Actress Rue McClanahan, best known for her role as Blanche Deveraux on “The Golden Girls,” has died of a stroke. Actress Rue McClanahan, who played the Golden Girl that got around, died Thursday of a massive stroke, People.com reported. She was 76 – a fact her alter-ego on “The Golden Girls,” the bawdy Blanche Deveraux, [...]

Sad and bizarre news:  “Ted Koppel’s Son, 40, Found Dead in NYC Apartment.” The 40-year-old son of former ABC News anchor Ted Koppel was found dead in an apartment in upper Manhattan after a day of bar hopping with a man he met at a watering hole, a law enforcement official said Tuesday. Andrew Koppel [...]

Dennis Hopper died this morning from complications of prostate cancer. He was 74. In a wildly varied career spanning more than 50 years, Hopper appeared alongside his mentor James Dean in “Rebel Without a Cause” and “Giant” in the 1950s and played maniacs in such films as “Apocalypse Now,” “Blue Velvet” and “Speed.” He received [...]

Sad news: Gary Coleman, the child star of the hit TV series Diff’rent Strokes, has died of a brain hemorrhage at the age of 42. Coleman was taken to a Utah hospital yesterday in critical condition, went into a coma later that day, and died today. Coleman became an instant star when he was picked [...]

David Mills, a successful journalist who went on to write television shows including “The Wire,” died Tuesday of a brain aneurysm.   He was 48. When David Simon, a Baltimore writer, was adapting his book “Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets” into a television series, he knew whom he wanted to help him. “I got [...]

Corey Haim has died at 38, likely of a drug overdose. Actor Corey Haim, who appeared in a number of movies during the 1980s, died early Wednesday of a possible drug overdose after being taken to a hospital, Los Angeles police said. Haim, 38, was taken to Providence St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank, California, [...]

The author and movie critic Al Weisel, best known in the blogosphere as the faux conservative satirist Jon Swift, died recently.  The tragic news, and the even more tragic circumstances, was broken by his mother on the comment section of his defunct blog: I don’t know how else to tell you all who love this [...]

Al Haig, Ronald Reagan’s first Secretary of State, former NATO commander, and 1988 presidential aspirant has died at 85. Former Secretary of State Alexander Haig, who served Republican presidents and ran for the office himself, has died. The Haig family says he died Saturday at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore from complications associated with an [...]

Charlie Wilson, the Congressman who became decidedly more famous in retirement than he ever was during his career, has died. Charlie Wilson, the former U.S. congressman from Texas whose funding of Afghanistan’s resistance to the Soviet Union was chronicled in the movie “Charlie Wilson’s War,” has died. He was 76. Wilson died Wednesday at Memorial [...]

Jack Murtha, the controversial Congressman and retired Marine colonel, has died. Representative John P. Murtha, the longtime Democratic congressman from Pennsylvania, has died at age 77.His aides released a statement saying that he died shortly after 1 p.m. today at Virginia Hospital Center in Arlington, a suburb of Washington, D.C. Mr. Murtha had been placed [...]

My father and namesake, James Harvey Joyner, died yesterday morning from idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.  He was 66. He was diagnosed with the degenerative lung disease six years ago and told he likely had three to five years.  He was hospitalized with pneumonia three weeks ago and I went down and spent a few days with [...]

The sportscaster George Michael has died, following a two-year battle with cancer. Michael, 70, was known nationally for “The George Michael Sports Machine,” a syndicated TV show that ran nationwide for 27 years. He was a fixture on TV for more than 25 years in Washington, where he was a sports anchor on NBC’s channel [...]

Troubled football player Chris Henry has died after a bizarre accident. Cincinnati Bengals receiver Chris Henry has died, one day after falling out of the back of a pickup truck in what authorities described as a domestic dispute with his fiancee. Charlotte-Mecklenburg police said Henry died at 6:36 a.m. Thursday. Henry was 26.”It is with [...]

Breaking News from CNN:  “Evangelist Oral Roberts has died of pneumonia complications, his spokesman said. He was 91.” Tulsa’s Fox23 has a long obit, mostly from the ORU press release: Founder of ORU, Oral Roberts, has died at the age of 91 due to complications from pneumonia. Below is the full text from the Press [...]

Paul Samuelson, described in the first sentence of his NYT obit as “the first American Nobel laureate in economics and the foremost academic economist of the 20th century,” died over the weekend at the age of 94. In receiving the Nobel Prize in 1970, Mr. Samuelson was credited with transforming his discipline from one that [...]

Mike Penner, the transsexual sportswriter briefly known as “Christine Daniels” is dead, the Los Angeles Times reports. Mike Penner, the veteran Los Angeles Times sportswriter who made international headlines in 2007 when he announced he was transsexual and began working under the byline “Christine Daniels,” has died. Colleagues said today that Penner was found dead [...]

Our colleague Dave Schuler lost his mother Sunday.   My  sincere condolences. Dave eulogizes her in brief, moving fashion: I have lost my oldest friend, my first teacher, and my most inspirational life model. My mother has died at 88. One of my core beliefs is that the best way to preserve someone you love who [...]

Jonathan Last calls this NYT obit for Dennis Cole “the saddest thing you’ll read today.” To think that you can be one minute marrying one of Charlie’s Angels and then a few years later dying alone in Ft. Lauderdale while doing cruise ship acts. People have taken faster, deeper dives, of course.  But, yes, not [...]

Irving Kristol, called the “godfather of neo-conservatism” by some, died today of complications from lung cancer. He was 89. John Podhoretz has written a moving and comprehensive account of Kristol’s life and immense influence: Irving, who died today at the age of 89, was the rarest of creatures—a thoroughgoing intellectual who was also a man [...]

Steve Benen and DougJ give NewsBusters’ Tim Graham a hard time for noting that the Washington Post obituary for Patrick Swayze, who died overnight from pancreatic cancer, fails to give “Red Dawn” its due, quipping, “There are clearly no fortysomething Reaganites working in the Washington Post newsroom.” I was prepared to chide Benen and DJ for [...]

Christopher Hitchens is an iconoclast’s iconoclast, famously willing to piss on anyone’s grave, whether it be Mother Tereasa, Bob Hope, or Teddy Kennedy. Interestingly, this time he smacks down with one hand whilst patting on the back with the other: Sure, the “tragedy” of Chappaquiddick had its necessary moment, but even in those days Barbara [...]

Senator Edward M. Kennedy died last night, aged 77, succumbing to brain cancer. Edward Kennedy, Senate Stalwart, Dies (John Broder, NYT) Senator Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts, a son of one of the most storied families in American politics, a man who knew triumph and tragedy in near-equal measure and who will be remembered as [...]

This morning, Jeff Jarvis passed along Peter Daou‘s tweet “CBS Early Show Prioritizes Jon & Kate Over Don Hewitt’s Death,” which linked this Consider This News video, itself prefaced “This speaks volumes about the state of TV news” My tweeted retort: “Old man dying yesterday not news?” Steven Taylor has some more detailed thoughts, notably [...]

Conservative columnist and former CNN “Crossfire” host Robert Novak has died at age 78 of cancer, his family says. – CNN Breaking News Chicago Sun Times (“Robert Novak: Innovator’s life marked by passion“) Most people know the late Sun-Times columnist Robert D. Novak, who died this morning [Tuesday] from complications of a brain tumor, as [...]

Former Pentagon spokesman Ken Bacon has died.  He was only 64. Kenneth H. Bacon, a former Wall Street Journal reporter who became chief Pentagon spokesman under President Bill Clinton, died Saturday at age 64. Bacon had been battling melanoama, and was on leave was his job as president of Refugees International, a Washington-based group he [...]

Apparently, whoever wrote this obituary for The Telegraph has never heard the maxims “If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all” or “Don’t speak ill of the dead.” Joseph Msika, who died on August 4 aged 85, was vice-president of Zimbabwe and a central figure in his country’s headlong rush to ruin. [...]

Captain Scott Speicher’s remains have been found more than eighteen years after he was shot down during Desert Storm. The remains of the first American lost in the Persian Gulf War have been found in Iraq, the military said Sunday, after struggling for nearly two decades with the question of whether he was dead or [...]

Walter Cronkite has passed: Walter Cronkite, the premier TV anchorman of the networks’ golden age who reported a tumultuous time with reassuring authority and came to be called “the most trusted man in America,” died Friday. He was 92. Cronkite’s longtime chief of staff, Marlene Adler, said Cronkite died at 7:42 p.m. at his Manhattan [...]

Maria del Carmen Bousada de Lara, who made news three years ago when she gave birth to twins at the age of 66, has died. [S]he had been diagnosed with cancer shortly after giving birth. In 2007, Ms Bousada de Lara said she had lied about her age to doctors at a fertility clinic in [...]

Breaking news from CNN: “Former Defense Secretary Robert McNamara, architect of U.S. war in Vietnam, has died at 93, according to his family.” I click the link and get: Seriously? AP has a more fitting obituary: Robert S. McNamara, the cerebral secretary of defense who was vilified for prosecuting America’s most controversial war and then [...]

The list of major celebrities who have died in recent days is staggering.  Ed McMahon.  Farrah Fawcett.  Michael Jackson.  Billy Mays. Karl Malden. Steve McNair. Ironically, however, Abe Vigoda — who was famously erroneously declared dead by People magazine way back in 1982 — is still alive and kicking at 88.

Aaron Brazell argues that, with the advent of instant-reporting of rumor via Twitter and other social media, the mainstream press has fallen behind.  He cites yesterday’s Steve McNair murder, the false rumors that Jeff Goldblum had died, and Michael Jackson’s death. He laments that, while the McNair news broke on two Nashville stations but “It [...]

Steve McNair is dead: Former NFL MVP Steve McNair has been shot and killed. Titans owner Bud Adams confirmed the quarterback’s death in a brief statement released Saturday. Adams called him “one of the finest players to play for our organization and one of the most beloved players by our fans. He played with unquestioned [...]

BREAKING: LA Times: Michael Jackson hospitalized – Yahoo News Michael Jackson has been rushed to the hospital, a fire department official told the Los Angeles Times. Capt. Steve Ruda said Thursday that Jackson was not breathing when Los Angeles Fire Department paramedics responded to a call at his Los Angeles home about 12:30 p.m. The [...]

Breaking: Actress Farrah Fawcett dies at 62, according to AP CNN (Farrah Fawcett, sex symbol and actress, dies): Farrah Fawcett, the blonde-maned actress whose best-selling poster and “Charlie’s Angels” stardom made her one of the most famous faces in the world, has died. She was 62. People (Farrah Fawcett Dies of Cancer at 62): Farrah [...]

Breaking:  Ed McMahon, who gained fame as Johnny Carson’s sidekick on “The Tonight Show,” has died, his representative says. NBC: Ed McMahon died at a hospital in Los Angeles this morning, his agent said today. The 85-year-old TV personality and former “Tonight Show” host died this morning at Ronald Regan UCLA Medical Center, his agent said [...]

My condolences go out to videoblogging pioneer John Amato,  who is mourning the loss of his father. Despite living on opposite coasts, I’ve had the good fortune to meet and spend time with John on a couple of occasions. While our politics and personalities couldn’t be much more different, he’s one of the good guys, a [...]

Alex Massie and Radley Balko remind me that John Wayne died 30 years ago today. I recall it well, having just recently returned to the States from Germany and waiting to start 8th grade in El Paso.  I’ve seen most of his movies since and become a bigger fan. Someone (Robert Prather, perhaps) shared via [...]

Jack Kemp has died. Jack Kemp, the ex-quarterback, congressman, one-time vice-presidential nominee and self-described “bleeding-heart conservative” died Saturday. He was 73. His spokeswoman Bona Park and longtime friend and former campaign adviser Edwin J. Feulner confirmed that Kemp died after a lengthy illness. Kemp had announced in January 2009 that he had been diagnosed with [...]

Bea Arthur, star of “Maude” and “The Golden Girls,” has died of cancer at 86. Beatrice Arthur, the tall, deep-voiced actress whose razor-sharp delivery of comedy lines made her a TV star in the hit shows “Maude” and “The Golden Girls” and who won a Tony Award for the musical “Mame,” died Saturday. She was [...]

Freddie Mac CFO David Kellerman has killed himself, DC’s WUSA9 reports. David Kellermann, Acting Chief Financial Officer and Senior Vice President of Freddie Mac, was found dead this morning. Fairfax County Police officials tell 9NEWS NOW they responded to his home around 5 a.m. after his wife alerted them to his suicide. Kellermann was 41 [...]

Tom Braden has passed at the ripe old age of 92. Tom Braden, the creator and co-host of CNN’s “Crossfire,” which pioneered the talk-show format that pitted a conservative against a liberal, died Friday at age 92.  Daughter Susan Braden said he died of natural causes at his home in Denver, Colorado. In 1982, Braden [...]

Our heartfelt condolences go out to OTB contributor John Burgess on the loss of his brother, Roger.

Paul Harvey, one of the pioneers of broadcast journalism, has died, aged 90. Known for his deliberate delivery and pregnant pauses, Harvey’s broadcasts were heard on more than 1,200 radio stations and 400 Armed Forces networks and his commentaries appeared in 300 newspapers, according to his Web site. He had been hosting his radio shows [...]

Paul Weyrich has died. Rob Bluey: Paul M. Weyrich, chairman and CEO of the Free Congress Foundation and first president of The Heritage Foundation, died this morning around 1 a.m. He was 66 years old. Weyrich was a good friend to many of us at Heritage, a true leader and a man of unbending principle. [...]

Sad news: Robin Toner, who was the first woman to be the national political correspondent of The New York Times and who had a significant hand in the coverage of five presidential elections, innumerable Congressional and gubernatorial campaigns and the great legislative debates of the day, died early Friday at her home in Washington. She [...]

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill. wipes a tear as he talks about his grandmother, Madelyn Payne Dunham, at a rally in Charlotte, N.C., Monday, Nov. 3, 2008. Obama Madelyn Payne Dunham, Barack Obama’s maternal grandmother, died Sunday, the campaign announced earlier this evening.  She was 86. Obama announced the news from the campaign [...]

Studs Terkel, radio actor, activist, speech writer, journalist, author, Chicagoan, has died at 96: A television institution for years, a radio staple for decades, a literary lion since 1967, when he wrote his first best-selling book at the age of 55, Louis Terkel was born in New York City on May 16, 1912. “I came [...]

Townhall blogger, Weekly Standard writer, and Hugh Hewitt guest host Dean Barnett died yesterday at the age of 41 after a lifelong struggle with cystic fibrosis. Bill Kristol: “It’s my sad duty to report that our good friend and valued contributor Dean Barnett passed away today. He was a remarkable man–principled, witty, and to all [...]

BREAKING: Legendary actor Paul Newman has died of cancer at the age of 83. His philanthropic foundation has issued a statement: Paul Newman’s craft was acting. His passion was racing. His love was his family and friends. And his heart and soul were dedicated to helping make the world a better place for all. Paul [...]