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Actor Matthew Perry, beloved star of the top-rated 1990s U.S. television sitcom "Friends" as the wise-cracking Chandler Bing, died aged 54. He was found dead in the jacuzzi of his Los Angeles home. The five surviving co-stars of the show paid tribute to their castmate in a joint message lamenting his death as an "unfathomable loss." Perry's death came one year after publication of his memoir,... Read more
Jimmy Buffett, the American singer-songwriter who went from Key West beach bum to billionaire behind the always-on-vacation "Margaritaville" commercial empire, died at the age of 76. Buffett built his name touring his folk-country songs around the United States in the 1970s. His 1977 breakthrough hit was a melodic track with a tropical lilt that soon became a mainstay of resort musicians and a... Read more
Tina Turner, who left a hardscrabble farming community and abusive relationship to become one of the top recording artists of all time, died after a long illness. She was 83. Turner began her career in the 1950s during the early years of rock 'n' roll and evolved into an MTV phenomenon. Sometimes nicknamed the "Queen of Rock 'n' Roll," Turner won six of her eight Grammy Awards in the 1980s. Her... Read more
Bob Barker, an affable fixture on U.S. television for half a century who hosted the popular game show "The Price Is Right" for 35 years and was a committed animal rights activist, died at age 99. "The Price Is Right," in which contestants tried to guess the price of various consumer products and played a slew of games to win prizes, became a U.S. pop culture institution on daytime TV with the... Read more
Tony Bennett, the smooth singer who had an enduring hit with "I Left My Heart in San Francisco" and remained perpetually cool enough to win over younger generations of fans well into the 21st century, died at 96 of age-related causes. No less than Frank Sinatra called the former singing waiter "the best singer in the business" after he became a star in the 1950s. Bennett went on to win 20... Read more
Irish singer Sinead O'Connor, known for her stirring voice, 1990 chart-topping hit "Nothing Compares 2 U" and outspoken views, died at the age of 56. Police said O'Connor was found unresponsive at an address in London and pronounced dead at the scene. Brash and direct - her shaved head, pained expression, and shapeless wardrobe a direct challenge to popular culture's long-prevailing notions of... Read more
Harry Belafonte, a singer, songwriter and groundbreaking actor who started his entertainment career belting "Day O" in his 1950s hit song "Banana Boat" before turning to political activism, died at the age of 96. As a Black leading man who explored racial themes in 1950s movies, Belafonte would later move on to working with his friend Martin Luther King Jr. during the U.S. civil rights movement... Read more
Former U.S. first lady Rosalynn Carter, who President Jimmy Carter called "an extension of myself" owing to his wife's prominent role in his administration even as she tirelessly promoted the cause of mental health, died at age 96. Her interest in mental health issues stemmed from the early 1970s when she began to realize, while helping her husband campaign for governor, the depth of the... Read more
Angus Cloud, who played Fezco, an intense drug dealer with a moral code, in the HBO teen drama series "Euphoria," died at age 25 just days after the death of his father. "Angus was open about his battle with mental health and we hope that his passing can be a reminder to others that they are not alone and should not fight this on their own in silence," a statement from the family said. ... Read more
Paul Reubens, the actor who played Pee-wee Herman, a nerdy character who wore a gray suit and red bowtie while delighting children and adults alike with his distinctive "heh heh heh" laugh, died at age 70. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly
Actress Raquel Welch, who helped reshape the traditional image of the Hollywood sex symbol in an era when the movie industry was still overtly defining an idealized version of sensuality for mass consumption, died at age 82. Welch first grabbed the public's attention with her role in the 1966 sci-fi adventure "Fantastic Voyage." Her portrayal of strong, willful characters was credited with... Read more
Retired Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, the first woman on the U.S. Supreme Court, whose centrist views and shrewd negotiating skills allowed her to steer the nation’s law for much of her quarter-century tenure, died at the age of 93. Although she was conservative by nature, she became the court's ideological center. With pragmatism and a knack for building consensus, she controlled decisions on... Read more
Singer Lisa Marie Presley, the only daughter of the "King of Rock 'n' Roll," Elvis Presley, died on Thursday at the age of 54 after being rushed to a Los Angeles-area hospital, her mother said. She became the owner of her father's Graceland mansion a popular tourist attraction in the city. She was nine years old when Elvis died there. She was married four times, including to Michael Jackson and... Read more
Henry Kissinger, the most powerful U.S. diplomat of the Cold War era, who helped Washington open up to China, forge arms control deals with the Soviet Union and end the Vietnam War, but who was reviled by critics over human rights, died at aged 100. Kissinger was at the height of his powers during the 1970s in the middle of the Cold War when he served as national security adviser and secretary... Read more
Composer Burt Bacharach, whose hits such as "Do You Know the Way to San Jose" and "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head" provided a mellow alternative soundtrack to rock and roll in the 1960s and 1970s, died at the age of 94. Bacharach wrote more than 500 songs, many featuring a tinkling piano and subtly seductive horn hooks. He penned hits for singers ranging from Dionne Warwick to the... Read more
Suzanne Somers, best known for her role on the television show "Three's Company" and for fitness and health business ventures, died aged 76. Somers, who launched to fame as Chrissy Snow on the popular 1970s sitcom, was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2000, and announced in late July that it had returned. Beyond appearances in television and movies, Somers was also known for writing numerous... Read more
Alan Arkin, a versatile and prolific American actor who thrived in both comic and dramatic roles and won an Oscar for playing a heroin-using grandfather in the 2006 film "Little Miss Sunshine," died at age 89. Arkin appeared in scores of films, was nominated for an Academy Award four times and won a Tony Award, Broadway's top honors, in 1963 for his first major stage role in Carl Reiner's... Read more
Pat Robertson, the televangelist who helped turn Christian conservatives into a potent force in U.S. politics, died at age 93. Robertson founded the network in 1960 and hosted the flagship program "The 700 Club" for decades, offering prayers and political commentary. In 1980, the show helped galvanize support among Christian conservatives for Republican Ronald Reagan's successful campaign for... Read more
Hong Kong-born American singer Coco Lee died at age 48 following a suicide attempt that left her in a coma. Lee was hugely popular in China and Taiwan, especially in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Her career spanned around 30 years. Among her most notable performances were voicing of the female warrior Mulan in the Mandarin-language version of Disney's "Mulan" and performing the... Read more
Two-time Emmy-winning actor Andre Braugher, star of the television comedy "Brooklyn Nine-Nine" and the 1990s police drama "Homicide: Life on the Street," died at age 61. In all, he had 11 Emmy nominations, according to the Television Academy's website, and 67 acting credits, according to IMDB.com. REUTERS/Mike Segar
Canadian musician Gordon Lightfoot, the prolific singer-songwriter known for such folk-pop hits as "If You Could Read My Mind" and "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald," died at age 84. Known for his evocative lyrics and melodic compositions, Lightfoot received five Grammy nominations over the years and won 17 Juno awards, Canada's equivalent music honor. REUTERS/Mathieu Belanger
Television personality Jerry Springer, known for a long-running talk show that featured raucous audiences, controversial topics and fist-fighting guests and who briefly served as Cincinnati mayor, died at age 79. The daytime program, known as "The Jerry Springer Show," was initially a politically oriented show but later featured everyday people discussing sensationalistic topics, often related... Read more
Dianne Feinstein, a long-serving Democratic U.S. senator from California and gun control advocate who spearheaded the first federal assault weapons ban and documented the CIA's torture of foreign terrorism suspects, died at 90. Feinstein was a Washington trailblazer who, among other accomplishments, became the first woman to head the influential Senate Intelligence Committee. She became San... Read more
Actor Lance Reddick, best known for his commanding presence as a no-nonsense police chief on the acclaimed television drama "The Wire" and for his supporting work in the "John Wick" action-film series, died at age 60. REUTERS/Danny Moloshok
Jane Birkin, a 1960s British-born wildchild who became a beloved figure in France, died aged 76. Birkin was best known overseas for her 1969 hit in which she and her then-lover, the late French singer and songwriter Serge Gainsbourg, sang the sexually explicit “Je t’aime...moi non plus”. She inspired the famous Birkin bag by French luxury house Hermes, after chief executive Jean-Louis Dumas... Read more
David Crosby, one of the most influential rock musicians of the 1960s and '70s and who was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame with two different groups, died at the age of 81. Crosby was a founding member of two revered rock bands: the country and folk-influenced Byrds, for whom he cowrote the hit "Eight Miles High," and Crosby, Stills & Nash, later Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, who... Read more
Richard Roundtree, a trailblazing Black actor who played the private eye John Shaft in the "Shaft" films of the 1970s and also took on dramatic roles dealing with race relations in America, died aged 81. Roundtree shot to fame with the 1971 Blaxploitation movie "Shaft" about a private detective in the Harlem section of New York, and he reprised the role in a number of sequels and a short-lived... Read more
William Friedkin, who achieved cinematic immortality by directing the bleak, gritty 1971 drug-smuggling thriller "The French Connection" and the terrifying 1973 demon-possession blockbuster "The Exorcist," died at the age of 87. Friedkin got his start as a director with the mild 1967 musical comedy "Good Times" starring Sonny and Cher, then spent the rest of his career creating some of the most... Read more
Robbie Robertson, the guitarist and main songwriter in The Band, the Canadian-American group known for songs including "The Weight" and "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down," died at the age of 80. Robertson, who left his Toronto home at age 16 to pursue his rock'n'roll dreams, gained attention with his bandmates - originally dubbed The Hawks - supporting Bob Dylan on his "Going Electric" tours... Read more
David Jolicoeur of the hip hop trio De La Soul passed away at the age of 54. With music that seemed to defy categorization, and featuring samples ranging from Liberace to Hall & Oates, De La Soul cemented themselves as one of the most innovative rap groups of all time, inspiring an experimentation with the genre that has helped fuel hip hop's exponential growth. Jolicoeur performed under the... Read more
Silvio Berlusconi, the billionaire media mogul and former Italian prime minister who transformed the nation's politics with polarising policies and often alarmed his allies with his brazen remarks, died aged 86. After building a real estate, soccer and television empire in the 1970s and 1980s, Berlusconi threw himself into politics, becoming prime minister four times - in 1994-95, 2001-05,... Read more
Treat Williams, known for his roles in "Hair" and "Everwood", was killed in a motorcycle accident in Vermont at the age of 71. Williams' break-out role was for the 1979 movie Hair, based on the Broadway musical. He also starred in Everwood as a neurosurgeon who moved his family from New York City to Colorado. REUTERS/Gus Ruelas
Producer-writer Norman Lear, whose groundbreaking hit comedies such as "All in the Family" and "Maude" addressed race, abortion and other social issues rarely seen before on U.S. television, died at the age of 101. Lear, who won six Emmy Awards for his work in television, was known for his campaigning for liberal causes, including voting rights, and worked well into his 90s. In addition to "All... Read more
Daniel Ellsberg, the U.S. military analyst whose change of heart on the Vietnam War led him to leak the classified "Pentagon Papers," revealing U.S. government deception about the war and setting off a major freedom-of-the-press battle, died at the age of 92. Ellsberg secretly went to the media in 1971 in hopes of expediting the end of the Vietnam War. It made him the target of a smear campaign... Read more
Tom Sizemore, known as much for his struggles with drug addiction and run-ins with the law as for his tough-guy roles in such films as "Saving Private Ryan" and "Black Hawk Down," died at age 61. REUTERS/Phil McCarten
Sixto Rodriguez, an American singer-songwriter whose outsized popularity in South Africa inspired the Oscar-winning documentary "Searching for Sugar Man," passed away at the age of 81. The Detroit-based Rodriguez did not know how popular he had become in South Africa, where his songs became anthems for the anti-apartheid struggle in the 1970s. Back in the United States, success had eluded him.... Read more
Richard Belzer, who portrayed Detective John Munch for 23 years as a series regular on "Homicide: Life on the Street" and "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" died at age 78. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly
Jim Brown, one of the greatest running backs in the history of the National Football League who quit the game at the height of his career to act in Hollywood movies and add his voice to the civil rights movement, died at age 87. As an explosive fullback for the Cleveland Browns, Brown combined power, speed, intensity and size (6 feet 2 inches, 230 pounds) in a way not seen in the NFL before he... Read more
Ryan O'Neal, the 1970s Hollywood heartthrob who starred in such films as the smash-hit tearjerker "Love Story," screwball comedy "What's Up, Doc?" and "Paper Moon," the movie that also launched his daughter's movie career, died at age 82. O'Neal, also known for his long-time relationship with the late actress Farrah Fawcett, was a Los Angeles native who trained as an amateur boxer before taking... Read more
Jeff Beck, the influential, genre-bending English guitarist who rose to fame with The Yardbirds before later embarking on a solo career, died at the age of 78. He passed away peacefully on Tuesday after suddenly contracting bacterial meningitis, the family said. Beck is a two-time Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee - in 1992 for his work with The Yardbirds and as a solo performer in 2009. In... Read more
Burt Young, a veteran character actor best known for his Oscar nominated role as the brother-in-law and meat-cutting friend to Sylvester Stallone's prize-fighting protagonist in the "Rocky" films died at age 83. Other film credits include "Chinatown," "The Pope of Greenwich Village" and "Once Upon a Time in America." REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni
Bill Richardson, a former U.S. diplomat, congressman, energy secretary and New Mexico governor who made his mark on the world stage by securing the release of Americans and others held by various autocratic governments, died at the age of 75. Richardson, who made an unsuccessful 2008 bid to become the first Hispanic U.S. president, was elected as governor of New Mexico, serving from 2003 to... Read more
Michael Gambon, best known to global audiences for playing the wise professor Albus Dumbledore in the "Harry Potter" movie franchise and whose career was launched by his mentor Laurence Olivier, died aged 82. Gambon began his acting on the stage in the early 1960s and later moved into TV and film. Notable film roles include a psychotic mob leader in Peter Greenaway's "The Cook, the Thief, His... Read more
Clarence Avant, a music industry mogul and former chairman of Motown Records, died aged of 92. Avant, who was known as the "Godfather of Black Music," held influence beyond music and acted as an advisor to several U.S. presidents including Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. REUTERS/Gaelen Morse
David McCallum, who became one of TV's biggest stars of the 1960s playing Russian spy Illya Kuryakin on "The Man from U.N.C.L.E." and then won over a new generation of fans on the popular "NCIS" series decades later, died at age 90. REUTERS/Fred Prouser
Shane MacGowan, the London-Irish punk who transformed Irish traditional music with The Pogues and penned some of the 1980s' most haunting ballads before sinking into alcohol and drug addiction, died aged 65. MacGowan brought Irish traditional music to a huge new audience in the late 1980s by splicing it with punk, and achieved mainstream success with his bittersweet, expletive-strewn 1987... Read more
Bobby Charlton, the Manchester United player who won the World Cup with England and went on to become a much loved and hugely respected ambassador for club and country, died aged 86. Charlton, known for his powerful shooting and gravitas won three league titles, the European Cup and an FA Cup during a 20-year career with Manchester United. He was also an integral part of the England team that... Read more
Dick Butkus, a menacing Hall of Fame linebacker who struck fear in opposing offenses and quarterbacks for nine NFL seasons, died at age 80. Known as a ferocious and punishing tackler, Butkus came to define the modern middle linebacker while spending his entire career in Chicago, where he earned eight Pro Bowl selections. Kena Krutsinger-USA TODAY Sports
Barry Humphries, the comedian best known for his character Dame Edna Everage who blossomed from an Australian suburban housewife into a self-described gigastar, died at age 89. "He was completely himself until the very end, never losing his brilliant mind, his unique wit and generosity of spirit,” his family said in a statement. Although a household name in Britain and Australia, the U.S.... Read more
