she flashed her cast and belted out “Put on a Happy Face” from the musical “Bye, Bye, Birdie.”

It took months of physical therapy to bring back her dancing skills. She told The Associated Press: “It never entered my mind that I wouldn’t dance again. Never. I can’t explain to you why. It’s hard work getting back but that’s what I’m doing.”

“My spirit is still there.”

Dolores Conchita Figueroa del Rivero was born Jan. 23, 1933, in Washington, D.C. Her Puerto Rican father, Pedro del Rivero, was a musician who played in the United States Navy Band, who died when she was 7. Her mother was Scottish and Italian descent.

She took dance classes and then entered the prestigious School of American Ballet in New York. Her first theater gig, at age 17, was in the touring company of “Call Me Madam.” That led to chorus stints in such shows as “Guys and Dolls” and “Can-Can.”

In her 2023 memoir, “Chita: A Memoir,” another woman steals scene after scene: her self-proclaimed alter ego, Dolores. Unapologetic and fiery, Dolores was the unfiltered version of Chita and served as motivation in times of self-doubt. In one chapter, Rivera writes that she doesn’t read reviews “or Dolores just might invest in a dozen voodoo dolls.”

“I consist of — and I think we all do — I consist of two people: Dolores and Conchita,” Rivera sain in an interview with the AP that year. “Conchita, she’s the one that has been taking all the glory, you know. She’s been doing all the shows, but Dolores is the one that’s pushed her into it. And she’s been keeping me on track, so I listen to Dolores. I listen to her. She’s growing in my head now as we speak.”

Among other early appearances on the New York stage were roles in “The Shoestring Revue,” 1955; a 1955 musical version of “Seventh Heaven” starring Ricardo Montalban; and “Mr. Wonderful,” a 1956 show starring Sammy Davis Jr.

“I can’t believe that I’ve been given the gift to look back and relive my life,” she told The Associated Press shortly before “The Dancer’s Life” opened on Broadway in late 2005. “It’s about how anybody can do it — if you really believe it, you have the good fortune, you do all the right things and you really work hard.”

Rivera, who had a relationship with the now-deceased Davis, married fellow “West Side Story” performer Tony Mordente in 1957. The marriage ended in divorce. Their daughter, Lisa Mordente, also became a performer who occasionally appeared on Broadway, garnering a Tony nomination in 1982 for “Marlowe.”

“Our hearts go out to everyone who loved her,” GLAAD said in a statement. “Rivera spent much of her long career advocating for LGBTQ people and people living with HIV and AIDS.”

Connick died peacefully at his home in New Orleans with his wife, Londa, and children — Suzanna and musician and actor Harry Connick Jr. — by his side, according to an obituary distributed by Harry Connick Jr.’s publicist. A cause of death was not provided.

Connick dethroned an incumbent prosecutor, Jim Garrison, in a 1973 election. He won reelection four times, and successfully built biracial support as the city’s political power base shifted to African Americans.

Connick remained undefeated, and retired in 2003. But he was later dogged by questions about whether his office withheld evidence that favored defendants. The issue came to the forefront with a 2011 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in a lawsuit filed by John Thompson, who was exonerated after 14 years on Louisiana’s death row for a killing he didn’t commit.

In a 5-4 decision, the high court overturned a $14 million award for Thompson, ruling that the New Orleans district attorney’s office shouldn’t be punished for not specifically training prosecutors on their obligations to share evidence that could prove a defendant’s innocence. In a scathing dissent, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg decried “Connick’s deliberately indifferent attitude.”

The issue was revived in 2014 when a murder conviction against Reginald Adams, imprisoned for 34 years, was reversed. Attorneys for the Innocence Project New Orleans presented evidence that detectives and prosecutors in the case had withheld critical information before Adams’ 1990 conviction.

Adams later received $1.25 million in a court settlement.

Connick repeatedly declined to comment on the cases. However, in 2012 he defended his legacy in an interview with The Times-Picayune tinged with sports references.

“My reputation is based on something other than a case, or two cases or five cases, or one interception or 20 interceptions. Look at the rest of my record. I have more yards than anybody,” Connick told the newspaper.

He added: “I have to look at myself and say this is who I am. This is what I’ve done. Perfect? No. But I’ve done nothing to go to confession about in that office. At all.”

New Orleans’ current district attorney, Jason Williams, expressed condolences to Connick’s family.

“Mr. Connick remains the longest tenured District Attorney, serving from 1973-2003. Such a longstanding public servant gives an enormous amount of themselves to their community — as do their families. Our thoughts are with the Connick family during this difficult time,” he said in a statement.

Connick, a Navy veteran who served in the South Pacific during World War II, nurtured his son into becoming a jazz piano prodigy, partly by arranging for the boy to sit in with New Orleans Dixieland players and legends such as pianist Eubie Blake and drummer Buddy Rich.

Connick was born March 27, 1926, in Mobile, Alabama, and moved to New Orleans with his family at age 2. By the 1970s, he had become a part of the city’s political fabric.

In 1973, Connick was a little-known federal prosecutor when he took on Garrison, a three-term district attorney whose fame stretched far outside New Orleans.

“I worked as a legal aid attorney for over three years, and I learned firsthand about the operation of Garrison’s office,” Connick said in a 2001 interview. “I decided I could do a better job than Jim Garrison.”

Known as “Big Jim,” the 6-foot-7 (201-cm) Garrison gained worldwide publicity when he unsuccessfully prosecuted a New Orleans businessman in connection with the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and insisted that a massive cover-up was taking place regarding the assassination.

After Garrison lost his big case, Connick challenged him. Connick ran as a reformer and won by just over 2,000 votes.

In the 1970s and ’80s, Connick led crackdowns on prostitutes and used 19th century morality laws to shut down adult book shops in the French Quarter.

In the ’90s, anti-capital punishment groups attacked Connick for his insistence that prosecutors seek the death penalty in most first-degree murder cases.

And Connick learned firsthand about being a defendant: Federal prosecutors charged him in 1990 with racketeering and aiding a sports-betting operation. The indictment alleged that Connick returned betting records to a convicted bookmaker who wanted the records to collect gambling debts.

Connick was acquitted, then won his fourth election the same year.

For years, the elder Connick performed at weekly gigs in French Quarter nightclubs.

Connick sang standards made famous by Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Louis Prima. His voice sometimes wavered, but even in his later years Connick was spry and enthusiastic on stage, dancing and waving to the crowd.

His music was also politically useful. Through his gigs, Connick developed close friendships with Black musicians — and black voters. That was crucial for a white candidate in a city where, at the time, nearly 70% of voters were African Americans.

Support from powerful Black politicians was also key to his political survival. In 1996, Connick defeated a Black challenger and gave credit to Mayor Marc Morial, whose supporters campaigned heavily for Connick.

Connick did not seek reelection in 2002 and was succeeded by Eddie Jordan, a former U.S. attorney who oversaw the successful prosecution of former Louisiana Gov. Edwin Edwards. Edwards was convicted in 2000 of taking payoffs from interests seeking riverboat casino licenses during his final term in the 1990s.

Funeral arrangements for Connick are pending.

CBS reported that Osgood died Tuesday at his home in New Jersey and that the cause was dementia, according to his family.

Osgood was a broadcaster who could write essays and light verse as well as report hard news, and he worked radio and television with equal facility. He often signed off by telling listeners: “I’ll see you on the radio.”

Osgood took over “Sunday Morning” after the beloved Charles Kuralt retired in 1994. Osgood seemingly had an impossible act to follow, but with his folksy erudition and his slightly bookish, bow-tied style, he immediately clicked with viewers who continued to embrace the program as an unhurried TV magazine.

In 1967, he took a job as reporter on the CBS-owned New York news radio station. Then, one fateful weekend, he was summoned to fill in at the anchor desk for the TV network’s Saturday newscast. In 1971, he joined the CBS network.

Jewison, a three-time Oscar nominee who in 1999 received an Academy Award for lifetime achievement, died “peacefully” Saturday, according to publicist Jeff Sanderson. Additional details were not immediately available.

Throughout his long career, Jewison combined light entertainment with topical films that appealed to him on a deeply personal level. As Jewison was ending his military service in the Canadian navy during World War II, he hitchhiked through the American South and had a close-up view of Jim Crow segregation. In his autobiography “This Terrible Business Has Been Good to Me,” he noted that racism and injustice became his most common themes.

“Every time a film deals with racism, many Americans feel uncomfortable,” he wrote. “Yet it has to be confronted. We have to deal with prejudice and injustice or we will never understand what is good and evil, right and wrong; we need to feel how ‘the other’ feels.”

He drew upon his experiences for 1967’s “In the Heat of the Night,” starring Rod Steiger as a white racist small-town sheriff and Sidney Poitier as a Black detective from Philadelphia trying to help solve a murder and eventually forming a working relationship with the hostile local lawman.

James Baldwin condemned the film’s “appalling distance from reality,” and thought the director trapped in a fantasy of racial harmony that would only heighten “Black rage and despair.” But The New York Times’ Bosley Crowther was among the critics who found the movie powerful and inspiring and in a year featuring such landmarks as “The Graduate” and “Bonnie and Clyde,” Jewison’s production won the Academy Award for best picture while Steiger took home the best actor Oscar. (Jewison lost out for best director to Mike Nichols of “The Graduate”).

Among those who encouraged Jewison while making “In the Heat of the Night”: Robert F. Kennedy, whom the director met during a ski trip in Sun Valley, Idaho.

“I told him I made films and he asked what kind I make,” he recalled in a 2011 interview with The Hollywood Reporter. “So I told him that I was working on ‘In the Heat of the Night’ and that it’s about two cops: one a white sheriff from Mississippi and the other a black detective from Philadelphia. I told him it was a film about tolerance. So he listened and nodded and said ‘You know, Norman, timing is everything. In politics, in art, in life itself.’ I never forgot that.”

He received two other Oscar nominations, for “Fiddler on the Roof” and “Moonstruck,” the beloved romantic comedy for which Cher won an Academy Award for best actress. He also worked on such notable films as the Cold War spoof “The Russian Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming,” the Steve McQueen thriller “The Thomas Crown Affair” and a pair of movies featuring Denzel Washington: the racial drama “A Soldier’s Story” and “The Hurricane,” starring Washington as wrongly imprisoned boxer Rubin “Hurricane” Carter.

A third project with Washington never made it to production. In the early 1990s, Jewison was set to direct a biography of Malcolm X, but backed out amid protests from Spike Lee and others that a white director shouldn’t make the film. Lee ended up directing.

Five Jewison films received best Oscar nominations: “In the Heat of the Night,” “The Russian Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming,” “Fiddler On the Roof,” “Moonstruck” and “A Soldier’s Story.”

Jewison and his wife Margaret Ann Dixon (nicknamed Dixie) had three children, sons Kevin and Michael and daughter Jennifer Ann, who became an actress and appeared in the Jewison films “Agnes of God” and “Best Friends.” The Jewisons were married 51 years, until her death in 2004. He married Lynne St. David in 2010.

Jewison, honored by Canada in 2003 with a Governor General’s Performing Arts Award, remained close to his home country. When he wasn’t working, he lived on a 200-acre farm near Toronto, where he raised horses and cattle and produced maple syrup. He founded the Canadian Film Centre in 1988 and for years hosted barbecues during the Toronto Film Festival.

The Toronto-born Jewison began acting at age 6, appearing before Masonic lodge gatherings. After graduating from Victoria College, he went to work for the BBC in London, then returned to Canada and directed programs for the CBC. His work there brought offers from Hollywood and he quickly earned a reputation as a director of TV musicals, with stars including Judy Garland, Danny Kaye and Harry Belafonte. Jewison shifted to feature films in 1963 with the comedy “40 Pounds of Trouble,” starring Tony Curtis and Suzanne Pleshette.

The director’s light touch prompted Universal to assign him to a series of comedies, including “The Thrill of It All,” which paired Day with James Garner, and “Send Me No Flowers,” starring Day and Rock Hudson. Wearying of such scripts, Jewison used a loophole in his contract to move to MGM for 1965’s “The Cincinnati Kid,” a drama of the gambling world starring McQueen and Edward G. Robinson. He followed with “The Russian Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming,” which starred Carl Reiner and Eva Marie Saint and was the breakthrough film for Alan Arkin.

His other films included “F.I.S.T.”, a flop with Sylvester Stallone as a Jimmy Hoffa-style labor leader; “…And Justice for All” (1979), with Al Pacino fighting a crooked judicial system; and “In Country,” featuring Bruce Willis as a Vietnam War veteran. His most recent work, the 2003 thriller “The Statement,” starred Michael Caine and Tilda Swinton and flopped at the box office.

“I never really became as much a part of the establishment as I wanted to be,” he told The Hollywood Reporter in 2011. “I wanted to be accepted. I wanted people to say ‘that was a great picture.’ I mean I have a big ego like anyone else. I’m no shrinking violet. But I never felt totally accepted — but maybe that’s good.”

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The late AP Entertainment Writer Bob Thomas contributed to this report.

David Gail, who played Stuart Carson on “Beverly Hills, 90210” and also appeared on other ’90s shows such as the “General Hospital” spinoff “Port Charles,” has died, according to multiple outlets. He was 58.

The actor’s death was confirmed by his sister, Katie Colmenares. “There’s barely been even a day in my life when you were not with me by my side,” she wrote in a Jan. 20 Instagram post, alongside a photo of the two hugging. “Always my wingman always my best friend ready to face anything and anyone w me.”

She continued, “I will hold you so tight every day in my heart you gorgeous loving amazing fierce human being missing you every second of every day forever.” She added, “There will never be another.”

E! News has reached out to Gail’s talent agency for comment and has not heard back.

Gail, a native of Tampa, Fla., made his onscreen acting debut on a 1990 episode of “Growing Pains.” He later appeared on shows such as “Doogie Howser M.D.” with Neil Patrick Harris and “Murder, She Wrote” with the late Angela Lansbury before he was cast on “Beverly Hills, 90210.”

He made his debut on the show in 1991, playing a hotel bellhop named Tom. He later returned to the series in 1994 as recurring character Stuart, a love interest of Shannen Doherty‘s character Brenda Walsh. After a blind date and a whirlwind weeks-long romance, the two get engaged, to the dismay of her ex-boyfriend Dylan McKay, played by Luke Perry—who died at age 52 in 2019. Stuart and Brenda almost elope in Las Vegas but ultimately go their separate ways.

“Shannen was great,” Gail said on the “Beverly Hills 90210 Show Podcast” in 2021. “We got along great and we had a really good relationship. We talked about the scenes, we worked on them and it was fun.”

After ending his multiple episode arc on “Beverly Hills, 90210,” Gail went on to play Dean Collins on the drama series “Savannah” in the mid-90s. He was later cast as Dr. Joe Scanlon on “Port Charles,” starring on the soap opera between 1999 and 2000. Stints on shows such as “ER” and “JAG” followed.

The actor appeared in a few movies, such as the 2002 rom-com “Bending All the Rules” with Bradley Cooper and Colleen Porch. Gail’s last onscreen role was in the 2008 horror film “The Belly of the Beast” and his last acting credit was a voiceover role in the video game “Blacksad: Under the Skin,” released in 2019.

The cause of Gail’s death and memorial plans were not released.

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Publicist Jennifer Allen, told The Associated Press Canto died of appendiceal cancer and had opted to keep his diagnosis private.

“Adan had a depth of spirit that few truly knew. Those who glimpsed it were changed forever,” Allen wrote in a statement. “He will be greatly missed by so many.”

Born in Ciudad Acuña, Coahuila, Mexico and raised in Texas, Canto began his career at age 16, when he left home for Mexico City to work as a singer-songwriter. He then began pursuing acting, making his TV debut on the 2009 Mexican series “Estado de Gracia.” His American debut came later, on Kevin Williamson’s 2013 Fox drama series “The Following,” which starred Kevin Bacon.

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His notable roles include Vice President-elect Aaron Shore on “Designated Survivor,” Colombian politician Rodrigo Lara Bonilla on “Narcos,” and the mutant Sunspot in “X-Men: Days of Future Past.” Canto starred in Halle Berry’s directorial debut, “Bruised,” as well as “Agent Game.”

He also directed his first short film in 2014 and a second one in 2020, a provocative western starring Theo Rossi.

Canto was starring as Armand Morales on Fox’s “The Cleaning Lady” at the time of his death, which is currently filming its third season. He was unable to participate in the production due to his illness but was hoping to rejoin later in the season.

Canto had a broad smile and a boisterous laugh. His friends said he also had a sensitivity and humility that could seem at odds with the big frame and square jaw of a leading man.

Kiefer Sutherland, who stared alongside Canto on “Designated Survivor,” shared a tribute on his Instagram page.

“It seems lately I have had to make too many posts like this one, but I am heartbroken by the loss of Adan Canto. He was such a wonderful spirit,” Sutherland wrote in a caption partnering a photo of the two of them on set. “As an actor his desire to do well, to be great, and then do better, was truly impressive and he will be greatly missed. I am also heartbroken for his wife, Steph and his two young children. Adan, may you rest in peace.”

Canto is survived by his wife Stephanie Ann Canto and two children, Roman Alder, 3, and Eve Josephine, who is 18 months old.

The wife of “Baby-Sitters Club” movie actor Christian Oliver is speaking out about the tragic death of her husband and their two children.

Jessica Klepser and her family issued a statement on social media one day after the star—whose real name is Christian Klepser—and their daughters Annik, 12, and Madita, 10, died in a private plane crash in the Caribbean.

“We are deeply saddened by the tragic plane accident on January 4, 2024, which took the lives of our beloved family members,” read the statement, posted Jan. 5 on the Instagram page of WundaBar Pilates, of which Jessica Klepser works as a regional manager in California. “Our daughters, Madita (12), and Annik (10), along with their father Christian, were returning from a holiday in the Caribbean when the single-engine plane they were traveling in experienced engine trouble and fell into the ocean. Unfortunately, all four passengers on the small aircraft did not survive.”

Celebrity Deaths: 2024’s Fallen Stars

The message continued, “Madita, a vibrant 7th-grade student at Louis Armstrong Middle School, was known for her lively spirit and excelled in academics, dance, singing, and performances. Annik, a 4th-grade student at Wonderland Ave Elementary School, was recognized for her gentle yet strong demeanor. She was always the first to offer a kind word or a comforting hug. Her passions included basketball, swimming, and various forms of art. The deep bond, infectious laughter, and adventurous spirit shared by Madita and Annik will be profoundly missed in their communities.”

Three days before the plane crash near the island of Petit Nevis, which also killed the aircraft’s pilot and owner Robert Sachs, the actor shared a hopeful message for the new year on his Instagram. “Greetings from somewhere in paradise!” he wrote. “To community and love …2024 her we come !”

Jessica Klepser’s husband and kids are also survived by the children’s grandparents, several aunts, uncles, and cousins in Oliver’s native Germany.

“His loss will be deeply felt by all who knew him,” Jessica Klepser’s Instagram post said about the actor. “Please honor the family’s request for privacy at this difficult time.”

Oliver, who played Luca in the 1995 movie “The Baby-Sitters Club,” is also known for roles in the films “Speed Racer” and “Valkyrie,” as well as the TV shows “Sliders” and “Saved by the Bell: The New Class.”

Following the fatal crash, “Baby-Sitters Club” movie actress Schuyler Fisk also paid tribute to her former costar on social media. “I was shocked and gutted to hear of this true tragedy yesterday,” she wrote on her Instagram Stories. “Christian was dear. He and his two young daughters were killed in a small plane crash two days ago. Their mother was not with them and is left to navigate unimaginable loss.”

The actress added, “My heart is with this family and all who loved them.”

The first person to win the World Cup both as a player and a manager, Zagallo is for many Brazilian soccer fans synonymous with patriotism, grit and glory.

Brazilian Soccer Confederation president Ednaldo Rodrigues said in a statement in the early hours of Saturday confirming Zagallo’s death that Zagallo “is one of the biggest legends” of the sport.

No cause of death was released by the federation or his family.

“We offer solidarity to his family members and fans in this moment of grief for the departure of this great hero of our soccer,” Rodrigues said. Several Brazilian clubs where Zagallo played and coached also expressed their sorrow for his death.

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Zagallo’s social media channels called him “a dedicated father, a loving grandfather, a caring father-in-law, a loyal friend, a victorious professional and a great human being.”

“A gigantic hero. A patriot that leaves us a legacy of great achievements,” the text added, without giving more details about Zagallo’s death.

One of the most charismatic and superstitious figures in Brazilian football, he also was known for his fondness of the No. 13 and constant use of the phrase “You will have to put up with me” — voiced loudly at critics.

He said 13 was his lucky number because it carries the last two digits of his birth year: 1931. He always highlighted any link, however coincidental, between 13 and his football successes.

Zagallo played a role in nearly every major chapter in Brazilian football history, from its first World Cup title in 1958 to the tournament it hosted in 2014. Former Brazil coach Tite visited him to hear his advice before taking the team to the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.

He was Brazil’s forward when it won the World Cup in 1958 in Sweden and 1962 in Chile, and one of the first players to act as a false winger, playing between midfielders and strikers.

Zagallo stopped playing professionally in 1965 and began his coaching career with Rio de Janeiro club Botafogo the following year.

Named national team coach in 1970, just before the World Cup in Mexico, he inherited a squad that included Pelé, Jairzinho, Gerson, Roberto Rivellino and Tostão. Brazil crushed Italy 4-1 in the final, becoming the first three-time champion.

He also coached Brazil in 1974, but without Pelé, the team finished in fourth place.

Zagallo was assistant coach to Carlos Alberto Parreira when Brazil won the 1994 World Cup in the United States, again beating Italy in the final.

And he was back at the helm four years later for the World Cup in France, when Brazil lost 3-0 to the hosts in a final marked by striker Ronaldo’s unexplained convulsions before the game. Zagallo was criticized for letting Ronaldo play.

“He was cleared to play by the doctors,” Zagallo said. “Anyone in my position would have done the same thing. I wasn’t going to be the one keeping him from playing in a World Cup final.”

His final coaching role with the national team was as Parreira’s assistant in 2006. Brazil was a pre-tournament favorite to win its sixth World Cup title in Germany. But the squad led by Ronaldinho, Kaká, Ronaldo and Adriano fell to France in the quarterfinals.

“The story of the FIFA World Cup cannot be told without Mário Zagallo,” the governing body’s president Gianni Infantino said in a statement. “He will be remembered as the Godfather of Brazilian football and his presence will be sorely missed by everyone in the game but especially here at FIFA.”

Zagallo’s feat of being a World Cup winner as player and manager was later matched by Franz Beckenbauer with West Germany (1974, 1990) and Didier Deschamps with France (1998, 2018).

Zagallo was one of the few coaches who had successful coaching stints with all four traditional Rio clubs — Flamengo, Fluminense, Botafogo and Vasco da Gama.

He began his career as a striker with Rio’s America and later also played for Flamengo and Botafogo, one of the few Brazilian clubs which rivaled Pele’s Santos in the 1960s.

Zagallo was hospitalized for more than a month in 2005 after undergoing stomach surgery.

Four years earlier he was placed under medical care for an irregular heartbeat while coaching Flamengo.

He spent 12 days in a hospital just before the 2014 World Cup because of a back infection, released just in time to watch the opening match. He served in an ambassadorial role for that tournament.

Zagallo was hospitalized for 22 days in August of last year due to a urinary infection. Upon his return to his home in Rio, he was filmed in a wheelchair.

“We are stronger than ever!,” he said then in a posting on his social media channels, which ended in his career motto. “You will have to put up with me!”

His wife, Helen Snell, said Friday that “David Soul – beloved husband, father, grandfather and brother – died yesterday after a valiant battle for life in the loving company of family.”

“He shared many extraordinary gifts in the world as actor, singer, storyteller, creative artist and dear friend,” she said in a statement. “His smile, laughter and passion for life will be remembered by the many whose lives he has touched.”

Soul portrayed detective Ken “Hutch” Hutchinson alongside Paul Michael Glaser as detective David Starsky in “Starsky & Hutch.” It ran on ABC between 1975 and 1979, and grew so popular it spawned a host of children’s toys.

At the height of his fame, Soul also hit the music charts with the single “Don’t Give Up on Us.”

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Soul had lived in Britain for many years, performing in several stage roles. In 2001, he won a libel case against a journalist who called “The Dead Monkey,” a play that Soul was in, the worst production he had ever seen – without having seen it.

Soul also played the titular talk-show host in “Jerry Springer – The Opera” in London’s West End.

Soul and Glaser had cameos in the 2004 big-screen remake of “Starsky & Hutch,” starring Ben Stiller as Starsky and Owen Wilson as Hutch.

Cause and manner of death were unavailable, but manager Alan Abrahams said the piano player and singer died Friday at a Los Angeles-area hospital after developing pneumonia roughly one week ago.

McCann was an architect of the soul-jazz sound, helped jazz connect with the counterculture’s protest music and provided a wellspring of material for sample-crazed hip-hop stars, including Notorious B.I.G., Pete Rock and C.L. Smooth, Warren G., Slick Rick, Dr. Dre and A Tribe Called Quest.

“He brought something from the Black church to jazz,” said Abrahams, a prolific producer of gospel albums.

For the September release of “Never A Dull Moment! – Live from Coast to Coast (1966-1967),” a vinyl collection of live performances and accompanying essays, super-producer Quincy Jones said, “Les McCann has been a musical force of nature since he burst on the scene in the early 60’s. Whenever I heard him live or on record, he always did the unexpected.”

Read the full story at NBCNews.com here.

A statement shared by his agent on behalf of the family said Wilkinson died suddenly at home on Saturday. It didn’t provide further details.

Wilkinson was nominated for a best actor Academy Award for his work in 2001’s family drama “In The Bedroom” in 2001 and in the best supporting actor category for his role in “Michael Clayton,” a 2007 film that starred George Clooney.

He is remembered by many in Britain and beyond for playing former steel mill foreman Gerald Cooper in the 1997 comedy “The Full Monty,” about a group of unemployed steel workers who formed an unlikely male stripping act.

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Comedian Tom Smothers, one-half of the Smothers Brothers, dies at 86

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Wilkinson appeared in dozens of other movies, including “Batman Begins,” “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” and “Valkyrie.”

The actor was recognized for his services to drama in 2005 when he was appointed a member of the Order of the British Empire.

The National Comedy Center, on behalf of his family, said in a statement Wednesday that Smothers died Tuesday at home in Santa Rosa, California, following a cancer battle.

“Tom was not only the loving older brother that everyone would want in their life, he was a one-of-a-kind creative partner. I am forever grateful to have spent a lifetime together with him, on and off stage, for over 60 years,” his brother and the duo’s other half, Dick Smothers, said in the statement. “Our relationship was like a good marriage — the longer we were together, the more we loved and respected one another. We were truly blessed.”

When “The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour” debuted on CBS in the fall of 1967 it was an immediate hit, to the surprise of many who had assumed the network’s expectations were so low it positioned their show opposite the top-rated “Bonanza.”

But the Smothers Brothers would prove a turning point in television history, with its sharp eye for pop culture trends and young rock stars such as The Who and Buffalo Springfield, and its daring sketches — ridiculing the Establishment, railing against the Vietnam War and portraying members of the era’s hippie counterculture as gentle, fun-loving spirits — found an immediate audience with young baby boomers. The show reached No. 16 in the ratings in its first season.

It also drew the ire of network censors, and after years of battling with the brothers over the show’s creative content, the network abruptly canceled the program in 1970, accusing the siblings of failing to submit an episode in time for the censors to review.

Nearly 40 years later, when Smothers was awarded an honorary Emmy for his work on the show, he jokingly thanked the writers he said had gotten him fired. He also showed that the years had not dulled his outspokenness.

“It’s hard for me to stay silent when I keep hearing that peace is only attainable through war,” Smothers said at the 2008 Emmy Awards as his brother sat in the audience, beaming. He dedicated his award to those “who feel compelled to speak out and are not afraid to speak to power and won’t shut up and refuse to be silenced.”

During the three years the show was on television, the brothers constantly battled with CBS’s censors and occasionally outraged viewers as well, particularly when Smothers joked that Easter “is when Jesus comes out of his tomb and if he sees his shadow, he goes back in and we get six more weeks of winter.” At Christmas, when other show hosts were sending best wishes to soldiers fighting overseas, Smothers offered his to draft dodgers who had moved to Canada.

In still another episode, the brothers returned blacklisted folk singer Pete Seeger to television for the first time in years. He performed his song “Waist Deep in the Big Muddy,” widely viewed as ridiculing President Lyndon Johnson for the Vietnam War. When CBS refused to air the segment, the brothers brought Seeger back for another episode and he sang it again. This time, it made the air.

After the show was canceled, the brothers sued CBS for $31 million and were awarded $775,000. Their battles with the network were chronicled in the 2002 documentary “Smothered: The Censorship Struggles of the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour.”

Thomas Bolyn Smothers III was born Feb. 2, 1937, on Governors Island, New York, where his father, a Navy major, was stationed. His brother was born two years later. In 1940 their father was transferred to the Philippines, and his wife, two sons and their sister, Sherry, accompanied him.

When the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, the family was sent home and Maj. Smothers remained. He was captured by the Japanese during the war and died in captivity. The family eventually moved to the Los Angeles suburb of Redondo Beach, where Smothers helped his mother take care of his brother and sister while she worked.

Before the show’s debut, the pair had seemed unlikely to make television history. They had spent the previous several years on the nightclub and college circuits and doing TV guest appearances, honing an offbeat comedy routine that mixed folk music with a healthy dose of sibling rivalry.

They would come on stage, Tom with a guitar in hand and Dick toting an upright bass. They would quickly break into a traditional folk song — perhaps “John Henry” or “Pretoria.” After playing several bars, Tom, positioned as the dumb one, would mess it up, and then quickly claim he had meant to do that. As Dick, the serious, short-tempered one, berated him for failing to acknowledge his error, he would scream in exasperation, “Mom always liked you best!”

They continued that shtick on their show but also surrounded themselves with a talented cast of newcomers, both writers and performers.

Among the crack writing crew that Smothers headed were future actor-producer Rob Reiner, musician Mason Williams and comedian Steve Martin, who presented Smothers with the lifetime Emmy in 2008. Regular musical guests included John Hartford, Glen Campbell and Jennifer Warnes.

Bob Einstein, now better known as stuntman Super Dave Osborne, had a recurring role as Officer Judy, a dour Los Angeles police officer who once cited guest Liberace for playing the piano too fast. Leigh French, as the hippie earth mother in the segment “Share a Little Tea With Goldie,” always appeared to have been drinking something brewed through more than just tea leaves.

The brothers had begun their own act when Tom, then a student at San Jose State University, formed a music group called the Casual Quintet and encouraged his younger brother to learn the bass and join. The brothers continued on as a duo after the other musicians dropped out, but because their folk music repertoire was limited, they began to intersperse it with comedy.

Their big break came in 1959 when they appeared at San Francisco’s Purple Onion, then a hot spot for new talent. Booked for two weeks, they stayed a record 36. Booked into New York’s Blue Angel, they won praise from The New York Times, which described them as “a pair of tart-tongued singing comedians.” But to their disappointment, they couldn’t get on “The Tonight Show,” then hosted by Jack Paar.

“Paar kept telling our agent he didn’t like folk singers — except for Burl Ives,” Smothers told The Associated Press in 1964. “But one night he had a cancellation, and we went on. Everything worked right that night.”

The brothers went on to appear on the TV shows of Steve Allen, Ed Sullivan, Garry Moore, Andy Williams, Jack Benny and Judy Garland. Their comedy albums were big sellers and they toured the country, especially colleges.

Television first came calling in 1965, casting them in “The Smothers Brothers Show,” a sitcom about a businessman (Dick) who is haunted by his late brother (Tom), a fledgling guardian angel. It lasted just one season.

Shortly after CBS canceled the “Comedy Hour,” ABC picked it up as a summer replacement, but the network didn’t bring it back in the fall. NBC gave them a show in 1975 but it failed to find an audience and lasted only a season.

The brothers went their separate ways for a time in the 1970s. Among other endeavors, Smothers got into the wine business, launching Remick Ridge Vineyards in Northern California’s wine country.

“Originally the winery was called Smothers Brothers, but I changed the name to Remick Ridge because when people heard Smothers Brothers wine, they thought something like Milton Berle Fine Wine or Larry, Curly and Mo Vineyards,” Smothers once said.

He and his brother eventually reunited to star in the musical comedy “I Love My Wife,” a hit that ran on Broadway for two years. After that they went back on the road, playing casinos, performing arts centers and corporate gatherings around the country, remaining popular for decades.

“We just keep resurfacing,” Smothers commented in 1997. “We’re just not in everyone’s face long enough to really get old.”

After a successful 20th anniversary “Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour” in 1988, CBS buried the hatchet and brought them back.

As with the 1970 and 1975 shows, however, the magic seemed to be missing this time and the show was quickly canceled. It stayed on the air long enough, though, for Smothers to introduce the “Yo-Yo Man,” a bit allowing him to demonstrate his considerable skills with a yo-yo while he and his brother kept up a steady patter of comedy. The bit remained in their act for years.

Smothers married three times and had three children. He is survived by his wife Marie, children Bo and Riley Rose, and brother Dick, in addition to other relatives. He was predeceased by his son Tom and sister Sherry.

___

Former Associated Press journalists John Rogers, Frazier Moore and the late Bob Thomas contributed to this report.

De los Reyes was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and was raised in Las Vegas. In the late 1980s, he moved to Los Angeles to pursue acting after he studied singing and dancing growing up. He originated the role of Chicano boxer Pedro “Roadman” Quinn in the off-Broadway play “Blade to the Heat” in 1994 and later starred opposite Patrick Stewart in a 1995 production of Shakespeare’s “The Tempest.”

His first major role came on the long-running ABC soap Opera “One Life to Live.” From 1995 to 1998, he played Antonio Vega, who is serving a life sentence for murder when he’s introduced but is later released when it’s revealed he was acting in self defense. His character was originally raised as the son of matriarch Carlotta Vega, but it’s soon unveiled he was actually the son of Carlotta’s brother, Manuel Santi. De los Reyes returned to the show in 2000 and starred as Antonio until 2009.

Read the full story on NBCNews.com here.

Nick Carter‘s family is navigating another tragic loss of a loved one.

The “Backstreet Boys” member’s sister Bobbie Jean “B.J.” Carter has died at age 41, more than one year after the passing of their brother Aaron Carter, according to multiple reports. The cause of her death was not revealed.

Bobbie Jean Carter, who lived in Florida, was preceded in death by Aaron Carter, who died at age 34 in November 2022 after accidentally drowning in his bathtub and after taking medications such as alprazolam (Xanax), sister Leslie Carter, who died of an overdose in 2012 at age 25, and dad Bob Carter, who passed away at 64 in 2017.

“I’m deeply sad today,” Melanie Martin, mother of Aaron’s son Prince Carter, 2, wrote on her Instagram Stories. “RIP.”

Celebrity Deaths: 2023’s Fallen Stars

Bobbie Jean Carter starred with Aaron, Nick, Leslie Carter and most of their other family members on the E! reality show “House of Carters” in 2006. Since then, she has led a private life and kept out of the public eye until this past June, when she was arrested in Florida for shoplifting and possession of a controlled substance, police records show.

Citing a police report, People reported that she was accused of stealing $55 worth of stickers and markers from a Hobby Lobby and was later allegedly found to be carrying fentanyl. In September, she was cited for failure to appear at a hearing in the case, per police records.

Bobbie Jean Carter leaves behind a daughter, Bella, 8.

In addition to her daughter, her mom and Nick, Bobbie Jean Carter is also survived by sisters Angel Carter Conrad—Aaron Carter’s twin—and Virginia Marie Carter, brother Kaden Brent Carter and stepsister Taelyn Dobson.

Funeral plans for Bobbie Jean Carter have not been released.

The Chicks, which since 1998 has consisted of Natalie Maines, Martie Maguire and Emily Strayer, shared a tribute to Lynch in the wake of her death. The band posted a throwback video of the original line-up performing, when it included Lynch on bass.

“We hold a special place in our hearts for the time we spent playing music, laughing and traveling together. Laura was a bright light…her infectious energy and humor gave a spark to the early days of our band,” the caption of the tribute read.

The post credited Laura as “instrumental in the early success of the band.”

“Laura had a gift for design, a love of all things Texas and was instrumental in the early success of the band. Her undeniable talents helped propel us beyond busking on street corners to stages all across Texas and the mid-West,” the post read. “Our thoughts are with her family and loved ones at this sad time.”

Lynch was one of the original members of the band then called the Dixie Chicks, founded by sisters Maguire and Strayer in 1989. The original line-up consisted of Maguire, a renowned fiddle player, Strayer on a variety of instruments with Robin Lynn Macy on guitar and sharing vocals with Lynch, who also played upright bass.

Lynch moved into the lead vocalist spot in the 1992 after Macy left the group.

The band’s most famous iteration didn’t occur until 1997, when Maines replaced Lynch.

The next year, the band released their hit record “Wide Open Spaces.” The group went on to make headlines and stir controversy when Maines told a crowd she was ashamed to be from the same state as President George W. Bush before America’s invasion of Iraq.

Lynch gave an interview in 2003 about her experience as a Chick, shared by the Plainview Herald of Texas. She declined to share why she left the group, but confirmed she was replaced. At the time Lynch said she had no regrets about missing the group’s rise to fame, according to the article.

“It was worth it,” Lynch added. “I’d get anemic all over again to do it.”

The band changed its name from The Dixie Chicks to simply The Chicks in 2020 shortly before the release of “Gaslighter,” their first album after a 14-year hiatus.

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The gaming community is mourning a painful loss.

James McCaffrey, who voiced the character Max Payne in the eponymous video game series, died on Dec. 17, his rep confirmed to Variety. He was 65.

The voice actor died after a battle with multiple myeloma, a form of blood cancer, per multiple outlets.

E! News has reached out to McCaffrey’s rep for confirmation but has not yet heard back.

In addition to lending his voice to the Max Payne series, McCaffrey also brought to life the character of Alex Casey in the first and second installment of Alan Wake, the newer of which was just released this year.

Prior to his work in video game narration, McCaffrey also enjoyed a successful career in television. He was known for his work as the firefighter and 9/11 victim Jimmy Keefe on “Rescue Me,” as well as roles in the 1990s dramas “Viper” and “New York Undercover,” in which he played Michael Payton/Joe Astor and Captain Arthur O’Byrne respectively.

Celebrity Deaths: 2023’s Fallen Stars

A native of Albany, N.Y., McCaffrey was married to fellow actor Rochelle Boström, who also appeared in “Viper.”

And while his voice could be found on many a video game, in 2020 the actor shared that he really was “not a big fan” of them, instead pointing to one of his onscreen roles as his favorite.

“Probably Jimmy Keefe in the TV series ‘Rescue Me’ for FX,” he said to Saratoga Living when the question was posed in an interview published in June of that year. “Just because he was a ghost and he died in the World Trade Center on September 11.”

In the wake of McCaffrey’s passing, fans and fellow actors alike were paying tribute.

“James McCaffrey we were lucky to have known you,” “Entourage’s” Kevin Dillon wrote on a Dec. 18 Instagram post. “My best friend you will be missed.”

And among the comments on Dillon’s post was one from a fan reading, “The voice of mine and many other’s childhoods as the titular Max Payne. Incredible in his portrayal of Jimmy Keefe. Flawless in Alan Wake and Control. A proper presence in all his works. Rest In Peace.”

When the Emmy-winning actor who starred in the series “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” and “Homicide: Life on the Street” died Monday at age 61, his representatives said only that he had been through a brief illness, but his publicist Jennifer Allen gave the cause on Thursday.

Braugher generally revealed little about his private life, and his death was unexpected for many of his co-stars. He told the New York Times in 2014 that he stopped smoking and drinking years ago.

The Chicago-born Braugher had his Hollywood breakthrough in the 1989 film “Glory” acting alongside Denzel Washington and Morgan Freeman.

He went on to play Det. Frank Pemberton, the lead role in the NBC police drama “Homicide: Life on the Street,” for seven seasons. He would win the first of two career Emmys for his work on the show.

Braugher was nominated for Emmys 11 times, four of them for the comic turn he took as Capt. Ray Holt on “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” the Andy Samberg-starring series that ran for eight seasons on Fox and NBC.

Braugher died on Monday after a brief illness at the age of 61.

“I’m honored to have known you, laughed with you, worked with you and shared 8 glorious years watching your irreplaceable talent. This hurts. You left us too soon. You taught me so much. I will be forever grateful for the experience of knowing you. Thank you for your wisdom, your advice, your kindness and your friendship.” — “Brooklyn 99” co-star Terry Crews, via Instagram.

“Deeply saddened by the news of Andre Braugher’s passing. I mourn not only the loss of an extraordinary actor but, more profoundly, the departure of a warm and kind soul. His talent was undeniable, but it was his genuine kindness that truly set him apart. Rest well.” — Shonda Rhimes via Instagram.

“Andre Braugher. God. I’ve worked with a lot of wonderful actors. I’ll never work with one better. Stunned and thinking of Ami and his sons and so many memories of this good man that are now a blessing. But too damn soon.” — David Simon, who wrote “Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets,” via X, formerly Twitter.

“First time I saw Andre Braugher was in Measure for Measure in Central Park. 1993. Angelo. He fired onto the stage and I was like, “Whoa. What just happened?!” Different level. That was as plain to see as the sky above the stage. Super smart. Forceful. A master. And good dude. RIP.” — Jeffrey Wright, via X.

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“Will miss your dulcet tones. Forever lucky to have gone on such a journey with you. Ringside seat. You were so funny to me and the epitome of still waters run deep. I will always cherish our conversations, often with me hanging in your doorway barring your exit, and the insane opportunity to be your sidekick. — “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” co-star Chelsea Peretti, via Instagram.

“Always our Captain. We love you, Andre.” — The official “Brooklyn Nine-Nine.” Instagram account.

“Loved watching him work. Anytime he entered a scene he commanded attention. Terrible loss and taken away from his family and friends way too soon.” — Actor Kirk Acevedo via X.

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Braugher died Monday after a brief illness, a representative told NBC News.

Braugher’s breakthrough came with his Emmy-winning lead role as Det. Frank Pembleton on the 1990s series “Homicide: Life on the Street.”

He would win his first career Emmy for the role, taking the trophy for lead actor in a drama series in 1998.

His career also included roles in “Glory” in 1989 and “Men of a Certain Age” in 2009-11, as well as “Brooklyn Nine-Nine.”

He also had roles on NBC’s “Law & Order: SVU,” and other serious dramas and films, including “The Tuskegee Airmen.”

Braugher won his second Emmy for lead actor in a miniseries or movie for the 2006 limited series “Thief” on FX. Braugher would be nominated for 11 Emmys overall.

“Brooklyn Nine-Nine” gave him the opportunity to learn from Andy Samberg and the show’s other comedic actors as he shaped his performance as Capt. Ray Holt, who’s contented in his home life with husband Kevin (Marc Evan Jackson) but seeking to advance in the police ranks.

“I just felt as though it was an opportunity to do something strikingly different from the rest of my career,” Braugher told the Associated Press in 2019. “I like it because it just simply opens up my mind and forces me to think in a different way. So I think I’ve become much more sort of supple as an actor, and more open to the incredible number of possibilities of how to play a scene.”

The news of Braugher’s death has sparked several responses across Hollywood, including “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” co-star Terry Crews, who called Braugher’s talent “irreplaceable.”

“Can’t believe you’re gone so soon. I’m honored to have known you, laughed with you, worked with you and shared 8 glorious years watching your irreplaceable talent. This hurts. You left us too soon. You taught me so much. I will be forever grateful for the experience of knowing you,” Crews wrote in an Instagram post late Tuesday.

Braugher was married for more than 30 years to his “Homicide” co-star Ami Brabson. He is also survived by sons Michael, Isaiah and John Wesley, his brother Charles Jennings and his mother Sally Braugher.

This is a developing story

June “Mama June” Shannon and her family have suffered a tremendous loss.

The reality star’s daughter Anna “Chickadee” Cardwell, the older sister of Alana “Honey Boo Boo” Thompson, has died following a 10-month cancer battle. She was 29.

“With the breaking heart, we are announcing that @annamarie35 is no longer with us,” Shannon wrote on Instagram Dec. 10, alongside a photo of herself, Cardwell and their family members on a set. “She passed away in my home last night peacefully at 11:12 PM.”

Cardwell, a mom of two and the eldest of Shannon’s four daughters who starred with their family on “Here Comes Honey Boo Boo” and “Toddlers & Tiaras,” confirmed in March on Instagram that she has been diagnosed with stage 4 adrenal carcinoma, a cancer of the adrenal glands. She later underwent several rounds of chemotherapy and documented her health battle on social media.

“She gave one hell of a fight for 10 months,” Shannon wrote in her post. “She passed away with her family around her.”

Celebrity Deaths: 2023’s Fallen Stars

The “Mama June: From Not to Hot” star continued, “We love y’all and continued prayers and thoughts for our family doing this difficult time #mamajune #prayers #cancersucks #family.”

As Cardwell went through her cancer treatments, she was able to attend a major event for their family: Thompson’s high school graduation in May. Following her passing, all her sisters shared their own personal tributes to her.

“Last night we all surrounded Anna with love & let her know it was okay to go,” wrote Thompson, 18. “Unfortunately around 11pm Anna took her last breathe. Anna was in so much pain last night but now as a family we all know she is at peace now. I really don’t know what to say as my heart is completely broken. Watching my 29 year old sister this last year battle this horrible disease hasn’t been easy. Anna was a fighter & still is.”

In addition to Thompson and their mom, Cardwell is also survived by sisters Jessica “Chubbs” Shannon, 27, and Lauryn “Pumpkin” Efird, 23, partner Eldridge Toney and daughters Kaitlyn, 11, and Kylee, 7.

“Lord please wrap your arms around her 2 babies & our family as the next couple of days will make this all a reality,” Thompson wrote. “I’m so glad that you waited til i was home to take your last breath! I would’ve loved for you to get to see me graduate college but i know you will forever cheer me on in heaven! We will all make sure your legacy lives on forever. And i promise to always make sure to celebrate our birthday like you never left!”

The teen continued, “The sky looks a little bit different today. We will always love you Anna. You hit me hard with his one Anna but i know your in a better place now and pain free forever!

Hollywood has lost a trailblazer.

Andrea Fay Friedman, an actress with Down syndrome known for her breakthrough role in the ‘90s TV sitcom “Life Goes On,” died Dec. 3 from complications due to Alzheimer’s, her dad shared with the New York Times. She was 53.

In 1992, the California native became one of the first actors with Down syndrome to appear in a television series, playing the role of Amanda Swanson in ABC’s “Life Goes On.” After two seasons, Friedman went on to land guest spots in shows including “Baywatch,” “Walker, Texas Ranger” and “Law and Order: SVU.”

On “Family Guy,” Friedman voiced Ellen, a character with Down syndrome. During the episode, her character made a reference to Sarah Palin and her now 15-year-old her son Trig, who also has Down syndrome. After the show aired, Palin slammed the show, calling it the work of “cruel, cold-hearted people.”

In response, Friedman explained that her character should serve as an inspiration to others: “I guess former Governor Palin does not have a sense of humor.”

Celebrity Deaths: 2023’s Fallen Stars

“In my family we think laughing is good,” Friedman told the New York Times at the time. “My parents raised me to have a sense of humor and to live a normal life.”

And she was proud of being able to bring representation to her characters onscreen.

“I’m not embarrassed,” she continued. “But mostly, it doesn’t matter if you have Down syndrome. Really, it just matters to have a different challenge.”

In addition to her acting career, Friedman also served as an assistant teacher at UCLA, helping to teach students about independent living.

Her final onscreen appearance was in the 2019 film “Carol of the Bells.”

He was 79. 

Laine died “peacefully” Tuesday morning at his home following “health setbacks” from interstitial lung disease, his wife, Elizabeth Hines, shared on his Facebook page.

“I was at his bedside, holding his hand as I played his favorite Christmas songs for him. He’s been singing Christmas songs the past few weeks and I continued to play Christmas songs while he’s been in ICU on a ventilator this past week,” she wrote.

Read the full story on NBCNews.com here.

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Shepherd, born Oct. 31, 1934, was also a theater director and acting coach who gained fame from her portrayal of Aunt Tweedy in the 1988 film “Mystic Pizza.”

She went on to play Karen Hill’s mother in “Goodfellas,” as well as Carmela’s mother, Mary DeAngelis, in HBO’s “The Sopranos.” She also starred as Miss Pratt in the 1997 film “Lolita.”

She made guest appearances in “Law & Order,” “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” and, most recently, the CBS cop drama “Blue Bloods.”

Read the full story at NBCNews.com.

Brown died after a battle with cancer, according to a statement released by Universal Music. He had retired earlier in the year, nearly 60 years after the band began, and revealed that he was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer.

Kool & The Gang has sold millions of records with its catchy blend of jazz, funk and soul, what Brown liked to call “the sound of happiness.” In 1964, Brown helped launch the Grammy-winning group, originally called the Jazziacs, along with such friends as bassist Robert “Kool” Bell, brother Ronald Bell on keyboards and guitarist Charles Smith.

After years of relative obscurity, name changes and personnel changes, Kool & The Gang broke through in the mid-1970s with “Jungle Boogie” and “Hollywood Swinging” among others songs and peaked in the late ’70s-mid 1980s, with hits ranging from the ballads “Cherish” and “Joanna” to the up-tempo, chart-topping “Celebration,” now a standard at weddings and other festive gatherings.

In 2023, Brown produced the band’s latest album, “People Just Wanna Have Fun,” and released his memoir “Too Hot: Kool & The Gang & Me.”

He is survived by his wife, Hanh Brown, and his five children. In lieu of flowers, his family has asked that donations can be made in his honor to the Lung Cancer Society of America.

Dex Carvey, a 32-year-old comedian, died from an accidental drug overdose, his parents said.

“Dex packed a lot into those 32 years. He was extremely talented at so many things — music, art, film making, comedy — and pursued all of them passionately,” the post read in part. “It’s not an exaggeration to say that Dex loved life. And when you were with him, you loved life too. He made everything fun. But most of all, he loved his family, his friends and his girlfriend, Kaylee.”

The former “Saturday Night Live” star and his wife then shared a touching anecdote of how their son shared his love and creativity.

“Dex was a beautiful person. His handmade birthday cards are a treasure. We will miss him forever.”

The grieving parents also took the time to reach out to anyone struggling with addiction, saying, “To anyone struggling with addiction or who loves someone struggling with addiction, you are in our hearts and prayers.”

Dex Carvey had previously made an appearance on his father’s Netflix special, “Straight White Male,” and had continued to perform stand-up comedy.

Following his initial post announcing his son’s death, Dana Carvey went on to post several touching photos with Dex.

“Dex and me working together. What a joy,” Dana Carvey captioned a photo of the pair working and laughing.

Hollywood is saying goodbye to an inspiring soap opera star.

Johnny Ruffo — who played Chris Harrington on “Home and Away” from 2013 to 2016 — died at age 35 following a long battle with a rare brain cancer, per a post on his Instagram page Nov. 9.

Ruffo passed away peacefully while surrounded by his family and partner Tahnee Sims, according to the statement.

“It is with a heavy heart that today we had to farewell our beloved Johnny,” the message read. “He was a very talented, charming and sometimes cheeky boy. Johnny was very determined and had a strong will.”

In the tribute post, his loved ones also praised his strength and positivity.

“He battled all the way to the end and fought as hard as he could. Such a beautiful soul with so much more to give,” they continued. “We all love you Johnny and will remember you for all the joy you brought to our lives.”

Celebrity Deaths: 2023’s Fallen Stars

The Australian actor gained fame on his country’s edition of “The X Factor” in 2011 and won their “Dancing With the Stars” the following year. After shooting to stardom on “Home and Away,” he appeared in the TV miniseries “House of Bond” in 2017 and the soap opera “Neighbours” in 2020.

However, Ruffo later wrote in his book “No Finish Line” that fame took a toll on him.

“Johnny found it hard to resist the weekend-long parties, drugs, alcohol and fair-weather friends that came with the territory,” per a book synopsis. “He had started suffering from severe headaches when his girlfriend, Tahnee, noticed something was also wrong with his speech.”

He was rushed to hospital and prepped for surgery for a nearly three-inch tumor.

“Johnny was ultimately diagnosed with a rare brain cancer, with which—despite a period of remission—he still battles today,” the summary continued. “But in a strange way Johnny thinks the cancer actually saved his life.”

After his cancer returned in 2020, he continued documenting his health journey on social media, including photos from his chemotherapy appointments.

“After an unexpected week of seizures and excruciating headaches,” Ruffo wrote on Instagram in November 2020, “it is with a heavy heart that i have to let you know i now have another huge battle ahead of me as my brain cancer has returned, though i will dig deep and beat this s— disease again.”

In another post, the singer promised to “smash this chemo,” writing to fans, “Thank you so much for all the support, You guys have helped keep my spirits high and you keep me fighting.”

Ruffo was able to share his story through the release of his book in August 2022, when he celebrated the major milestone with his partner.

“Proud of you everyday,” Sims, 29, wrote to him on Instagram at the time, “but watching you smash yet another goal whilst dealing with everything you have been dealt is inspiring beyond words. You are one of a kind.”

Family and friends are mourning the heartbreaking loss of Taraja Ramsess and three of his children.

The stuntman, who worked on movies including “Black Panther,” “Avengers: Infinity War” and “Avengers: Endgame,” died along with three of his five kids when his vehicle collided with a tractor-trailer in Atlanta on Halloween night, according to local outlet WSB-TV. He was 41.

His two daughters, Sundari, 13, and 8-week-old Fujibo, were killed during the crash. His son Kisasi, 10, who was placed on life support after being rushed to the hospital, also succumbed to his injuries.

Ramsess’ mom, Akili, spoke out after the devastating accident to honor her “beautiful, loving, talented” son and shared that two of her granddaughters survived the accident, including 3-year-old Shazia, who remains hospitalized with minor injuries after being ejected from the vehicle.

“All who knew and met him know how special Taraja was,” Akili wrote in a moving Instagram post Nov. 1. “He had a deep capacity for love and loved his children more than all. He loved his martial arts, motorcycles and all things related to filmmaking. He a very droll yet wicked sense of humor & yet could be as cornball corny as can be.”

Celebrity Deaths: 2023’s Fallen Stars

The photojournalist also reflected on her the memory of her grandkids, adding, “Sundari, Sunny as she was called, also reflected that special light. Funny & loved to dance. Oh God! I can’t believe they’re gone! We are grieving and remain prayerful for my grandchildren’s recovery. Thank you to so many who have already reached out with kind words and prayers.”

After his passing, Ramsess was also remembered by filmmaker Ava DuVernay, who reflected on the impact he made while working at her distribution company, ARRAY.

“Regal,” she wrote alongside an Instagram post featuring photos of Ramsess on-set, “That’s the word that comes to mind when I think of him. He walked like a king. And to me, always acted like one.”

DuVernay noted that the tragedy “makes the hearts of all who knew him break into a million pieces.”

“I remember one day on set, we didn’t have enough Black background actors for a key scene,” the “Selma” director recalled. “I had to recruit my crew members to be on-camera. Taraja was the first to say yes. Yes, I’ll do my real job and then jump into this wild scene playing a tough guy with a gun for you. From there – everyone else said yes too.”

That moment, for DuVernay, spoke to the heart of Ramsess’ character.

She added, “He was that kind of person. A leader. A light. Taraja. His name is like music. We will continue to sing it. Bless his soul. Bless his memory. Bless his loved ones and the many comrades he leaves here as he journeys on.”

Hollywood has lost a former child star.

Evan Ellingson, best known for his work as a teenager in “My Sister’s Keeper” and “CSI: Miami,” has died, per documents from the local San Bernardino coroner’s office viewed by E! News on Nov. 6. He was 35.

According to the report, Ellingson died in Fontana, California, on Nov. 5. His cause of death has not been confirmed as the coroner’s office lists it as “pending.”

Ellingson’s father Michael told TMZ that his body was found at a sober-living home, adding that Evan had struggled with drugs in the past but had been doing better recently. TMZ also reports that no foul play is suspected at this time.

E! News has been unable to locate a rep for Evan Ellingson for comment.

Ellingson, who started his acting career as a child with string of TV appearances in the early aughts, was perhaps best known for his role as Jesse Fitzgerald, Cameron Diaz‘s eldest child, in the 2009 film “My Sister’s Keeper,” based on the Jodi Picoult novel of the same name.

Celebrity Deaths: 2023’s Fallen Stars

In addition to his starring role on the sitcom “Complete Savages,” Ellingson also had a recurring role as Kyle Harmon, the son of David Caruso’s Horatio Caine, in “CSI: Miami,” appearing in 18 episodes over three years.

In 2009, just one year before he took a step back from acting, Ellingson reflected on spending his childhood onscreen.

“I never had the same [childhood] experience with my friends,” he told The Philippine Star. “I never had more time with them. However, my childhood was a cool one. I was busy doing the things I love. I had no regrets because I found my passion for acting early on.”

Hollywood is mourning the loss of a soap opera star.

“General Hospital” alum Tyler Christopher died on Oct. 31 at the age of 50, his former costar Maurice Benard shared on Instagram. According to Benard, Christopher’s cause of death was related to a sudden heart issue.

“It is with great sadness that we share the news of the passing of Tyler Christopher,” the post began. “Tyler passed away this morning following a cardiac event in his San Diego apartment.”

Benard said that Christopher — who played Nikolas Cassadine on the show from 1996 to 2016, alongside his Sonny Corinthos — was a “sweet soul and wonderful friend” to everyone he met.

“Tyler was a truly talented individual that lit up the screen in every scene he performed and relished bringing joy to his loyal fans through his acting,” Benard shared in his tribute. “Tyler was an advocate for better mental health and substance use treatment who openly spoke about his struggles with bipolar depression and alcohol. We are beyond devastated by the loss of our dear friend and pray for his children and his father.”

Photos: Celebrity Deaths: 2023’s Fallen Stars

Christopher won a Daytime Emmy in 2016 for outstanding lead actor in a drama series for “General Hospital.”

In addition to his work on the ABC medical drama, he portrayed Stefan DiMera on “Days of Our Lives” from 2001 to 2019 and also made appearances in “Thor: God of Thunder,” “Shouting Secrets,” “Out of the Black” and “Pretty Broken.”

But outside of his career in entertainment, Christopher’s favorite role was dad.

“Never again will I take for granted spending time with my children,” he wrote on social media last year, “doing all the little things that never before seemed monumental but are now everything to me.”

He continued, “There are no words to express my gratitude for our after school dinner where they told me about their day. I’ve never so enjoyed a trip to Target to pick out a toy or an afternoon at the movies. Playing with my children has always brought the greatest joy. I am grateful for this new chapter in my life for the time it allows me to be close to them.”

And his kids are already following in his footsteps, with daughter Boheme Christopher dancing in a production of “The Nutcracker” and son Greysun Christopher acting in a performance of “Matilda” last year.

At the time, the actor said he would be cheering on his “preciously little mouse,” Boheme, on opening night as he was “bursting with pride over this sweet girl.” And as for his son, he added, “He will undoubtedly shine on stage. Proud Dad moment for sure.”

Christopher was married to Eva Longoria from 2002 to 2004 and Brienne Pedigo from 2008 to 2021.

Matthew Perry will always hold a special place in the hearts of his “Friends” family.

That certainly rings true for costars Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc and David Schwimmer, who honored the late actor in a moving message on Oct. 30.

“We are all so utterly devastated by the loss of Matthew,” the five stars began in a joint statement to People. “We were more than just cast mates. We are a family.”

They continued, “There is so much to say, but right now we’re going to take a moment to grieve and process this unfathomable loss.”

Matthew Perry Oct 30, 2023

What Matthew Perry said about sobriety before his death

In Memoriam Oct 30, 2023

New York ‘Friends' apartment flooded with tributes for the late Matthew Perry

The cast said that they will speak more on the tragedy in the future.

“In time we will say more, as and when we are able,” Aniston, Cox, Kudrow, LeBlanc and Schwimmer added. “For now, our thoughts and our love are with Matty’s family, his friends, and everyone who loved him around the world.” 

Perry—who captivated fans around the world with his performance as Chandler Bing on “Friends”—died on Oct. 28 after an apparent drowning at his California home, his rep and a law enforcement source confirmed to NBC News. He was 54.

The incident, according to the law enforcement source, was “treated as a water rescue,” and there’s no apparent foul play.

After news of his death emerged, actress Maggie Wheeler—who portrayed Perry’s onscreen love interest Janice on “Friends”—reflected on their time together.

“Mathew Perry. The joy you brought to so many in your too short lifetime will live on,” she wrote on Instagram Oct. 28 alongside a photo with Perry on the sitcom. “I feel so very blessed by every creative moment we shared.”

“Friends” co-creators Marta Kauffman and David Crane, as well as the show’s executive producer Kevin Bright, also paid tribute to the late star.

“We are shocked and deeply, deeply saddened by our beloved friend Perry’s passing,” they said in a joint statement, obtained by NBC News Oct. 29. “It still seems impossible. All we can say is that we feel blessed to have had him as part of our lives.”

“He was a brilliant talent. It’s a cliché to say that an actor makes a role their own, but in Perry’s case, there are no truer words,” the trio continued. “From the day we first heard him embody the role of Chandler Bing, there was no one else for us. We will always cherish the joy, the light, the blinding intelligence he brought to every moment—not just to his work, but in life as well. He was always the funniest person in the room.”

Additionally, they said, Perry had a giving and selfless heart.

“We send all of our love to his family and friends,” they concluded. “This truly is The One Where Our Hearts Are Broken.”

The cause of death has been “deferred” and further investigation has been requested before a determination will be made, according to a report released by the L.A. County Medical Examiner.

Though an official conclusion likely won’t be released for several weeks, the medical examiner’s office did say that the body was ready to be released to the family.

Read the full story at NBCNews.com here.

celebrity deaths Oct 29, 2023

Heartbroken ‘Friends' creators honor ‘brilliant' Matthew Perry

celebrity deaths Oct 29, 2023

Matthew Perry's family speaks out after star's death: ‘We are heartbroken'

This is the one that no one wanted to experience.

After Matthew Perry‘s sudden and shocking death, “Friends'” co-creators Marta Kauffman and David Crane as well as executive producer Kevin Bright paid tribute to their fallen star.

“We are shocked and deeply, deeply saddened by our beloved friend Matthew’s passing,” they shared in a statement. “It still seems impossible. All we can say is that we feel blessed to have had him as part of our lives.”

celebrity deaths Oct 29, 2023

Matthew Perry's family speaks out after star's death: ‘We are heartbroken'

celebrity deaths Oct 28, 2023

Matthew Perry reflected on ‘ups & downs' in life one year before death

After all, could he be any funnier?

“He was a brilliant talent,” the trio continued. “It’s a cliche to say that an actor makes a role their own, but in Matthew’s case, there are no truer words. From the day we first heard him embody the role of Chandler Bing, there was no one else for us.”

“We will always cherish the joy, the light, the blinding intelligence he brought to every moment—not just to his work, but in life as well,” Kauffman, Crane and Bright wrote. “He was always the funniest person in the room. More than that, he was the sweetest, with a giving and selfless heart.”

The Most Shocking Revelations From Matthew Perry’s Memoir

They signed their tribute with a nod to the iconic sitcom’s episode titles: “We send all of our love to his family and friends. This truly is The One Where Our Hearts Are Broken.”

The 54-year-old died Oct. 28 from an apparent drowning at his Los Angeles home, his rep and law enforcement sources told NBC News.

“We are heartbroken by the tragic loss of our beloved son and brother,” his family shared in a statement to People shortly after his death. “Matthew brought so much joy to the world, both as an actor and a friend.”

“You all meant so much to him,” they added, “and we appreciate the tremendous outpouring of love.”

Indeed, friends, family and fans have flooded social media with tributes.

“What a loss,” “Friends'” Maggie Wheeler, who played Chandler’s on-again, off-again girlfriend, shared. “The world will miss you Mathew Perry . The joy you brought to so many in your too short lifetime will live on. I feel so very blessed by every creative moment we shared.”

Meanwhile, his “Odd Couple” costar Yvette Nicole Brown was left nearly speechless. “I am too sad about the news to say more than this: @mattyperry4 was a sweetheart who deserved more peace in this life,” she wrote. “54 is too young to go. We love you, Matty! #RIPMatthewPerry.”

Matthew Perry‘s family has issued a statement to his fans following his sudden death.

The “Friends” star died of an apparent drowning at his Los Angeles home Oct. 28, his rep and law enforcement sources told NBC News. He was 54.

“We are heartbroken by the tragic loss of our beloved son and brother,” his family said in a statement to People Oct 29. “Matthew brought so much joy to the world, both as an actor and a friend.”

celebrity deaths Oct 28, 2023

Matthew Perry reflected on ‘ups & downs' in life one year before death

Matthew Perry Oct 28, 2023

Hollywood mourns ‘Friends' star Matthew Perry. See reactions from actors, studios

The statement continued, “You all meant so much to him and we appreciate the tremendous outpouring of love.”

Perry is survived by his father, actor John Bennett Perry, his mother, journalist Suzanne Morrison, his stepfather, “Dateline” correspondent Keith Morrison, and five siblings — Caitlin Morrison, Emily Morrison, Will Morrison, Madeline Morrison and Maria Perry.

Less than two weeks before his death, the actor shared a photo of himself with his dad on Instagram, writing, “Here is me, and my father John, both holding a beverage.”

Celebrity Deaths: 2023’s Fallen Stars

Following his death, the star received a slew of online tributes from fans and fellow celebs, including former costars such as Maggie Wheeler, who played his ex-girlfriend Janice on Friends.

“What a loss,” she wrote on Instagram alongside a pic of the two. “The world will miss you Mathew Perry. The joy you brought to so many in your too short lifetime will live on. I feel so very blessed by every creative moment we shared.”

In addition, hours after Matthew’s death, “Saturday Night Live” also honored the actor during its live broadcast.

Just one year before his tragic death, Matthew Perry felt proud to be able to share his life story.

The “Friends” alum—who died at age 54 in an apparent drowning at his Los Angeles home Oct. 28—released his memoir “Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing” in November 2022. And amid recounting his rise to fame on the NBC sitcom, he gave insight into his decades-long sobriety journey.

In the book, Perry recalled battling drug and alcohol abuse since his teens, sharing he spent $9 million trying to get clean over the years. At the time of publication, he was 18 months sober.

“There’s been some real up and downs in my life,” Perry told E! News following the memoir’s release, “and this is a lot about the downs, but the further down you go, the more people you can help.”

In Memoriam Oct 28, 2023

Matthew Perry, famous for his role as Chandler Bing on ‘Friends,' dead at 54

Matthew Perry Oct 28, 2023

Hollywood mourns ‘Friends' star Matthew Perry. See reactions from actors, studios

The “Fools Rush In” actor also shared why it meant so much to him that readers “took the story into their hearts.”

The Most Shocking Revelations From Matthew Perry’s Memoir

“People have just loved it,” he said. “I shied away from nothing and I told the truth and the biggest thing was, the goal was, to help people and I know of a lot of people already who have been helped by it.”

In fact, Perry noted, “We’ve already heard about five different people that have read it and then checked into rehab the next day.”

Ultimately, knowing that his words inspired others to get sober truly made him “feel great.”

Moll died Thursday at his home in Big Bear Lake, California, according to Jeff Sanderson, a family spokesperson.

Moll played “Bull” Shannon on NBC‘s “Night Court” from 1984-1992 alongside stars Harry Anderson and John Larroquette. His character formed a close friendship with the court’s other bailiff, Roz Russell, played by Marsha Warfield. Bull was known for his shaved head, catchphrase, “Ohh-kay,” and a dim but sweet world view.

After “Night Court” ended, Moll contributed his trademark gravelly voice to various video games and comic book projects like “Batman: The Animated Series” as Harvey Dent and appeared in horror films like “Ghost Shark” (2013) and “Slay Belles” (2018).

He voiced Scorpion on the 1990s’ “Spider-Man: The Animated Series” and had small parts in 1994’s “The Flintstones,” the Arnold Schwarzenegger comedy “Jingle All the Way” and “Scary Movie 2.”

He appeared in the 1999 satire “But I’m a Cheerleader” with Natasha Lyonne, and starred in “Thomas Kinkade’s Christmas Cottage” opposite Peter O’Toole, Marcia Gay Harden and Ed Asner.

The towering actor — he was 6-feet 8-inches tall — did not join the reboot of “Night Court” starring Larroquette. The original “Night Court” finale ended with his character being abducted by aliens who needed someone tall to reach the things on their highest shelves.

Raised in Pasadena, California, Moll was a history and psychology major at the University of California at Berkeley, and graduated in 1964. He became a deputy probation officer in Alameda County and then worked as the “head of stock in ladies’ hosiery” at a San Francisco store.

The idea to pursue acting as a career came when Moll asked himself, ”’What do you want to do? Not, ‘What should you do?’ or ‘What are you supposed to do?’ And that’s when I started to study acting,” he told People magazine in 2003.

In 1968, he moved to Hollywood, but what followed was a decade filled with stops and starts. “It took me 10 years to find my way to the bathroom,” he told People.

Moll is survived by his children, Chloe and Mason Moll; ex-wife, Susan Moll; and stepchildren Cassandra Card and Morgan Ostling.

Somers — who’s most known for portraying Chrissy on the sitcom “Three’s Company” and Carol on “Step by Step,” as well as promoting the Thighmaster and other wellness ventures later on in her career — was just one day away from turning 77 when she died.

The news of Somers’ death comes just a few months after she revealed that her breast cancer had returned, but that she was cancer free once again by the time she shared the news publicly.

The beloved actor was “peacefully at home” when she passed away in the early hours of Oct. 15. She was surrounded by family, including her husband, Alan Hamel.

Somers had been open with her fans about her health struggles before her death. Here’s what we know about Suzanne Somers’ health and cause of death.

Suzanne Somers’ cause of death

Suzanne Somers’ cause of death was breast cancer, her daughter-in-law, Caroline Somers, told The New York Times.

Somers’ publicist confirmed in a statement to NBC News that the actor “survived an aggressive form of breast cancer for over 23 years.”

Somers, who was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2000, opened up about a recent recurrence of breast cancer in an Instagram post in July 2023.

In a separate statement, a representative for Somers told NBC News the actor was dealing with other unspecified health issues at the time when she learned her cancer had returned in 2023, but that she was free from cancer at the time.

Here’s what we know about Somers’ health history over the years.

Hyperplasia in the uterus

Somers’ health struggles began in her 20s. In an interview with CBS News Los Angeles, Somers said she “had cancer three times” when she was playing Chrissy on “Three’s Company” in the 1970s. “They call it severe hyperplasia in your uterus. I didn’t make a big deal about it,” Somers told CBS News.

Hyperplasia in the uterus, known as endometrial hyperplasia, occurs when the lining of the uterus (endometrium) becomes too thick, per the Cleveland Clinic. Some types of endometrial hyperplasia can lead to cancers, including endometrial cancer and uterine cancer.

Melanoma

Somers also had skin cancer when she was younger. “In my 30s, I got a malignant melanoma in my back,” Somers told CBS News in the same interview.

Melanoma is a serious type of skin cancer that occurs when the cells that produce pigment to give skin its color (melanocytes), grow out of control, per the American Cancer Society.

Melanoma is less common than other types of skin cancer, but it is more dangerous because it can spread other parts of the body more easily, TODAY.com previously reported. Treatment may involve surgery, radiation, immunotherapy and chemotherapy.

Breast cancer

Somers was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2000. The actor went public with her diagnosis in a 2001 interview on Larry King Live. Somers told King that doctors found the cancer after a routine mammogram in April 2000 and that she had been receiving treatment for a year at the time.

The actor initially underwent a lumpectomy and radiation to treat her breast cancer, but refused chemotherapy, the Associated Press reported.

In 2007, Somers told the Los Angeles Times she was cancer-free and undergoing hormone treatments.

Over a decade later, Somers gave her fans an update about her ongoing battle with breast cancer in July 2023. On Instagram, Somers revealed her cancer had returned but that she was once again cancer-free.

“As you know, I had breast cancer two decades ago, and every now and then it pops up again, and I continue to bat it down,” Somers wrote in the caption. “I have used the best alternative and conventional treatments to combat it. This is not new territory for me. I know how to put on my battle gear and I’m a fighter.”

“As one of millions of cancer patients, we do our best not to let this insidious disease control us. I find bliss in each day,” Somers said in a separate statement to NBC News at the time.

“It’s a recurrence of my breast cancer. Like any cancer patient, when you get that’s dreaded, ‘It’s back,’ you get a pit in your stomach. Then I put on my battle gear and go to war. This is familiar battleground for me and I’m very tough.”

Fractured hip and neck surgery

In 2020, Somers underwent two separate surgeries for injuries to her hip and neck.

In an exclusive interview in June 2020, Somers told People: “I had a setback this year that I had never experienced — I fractured my hip.” The injury was a result of Somers jumping off a private tram to her house in Palm Springs, which suddenly stopped and became stuck halfway up the hill. “I had no choice but to jump. It was dark and I landed very badly,” Somers said.

Somers underwent surgery to repair her hip and “lied motionless in bed” for weeks while recovering, she told People.

In October 2020, Somers revealed in an Instagram post that she suffered a neck injury after she and her husband fell down the stairs in their home, TODAY.com reported.

“I had an intense amount of pain after the fall that was not resolving … After several scans, it was determined I had 2 vertebrae out of place which was causing pressure on nerves,” Somers wrote in the caption. Somers underwent neck surgery.

A private family burial for Somers will take place this week, and a memorial is set for next month, the family said in a statement.

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Hamel, 87, wrote a letter to Somers about their “magical” 55 years together, which she read the night before she died, the actor’s publicist R. Couri Hay confirmed to NBC News.

Somers, 76, died in the early morning hours of Oct. 15. A cause of death was not directly disclosed, but she lived with breast cancer for 23 years, Hay said in a statement to NBC News on behalf of the Somers family.

In his letter, written in all-caps, Hamel said the many everyday uses of the word “love” can’t compare to what he feels for Somers.

“It’s not even a fraction of a fraction of a fraction. Unconditional love does not do it. I’ll take a bullet for you doesn’t do it. I weep when I think about my feelings for you. Feelings … That’s getting close, but not all the way.”

celebrity deaths Oct 15, 2023

Suzanne Somers dead at 76: Barry Manilow and more stars pay tribute

obituary Oct 15, 2023

Actress Suzanne Somers dies at 76 after cancer battle

Hamel closed his letter by saying “there are no words,” “actions,” “promises,” or “declarations” that are a sufficient description for his feelings.

“So I will call it, ‘Us,’ he said, “Uniquely, magically, indescribably wonderful ‘Us.'”

Keep reading for more about Somers and Hamel’s relationship.

Who is Alan Hamel, Suzanne Somers’ husband?

The “Three’s Company” actor was married to Hamel, a producer and actor from Toronto, for 46 years. The couple married in 1977 after nearly a decade of dating.

Both had been previously married. Somers has a son from her marriage to her first husband, Bruce Somers. Hamel also has children from his marriage to Marilyn Hamel, his first wife.

What did Suzanne Somers say about her marriage to Alan Hamel?

Somers told Us Weekly in 2021 that loving Hamel was “the most beautiful part” of her life.

“We give each other a lot of attention. That seems simple, but you’d be amazed at how many couples don’t remember to give one another a lot of attention,” she said. “It’s not, like, a chore for us. I love to hug him and rub his hair. He tells me I’m beautiful all the time and we hold hands while we sleep. It’s the most beautiful part of my life.”

On TODAY With Hoda & Jenna Oct. 16, Jenna Bush Hager shared her memory of the actor and her husband.

“A couple of years ago I got to go out and visit her, at her home, with her husband, and it was so much fun because in some ways, and this is crazy: They felt like the really young people. She was cracking me up talking about, you know, sex and things and how in love she was …. But the main thing about her was that she chose to be wildly in love with life,” Jenna said.

How did Suzanne Somers meet her husband?

Somers and Hamel met after she worked as a prize model on the game show he hosted, “The Anniversary Game,” which premiered in 1969.

Somers didn’t last long on the show: She was let go from the position at the end of her first day for not knowing which camera to look into, she said in an interview with the Television Academy posted to YouTube in 2010.

“And I went home so dejected,” she said. “But Alan Hamel, who was the host of that show, had found my phone number on the (paperwork). He shouldn’t have been reading it but he found it and called me. And here we are.”

Hamel eventually worked as Somers’ manager

Hamel became Somers’ manager during her “Three’s Company” days in the late ’70s and early ’80s.

“When Suzanne was doing ‘Three’s Company,’ I was doing a television series in Canada,” Hamel said in a 2006 interview with Inc. Magazine, as cited by People. “I noticed her manager was making a lot of short-term deals for her, not career-oriented, long-term deals. I wanted to stop doing the TV show in Canada, so we decided to terminate the manager and I’d take over. We’ve been doing it that way ever since.”

The couple also collaborated on a classic ThighMaster commercial in which the camera starts at Somers’ feet and pans up as Hamel’s voice says, “Great legs!”

Somers told Inc. Magazine that the idea for the commercial actually came from a genuine moment with her husband.

“I’d just bought a pair of Manolo Blahnik shoes for $560. Like any wife, I’m thinking, ‘How am I going to tell my husband I spent almost $600 on a pair of shoes?’ I was in my dressing room in my underwear, and I thought, this is the perfect time to show him,” Somers told Inc., as cited by People. “So I walked out in a bra and panties and my new high heels, and I watched my husband’s eyes go up from the shoes to my legs.

“And he said, ‘Great legs!’ And I thought — that’s the commercial. We’ll pan up, showing my legs, using my husband’s voice to narrate, ‘Great legs!’ We ended up selling over 10 million ThighMasters,” she said.

What did Alan Hamel write in his love letter to Suzanne Somers?

Below is the full text of the love letter Hamel penned to Somers, which she read the night before she died.

“Love I use it every day, sometimes several times a day. I use it at the end of emails to my loving family. I even use it in emails to close friends. I use it when I’m leaving the house.”

“There’s love, then love you and I love you!! Therein lies some of the different ways we use love. Sometimes I feel obliged to use love, responding to someone who signed love in their email, when I’m uncomfortable using love but I use it anyway.”

“I also use love to describe a great meal. I use it to express how I feel about a show on Netflix. I often use love referring to my home, my cat Gloria, to things Gloria does, to the taste of a cantaloupe I grew in my garden. I love the taste of a freshly harvested organic royal jumbo medjool date. I love biting a fig off the tree. I love watching two giant blackbirds who live nearby swooping by my window in a power dive. My daily live encompasses things and people I love and things and people I am indifferent to.

“I could do on ad infinitum, but you get it. What brand of love do I feel for my wife Suzanne? Can I find it in any of the above? A Resounding no!!!! There is no version of the word that is applicable to Suzanne and I even use the word applicable advisedly.”

“The closest version in words isn’t even close. It’s not even a fraction of a fraction of a fraction. Unconditional love does not do it. I’ll take a bullet for you doesn’t do it. I weep when I think about my feelings for you. Feelings… That’s getting close, but not all the way.

“55 years together, 46 married and not even one hour apart for 42 of those years. Even that doesn’t do it. Even going to bed at 6:00 and holding hands while we sleep doesn’t do it. Staring at your beautiful face while you sleep doesn’t do it.

“I’m back to feelings. There are no words. There are no actions. No promises. No declarations. Even the green shaded scholars of the Oxford University Press have spent 150 years and still have failed to come up with that one word. So I will call it, ‘Us,’ uniquely, magically, indescribably wonderful ‘Us.'”

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The Hollywood community is mourning the death of Suzanne Somers.

On Oct. 15, one day before her 77th birthday, the beloved “Three’s Company” actress passed away “peacefully at her home,” her publicist R. Couri Hay confirmed on behalf of her family.

“She survived an aggressive form of breast cancer for over 23 years,” Hay said in a statement to E! News. “Suzanne was surrounded by her loving husband Alan, her son Bruce, and her immediate family. Her family was gathered to celebrate her 77th birthday on October 16th. Instead, they will celebrate her extraordinary life, and want to thank her millions of fans and followers who loved her dearly. “

A private family burial for the Golden Globe nominee will take place this week, while a memorial will follow next month.

As the heartbreaking news of Somers’ passing emerged, many of her fans, friends and fellow stars took to social media to honor the Step By Step alum’s memory.

Celebrity Deaths: 2023’s Fallen Stars

“Devastated to hear about the passing of Suzanne Somers,” comedian Adam Carolla wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter. “A true icon and overall amazing human being. You will be greatly missed, my friend.”

To see more tributes to Somers, keep reading…

Barry Manilow: “Suzanne and I were friends for decades. She was the sister I never had and my close confidant forever. We shared triumphs and heartaches. Her fame in so many fields overshadowed her real talent as one of our greatest comedic actors, a loving mother, an amazing homemaker, and one of the world’s best cooks. I will miss her dearly and hope that she is now out of pain and at peace.”

Khloe Kardashian: “This one hurts my heart. I love you @suzannesomers. I’ll never forget your positive loving outlook on life. Your sweet heart and gentle spirit! Rest, dance, smile in paradise…”

Viola Davis: “RIP Suzanne Somers. I grew up watching Three’s Company. You were a joy and forever young. Rest well.”

Bethenny Frankel: “Suzanne Somers has passed away, which is such tragic news. I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know her. She is a force, she is groundbreaking, she is love. She was married to her soulmate, best friend, they were inseparable. She’s a family person, she’s about research and fighting for what she believes in when that takes tremendous courage and it’s not popular. Wow, I really, really had so much respect for her…what a wonderful person.”

Deborah Roberts: “How sad to hear that actress and Uber businesswoman, Suzanne Somers, has died. She was going to turn 77 tomorrow. She had fought breast cancer for more than 2 decades. Will never forget her ‘Chrissy’ in the hit show Three’s Company.”

Olivia Munn: “[heartbreak emoji].”

Megyn Kelly: “Oh no! So sad to see this. She loved to make people laugh. I met her once and she just beamed kindness and beauty and love. R.I.P. Suzanne Somers.”

Caitlyn Jenner: “RIP @suzannesomers.”

Erin Murphy: “Funny and beautiful. Rest in Peace, Suzanne Somers. I had the pleasure of meeting her several times. Her scenes in American Graffiti inspired me to get a T-Bird.”

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Laurie died of old age, her manager, Marion Rosenberg, told The Associated Press via email, adding that she was “a superb talent and a wonderful human being.”

Laurie arrived in Hollywood in 1949 as Rosetta Jacobs and was quickly given a contract with Universal-International, a new name that she hated and a string of starring roles with Ronald Reagan, Rock Hudson and Tony Curtis, among others.

She went on to receive Academy Award nominations for three distinct films: The 1961 poolroom drama “The Hustler”; the film version of Stephen King’s horror classic “Carrie,” in 1976; and the romantic drama “Children of a Lesser God,” in 1986. She also appeared in several acclaimed roles on television and the stage, including in David Lynch’s “Twin Peaks” in the 1990s as the villainous Catherine Martell.

Laurie made her debut at 17 in “Louisa,” playing Reagan’s daughter, then appeared opposite Francis the talking mule in “Francis Goes to the Races.” She made several films with Curtis, whom she once dated, including “The Prince Who Was a Thief,” “No Room for the Groom,” “Son of Ali Baba” and “Johnny Dark.”

Fed up, she walked out on her $2,000-a-week contract in 1955, vowing she wouldn’t work again unless offered a decent part.

She moved to New York, where she found the roles she was seeking in theater and live television drama.

Performances in “Days of Wine and Roses,” “The Deaf Heart” and “The Road That Led After” brought her Emmy nominations and paved the way for a return to films, including in an acclaimed role as Paul Newman’s troubled girlfriend in “The Hustler.”

For many years after, Laurie turned her back on acting. She married film critic Joseph Morgenstern, welcomed a daughter, Ann Grace, and moved to a farmhouse in Woodstock, New York. She said later that the Civil Rights Movement and the Vietnam War had influenced her decision to make the change.

“I was disenchanted and looking for an existence more meaningful for me,” she recalled, adding the she never regretted the move.

“My life was full,” she said in 1990. “I always liked using my hands, and I always painted.”

Laurie also became noted as a baker, with her recipes appearing in The New York Times.

Her only performing during that time came when she joined a dozen musicians and actors in a tour of college campuses to support Sen. George McGovern’s 1972 presidential bid.

Laurie was finally ready to return to acting when director Brian De Palma called her about playing the deranged mother of Sissy Spacek in “Carrie.”

At first she felt the script was junk, and then she decided she should play the role for laughs. Not until De Palma chided her for putting a comedic turn on a scene did she realize he meant the film to be a thriller.

“Carrie” became a box-office smash, launching a craze for movies about teenagers in jeopardy, and Spacek and Laurie were both nominated for Academy Awards.

Her desire to act rekindled, Laurie resumed a busy career that spanned decades. On television, she appeared in such series as “Matlock,” “Murder, She Wrote” and “Frasier” and played George Clooney’s mother on “ER.”

___

Bob Thomas, a longtime and now deceased staffer of The Associated Press, was the principal writer of this obituary. Associated Press writer Hannah Fingerhut contributed from Des Moines, Iowa.

The former Food Network star passed away at age 61 at a hospital in Napa, Calif. after being treated there for the past week for an acute allergic reaction that had led to anaphylactic shock, his company Gruppo Chiarello announced in a statement Oct. 7. He spent his final moments surrounded by family and friends, the group added.

“We deeply mourn the loss of our beloved patriarch Michael,” the company quoted his family as saying. “His culinary brilliance, boundless creativity, and unwavering commitment to family were at the core of his being. He brought people together through the joy of shared meals, fostering lasting memories around the table.”

The statement continued, “As we navigate this profound loss, we hold dear the moments we cherished with him, both in his kitchens and in our hearts. His legacy will forever live on in the love he poured into every dish and the passion he instilled in all of us to savor life’s flavors.”

Chiarello, a California native, had opened his first restaurant in Napa, Tra Vigne, in 1987—two years after Food & Wine Magazine named him Chef of the Year. He also founded Chiarello Family Vineyards in 1999 and released a slew of cookbooks before he made his TV debut in 2000 as the host of PBS cooking series “Season by Season.”

In 2003, Chiarello began hosting the Food Network show “Easy Entertaining with Michael Chiarello,” which aired for 10 seasons until 2008. He later competed on Bravo’s “Top Chef Masters” and also appeared on episodes of the Food Network’s “The Best Thing I Ever Ate” and “The Next Iron Chef.” His last TV appearance came in 2016, when he starred on a double episode of the latter cable channel’s series “Chopped” titled “Grill Masters: Napa.”

His company said in their statement that funeral arrangements will remain private, and in lieu of flowers, his family requests donations to Meals on Wheels, “ensuring his commitment to culinary excellence and sustainability lives on.”

Jamie Foxx is reflecting on the life of his longtime friend and costar Keith Jefferson.

The “Django Unchained” star shared the news of Jefferson’s death on social media with a heartfelt tribute on Oct. 5. Jefferson—also an actor who appeared in “The Hateful Eight” and “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”—was 53.

“Everything hurts right now,” Foxx wrote on Instagram. “Having a hard time looking through these pictures, reliving the memories of us having a great time. Going to miss you man, gonna miss you.”

Giving followers a glimpse into their friendship, the 55-year-old continued, “Since we met back in college, you have been an incredible soul. God rest, NEVER THOUGHT I WOULD HAVE TO SEE THE WORDS ABOUT MY FRIEND. RIP @keith.jefferson.”

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Beneath the touching message, Foxx shared a picture of himself and Jefferson standing in front of a private plane and embracing in a brotherly handshake.

In a secondary post, the “Beat Shazam” host expressed how much the loss truly “hurts.”

“Keith, you’ve been nothing but absolute grace your whole life. Your heart is pure, your love is immeasurable, you were an amazing soul,” Foxx said. “We will all miss you dearly. It’s gonna take a long time for this to heal. Goodbye, my friend. I love you.”

Celebrity Deaths: 2023’s Fallen Stars

A cause of death has yet to be revealed, but back in August, Jefferson shared on social media that he had cancer.

“Every now and then God will give you a challenge and leave it up to you to fix it,” he posted on Instagram alongside a photo of himself in the hospital. “When I was first diagnosed with cancer I had to stop, pause, and didn’t want to share with anyone. Not my family nor extended family. Today I’m finally at a place to share because my faith is getting stronger. I have a loving family and the best friends in the entire world.”

Weeks later, Jefferson uploaded a snap of himself and Foxx with a friend, detailing how they’ve supported him.

“When I say the admiration I have for my friends is unmatched,” Jefferson noted Aug. 30. “My heart will never lie. Rodney Mason who has been a beam of light thru my dark times. Thank you brother. J Foxx…you already know. For you to take the time to spend with me everyday, every hour tells me everything I already know. You are my family and I wouldn’t have it no other way. Luv you bro. I will pull thru because my faith is strong and with God on my side I won’t worry.”

Jefferson was an actor, producer, voiceover artist and acting coach, according to his personal website. He had worked alongside Foxx as far back as 1998, per his IMDb.

Jefferson appeared in two episodes of the sitcom “The Jamie Foxx Show” and was in Quentin Tarantino‘s 2012 film “Django Unchained” with an uncredited role. Most recently, the actor appeared in Foxx’s 2022 Netflix movie “Day Shift,” as well as his new film “The Burial.”

New details on Len Goodman’s passing have been disclosed.

Nearly six months after the “Dancing With the Stars” judge died at the age of 78, his cause of death has been attributed to prostate cancer spreading to his bones, according to his death certificate obtained by The Daily Express.

Goodman’s agent previously confirmed his passing to the Associated Press on April 24.

“It is with great sadness to announce that Len Goodman has passed away peacefully, aged 78,” the “Strictly Come Dancing” alum’s agent Jackie Gill said in a statement. “A much-loved husband, father and grandfather who will be sorely missed by family, friends and all who knew him.”

While serving as a judge on the BBC competition series Strictly Come Dancing from its 2004 inception, Goodman simultaneously joined ABC’s Dancing With the Stars alongside fellow judges Carrie Ann Inaba and Bruno Tonioli when it premiered the following year.

Last November, Goodman announced his exit from the U.S. show after 17 years, sharing that he felt a “touch of sadness.”

Celebrity Deaths: 2023’s Fallen Stars

“I’ve been with the show since it started in 2005,” he said during the show’s Nov. 15 episode. “It has been a huge pleasure to be a part of such a wonderful show. I’ve decided I’d like to spend more time with my grandchildren and family back in Britain.”

He added, “I cannot thank you enough, the “Dancing With the Stars” family. It’s been such a wonderful experience for me.”

Ahead of the season 32 premiere, the series announced that their famed Mirrorball trophy would be renamed and redesigned in Goodman’s honor.

“The Len Goodman Mirrorball Trophy will now be lifted on Dancing With the Stars like the Vince Lombardi trophy is lifted at the Super Bowl,” executive producer Conrad Green told USA Today in September. “We wanted to make Len a permanent part of this show, to always remind people the importance he’s had to Dancing With the Stars and how much he meant to all of us.”

The Orioles announced his death in a joint statement with Robinson’s family Tuesday. The statement did not say how Robinson died.

Coming of age before the free agent era, Robinson spent his entire 23-year career with the Orioles. He almost single-handedly helped Baltimore defeat Cincinnati in the 1970 World Series and homered in Game 1 of the Orioles’ 1966 sweep of the Los Angeles Dodgers for their first crown.

Robinson participated in 18 All-Star Games, won 16 consecutive Gold Gloves and earned the 1964 AL Most Valuable Player award after batting .318 with 28 home runs and a league-leading 118 RBIs.

“An integral part of our Orioles Family since 1955, he will continue to leave a lasting impact on our club, our community, and the sport of baseball,” the team said.

He finished with 268 homers, drove in 1,357 runs and batted a respectable .267 in 2,896 career games. Not bad for ol’ No. 5, the boy from Arkansas.

But he will be forever remembered for his work ethic and the skill he displayed at the hot corner, where he established himself as one of the finest fielding third baseman in baseball history, whether charging slow rollers or snaring liners down the third-base line.

“Brooks was maybe the last guy to get into the clubhouse the day of the game, but he would be the first guy on the field,” former Orioles manager Earl Weaver said. “He’d be taking his groundballs, and we’d all go, ‘Why does Brooks have to take any groundballs?’

“I wouldn’t expect anything else from Brooks. Seeing him work like that meant a lot of any young person coming up. He was so steady, and he steadied everybody else.”

Robinson arrived in Baltimore in September 1955 as an 18-year-old after spending most of his first professional season in baseball with Class B York. He went 2 for 22 with the Orioles and struck out 10 times.

He jockeyed between the majors and minors until July 1959, when he stuck around in Baltimore for good.

Brooks Calbert Robinson Jr. was born in Little Rock on May 18, 1937. He eventually made Baltimore his home but never really lost his southern twang, which was just fine with fans in blue-collar Baltimore, who appreciated his homespun charm and unassuming demeanor.

Dubbed “Mr. Oriole,” he was a sports hero in Charm City, in the pantheon with former Colts quarterback Johnny Unitas and Orioles infielder Cal Ripken, who performed for a different generation.

Many Orioles rooters who never got to see Robinson play still were able to enjoy his observations as he was part of team broadcasts.

Ripken was known as The Iron Man because he played in 2,632 consecutive games, but Robinson wasn’t fond of sitting on the bench, either. From 1960-1975, he played in at least 152 games in 14 seasons and in 144 games the other two years.

“I’m a guy who just wanted to see his name in the lineup everyday,” he said. “To me, baseball was a passion to the point of obsession.”

Robinson retired in 1977 after batting only .149 in 24 games. His jersey was retired that year.

Robinson’s most memorable performance came as MVP of the 1970 World Series, when the Orioles bounced back from their stunning defeat to the New York Mets the year before and Robinson redeemed himself after batting just 1 for 19 in that series. Because he was so sensational in the field during Baltimore’s five-game triumph over the Reds, few remember he hit .429 and homered twice and drove in six runs — or that he made an error on his first play in the field.

In Game 1, Robinson delivered the tiebreaking home run in the seventh inning. One inning earlier, he made a sensational backhanded grab of a hard grounder hit down the line by Lee May, spun around in foul territory and somehow threw out the runner.

Robinson contributed an RBI single in the second game and became forever a part of World Series lore with his standout performance in Game 3. He made a tremendous, leaping grab of a grounder by Tony Perez to start a first-inning double play; charged a slow roller in the second inning and threw out Tommy Helms; then capped his memorable afternoon with a diving catch of a liner by Johnny Bench. The Series ended, fittingly, with a ground out to Robinson in Game 5, a 9-3 Orioles win.

“I’m beginning to see Brooks in my sleep,” Reds manager Sparky Anderson said during the Series. “If I dropped this paper plate, he’d pick it up on one hop and throw me out at first.”

Anderson also said, “He can throw his glove out there and it will start 10 double plays by itself.”

Jim Palmer and other teammates would say that the country got to see what Robinson did routinely during the regular season. Robinson used to blush when asked to recall his heroics in October 1970.

“I tell people that I played 23 seasons and I never did have five games in a row like I did in that World Series,” he said. “It was a once in a lifetime five-game series for me, and it just happened to be in a World Series.”

His legacy in Maryland continued long after his retirement.

There’s a Brooks Robinson Drive in Pikesville, and the annual state high school All-Star game played at Camden Yards is named in his honor.

McCallum died Monday of natural causes surrounded by family at New York Presbyterian Hospital, CBS said in a statement.

“David was a gifted actor and author, and beloved by many around the world. He led an incredible life, and his legacy will forever live on through his family and the countless hours on film and television that will never go away,” said a statement from CBS.

Scottish-born McCallum had been doing well appearing in such films “A Night to Remember” (about the Titanic), “The Great Escape” and “The Greatest Story Ever Told” (as Judas). But it was “The Man From U.N.C.L.E.” that made the blond actor with the Beatlesque haircut a household name in the mid-’60s.

The success of the James Bond books and films had set off a chain reaction, with secret agents proliferating on both large and small screens. Indeed, Bond creator Ian Fleming contributed some ideas as “The Man From U.N.C.L.E.” was being developed, according to Jon Heitland’s “The Man From U.N.C.L.E. Book.”

The show, which debuted in 1964, starred Robert Vaughn as Napoleon Solo, an agent in a secretive, high-tech squad of crime fighters whose initials stood for United Network Command for Law and Enforcement. Despite the Cold War, the agency had an international staff, with McCallum as Illya Kuryakin, Solo’s Russian sidekick.

The role was relatively small at first, McCallum recalled, adding in a 1998 interview that “I’d never heard of the word ‘sidekick’ before.”

The show drew mixed reviews but eventually caught on, particularly with teenage girls attracted by McCallum’s good looks and enigmatic, intellectual character. By 1965, Illya was a full partner to Vaughn’s character and both stars were mobbed during personal appearances.

The series lasted to 1968. Vaughn and McCallum reunited in 1983 for a nostalgic TV movie, “The Return of the Man From U.N.C.L.E.,” in which the agents were lured out of retirement to save the world once more.

McCallum returned to television in 2003 in another series with an agency known by its initials — CBS’ “NCIS.” He played Dr. Donald “Ducky” Mallard, a bookish pathologist for the Naval Criminal Investigation Service, an agency handling crimes involving the Navy or the Marines. Mark Harmon played the NCIS boss.

McCallum said he thought Ducky, who sported glasses and a bow tie and had an eye for pretty women, “looked a little silly, but it was great fun to do.” He took the role seriously, too, spending time in the Los Angeles coroner’s office to gain insight into how autopsies are conducted.

The series built an audience gradually, eventually reaching the roster of top 10 shows. McCallum, who lived in New York, stayed in a one-bedroom apartment in Santa Monica when “NCIS” was in production.

“He was a scholar and a gentleman, always gracious, a consummate professional, and never one to pass up a joke. From day one, it was an honor to work with him and he never let us down. He was, quite simply, a legend, said a statement from ”NCIS” Executive Producers Steven D. Binder and David North.

McCallum’s work with “U.N.C.L.E.” brought him two Emmy nominations, and he got a third as an educator struggling with alcoholism in a 1969 Hallmark Hall of Fame drama called “Teacher, Teacher.”

In 1975, he had the title role in a short-lived science fiction series, “The Invisible Man,” and from 1979 to 1982 he played Steel in a British science fiction series, “Sapphire and Steel.” Over the years, he also appeared in guest shots in many TV shows, including “Murder, She Wrote” and “Sex and the City.”

He appeared on Broadway in a 1968 comedy, “The Flip Side,” and in a 1999 revival of “Amadeus” starring Michael Sheen and David Suchet. He also was in several off-Broadway productions.

Largely based in the U.S. from the 1960s onward, McCallum was a longtime American citizen, telling The Associated Press in 2003 that “I have always loved the freedom of this country and everything it stands for. And I live here, and I like to vote here.”

David Keith McCallum was born in Glasgow in 1933. His parents were musicians; his father, also named David, played violin, his mother played cello. When David was 3, the family moved to London, where David Sr. played with the London Philharmonic and Royal Philharmonic.

Young David attended the Royal Academy of Music where he learned the oboe. He decided he wasn’t good enough, so he turned to theater, studying briefly at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. But “I was a small, emaciated blond with a caved chest, so there weren’t an awful lot of parts for me,” he commented in a Los Angeles Times interview in 2009.

After time out for military service, he returned to London and began getting work on live television and movies, In 1957 he appeared in “Robbery Under Arms,” an adventure set in early Australia, with a rising actress, Jill Ireland. The couple married that same year.

In 1963, McCallum was part of the large cast of “The Great Escape” and he and his wife became friendly with Charles Bronson, also in the film. Ireland eventually fell in love with Bronson and she and McCallum divorced in 1967. She married Bronson in 1968.

“It all worked out fine,” McCallum said in 2009, “because soon after that I got together with Katherine (Carpenter, a former model) and we’ve been very happily married for 42 years.”

McCallum had three sons from his first marriage, Paul, Jason and Valentine, and a son and daughter from his second, Peter and Sophie. Jason died of an overdose.

“He was a true Renaissance man—he was fascinated by science and culture and would turn those passions into knowledge. For example, he was capable of conducting a symphony orchestra and (if needed) could actually perform an autopsy, based on his decades-long studies for his role on NCIS,” Peter McCallum said in a statement.

In 2007, when he was working on “NCIS,” McCallum told a reporter: “I’ve always felt the harder I work, the luckier I get. I believe in serendipitous things happening, but at the same time, dedicating yourself to what you do is the best way to get along in this life.”

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Bob Thomas, a longtime Associated Press journalist who died in 2014, was the principal writer of this obituary.

The athlete-turned-Nashville real estate broker was killed in a motorcycle crash early Sept. 23. Police told local TV station WKRN that he was driving his Indian Motorcycle west on a street in a residential area when he traveled through a stop sign and struck the driver’s side of a BMW SUV, which immediately stopped after the collision, while Kerdiles was transported to a hospital and later died of his injuries.

Investigators also told the outlet there were no signs of impairment on behalf of either driver and no charges are anticipated against the BMW driver.

Kerdiles had shared a photo of himself riding an Indian Motorcycle on his Instagram Stories a few hours before the accident. He captioned the pic, his final post, “Night rider.”

Following news of his death, Kerdiles received a tribute from his former NHL team, the Anaheim Ducks.

“We’re heartbroken to hear the news about Nic Kerdiles, who died in a motorcycle accident this morning,” they tweeted. “An Irvine native, Nic became the first player from Orange County to play for the Ducks, in 2017. Our thoughts and deepest sympathies go out to his family and loved ones.”

Celebrity Deaths: 2023’s Fallen Stars

Kerdiles was engaged to Chrisley, daughter of Todd Chrisley and Julie Chrisley’s second daughter, between 2018 and 2020. He also appeared on her family’s reality show “Chrisley Knows Best.”

The two remained close following their split. In August 2021, Chrisley told E! News, “Nic and I, we’re in each others’ day to day lives. We are at a point in our lives when we’re learning so many different things and growing and we’re just trying to find a balance, as well as just truly figuring out ourselves and what we want out of life, and just take it day by day.”

Chrisley later moved on with another partner. This past March, she said on the “Off The Vine with Kaitlyn Bristowe” podcast that she was “dating someone,” without offering more details. In May, Chrisley said on her “Unlocked” podcast that she recently dated country singer Nate Smith for several months.

She also said she and Kerdiles had “actually have reached a point to where we can be, like, civil with one another.” She added, per People, “We both work in Nashville and the real estate market. We work on deals together and we are very cordial. So for that, I am grateful. And I’ll leave it at that.”

Chrisley has not commented on Kerdiles’ death.

Weeks before his passing, Kerdiles visited his family and shared a photo of himself with his niece and nephew.

“Getting to go home this past weekend and seeing my family was something that I need more than I knew,” he wrote on Instagram. “Time in this life goes by quicker and quicker each day.”

He continued, “I will never again take the these days with them for granted and my advice is the same for everyone else. Love is unconditional, and it’s rare to find in this world. I’m so thankful that I have parents, siblings, nieces and nephews that love me back the way they do. I’ve already booked my next trip back home and I cannot wait to see them again soon! Love you guys all so much!”

Cloud, 25, died of a lethal mix of methamphetamine, fentanyl, cocaine and benzodiazepines, the coroner’s office confirmed in a phone call with NBC News. The breakout television star died at his family’s home in Oakland, California, in July.

Prior to this death, Cloud’s family said the young actor was struggling with the grief of losing his father. The family’s initial statement following his death referenced Cloud’s ongoing mental health issues.

Read the full story at NBCNews.com.

The soap world has lost a veteran star.

Billy Miller, best known for his role on daytime TV dramas such as “The Young and the Restless” and “General Hospital,” has died. He was 43.

His manager confirmed the news to multiple outlets Sept. 17 saying that the Emmy-winning actor passed away in Austin, Texas, on Sept. 15, two days before his birthday. Details about his death were not available. Miller’s manager said he was struggling with manic depression when he died.

The soap star was born William John Miller II in Tulsa, Okla., and grew up in Texas. After appearing in several TV commercials, he made his official onscreen acting debut in 2006, playing a small role on “CSI: NY.” The following year, he began his soap career, playing Richie Novak on “All My Children” until 2008, after which he began his run on “The Young and the Restless,” becoming the fourth actor to portray Billy Abbott, the son of John and Jill Abbott. Miller won three Daytime Emmys for his role.

Celebrity Deaths: 2023’s Fallen Stars

Following his departure from the series in 2014, Miller began starring on “General Hospital,” playing Jason Morgan. When Steve Burton returned to the show to reprise that role, a part he had played in past years, Miller’s character was changed to that of the character’s twin brother Drew Cain. Miller left “General Hospital” in 2019.

In addition to his work on “CSI: NY” and soap operas, the actor also had roles on “Suits,” “Ray Donovan,” “Justified” and most recently, in 2022, “NCIS.”

Miller is survived by his mother Patricia, sister Megan, brother-in-law Ronnie, nephew Grayson and niece Charley, Variety reported.

Following news of his death, a tribute to Miller was posted on the official X page (formerly Twitter) for “The Young and the Restless,” which read, “The daytime community mourns the loss of Billy Miller who graced Y&R with his talent for many years as Billy Abbott. Our deepest sympathies to his family and loved ones.”