Gotham Journal

After a long battle with cancer, actress Farrah Fawcett has passed away at the age of 62.

Fawcett’s partner, Ryan O’Neal, and her good friend Alana Stewart were both by her side at St. John’s Health Center in Los Angeles when Farrah passed away.

O’Neal released a statement saying “After a long and brave battle with cancer, our beloved Farrah has passed away. Although this is an extremely difficult time for her family and friends, we take comfort in the beautiful times that we shared with Farrah over the years and the knowledge that her life brought joy to so many people around the world.”

Alana Stewart spoke to Entertainment Tonight while leaving the hospital and said “I just lost my best friend. Her death was very peaceful.”

Farrah Fawcett is survived by her 24-year-old son Redmond, whose fater is actor Ryan O’Neal.

Actress, singer and dancer, Eartha Kitt, has passed away at age 81.

Kitt died Thursday of colon cancer and was recently treated at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital in New York.

The self-proclaimed ‘’sex kitten” famous for her catlike purr, rose from South Carolina cotton fields to become an international symbol of elegance and sensuality.

She was one of America’s most versatile performers, winning two Emmys and getting a third nomination. She also was nominated for two Tony Awards and a Grammy.

Source: The New York Times

Academy Award–winning actor, entrepreneur and humanitarian, Paul Newman, has died of cancer at his home in Westport, Connecticut. He was 83.

Continue reading Paul Newman 1925 – 2008

Actor Heath Ledger was found dead at a SoHo apartment this afternoon in what appeared to be a possible drug-related death, he was 28. Police sources said signs pointed to a suicide or an accidental overdose.

Continue reading Heath Ledger 1979 – 2008

TMZ reports that actor Brad Renfro has passed away.

It is with great sadness that I write this post not only because Brad was an exceptional and often very underrated actor, but also because he was also somewhat of an influence on yours truly on a personal and creative level.

It was no secret that Brad lead a troubled life, but in recent years reports indicated he was doing his best to turn his life around. I had hoped he would win the fight and rise above it all, but sadly, it wasn’t meant to be.

He will truly be missed.

Kitty Carlisle Hart, legendary actress, arts advocate and socialite, whose career spanned Broadway, opera, television and film, passed away today at the age of 96.

Christopher Hart said his mother “passed away peacefully” at home. “She had such a wonderful life, and a great long run, it was a blessing.”

An advocate for the arts, Hart served 20 years on the New York State Council on the Arts and in 1991 was awarded the prestigious National Medal of Arts from the first President Bush.

Hart was born September 3rd, 1910 in New Orleans, Louisiana and moved to New York in 1932 after being educated abroad.

She began her acting career on Broadway and her film roles include the classic Marx Brothers movie “A Night at the Opera,” “She Loves Me Not” and “Here Is My Heart,” opposite Bing Crosby, Woody Allen’s “Radio Days” and “Six Degrees of Separation.”

In 1967 she made her operatic debut at the Metropolitan Opera in “Die Fledermaus,” and created the role of Lucretia in the American premiere of Benjamin Britten’s “Rape of Lucretia.”

From 1956 to 1967, she appeared on the classic CBS prime-time game show “To Tell the Truth”. The popular show also had runs, in daytime and in syndicated versions.

Hart’s late husband was Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Moss Hart, who wrote “You Can’t Take It With You” and “The Man Who Came to Dinner” with George S. Kaufman and won a Tony for directing “My Fair Lady” on Broadway.

Source: Variety

Variety has officially declared VHS dead, it now joins Laserdiscs, 8 Tracks and it’s nemesis Betamax in the annals of entertainment history.

The long-ailing format’s demise became official after the video biz’s all-important fourth quarter earnings. Competition from high-definition formats and next-generation vidogame consoles were too much for the 70′s icon to handle and retailers decided to pull the plug, saying there was no longer shelf space.

VHS had a lucrative life, and continued to make as much as $300 million a year until this year, when studios stopped manufacturing the tapes.

Source: Variety