NEW YORK — Ramsey Clark, the attorney general in the Johnson administration who became an outspoken activist for unpopular causes and a harsh critic of U.S. policy, has died. He was 93.
Clark, whose father, Tom Clark, was attorney general and U.S. Supreme Court justice, died on Friday at his Manhattan home, a family member, Sharon Welch, announced to media outlets including The New York Times and The Washington Post.
After serving in President Lyndon Johnson’s Cabinet in 1967 and ’68, Clark set up a private law practice in New York in which he championed civil rights, fought racism and the death penalty, and represented declared foes of the United States including former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic and Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman. He also defended former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.
New York civil rights attorney Ron Kuby, who worked with Clark on numerous cases, called the death “very, very sad in a season of losses.”
“The progressive legal community has lost its elder dean and statesman,” Kuby said. “Over many generations, Ramsey Clark was a principled voice, conscience and a fighter for civil and human rights.”
DMX has died — a week after suffering an overdose … TMZ has learned.
TMZ broke the story … X had virtually no brain function after he was deprived of oxygen for nearly 30 minutes following his OD. Brain function never returned, and by Thursday his organs began failing while he remained on life support in a New York hospital.
Many people in X’s family were at the hospital over the last week, including his mom, fiancee and many of his kids.
A rep for his family tells TMZ, “We are deeply saddened to announce today that our loved one, DMX, birth name of Earl Simmons, passed away at 50 years old at White Plains Hospital with his family by his side after being placed on life support for the past few days. Earl was a warrior who fought till the very end.”
The Duke of Edinburgh’s life was filled with contradictions but will be remembered most for his unstinting support of the Queen.
His mother and father met at the funeral of Queen Victoria in 1901. At a time when all but four of Europe’s nations were monarchies, his relatives were scattered through European royalty. Some royal houses were swept away by World War One; but the world into which Philip was born was still one where monarchies were the norm. His grandfather was the King of Greece; his great-aunt Ella was murdered along with the Russian tsar, by the Bolsheviks, at Ekaterinberg; his mother was a great-granddaughter of Queen Victoria.
G. Gordon Liddy, the Nixon 1972 reelection campaign operative who played a central role in the Watergate scandal that led to the former president’s resignation, died Tuesday at the age of 90.
Liddy’s son, Thomas, confirmed his death. He did not provide a cause of death but noted that COVID-19 was not a factor.
A former FBI agent, Liddy was known as the mastermind of a plot to place wiretaps inside Democratic National Committee’s headquarters at the Watergate building in 1972. The plot was discovered and Liddy was later convicted on charges of conspiracy, burglary and illegal wiretapping.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — George Segal, the banjo player turned actor who was nominated for an Oscar for 1966′s “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” and worked into his late 80s on the ABC sitcom “The Goldbergs,” died Tuesday in Santa Rosa, California, his wife said.
“The family is devastated to announce that this morning George Segal passed away due to complications from bypass surgery,” Sonia Segal said in a statement. He was 87.
Conductor James Levine, who ruled over the Metropolitan Opera for more than four decades before being eased aside when his health declined and then was fired for sexual improprieties, has died. He was 77.
Levine died March 9 in Palm Springs, California, of natural causes, his physician of 17 years, Dr. Len Horovitz, said Wednesday.
Levine made his Met debut in 1971 and became one of the signature artists in the company’s century-plus history, conducting 2,552 performances and ruling over its repertoire, orchestra and singers as music or artistic director from 1976 until forced out by general manager Peter Gelb in 2016 due to Parkinson’s disease.
Levine became music director emeritus and remained head of its young artists program but was suspended on Dec. 3, 2017, the day after conducting a Verdi “Requiem” in what turned out to be his final performance, after accounts in the New York Post and The New York Times of sexual misconduct dating to the 1960s.
He was fired the following March 12 and never conducted again. He had been scheduled to make a comeback performances of Brahms’ ”Ein Deutsches Requiem” this Jan. 17 and 21 in Florence, Italy, but the concert were canceled due to the novel coronavirus pandemic.
(CNN)Yaphet Kotto, an actor known for bringing gravitas to his roles across television and film, has died, according to his agent, Ryan Goldhar. He was 81.
Kotto died on March 14 at 10:30 p.m. local time in the Philippines, where he lived with his wife, Goldhar said. Information on the cause of death was not provided.
Kotto’s on-screen body of work began in the late ’60s and remained steady through the ’90s. In that time, he amassed an array of memorable roles that spoke to his transformative talent.
His notable film work includes roles in “Alien,” “The Running Man,” “Midnight Run” and “Live and Let Die,” in which he played iconic Bond villain Mr. Big.
Local elected officials mourned his passing, both in statements and on social media.
“John was a mentor, a friend, a colleague, and a guiding voice who taught me about what it is to be an elected official,” said Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald in a statement Friday. “For all of us who served on that first Council, he taught us about this new government that he had helped shepherd in that so many of us now take for granted. And as part of that education, he stepped to the side and pushed us, his colleagues, into leadership positions. I would not be County Executive today if it were not for John’s influence and encouragement.”
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — It’s a sad day for us here at KDKA-TV and for our viewers who spent more than three decades planning their lives around the daily forecast from former KDKA-TV chief meteorologist Bob Kudzma.
Kudzma died Thursday morning, just a few weeks shy of his 82nd birthday.
Rush Limbaugh, the monumentally influential media icon who transformed talk radio and politics in his decades behind the microphone, helping shape the modern-day Republican Party, died Wednesday morning at the age of 70 after a battle with lung cancer, his family announced.
Limbaugh’s wife, Kathryn, made the announcement on his radio show. “Losing a loved one is terribly difficult, even more so when that loved one is larger than life,” she said. “Rush will forever be the greatest of all time.”
The radio icon learned he had Stage IV lung cancer in January 2020 and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by then-President Trump at the State of the Union address days later. First lady Melania Trump then presented America’s highest civilian honor to Limbaugh in an emotional moment on the heels of his devastating cancer diagnosis.”
Rush Limbaugh: Thank you for your decades of tireless devotion to our country,” President Trump said during the address.
Chick Corea, the virtuosic keyboardist who broadened the scope of jazz during a career spanning more than five decades, died on Tuesday from a rare form of cancer. A post on his Facebook page confirmed the news. Corea was 79.
“Throughout his life and career, Chick relished in the freedom and the fun to be had in creating something new, and in playing the games that artists do,” his family wrote in a statement. “Through his body of work and the decades he spent touring the world, he touched and inspired the lives of millions.”
“Chick Corea was the single greatest improvisational musician I have ever played with,” John Mayer, who had appeared with Corea onstage, wrote on Instagram. “Nobody was more open, more finely tuned to the moment, changing his approach with every new offering by the musicians around him. If you hit a wrong note, he’d immediately pick it up and play it as a motif so as to say ‘all of this has value, whether you see it or not.’ What an immeasurable loss in so many ways.”
In the early Sixties, Corea established himself as an A-list pianist, working with Stan Getz, Herbie Mann, and others. Later in the decade, he joined Miles Davis’ band and played a key role in helping the trumpeter make the transition to a more contemporary, plugged-in sound on albums like Bitches Brew. Following his work with Davis, he formed his own groundbreaking electric band, Return to Forever, which played some of the most vibrant and dynamic music of the fusion era. In the ensuing decades, Corea threw himself into countless projects, showing off his limitless range — from a refined duo with vibraphonist Gary Burton to his trendsetting Elektric Band. His most recent album, the 2020 live solo disc Plays, showed off his wildly diverse skill set and body of influences, touching on classical pieces, bebop, and more.
The National Transportation Safety Board announced the probable cause of the helicopter crash that killed basketball legend Kobe Bryant, his daughter and seven others in the hills north of Los Angeles last year. Federal investigators said the pilot, Ara Zobayan, became disoriented in the clouds. CBS News’ Chris Martinez reports from Los Angeles.
His family and a spokesperson confirmed Wright’s death due to the coronavirus Monday morning. The Republican congressman, who was reelected in November, also had been battling lung cancer.
Wright is the first member of Congress to die of COVID-19.
“Congressman Wright will be remembered as a constitutional conservative. He was a statesman, not an ideologue,” according to a statement released by Wright’s office. “Ron and Susan dedicated their lives to fighting for individual freedom, Texas values, and above all, the lives of the unborn. As friends, family, and many of his constituents will know, Ron maintained his quick wit and optimism until the very end. Despite years of painful, sometimes debilitating treatment for cancer, Ron never lacked the desire to get up and go to work, to motivate those around him, or to offer fatherly advice.”
According to the statement, Wright had been keeping a vigorous work scheduled before contracting the virus. Two weeks ago Wright and his wife, Susan, were admitted to Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas because of COVID-19 side effects.
Former world heavyweight champion Leon Spinks, best known for defeating Muhammad Ali in 1978, has died at the age 67, according to a statement from his publicist.
Christopher Plummer, who starred in The Sound of Music, won an Oscar for Beginners and was nominated for All the Money in the World and The Last Station, died peacefully today at his home in Connecticut, his family confirmed. Elaine Taylor, his wife and true best friend for 53 years, was by his side.
Along with becoming the oldest person to win an Oscar, Plummer also won a pair of Emmys and two Tonys during a nearly 70-year career.
Lou Pitt, his longtime friend and manager of 46 years, said; “Chris was an extraordinary man who deeply loved and respected his profession with great old fashion manners, self-deprecating humor and the music of words. He was a national treasure who deeply relished his Canadian roots. Through his art and humanity, he touched all of our hearts and his legendary life will endure for all generations to come. He will forever be with us.”
Plummer spent the past nearly 70 years as a stalwart of stage and screen, including more than 200 films and TV shows. He is best known for starring as Captain George Von Trapp opposite Julie Andrews’ Maria in Robert Wise’s 1965 classic The Sound of Music. The beloved musical won five Academy Awards including Best Picture, beating David Lean’s Doctor Zhivago, among others. The movie’s soundtrack, which features such classic songs as “My Favorite Things,” “Edelweiss” and the title track, spent two weeks at No, 1 in the U.S. and an astounding 109 weeks — more than two years — in the top 10.He won his Oscar for the 2010 film Beginners and most recently was Oscar nominated for the Ridley Scott-directed All the Money in the World. In that film, he replaced Kevin Spacey in the role of J. Paul Getty after Spacey had an #MeToo downfall. Plummer most recently co-starred in the ensemble of the Rian Johnson-directed Knives Out.
Born on December 13, 1929, in Toronto and raised in Montreal, Plummer began his professional career on stage and radio in both French and English. After his New York debut in 1954, the actor went on to star in many celebrated productions on Broadway and London’s West End, winning accolades on both sides of the Atlantic.
Dustin Diamond, known for playing the lovable geek Samuel “Screech” Powers on the hit sitcom “Saved by the Bell,” died due to carcinoma on Monday morning in a Florida hospital. He was 44.
The actor was diagnosed with the cancer and hospitalized just three weeks ago.
“In that time, it managed to spread rapidly throughout his system; the only mercy it exhibited was its sharp and swift execution,” the actor’s agent, Roger Paul, said in a statement. “Dustin did not suffer. He did not have to lie submerged in pain. For that, we are grateful.”
Cloris Leachman, the decorated actress of stage and screen best known for her role as the annoyingly perfect landlady Phyllis Lindstrom on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, has died. She was 94.
Leachman’s manager, Juliet Green, confirms to PEOPLE that the actress died Wednesday of natural causes.
“It’s been my privilege to work with Cloris Leachman, one of the most fearless actresses of our time. There was no one like Cloris. With a single look she had the ability to break your heart or make you laugh till the tears ran down your face. You never knew what Cloris was going to say or do and that unpredictable quality was part of her unparalleled magic,” says Green.
“She loved her children and her grandchildren ferociously. A lifelong vegetarian, she was a passionate advocate for animal rights. The family requests that any donations in her name be made to PETA or Last Chance for Animals,”
According to TMZ, which first reported the news, she passed away at her home in Encinitas, California, with her daughter, Dinah, beside her. The actress had a Hollywood career for the history books. Seven decades in the business. One of the original members of the famed Actors Studio in New York City. An Oscar. A Golden Globe. And over 20 Emmys nominations and nine wins — more trophies than any other television performer in history.
Born on April 30, 1926 in Des Moines, Iowa, as the eldest of three sisters, Leachman was bit by the acting bug at an early age — appearing in children’s plays at Drake University when she was just 8. Her mother, also named Cloris, encouraged her daughter’s early interest in entertaining and served as an inspiration for Leachman’s sense of humor throughout her career.
“For 63 years and across the platforms of radio, television and digital media, Larry’s many thousands of interviews, awards and global acclaim stand as a testament to his unique and lasting talent as a broadcaster,” the statement said.
King, with his trademark suspenders and iconic voice, spent more than 60 years in the spotlight. He hosted CNN’s “Larry King Live” for 25 years, interviewing everyone from world leaders and icons to criminals and conspiracy theorists during 6,000-plus episodes of the show from 1985 to 2010.
“Instead of goodbye, how about so long,” King told viewers when singing off from his final CNN show in 2010.
King went on to work on a variety of projects following his CNN tenure, including co-founding Ora TV in 2012.
King’s historic career began on local radio back in Miami back in 1957 as a talk show host and disk jockey. His passion for free-flowing interviews began in 1958 when he an on-location interview program from Miami’s Pumpernik Restaurant, where he literally spoke to whoever entered the door. He eventually added to his skill set by providing color commentator for Miami Dolphins’ broadcasts and landed on television by 1964. Around the same time, King started writing columns for newspapers including The Miami Herald, The Miami News, and The Miami Beach Sun-Reporter.
Legal and financial issues nearly derailed his career in the 1970s but recovered to launch the Larry King Show” on Mutual Broadcasting Network in 1978, which paved the way for his highly successful CNN program.
Born Lawrence Zeiger on November 19, 1933 in Brooklyn, New York, he started going by Larry King early in his career. He battled lung cancer, lived with Type 2 diabetes, survived multiple heart attacks and underwent quintuple bypass surgery in 1987. The broadcasting legend promised to help others and established the The Larry King Cardiac Foundation (LKCF) in 1988, which helps facilitate critical treatment for people who would otherwise be unable to receive care because of either financial or insurance issues.
The non-profit organization was funded from the proceeds of King’s books, speaking engagements, and from entertainment galas conducted in New York City, Washington D.C. and Los Angeles, according to the LKCF website.
King wrote “Taking on Heart Disease” to help educate victims of heart disease. He was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 1989, has a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, won a pair of Peabody Awards for Excellence in broadcasting, 10 Cable ACE awards and was honored in 2008 by the Radio & Television News Association of Southern California, among many other awards and milestones.
The longtime Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers fan was regularly seen at Dodger Stadium cheering on his favorite team. He was married eight times, to seven different women, but had been single since filing for divorce from actress Shawn King in 2019.
King lost two of his five adult children when Andy, 65, and Chaia, 51, died within weeks of each other in 2020. Andy had a heart attack while Chaina had been battling lung cancer.
Hank Aaron, legendary slugger and Hall of Famer, died at the age of 86, the Atlanta Braves announced Friday morning. CBS46 in Atlanta first reported the news.
Aaron established himself as an inner-circle all-time great during the course of his 23-year career with the Milwaukee Braves, Atlanta Braves and Milwaukee Brewers from 1954-76.
In said career, Aaron hit .305/.374/.555 (155 OPS+) with 624 doubles, 755 home runs, 2,297 RBI, 2,174 runs, 3,771 hits and 240 stolen bases. He retired as the all-time home run leader and held the record for decades. He’s still the all-time leader in RBI and total bases. He also holds the record for the most All-Star games at 25 and the most seasons as an All-Star at 21 (for a stretch, MLB held two All-Star games per year).
The 1957 NL MVP, Aaron also won three Gold Gloves and two batting titles while leading the league in home runs four times, RBI four times, runs three times, hits twice, doubles four times, slugging four times and OPS three times. He won the World Series with the 1957 Braves and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in his first try in 1982.
At least that’s the impression you get from heeding the accounts of many of those who worked with Phil Spector, the legendary record producer who died Saturday at age 81 while serving a prison sentence for murdering actress Lana Clarkson in 2003.
His conviction for that crime solidified Spector’s reputation as a monster. But for years before that, artists in his orbit — Darlene Love, Leonard Cohen, the Ramones and especially his ex-wife, Ronnie Spector of the Ronettes — spoke of his abuse and his manipulations; others simply hated what he did to their music, including Paul McCartney, who famously re-released the Beatles’ “Let It Be” minus Spector’s trademark embellishments.
And yet, McCartney’s scorn aside, Spector is widely — and rightly — regarded as one of the most consequential figures in pop history: a sonic visionary whose so-called wall of sound greatly expanded the dramatic scope of the three-minute love song.
PITTSBURGH —Joanne Rogers embodied kindness while out volunteering, on the red carpet, and celebrating the legacy of her husband of more than 50 years, Fred Rogers.
The 92-year-old died on Thursday. A devastating loss for those in the Pittsburgh-area and beyond.
“The world is a little less fun now without Joanne in it,” said Paul Siefken. “Joanne Rogers is a very special, very wonderful person.”
Siefken is the CEO of Fred Rogers Productions. He shared a picture of him and Mrs. Rogers from 2018 at the unveiling of a U.S. Postal stamp honoring Mr. Rogers, who died in 2003.
“After Fred’s passing she showed the world that she was an amazing person,” he said. “She’s had a chance to kind of introduce herself to America and I think America really fell in love with her.”
David Newell played Mr. McFeely on the show that aired first in 1968. Newell said he, Joanne and Fred were friends for more than 50 years.
“She was Joanne in her own way,” he said. “When you talked to her you were getting the real person and the same with Fred.”
He received a phone call on Thursday that Mrs. Rogers had died.
“I just couldn’t believe it,” Newell said.
He said the Rogers were a part of his family. He shared what he will miss most about the woman who lit up every room she entered.
“What I’ll miss is her sense of humor and how much fun she used to have,” Newell said.
Connelly became one of the original employees at WTAE in 1958 where she launched her own talk show “The Jean Connelly Show” from 1960 through 1973.
Connelly enjoyed a wide variety of roles including anchoring the news, hosting Women’s Championship Bowling and landing big interviews for her hit talk show.
She decided to leave her on-air schedule in 1975, becoming WTAE’s director of public service for the next 13 years.
In 2002, Connelly was the first woman from western Pennsylvania to be inducted into the Pennsylvania Broadcasters Hall of Fame.
She is survived by her three children and five grandchildren.
Her family said a celebration of Jean’s life is planned for the spring when it can be done safely together.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Western Pennsylvania School for Blind Children, where Connelly served on the board for 25 years.
In this Sept. 30, 2003 file photo, former Pennsylvania Gov. Dick Thornburgh sits in his Washington office. Thornburgh died Thursday, Dec. 31, 2020 at a retirement community facility outside Pittsburgh, his son David said. (AP/Evan Vucci)
PITTSBURGH, PA — Dick Thornburgh, who served as both Pennsylvania governor and U.S. attorney general under presidents Ronald Regan and George H.W. Bush, died Thursday in a Pittsburgh-area retirement community. He was 88.
In 1964, Tiffin played coeds opposite James Darren in The Lively Set and For Those Who Think Young and starred alongside Ann-Margret and Carol Lynley in the Madrid-set romantic comedy The Pleasure Seekers. A year later, she appeared with Burt Lancaster and Lee Remick in John Sturges’ The Hallelujah Trail.
In only her third film, Tiffin starred alongside Pat Boone, Bobby Darin and Ann-Margret in the big-budget musical State Fair (1962), portraying Margy Frake in the remake of films released in 1933 and 1945 that had Janet Gaynor and Jeanne Crain, respectively, in that role.
She also played a novice flight attendant in Come Fly With Me (1963) and the seductive stepdaughter of Lauren Bacall’s character in Harper (1966), starring Paul Newman.
Pamela Tiffin Wonso was born in Oklahoma City on Oct. 13, 1942, and raised in a suburb of Chicago, where she began modeling. She moved to New York with her mom to continue that career path and appeared several times on the cover of Vogue, in commercials and in a 1960 short film, Music of Williamsburg.
Born Pierre Clermont, he was the first WWE Intercontinental Champion and thought to be the first openly gay wrestling star, which he detailed in his 2016 book, “Accepted: How the First Gay Superstar Changed WWE.”
Patterson was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 1996. After retiring as an active wrestler in 1984, he worked behind the scenes in WWE and was credited with originating the Royal Rumble, one of the company’s signature events.
Trailblazing Pittsburgh news anchor and host Eleanor Schano has died of COVID-19, according to her daughter.
Schano’s career in broadcasting spanned over five decades, including at WTAE Channel 4, where she was Pittsburgh’s first female general assignment reporter, starting in the late 1950s.
Schano also went on to become the first woman to solo anchor TV news in Pittsburgh.
Schano was Pittsburgh’s first female commercial announcer and the first female weathercaster.
NEW YORK — Ramsey Clark, the attorney general in the Johnson administration who became an outspoken activist for unpopular causes and a harsh critic of U.S. policy, has died. He was 93.
DMX has died — a week after suffering an overdose … TMZ has learned.
Liddy’s son, Thomas, confirmed his death. He did not provide a cause of death but noted that COVID-19 was not a factor.
Rush Limbaugh, the monumentally influential media icon who transformed talk radio and politics in his decades behind the microphone, helping shape the modern-day Republican Party, died Wednesday morning at the age of 70 after a battle with lung cancer, his family announced.
His family and a spokesperson confirmed Wright’s death due to the coronavirus Monday morning. The Republican congressman, who was reelected in November, also had been battling lung cancer.
Hank Aaron, legendary slugger and Hall of Famer, died at the age of 86, the Atlanta Braves announced Friday morning. CBS46 in Atlanta first reported the news.
PITTSBURGH —Joanne Rogers embodied kindness while out volunteering, on the red carpet, and celebrating the legacy of her husband of more than 50 years, Fred Rogers.
Connelly became one of the original employees at WTAE in 1958 where she launched her own talk show “The Jean Connelly Show” from 1960 through 1973.
A top lawmaker says a state GOP House member elected to serve as the Pennsylvania House Republican Caucus chairman in the 2020-21 session has died
Country music legend Charley Pride, who amassed more than 50 top-10 hits between 1967 and 1987 and won three Grammy awards, has died. He was 86.
Lander was first diagnosed with MS in 1984.
PITTSBURGH —