Farrah Fawcett lost her longtime battle to cancer. She was 62.
Born in Texas, the blonde beauty came in to fame in the 1970s when she started playing Jill Munroe in the TV series Charlie's Angels at the same time her now-famous swimsuit poster was released. The show became a runaway hit and the poster sold a
record-shattering 12 million copies. Men everywhere wanted to date her while women wanted winged "Farrah hair."
Farrah Charlie's most famous Angel cast off the TV series after just a year and went on to appear in TV movies including Small Sacrifices (1989) and The Burning Bed (1984), both of which earned her Emmy nominations.
Initially she did not want to appear nude in movies or magazines, but relented for the In December 1995 issue of
Playboy. Though she was just months shy of her 49th birthday, the issue was the best-seller of the 1990s. When she
turned 50, she posed again, and the spread received glowing reviews.
She married TV star Lee Majors in 1973, and was briefly known as Farrah Fawcett-Majors. But there was no secret that
her true love was Ryan O'Neal, whom she first hooked up with in 1979. The actress once gushed that she was
“overwhelmed by this physical and mental attraction for him." After their son, Redmond (who is now known for his
drug and legal problems), was born in 1985, their happiness grew. Their personal love story seemed to have run its
course when they split in 1997. Though both moved on to new loves, their passion could not be quenched. When Ryan learned he had leukemia in 2001, Farrah turned up on his doorstep.
And when she learned about her illness — she was diagnosed with anal cancer in September 2006 — there was only one person to turn to. Of course, Ryan was there for her, declaring, "I love her, I've loved her for 25 years, and she knows that."
Her battle with the disease — that ultimately spread to her liver — was documented in a TV documentary called Farrah's Story, which was shot and produced by her friend, Rod Stewart's ex-wife Alana Hamilton. She fought the disease hard
and quietly. She travelled to Germany many times for alternative treatments, including chemotherapy and laser surgery.
Farrah's final days were spent at St. John's Health Center in Los Angeles and Ryan rarely left her side.
"He was always the love of her life. "She couldn't imagine her life ending anywhere or with anyone — else, said a friend.
The death of David Carradine isn't a simple open and closed case.
Following the discovery of the Kill Bill star's lifeless body, with rope around his neck and genitals, in a hotel
room in Thailand, his family and friends are speaking out — saying they suspect foul play — and investigators
are further probing the matter.
Carradine's managers, Chuck Binder and Tiffany Smith, say that they don't believe their client took his own life
— nor do they believe the death was an accident. They state that the family was told Carradine's hands were bound
behind his back — in a way that indicates someone else must have tied them together. "I can tell you 100
percent that he would have never committed suicide," Smith says.
Smith adds that Carradine's family is also skeptical that he took his own life. "They have the same belief we
have," said Smith. "There was no way David did this to himself."
A day after calling Carradine's death an apparent suicide, the Bangkok police are now unsure. "It is unclear
whether he committed suicide or not or [whether] he died of suffocation or heart failure," said a spokesperson,
adding that he could have died from an "accidental suffocation." An autopsy failed to establish the cause of the
death — though the chief coroner at Bangkok's Chulalongkorn hospital stated that it was "certainly was not a
natural cause of death."
A toxicology report is pending.
The California native was in Thailand filming the movie Stretch. Producers of the film first became worried when the actor failed to appear for a meal with the rest of the film crew on Wednesday, but they thought he was resting. On Thursday they requested that someone at the five-star Nai Lert Park Hotel check on him and his body was discovered.
In a 2004 interview, Carradine admitted he had contemplated suicide, including once while staying in a hotel. "I remember one time sitting in the window of the third or fourth floor of the Plaza Hotel for about an hour, thinking about just tipping off," he said. "And that was at a time when I was having more fun than you could imagine. I just thought, 'Who the ---- cares, man? Why don't I just split?' Of course I didn't, so there you go."
Actor Dom DeLuise, best known for his roles in screwball comedies such as "Blazing Saddles"
and "The Cannonball Run," has died in Los Angeles, his family said Tuesday. He was 75.
DeLuise died peacefully in his sleep while in hospital in Santa Monica on Monday, surrounded by
his family, his son Michael DeLuise told KTLA television.
DeLuise appeared in a series of films alongside Hollywood icon Burt Reynolds. The duo appeared in
"The Cannonball Run" together and a later sequel, as well as other films including "Smokey and the Bandit II." Reynolds paid tribute to his friend co-star in a statement.
"I was thinking about this the other day," Reynolds said. "As you get older and start to lose people you love, you think about it more, and I was dreading this moment.
"Dom always made you feel better when he was around, and there will never be another like him. I never
heard him say an unkind word about anyone, and I will miss him very much," Reynolds said.
DeLuise is best known for his performances in several Mel Brooks films, including Western spoof "Blazing Saddles," Star Wars parody "Spaceballs" -- where he played Pizza the Hutt -- and "Robin Hood: Men in Tights."
As well as acting, DeLuise also authored several cookbooks and children's books.
