Celebrity Deaths

Actor Roscoe Lee Browne has died.

He was 81.
He died early Wednesday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center after a long battle with cancer, said Alan Nierob, a spokesman for the family.
Browne narrated the 1995 hit movie "Babe."





Kurt Vonnegut has died at age 84.

His works include "Slaughterhouse-Five" and "Cat's Cradle". They were shaped by the horrors he witnessed during World War II.

Vonnegut died on Wednesday after suffering brain injuries following a fall weeks ago, said Donald Farber, Vonnegut's friend, lawyer, agent and manager.

Brad Delp's Suicide Sparks Up Old Grudges

The suicide of Brad Delp, lead singer for the 70's rock band Boston, has reignited the problems between old and new band members.

Tom Scholz wasn't informed about or invited to Delp's funeral even though he is the chief songwriter and founder. Early band members who remain close to Delp's ex-wife Micki did attend the memorial service for Delp.

Last week, Micki Delp was quoted as saying Delp was distressed about the conflicts in his professional life and became despondent after a long-time friend was cut from the band's summer concert lineup.

Scholz said that he feels he's being unfairly blamed for his friend's suicide. His lawyer sent Micki Delp a letter Friday demanding a retraction. But Scholz said he still hopes the rift can be mended so the band can be part of a public memorial service.

Delp's fiancee, Pamela Sullivan, said no one intentionally excluded the current band members from the funeral. The family simply wanted to get the children through it as quickly as possible.

Source

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Drag Racer Dies Five Days After Crash

It is with sad news that the world of racing has learned that Eric Medlen passed away in Shands at the University of Florida medical center from the closed head injury he sustained in a testing accident on Monday, March 19, at Gainesville Raceway, the day after the 33-year-old had competed in the GatorNationals.

From Motorsport.com


"On behalf of the family, I want to thank the medical staff at Shands not just for giving Eric the very best care he could have received, but for the compassion it showed for Eric and all those close to him" said his father, John Medlen. "I also want to thank the thousands of people who offered their prayers and support to us during this very difficult time."

Medlen was one of the up and coming stars in the National Hot Rod Association Drag Racing Championship POWERade Series, racing the Castrol Funny Car out of the John Force Racing stables.

Per the team press release just moments ago, Medlen "succumbed Friday afternoon" and he had never regained consciousness from the time of the accident up to the induced coma. Medlen had a craniotomy procedure on Tuesday evening to relive the pressure and hemorrhaging.

The medical staff, led by Dr. Joseph Layton, Professor of Anesthesiology, Surgery and Medicine and the Chief of Critical Care Medicine at UF, termed Medlen's injury to his brain as "diffuse axonal injury, or DAI". Layton stated: "Survival rates associated with DAI are low."

Layton when on to express, "Despite receiving the most aggressive treatment, Eric continued to have uncontrollable intracranial pressure. His body lost the ability to manage it's salt and water levels and he began displaying the complicating factors associated with DAI."

With the family by his side, they had to make a decision that no-one wants to face. "Eric's family elected to honor Eric's wishes and remove him from the artificial life support systems. Our hearts go out to Eric's loved ones," Layton said.

Medlen graduated from Oakdale High School in California and was on his way to a possible career in professional rodeo when he joined the JFR team as a mechanic.

The son of JFR's Castrol Funny Car crew chief Medlen climbed into the Ford Mustang that his father prepared in 2004; he earned the Funny Car rookie title in his debut season, In his first three season, Medlen won six events which included beating his boss, John Force.

"Eric Medlen was the son I never had," said team owner John Force. "He was the leader of my next generation of drivers. Robert Hight, my daughter Ashley and I were with the family throughout this very difficult time.

This loss is a huge blow not only to the Medlen family, but to drag racing and to John Force Racing. I just want to thank everybody for their support, from Larry Smiley with Racers for Christ to the hospital staff to the whole drag racing community. Our prayers go out to the family."

Dan Davis, Director, Ford Racing Technology, commented: "This is really tough to take. We are just heartbroken for Eric's family. He was such a great person and a tremendous competitor. Eric had an energy about him that was totally contagious. He was the type of guy who lit up the room the minute he walked into it. And if you knew him, you couldn't help but root for him because of how he came up through the sport and his absolute commitment to his work. The loss we feel at Ford is indescribable.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family, to John Force Racing, and to his fans. The sport lost one of its best people today."

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Anna Nicole Died From Fatal Dose of Sleeping Medication and Infection

Anna Nicole Smith died with a toxic level of the sleeping medication chloral hydrate in her system.

Taken from Star Magazine:

In a joint news gathering operation, the National Enquirer and Star magazine have solved the mystery of the former Playboy model's death and provide a detailed portrait of her final days.

The world exclusive details come days before Broward County, Fla., Chief Medical Examiner Joshua Perper will hold a press conference to announce the former Playboy Playmate's cause of death.

The Enquirer and Star have also learned that Anna Nicole had a raging blood infection. The infection was caused by an unsterilized needle and contributed to her death.

The infection was so serious, it would have killed her if she had not overdosed.

Contrary to speculation, tests show Anna Nicole did not have methadone or any other painkilling drug in her system at the time of her death.

The Enquirer learned that just before she left the Bahamas for Florida on February 5, three days before she died, Anna Nicole received an injection in her left buttock.

Tests did not reveal what that substance was.

"As she boarded the plane for Miami, Anna Nicole developed a painful abscess at the site of the injection," said a source with knowledge of the case. "The needle wasn't sterile. The pain kept getting worse as the abscess got larger and larger very quickly."

From Miami, Anna Nicole and her live-in lawyer Howard K. Stern traveled to Hollywood, Fla. The pain from the abscess became excruciating and Anna Nicole developed a high fever.

By the time she got to the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino her fever was 105.

Anna Nicole, unaware that her blood was being poisoned by infection, had also developed a second infection from a virulent form of norovirus, which causes intestinal problems.

It was at this point that Anna Nicole — and her entourage — made a fatal mistake. She refused to go to a hospital, a decision that would have saved her life.

Instead, Anna's people gave her an ice bath to control the fever, administered the antibiotic ciprofloxacin by mouth and gave her an over-the-counter flu medicine.

As the needle-caused infection took over her body, she began vomiting, had severe diarrhea and could not urinate.


On February 6, a Tuesday, Anna spent the whole day in bed. She could not keep fluids down. She was becoming severely dehydrated.

On Wednesday, February 7, Anna seemed somewhat better, but she wasn't, the source said.

"She was still vomiting and suffering diarrhea," said the source. "Again, she spent the whole day in bed, as the abscess continued to grow. She was in such pain, she just wanted to sleep."

And that's when the final fatal mistake was made. Sometime overnight on February 7, Anna ingested the sleeping medication chloral hydrate. The drug is extremely potent. The dose was too much — and in fact it was a toxic level, the Enquirer and Star have learned exclusively. On Thursday, February 8, Anna never woke up.

A nurse found her unresponsive at about 1:30 p.m.

At 2:49 p.m., Anna Nicole Smith was pronounced dead.

Preliminary analysis indicated the cause of death was systemic sepsis syndrome, a lethal blood infection. It was caused by the abscess of the left buttock. Further investigation revealed the fatal level of chloral hydrate.

Chloral hydrate can cause depression of respiration, especially in a person who is already sick because of an infection and dehydration and it can cause death within a relatively short period of time.

Anna Nicole also had scarring from numerous injections she got in the buttocks.

Source: Star Magazine

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Woody Harrelson's Father Dies While in Prison

Woody Harrelson's father, convicted murderer Charles Harrelson, died of a heart attack Wednesday at the "Supermax" federal prison in Florence, Colorado.

He was 69.

Harrelson always believed his father was innocent of charges that he killed U.S. District Judge John H. Wood in Texas in 1979. Woody was only seven years old when his father was sent away.

Charles Harrelson was a rumored professional gambler and hired hitman. After being sent to prison in Atlanta he tried to escape and was then transferred to Colorado. He was currently serving two life sentences after being prosecuted four times in three murders. He also claimed to have been involved with the Kennedy assassination.

"Woody had kind of a rough-hewn image," Michael Musto, gossip columnist for the Village Voice, told ABC News. "There was something very trailer-park about him and his appeal, so his father didn't destroy his career."

"I'm not saying my father is a saint, but I think he's innocent of that, yeah," Woody Harrelson once told ABC's Barbara Walters.

Source: ABCNews
Photo Credit: AP

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Calvert DeForest Dies At The Age of 85

Calvert DeForest, aka Larry "Bud" Melman on "Late Night with David Leterman," died in a New York hospital after a long illness.

DeForest portrayed Melman on Letterman's show on NBC during the 1980's and up until 2002. He died Monday at the age of 85.

"Everyone always wondered if Calvert was an actor playing a character, but in reality he was just himself - a genuine, modest and nice man," Letterman said in a statement Wednesday. "To our staff and to our viewers, he was a beloved and valued part of our show, and we will miss him."

Source: AP

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Hollywood..High

Experts Say the Death of Anna Nicole Smith Was a Wake-Up Call for Some, but Not Everyone Is Listening

By LAURA COVERSON


In Hollywood these days, driving in the wrong direction on a freeway, being caught "under the influence," or shaving your head in public and then racing off to rehab are just as likely to get you on the cover of a magazine as a big opening at the box office.

The list of headline-grabbing celebrities is long: Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan, Whitney Houston, Robert Downey Jr., Nicole Richie, Kate Moss and Marc Jacobs are among the stars who've gone public with their drug and alcohol problems and who are trying to walk the road to recovery.

Addiction specialist Drew Pinsky says the death of Anna Nicole Smith, an alleged drug abuser, was a wake-up call in Hollywood.

"She dies and then all of a sudden everybody goes into treatment. And that is typically what happens with addicts," says Pinsky, who runs the department of chemical dependency services at Las Encinas Hospital in Pasadena, Calif.

"When someone really has a consequence, they recognize themselves in that and try to get help," Pinsky said.

Drug abuse and the creative arts are longtime co-stars of the celebrity high-wire act. In the 1940s, leading man and tough guy Robert Mitchum did jail time for marijuana possession.

In the 1950s, Billie Holiday and Charlie "Birdman" Parker made all that jazz with heroin flowing through their veins. In the 1960s, box office giant Gary Grant extolled the virtues of LSD as therapy and Marilyn Monroe overdosed on prescription drugs.

The toll was high in the 1990s. Rock star Kurt Cobain shot himself after leaving a treatment center in Los Angeles. Funnyman Chris Farley and actor River Phoenix overdosed on cocaine and morphine.

Not Everyone in Hollywood Has Heard the Call.

Despite the spate of recent high-profile celebrity meltdowns, some wonder whether a cavalier attitude toward substance abuse remains pervasive in Hollywood. After being arrested for an alleged DUI in the fall, Paris Hilton didn't seem to see what all the fuss was about.

"It was nothing," she reportedly told "American Idol" host Ryan Seacrest. "I was just really hungry, and I wanted to have an In-N-Out burger."

Drew Barrymore, George Clooney, Johnny Depp, Angelina Jolie and Justin Timberlake are quoted in the latest issue of Us Weekly magazine as openly having admitted to abusing drugs in the past.

Do stars believe they are above conventional norms or the law? "I treat lots of celebrities," Pinsky said. "Their stories are always replete with trauma and drugs and narcissism. People with these issues are drawn to becoming celebrities."

And Pinsky says celebrities have to deal with much more fallout if they stumble. "It is not that the celebrity status develops these phenomenons, it's that there's not so many boundaries or so many consequences that the rest of us would come up against," Pinsky said.

But there are consequences. While audiences seldom shun a star at the box office because of "bad behavior" in their real lives, studios are nowhere near as tolerant.

"It becomes prohibitively expensive to insure a movie production that has a drug user in the cast," said Tatiana Siegel, who covers the film industry for The Hollywood Reporter.

Last year, Lohan was blasted by Morgan Creek, the film company backing "Georgia Rule," in which she starred. The ingenue's tardiness and no-shows prompted CEO James G. Robinson to write a letter that found its way to the Internet.

"We are all well aware that your ongoing all night heavy partying is the real reason for your 'exhaustion.' We refuse to accept bogus excuses for your behavior," wrote Robinson.

He threatened to hold her "personably accountable" for actions the Morgan Creek chief said had "resulted in hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages."

"Lindsay Lohan has not signed on to any studio films in a while," Siegel said, "and I don't think that is a coincidence."

Downey's battles with drugs and the legal system for two decades dimmed a brilliant career hinted at by stellar performances in "Less Than Zero" and "Chaplin," for which he received an Oscar nomination.

"For years he was not making any studio movies. He was making independents," Siegel said. "He has just started to land high-profile roles."

Downey has received critical acclaim for his role in the recently released "Zodiac," and he will star as a superhero in the big budget action drama "Iron Man," scheduled to begin filming this month.

Young people take their cues from popular culture and from celebrities.
Marketers rely on that dynamic. So it is troubling for some to note that the headlines made by entertainers in the throws of addiction have an eerie echo in a startling new report about college kids.

Almost half of all full-time college students (4.8 million) binge drink and/or abuse prescription and illegal drugs, according to the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University.

The comprehensive study also found that more than one-third of the students did not seek help because they feared the social stigma attached to substance abuse.

With more and more celebrities turning to treatment and admitting they have a problem, perhaps there is a message really worth marketing to young people.

Source
Photo Credits:EdgewoodStudios/GoogleImages

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Comedian Richard Jeni Commits Suicide

Richard Jeni died at the age of 45 in a Los Angeles hospital of a self-inflicted gunshot wound Saturday morning, police said.

Jeni's girlfriend called the police saying, "My boyfriend shot himself in the face," according to E! News.

Police arrived at the scene and found Jeni still alive lying on the bathroom floor. He taken to a nearby hospital where he died a short time later.

He had been booked last weekend at the Chicago Improv but canceled last minute.

In 2004, a Comedy Central special ranked Jeni as the 57th greatest stand-up comic of all time, placing him ahead of Larry Miller and just behind "Saturday Night Live" alum Colin Quinn.

Obviously a tortured soul, let's hope he is at rest now.

Spicy
Souce: Playfuls.com

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Enquirer Runs Phony Anna Photos

I think I'll skip lunch today.


From RadarOnline.com

Despite a cover line that screams, "ANNA NICOLE: THE LAST PHOTO!", a caption inside the latest issue of the National Enquirer notes that the images of a blue-lipped Smith in a partially zipped body bag are "photo re-creations based on eyewitness accounts."

For the tabloid that famously bribed one of Elvis Presley's cousins to shoot photos of his open casket, isn't this resort to Photoshop a bit cheap?

"I don't think so, because it's so realistic and there's so much news in the story," argues Enquirer editor in chief David Perel. (The article claims it was pneumonia, not a drug overdose, that killed Smith.) "If you had our images side-by-side with the actual photos, I don't know if you'd be able to tell them apart."

Perel was cagey about the methods used to "re-create" Smith's rigor-mortised visage. "It's almost the way a sketch artist works. There were so many different layers of how to achieve it, I couldn't even begin to describe it to you."




Spicy
Source: RadarOnline

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Ludacris Mourns Father

Rapper Ludacris' father Wayne Bridges, died from unknown causes yesterday morning in Atlanta, Georgia.

Ludacris learned his dad was ill earlier this month.

He paid tribute to him at the Grammy Awards in Los Angeles a few days later. In his acceptance speech for Best Rap Album, he said, "This goes out to my father, who's in critical condition right now. I appreciate your prayers.

"Mr. Wayne Bridges, I love you to death."

Ludacris also tells AllHipHop.com, "He introduced me to all of my major musical influences and he will live on through me.

"He bought me my first Hip-Hop record when I was five years old and I fell in love with it from that day on."

Ludacris moved in with his father aged 14.


Spicy
Source: Starpulse

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'But Nobody Liked Anna Nicole!'

Cranky Grammy is sick of all the commotion over the death of Anna Nicole Smith.

Which I can understand, and that's why I haven't been running stories about it.

Grammy feels as if no one liked Anna before she died and that she was the 'laughingstock of Hollywood'.

But now that she is gone everyone's saying how much they loved her and how basically all of a sudden everyone gives a shit..

Stroll on over to Grammy's house and read her rant.

Spicy
Source: CrankyGrammy

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WTF? Anna Nicole 'Starved' Dannielynn So She Would Be 'Sexy'

If you thought it wouldn't get any weirder, it does. And how.

Anna Nicole Smith's former nanny said in a sworn affidavit that Anna Nicole used to underfeed baby Dannielynn to make her sexier.



From TMZ, the site that uncovered the affidavit:

"According to the sworn affidavit written in the Bahamas on December 4, 2006, Quethlie Alexis claims she received repeated threats from Smith, aka Vickie Marshall, to "underfeed" Dannielynn because,

"Ms. Marshall was obsessed with making sure that her baby was 'sexy.' Ms. Marshall knew that the correct amount of baby food was 3 ounces every 3 hours ... Ms. Marshall insisted that the maximum I was to give was 2.5 ounces."

Alexis claims that Smith enforced the order by "making sure the baby monitor was kept on all the time." Alexis adds Dannielynn "is badly underweight and not thriving, as a baby should."

According to the document, Alexis says that Smith threatened to "shoot her" if the baby ever addressed the nanny as "Mummy."



In the document, Alexis also claims that during her brief employment, Smith "attempted to commit suicide" on two separate occasions. "On the first occasion, she drank in my presence an entire bottle of what I believed to be a sleeping aid." Alexis claims that when Smith woke up from the resulting 48-hour coma, she blurted out the words "I wanted to die ... I meant to kill myself."

According to the documents, Alexis claims that Smith also "tried to drown herself" in her swimming pool. Alexis claims that Howard K. Stern rescued Smith from the pool. Alexis claims she heard Stern say to Smith after the rescue, "If anything happens to you, I would go to jail."

The document also describes the "flagrant sexual relationship" between Smith and the Bahamian Minister of Immigration, Shane Gibson. According to the affidavit, Alexis never witnessed Gibson and Smith having sex, but the former nanny claims the minister would, "spend hours alone with Ms. Marshall in her bedroom" on a "daily basis."'

Let's face it folks, Anna Nicole Smith was never the poster child for mental health. I remember when it came out that she was pregnant, everyone thought, "Oh gawd, some mother she'll be." Yeah well, we were right. Big shocker of the century. It's just too bad that the people that Anna Nicole surrounded herself with catered to her mental illness and never got her the help that she needed.


Spicy
Source:TMZ

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Anna Nicole's Bahamian Home Ransacked

Howard K. Stern flew back to the Bahamas this week to be with baby Dannielynn but didn't know what a surprise he was in for.












Someone broke into the home and took many of Anna's private and personal belongings.

As Howard walked though the home discovering the many items that were taken Entertainment Tonight was by his side, of course, filming it all.

Howard tells the cameras of how people are destroying the memories that Anna Nicole cherished.

"I just can't believe it. These people could be so cruel. I mean, they literally -- the day after Anna died -- came in here, and all of our personal things are gone. All of our videos, the video of our baby's birth, computers, all the storage drives, everything of importance, every legal paper, recordings, Anna's paintings -- her own paintings that she made, that were in the nursery -- and they just stole it."

"They went through and took everything that I would care about that's left," says Howard in dismay. "These people are evil vultures. Vultures. I mean, it's grave robbery."

"I want everything back. It's not mine, it's Dannielynn's. They stole everything from Dannielynn because Dannielynn gets all of Anna's assets; I don't get anything. I didn't want anything, I don't get anything. And these people just stole all of Dannielynn's memories."

Howard says that the suspects combed through closets, pulling clothes out, taking photos and video(some of an 'extremely personal nature'). They also managed to take Dannielynn's birth certificate and first footprint.

Howard fears that the thieves will use the items for their own monetary gain. He also worries where exactly the items will show up.


Spicy
Source: ETOnline/ONTD

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Anna Nicole Smith's 911 Tapes

TMZ has obtained the 911 tapes of Seminole Police Department requesting the help of Hollywood's Fire & Rescue.

The lady reporting the incident is calm and collected. Nothing too exciting here, but it's going to be posted everywhere today so here you go.












Spicy
Source: TMZ

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Spicy Links!

Todays Spicy Links will be centered around Anna Nicole Smith since I haven't had much time to get the stories to you.


Statements on the death of Anna Nicole


Anna Nicole's family swarms in like a pack of vultures


Watch the trailer for Anna's final movie


Everybody wants custody of baby Dannielynn


Classic Anna Nicole for Guess Jeans


Locks changed at Anna's Texas mansion


Anna Nicole Smith Photo Love from CityRag


Trimspa moves on without it's spokesperson


Shocking fact here: Howard is the executor of Anna's will


Medical examiner's preliminary autopsy findings


Opportunists already cashing in on Anna's death via eBay


Anna & Howard were planning a February wedding


Anna's drunken last days at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino


Lawyers fear Howard K Stern will switch baby Dannielynn and his niece during DNA testing

Chyna Doll and Trimpspa CEO wife fight on Larry King as to whether or not CHyna was Anna's friend

Anna Nicole may have had recent surgery to repair one of her implants - were there complications?

Howard K. Stern reunites with baby Dannielynn in Bahamas, Entertainment Tonight is there of course

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