Designing Women actress Dixie Carter dead at age 70
(AP photos)
LOS ANGELES (AP) — “Designing Women” actress Dixie Carter, who used her charm and stately beauty in a host of roles on Broadway and television, died Saturday. She was 70.
Publicist Steve Rohr, who represents Carter and her husband, actor Hal Holbrook, said Carter died Saturday morning. He would not disclose where she died or the cause of death.
“This has been a terrible blow to our family,” Holbrook said in a written statement. “We would appreciate everyone understanding that this is a private family tragedy.”
A native of Tennessee, Carter was most famous for playing quick-witted Southerner Julia Sugarbaker for seven years on “Designing Women,” the CBS sitcom that ran from 1986 to 1993.
She was nominated for an Emmy in 2007 for her seven-episode guest stint on the ABC hit “Desperate Housewives.”
Carter’s other credits include roles on the series “Family Law” and “Different Strokes.”
She had been married to Holbrook since 1984.
Corey Haim’s public memorial canceled
The public will not get a chance to say farewell to the late actor Corey Haim.
A public memorial service for Haim has been canceled because his mother too grief stricken. Haim’s best friend Corey Feldman made the announcement on his blog.
Now I must be the bearer of some very disappointing news to many of you out there. After weeks of consideration and planning, the ultimate decision has been made by Corey’s mother Judy Haim to not go forward with a public memorial service. Instead we will have a very small private dinner with just a few close friends in LA.
Her reasoning for this is that she is in tremendous grief and feels that to create an event celebrating Corey’s life would be too much for her to bear at this time. She did ask me to convey to you that she has been overwhelmed by the outpouring of your support and wants you to keep Corey alive by visiting his website at www.coreyhaim.us If there are any statements to be made, or events planned, or any other Corey Haim related news it will be posted there at his site.
Although I am very sad I am not able to plan the memorial I had envisioned, which would have given both his friends and fans an opportunity to grieve together as one, I must respect the wishes of his mother, and help her in any way I can through this difficult time. Ultimately that is what Corey would have wanted more than anything. To know that his mother is at peace as much as possible in his absence.
I too understand her not wanting to face the barrage of negative press that comes from the public spectacle. This has been very difficult for me. I am trying very hard to stay positive after losing so much in the last 9 months. I have lost many who were very close to me in a very short time. However that does not stop the press from attacking me. It seems they will not be happy until I’m dead too.
Well I’ve got news for you. I am still standing. I am not going to let them get to me. I stayed indoors crying every day for 2 weeks. The second I leave my house they follow me, then make a spectacle, and then berate me for trying to get out of the house and live my life. Would they rather I hid in a cave waiting for depression to fully encompass my soul? I’m sorry but I choose to live my life and move forward as best as possible. I have a child, therefore I must work. I cannot dwell in misery. Instead I have been planning my future.”
Click here to read the rest of Feldman’s statement on his blog.
Corey Feldman writes farewell letter to Corey Haim
The letter is posted below.
A LETTER FOR THE GRAVE: AN OPEN LETTER TO COREY HAIM (BY COREY FELDMAN)
Dear Corey.,
This is for you on the day of your funeral. First off I am so sorry I am not there with you today. By that I mean my physical body is not with your physical body. However you know that my heart is right at your side. You also know the only reason I am truly not there is out of respect for your mother and her wishes to minimize the media attention as much as possible. I want your family to have a calm peaceful day. Hopefully we will not see one shot of the funeral on the news. Just know I am at home today projecting positive energy for you and your passing.
I miss you so much already. When I think of something funny I don’t know who to tell it to. I find myself trying to call you but then remember your not there. I think about the new movies we will soon be doing together and then suddenly realise that the dream is over. I always feared this day would come, and often rehearsed how to face it. But once confronted with the reality of it, it’s so much more painful than I could have ever imagined. Nobody will ever understand the brotherhood we shared. Nobody will ever get the inside jokes we told. Nobody will understand the magic of 22/222 . Nobody will ever know how to do the secret Corey handshake. Nobody will ever make me laugh as hard as you did. Nobody will ever make me fight as hard as you did. Nobody will ever challenge me the way you did. Nobody will ever need me the way you did.
My mission in life became saving yours. I never gave up, I tried …I walked away, but I always came back, to let you know I was there. In a dark and lonely world with spiteful angry people we always understood each others pain. I have been so hounded by the media and barraged with condolences since your death that I have not been given my own time to grief. I was still in shock while cameras were chasing me down the street looking for my feelings on the matter. When I did Larry King I could barely form sentences, but knew I had to be strong to send a message.
I never knew your death would have such a huge impact on the world. I learned something Corey, there are a lot of people out there who really love you, and appreciate the joy you have brough tho their hearts. I only wish you could see the way the world is mourning over your absence. I wish you could see how big the story is. I wish you could see your face finally filling the cover of People magazine and Entertainment Weekly! That would have meant so much to you. It is such a shame they all had to wait until you were gone to give you the respect you were due as an actor which is what you truly were. The great Canadian actor Corey Haim! I love you and I will forever keep that ring close to my heart. I will do my very best to help give you a memorial that is a celebration of your life the way you would have wanted it…..with everybody laughing and rocking out!
My heart is so broken and I know there are so many who feel the same way I do. We will remember your spirit and your fans will help me keep your legacy alive.
I pray that you are safe and warm and finally filled with peace.
I love you
CF Core Feldog DAWG C-DOG KID and every other name you used to call me…..dine!
Corey Feldman reacts to Corey Haim’s death
At one point, it seemed like they were joined at the hip. They attended parties together, red carpet events, starred in films and hung out at each other’s homes.
In 2007, they starred in their own reality show together titled “The Two Corey’s.” It aired on the A&E network.
But since Haim died Wednesday morning (March 10), the pair will never be seen together again.
Felman reacted to Haim’s death by releasing a public statement. The statement is posted below.
Corey Haim, left, and Corey Feldman (AP photo)
“I was awakened at 8:30 this morning by my brother and sister knocking on my bedroom door. They informed me of the loss of my brother Corey Haim. My eyes weren’t even open all the way when the tears started streaming down my face.
I am so sorry for Corey, his mother Judy, his family, my family, all of our fans, and of course my son who I will have to find a way to explain this to when he gets home from school.
This is a tragic loss of a wonderful, beautiful, tormented soul, who will always be my brother, family, and best friend. We must all take this as a lesson in how we treat the people we share this world with while they are still here to make a difference.
Please respect our families as we struggle and grieve through this difficult time. I hope the art Corey has left behind will be remembered as the passion of that for which he truly lived.”
Poll: What is your favorite Corey Haim movie?
Notorious B.I.G. died 13 years ago today
He was 24 years old. During the past 13 years, many rumors have circulated regarding who killed the rapper.
Some people say it was gang members, some people say it was a Tupac fan who was angry about Tupac’s violent death. Some people say it a shady police officer had something to do with it.
Regardless, the killer has never been brought to justice, and it seems doubtful that he/she ever will.
Throughout his short life, Notorious B.I.G. made an impact on the music industry. His smooth lyrical style, combined with his club beats always made everyone race to the dance floor when his songs came on.
His most popular songs were “Hypnotize” and “Big Poppa.” My personal favorite song of his is called “(explicative) You Tonight.”
I can’t play that song here because the lyrics are not family-friendly, and I couldn’t find the clean version of that song.
Marie Osmond’s son committed suicide
(AP Photo/Kevin Kolczynski)
Marie Osmond’s son Michael Blosil committed suicide after a battle with depression.
The 18-year-old son died after he jumped from his apartment in Los Angeles, according to Entertainment Tonight.
Michael suffered from depression for quite some time. Marie told Entertainment Tonight,
“My family and I are devastated and in deep shock by the tragic loss of our dear Michael and ask that everyone respect our privacy during this difficult time.”
Donny and Marie Osmond’s concerts at the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas have been canceled so the Osmond family can grieve.
Marie has eight children. Michael was born in 1991 to Marie and ex-husband Brian Blosil.
Growing Pains actor Andrew Koenig found dead
(MySpace)
”Growing Pains” actor Andrew Koenig was found dead at Stanley Park in Vancouver.
Koenig had been missing since Valentine’s Day. His parents reported him missing after he missed a flight from Vancouver to Los Angeles.
His father, Walter Koenig, who played Pavel Chekov on “Star Trek,” said Andrew took his own life. He also said Andrew suffered from depression.
“My son took his own life. Don’t ignore it. Don’t Rationalize it. Extend a hand,” he said during a press conference.
Andrew Koenig was 41 years old. He played Richard “Bone” Stabone on 25 episodes of the sitcom “Growing Pains” from 1985 to 1989, according to Internet Movie Database…. RIP
Actor died in car accident
Justin Mentell, left, in the film "G-Force." (MySpace)
“Boston Legal” actor Justin Mentell died in a car accident Monday in Wisconsin.
According to the Associated Press, Mentell’s sport utility vehicle ran off an embankment and struck two trees. Mentell was 27 years old.
I’m not familiar with this up-and-coming actor, so I had to do a little research to find out about him. Mentell played on “Boston Legal” for the 2005-06 season. The show stars Candice Bergen and William Shatner.
Other than than, he had a role in the 2009 animated film “G-Force.”
Survivor star dead at age 37
Reality show contestant Jennifer Lyon died Tuesday after a battle with breast cancer, according to People magazine.
Jennifer Lyon, 37, was contestant on the 2005 season of “Survivor.” She placed fourth on the show.
Lyon completed two movies that will be released later this year. They are “Holyman Undercover” and “The Ones,” according to Internet Movie Database Web site.
R&B singer Teddy Pendergrass dead at 59
R&B singerTeddy Pendergrass is dead at age 59. The music legend died Wednesday evening from colon cancer complications, according to the Associated Press.
Pendergrass’ hit R&B songs include “Close the Door,” “Turn Off the Lights,” “I Can’t Live Without You” “Love TKO” and “Hold Me,” a duet with Whitney Houston.
In 1982, Pendergrass was involved in a vehicle accident that left him paralyzed.
Pendergrass’ music filled my household on a daily basis during the 1980s while I was growing up. My parents were huge fans of his songs.
My favorite song of his is “Love TKO” because my parents used to listen to it fequently, and it was in heavy rotation on their record player.
Although he’s known as a legend in the R&B music world, he wasn’t given much recognition at award shows. He was nominated for a Grammy award five times, but he never won a trophy.
Johnson & Johnson heiress dead at age 30
(AP Photo/LMartinez)
Casey Johnson, the heiress to the Johnson & Johnson fortune was found dead at age 30. Johnson was also the girlfriend of MTV reality star Tila Tequila. The Associated Press story is posted below via NewOK.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
LOS ANGELES — Casey Johnson, the socialite daughter of New York Jets owner Woody Johnson and heiress to the Johnson & Johnson business empire has died, a spokesman for the family and police said Monday. She was 30.
TMZ reported that Johnson was found dead Monday. Police officers responded to her Los Angeles home around 11:51 a.m. where paramedics had already pronounced Johnson dead, officer Sara Faden said.
Faden said she did not know how long Johnson may have been dead by the time authorities arrived.
She said Johnson’s death may have been from natural causes since a preliminary investigation turned up no signs of foul play. But Faden added that a final cause of death will be determined by coroner’s officials, who will seek toxicology tests. Results of those tests could take six weeks to obtain.
In a statement released through publicist Jesse Derris, the Johnson family says it “is mourning its tragic loss, and asks for privacy during this very difficult time.”
Casey Johnson gained celebrity as the girlfriend of Tila Tequila, a reality TV star best known for “A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila,” which ran for two seasons on MTV.
Tequila’s publicist says the two were engaged.
On her Twitter page, Tequila wrote, “Everyone please pray 4 my Wifey Casey Johnson. She has passed away. Thank u for all ur love and support but I will be offline to be w family.”
Johnson, a high school classmate of fellow socialite Paris Hilton, told Vanity Fair in a 2006 interview that her decision to turn down Hilton’s invitation to be her co-star on “The Simple Life” was “the stupidest mistake of my life.” Hilton eventually chose Nicole Richie. “I kick myself in the butt everyday,” she told the magazine.
Actress Brittany Murphy dies at age 32
Various media outlets are reporting actress Brittany Murphy died Sunday morning in Los Angeles. She was found unconscious in her restroom.
The 32-year-old actress was pronounced dead at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. A coroner is determining the cause of death.
Murphy’s family released a public statement that said “In this time of sadness, the family thanks you for your love and support. It is their wish that you respect their privacy.”
Murphy became famous in 1995 when she starred alongside Alicia Silverstone in the teen movie “Clueless.”
She also starred in “8 Mile,” “Don’t Say A Word,” “Girl, Interrupted,” “Sin City,” “The Groomsmen” and “Just Married,” among others.
She has three movies scheduled for release in 2010, according to IMDB. A photo gallery is posted below.
NFL player Chris Henry died after falling off truck
Chris Henry, from right, with his children and fiancee. (AP Photo/Jeff Swinger)
NFL player Chris Henry died Thursday morning after he fell out off a pickup truck during an dispute with his fiancee. The Associated Press story is posted below via NewsOK.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
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 great sadness to learn Chris has passed away,” Henry’s agent, Andy Simms said in a statement. “For those who knew Chris, he was nothing like his public perception. A loving and caring individual, he was thankful for what he had in life, and proud of what he had overcome.”
Henry was rushed to the hospital Wednesday after being found on a residential road. Police said the dispute began at a home about a half-mile away, and Henry jumped into the bed of the pickup truck as his fiancee was driving away from the residence.
Police said at some point when she was driving, Henry “came out of the back of the vehicle.” They wouldn’t identify the woman, and no charges were immediately filed.
Police spokeswoman Rosalyn Harrington said homicide detectives have been assigned to the case but had no further information. Police have not released the 911 tapes, and Harrington wouldn’t say if the woman was present at the scene when police arrived.
Authorities have not announced the cause of death. Mecklenburg County medical examiner investigator Carol Cormier said they were expecting to receive the body later Thursday.
Henry is engaged to Loleini Tonga, and the couple has been raising three children. Tonga’s MySpace page identifies herself as “Mrs. C. Henry” and has a picture of her next to a person who appears to be Henry. She also has a post from Tuesday talking about buying wedding rings. A neighbor said Wednesday that the Tonga family owns the home where police say the incident began. Charlotte is home to his fiancee’s parents.
“We ask that you keep Chris’ family — especially the young children he leaves behind — in your prayers,” Simms said. “It is tragic when a life is taken so young. He was a man just realizing his potential, not just in football, but in life”
Henry was away from the team after breaking his left forearm during a win over Baltimore on Nov. 8. He had surgery and was placed on season-ending injured reserve following the game.
Throughout his career, his temper and poor decisions got him in trouble.
He was ejected from a game and suspended for another at West Virginia, where former coach Rich Rodriguez told Henry that he was an embarrassment to himself and the program. His reputation was already costing him — the Bengals were the only NFL team to bring him in for a pre-draft visit in 2005.
They found that his demeanor didn’t match his reputation. Henry was shy and spoke in a quiet voice. They warned him that he had to stay in control if he was going to stay in the NFL. Then, they picked him in the third round.
In a sense, it was already a second chance.
“I’m worth the chance,” Henry said, when he showed up the following weekend for a rookie minicamp. “I’m just happy they took me.”
Henry become a vital part of the offense as a rookie, helping the Bengals reach the playoffs in 2005 with his ability to run past defenders to grab long passes. In the final month of the season, he also showed his other side, getting arrested for marijuana possession. After a playoff loss to Pittsburgh, he was arrested on a gun charge in Florida.
Henry and former Tennessee cornerback Adam “Pacman” Jones became the league’s two most trouble-bound players. Commissioner Roger Goodell suspended both in 2007 — Jones for a full season, Henry for half of it — as part of a toughening of the league’s conduct policy.
When Henry was arrested for a fifth time following that season on an assault charge, the Bengals decided they’d had enough. At his arraignment on April 3, 2008, Municipal Court Judge Bernie Bouchard called Henry “a one-man crime wave.” He was released by the Bengals the same day.
It was a jolt to Henry, who had dreamed of an NFL career since high school, when he got the NFL logo tattooed on the back of his right hand. No team showed an interest in bringing him back. His career seemed finished.
Then, Bengals owner Mike Brown — who refers to himself as “a redeemer” — changed his mind and gave him another chance.
“If you only knew him by hearsay, you’d think he’s some kind of ogre,” Brown said, during the Bengals’ appearance on HBO’s “Hard Knocks” series this summer. “It’s not true. He’s a good person. When you see him up close, you’ll find that you’ll like him. He’ll be a soft-spoken, pleasant person.”
This time, Henry seemed determined to stay out of trouble. After only 19 catches and two touchdowns in 12 games in the 2008 season, he set about making himself a topflight receiver again. He got into top shape and worked out with teammates in the offseason, showing more resolve than at any point in his career.
Henry also changed his personal life, spending more time with his fiancee and the three children they are raising. Teammates noticed a pronounced change in his demeanor.
“He’s a great kid with a great heart,” quarterback Carson Palmer said as training camp started. “He’s changed his life around. He ran into some trouble, made some bad decisions, and realized that. He’s sorry for them, apologized for them, and has done everything he can to make himself a better person. I’m just proud of him.”
Before the 2009 season, Henry got a new tattoo that matched his new outlook. Below his left ear, in flowing one-inch script, was the world “Blessed.”
“I kind of felt like I dug myself out of the hole and started doing the right things,” Henry said in an interview with The Associated Press as training camp opened. “People say, ‘How you feeling now Chris? You doing all right?’ I just tell them I’m blessed. That’s why I got it.”
He caught a touchdown pass in each of Cincinnati’s four preseason games. A thigh injury slowed him early in the season, and he had 12 catches for 236 yards — his 19.7-yard average per catch leads the team — when he broke his left arm during a win over Baltimore on Nov. 22, ending his season.
When he showed up in the locker room for the first time since surgery to fix the fracture, Henry sounded confident he could get through the latest setback.
“It just comes with time, you know?” he said. “I learned to handle all situations, so I’ll be all right.”
Oral Roberts dead at age 91
FROM NEWSOK
Oral Roberts, arguably the most well-known evangelist from Oklahoma, has died. He was 91.
U.S. Rep. Mary Fallin, R-Oklahoma City: I am saddened by the passing of Oral Roberts. My thoughts and prayers go out to his family and loved ones. He touched many lives not only in Oklahoma but throughout the world. I had the privilege to know Mr. Roberts personally and remember praying with him on ORU’s campus. He signed a note in my Bible that will always remind me of his strength and devotion to God and Country.
Gov. Brad Henry: Oklahoma and the nation have lost a truly remarkable man of God. The influence and impact of Oral Roberts and his ministry are beyond measure. His faith, compassion and charity have left a legacy that will be felt for generations to come. Our thoughts and prayers are with Rev. Roberts’ family and loved ones during this difficult time.
Mark Rutland, Oral Roberts University president: “The Oral Roberts University family was deeply saddened to hear about the passing of our dear Chancellor, Oral Roberts. Chancellor Roberts was one of the brilliant spiritual lights of the 20th century and a giant of the Christian faith. At the core of his legacy is a great university that bears his name. Like millions world wide, I am mourning his passing and am grateful for his visionary life and contributions.”
Kenneth Hagin Jr., Broken Arrow evangelist, head of Kenneth Hagin Ministries, Rhema Bible Church and Rhema Bible Training Center in Broken Arrow: Oral Roberts has always been a role model for me and other ministers. He was a great man of God and only eternity will reveal all the great influence he has had on the kingdom of God. He had a powerful, anointed ministry. He was a powerful man of God who obviously had an anointing.
U.S. Rep. John Sullivan, R-Tulsa: I am personally saddened by the death of Oral Roberts. Rev. Roberts was not only an Oklahoma icon, but an icon of the modern Christian movement in the United States.
Roberts and his ministry advanced the teachings of Christ in ways we will never fully understand. Rev. Roberts was a pioneer in Christian higher education and his namesake university has become an Oklahoma landmark.
I know that Oral Roberts University will persevere as it has in recent years, and take the life lessons of Oral Roberts to heart. While Oral Roberts leadership, wisdom and faith in God will be missed, they will live on everyday in the hearts and minds of countless ORU students, alumni and so many other Oklahomans.
May God Bless Oral Roberts, his family and the generations he has touched.
U.S. Rep. Tom Cole, R-Moore: Oral Roberts was a man who was profoundly committed to his faith, family and community throughout his lifelong ministry. He touched more people than any other Oklahoman of his generation. While he changed lives for the better one at a time, he also founded great institutions like Oral Roberts University that contributed to the well-being of the wider community. He was loved and will be missed by millions of people across the country and around the world. Certainly my sympathies and the sympathies of every Oklahoman go out to his family and many friends during this time of bereavement.
U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Tulsa: Everybody I met while serving in the U.S. Army in the mid-1950s knew about Tulsa because of Oral Roberts. Oral Roberts was better known than Will Rogers. He was just on everyone’s pedestal. He put Tulsa, Oklahoma on the map at that time
State Sen. Dan Newberry, R-Tulsa: Today the world mourns the passing of a great man, a great leader and a great mentor, who leaves behind an indelible legacy of ministry and service. His impact stretched beyond the boundaries of our state to every corner of the world. Age never diminished his passion for the gospel. He finished the race with zeal, and in a manner befitting a man of his tremendous character and unwavering faith.
I was privileged to know Dr. Roberts personally and his words of wisdom will be with me forever. He was always ready to give words of encouragement and direction. Dr. Roberts took the time to hear from God and conveyed the message with passion, such as ‘God is a good God’, ‘Something good is going to happen to you’ and ‘Expect a miracle’, words that are still relevant today. I can never adequately convey my gratitude for the legacy he leaves and he will be greatly missed.
Mart Green, Oral Roberts University board chairman: Chancellor Oral Roberts was a true disciple of Christ and his contributions to the kingdom of God will live on for many years to come. Just 10 days from Christmas, we know Oral will celebrate the birth of Christ with his heavenly father. The Oral Roberts University family grieves his loss yet celebrates the legacy he leaves behind.
B.> Billy Graham, evangelist: Oral Roberts was a man of God, and a great friend in ministry. I loved him as a brother. We had many quiet conversations over the years. I invited Oral to speak at one of our early international conferences on evangelism held in Berlin in the 1960’s. Oral was preceded in death by his wonderful wife Evelyn, who I also knew and loved. She was a woman of God, and a powerful prayer warrior. Just three weeks ago, I was privileged to talk to Oral over the telephone. During the short conversation, he said to me that he was near the end of his life’s journey. I look forward to the day that I will see Oral and Evelyn Roberts again in Heaven — our eternal home.
NewsOK Related ArticlesDecades ago, Roberts made a name for himself as an itinerant minister, holding tent meetings which drew many people to hear his fervent preaching. He was especially known for his healing ministry.
A televangelist and author, he is best known as the founder of Oral Roberts University, a private Christian university in Tulsa.
Roberts was born Granville “Oral” Roberts on Jan. 24, 1918, in Bebee, Oklahoma.
He was the fifth child of the Rev. Ellis M. Roberts and his wife, Claudius Priscilla. His mother was of American Indian descent and he was reportedly proud of his American Indian ancestry.
Roberts married schoolteacher Evelyn Lutman (now deceased) who came from the same Pentecostal Holiness background. The Roberts had four children: Rebecca (now deceased), Ronnie (now deceased), Roberta and Richard.
Oral Roberts came from a poor family and developed tuberculosis. He said he was healed of the disease by a traveling evangelist who held one of the tent meetings that were popular at the time.
Roberts himself became known for his healing ministry, and he and his wife traveled throughout the country holding tent revivals and prayer meetings focusing on healing the sick. He was the pastor at churches in Oklahoma and Georgia, while studying at Oklahoma Baptist University and Phillips University, now Phillips Theological Seminary in Tulsa.
In 1947, he founded the Oral Roberts Evangelistic Association and began conducting evangelistic crusades. He conducted more than 300 crusades on six continents.
In 1954, Roberts brought television cameras into his healing services to give TV viewers a “front-row seat to miracles.” He began a television program “Oral Roberts Presents” years later.
Roberts founded Oral Roberts University on 500 acres in 1963 in Tulsa. His longtime friend, the Rev. Billy Graham, officially dedicated the university four years later. Roberts founded the City of Faith Medical and Research Center in 1981. It closed after eight years.
A private family internment is planned. Arrangements for a public memorial service in Tulsa are pending.
Tyler Perry’s mother died, she inspired the Madea character
Tyler Perry standing in front of a Madea movie poster. (AP Photo/Peter Kramer)
The woman who inspired film director Tyler Perry to dress up as an old lady has died. His mother, Willie Maxine Perry, died Tuesday at the age of 64. her cause of death is unknown.
The film director posted the message on his Web site, and he thanked everyone for their prayers. Tyler Perry portrayed the Madea character in various films including “Madea Goes To Jail,” “Madea’s Family Reunion,” “Madea Goes To Jail” and “I Can Do Bad All By Myself.”
His films with the Madea character grossed more than $256 million at the box office. He frequently said his mother was the inspiration behind the Madea character.
Arnold Schwarzenegger signs law in memory of Kanye West’s mother
Kanye West performed while his late mother Donda West stood by in 2006 during a taping of the "Ellen DeGeneres Show." (AP Photo by Damian Dovarganes)
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a law in memory of rapper Kanye West’s mother.
The Donda West Law requires cosmetic surgery patients to undergo a physical examination before the surgery.
Donda West died in 2007 after a cosmetic procedure. She had coronary artery disease, but it was undiscovered because she didn’t undergo a physical exam before the surgery.
While she was alive, Kanye had a close relationship with his mother. She accompanied him to several celebrity events, and she was always by his side on the red carpet.
Shortly after her death, Kanye continued to perform during concerts, and I don’t think he had time to properly grief.
I’m not making excuses for him, but maybe that’s why he’s prone to random outbursts.
Kandi reacts to fiance’s death
Kandi Burruss, the star of “Real Housewives of Atlanta” reacted to the killing of her fiance Ashley “A.J.”Jewell.
Here is what she posted on her Twitter page.
“I could never n a million years imagine this happening. please pray for AJ’s children. that’s who im the most concerned 4″
“im bout 2 giv my swollen eyes sum rest now. i just wanted to say thanks 2 every1 for their prayers. i gotta get up & go 2 my uncle’s funeral.”
“im just in one of those moods where i dont wanna talk, i dont wanna b held & told its gonna b ok. i just wanna cry myself 2 sleep, alone.”
Kandi’s fiance A.J. died after he was involved in a fight at a strip club parking lot. A man named Fredrick Richardson was arrested on a complaint of voluntary manslaughter.
Tim Russert’s father died
Tim Russert’s father Timothy Russert Sr. died today (Sept. 25) in Buffalo, New York at age 85, according to a statement released by his family.
Also known as Big Russ, the public became familar with him because he was featured in the late Tim Russert’s book “Big Russ & Me.”
Russert Sr. died from natural causes. Funeral plans haven’t been announced.
Patrick Swayze died at age 57
Demi Moore and Patrick Swayze in the 1990 film "Ghost."
Actor Patrick Swayze died today (Sept. 14) from complications with pancreatic cancer. Swayze was well known for the 1987 film “Dirty Dancing.”
Although I wasn’t a fan of that movie, my personal favorite Swayze film was the 1990 film “Ghost” with Whoopi Goldberg and Demi Moore. The full Associated Press story is posted below via NewsOK.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Patrick Swayze, the hunky actor who danced his way into viewers’ hearts with “Dirty Dancing” and then broke them with “Ghost,” died Monday after a battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 57.
“Patrick Swayze passed away peacefully today with family at his side after facing the challenges of his illness for the last 20 months,” said a statement released Monday evening by his publicist, Annett Wolf. No other details were given.
Fans of the actor were saddened to learn in March 2008 that Swayze was suffering from a particularly deadly form of cancer.
He had kept working despite the diagnosis, putting together a memoir with his wife and shooting “The Beast,” an A&E drama series for which he had already made the pilot. It drew a respectable 1.3 million viewers when the 13 episodes ran on the cable television station in 2009, but A&E said it had reluctantly decided not to renew it for a second season.
Swayze said he opted not to use painkilling drugs while making “The Beast” because they would have taken the edge off his performance. He acknowledged that time might be running out given the grim nature of the disease.
When he first went public with the illness, some reports gave him only weeks to live, but his doctor said his situation was “considerably more optimistic” than that.
“I’d say five years is pretty wishful thinking,” Swayze told ABC’s Barbara Walters in early 2009. “Two years seems likely if you’re going to believe statistics. I want to last until they find a cure, which means I’d better get a fire under it.”
A three-time Golden Globe nominee, Swayze became a star with his performance as the misunderstood bad-boy Johnny Castle in “Dirty Dancing.” As the son of a choreographer who began his career in musical theater, he seemed a natural to play the role.
A coming-of-age romance starring Jennifer Grey as an idealistic young woman on vacation with her family and Swayze as the Catskills resort’s sexy (and much older) dance instructor, the film made great use of both his grace on his feet and his muscular physique.
It became an international phenomenon in the summer of 1987, spawning albums, an Oscar-winning hit song in “(I’ve Had) the Time of My Life,” stage productions and a sequel, 2004′s “Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights,” in which he made a cameo.
Swayze performed and co-wrote a song on the soundtrack, the ballad “She’s Like the Wind,” inspired by his wife, Lisa Niemi. The film also gave him the chance to utter the now-classic line, “Nobody puts Baby in a corner.”
And it allowed him to poke fun at himself on a “Saturday Night Live” episode, in which he played a would-be Chippendales exotic dancer alongside the corpulent — and frighteningly shirtless — Chris Farley.
A major crowdpleaser, “Dirty Dancing” drew only mixed reviews from critics, though Vincent Canby wrote in The New York Times, “Given the limitations of his role, that of a poor but handsome sex-object abused by the rich women at Kellerman’s Mountain House, Mr. Swayze is also good. … He’s at his best — as is the movie — when he’s dancing.”
Swayze followed that up with the 1989 action film “Road House,” in which he played a bouncer at a rowdy bar. But it was his performance in 1990′s “Ghost” that showed his vulnerable, sensitive side. He starred as a murdered man trying to communicate with his fiancee (Demi Moore) — with great frustration and longing — through a psychic played by Whoopi Goldberg.
Swayze said at the time that he fought for the role of Sam Wheat (director Jerry Zucker wanted Kevin Kline) but once he went in for an audition and read six scenes, he got it.
Why did he want the part so badly? “It made me cry four or five times,” he said of Bruce Joel Rubin’s Oscar-winning script in an AP interview.
Patrick Swayze portrayed a drag queen in the 1995 film "To Wong Foo, Thanks For Everything Jullie Newmar."
“Ghost” provided yet another indelible musical moment: Swayze and Moore sensually molding pottery together to the strains of the Righteous Brothers’ “Unchained Melody.” It also earned a best-picture nomination and a supporting-actress Oscar for Goldberg, who said she wouldn’t have won if it weren’t for Swayze.
“When I won my Academy Award, the only person I really thanked was Patrick,” Goldberg said in March 2008 on the ABC daytime talk show “The View.”
Swayze himself earned three Golden Globe nominations, for “Dirty Dancing,” ”Ghost” and 1995′s “To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar,” which further allowed him to toy with his masculine image. The role called for him to play a drag queen on a cross-country road trip alongside Wesley Snipes and John Leguizamo.
His heartthrob status almost kept him from being considered for the role of Vida Boheme.
“I couldn’t get seen on it because everyone viewed me as terminally heterosexually masculine-macho,” he told the AP then. But he transformed himself so completely that when his screen test was sent to Steven Spielberg, whose Amblin pictures produced “To Wong Foo,” Spielberg didn’t recognize him.
Among his earlier films, Swayze was part of the star-studded lineup of up-and-comers in Francis Ford Coppola’s 1983 adaptation of S.E. Hinton’s novel “The Outsiders,” alongside Rob Lowe, Tom Cruise, Matt Dillon, Ralph Macchio, Emilio Estevez and Diane Lane. Swayze played Darrel “Dary” Curtis, the oldest of three wayward brothers — and essentially the father figure — in a poor family in small-town Oklahoma.
Other ’80s films included “Red Dawn,” ”Grandview U.S.A.” (for which he also provided choreography) and “Youngblood,” once more with Lowe, as Canadian hockey teammates.
In the ’90s, he made such eclectic films as “Point Break” (1991), in which he played the leader of a band of bank-robbing surfers, and the family Western “Tall Tale” (1995), in which he starred as Pecos Bill. He appeared on the cover of People magazine as its “Sexiest Man Alive” in 1991, but his career tapered off toward the end of the 1990s, when he also had stay in rehab for alcohol abuse. In 2001, he appeared in the cult favorite “Donnie Darko,” and in 2003 he returned to the New York stage with “Chicago”; 2006 found him in the musical “Guys and Dolls” in London.
Swayze was born in 1952 in Houston, the son of Jesse Swayze and choreographer Patsy Swayze, whose films include “Urban Cowboy.”
He played football but also was drawn to dance and theater, performing with the Feld, Joffrey and Harkness Ballets and appearing on Broadway as Danny Zuko in “Grease.” But he turned to acting in 1978 after a series of injuries.
Within a couple years of moving to Los Angeles, he made his debut in the roller-disco movie “Skatetown, U.S.A.” The eclectic cast included Scott Baio, Flip Wilson, Maureen McCormack and Billy Barty.
Swayze had a couple of movies in the works when his diagnosis was announced, including the drama “Powder Blue,” starring Jessica Biel, Forest Whitaker and his younger brother, Don, which was scheduled for release this year.
Off-screen, he was an avid conservationist who was moved by his time in Africa to shine a light on “man’s greed and absolute unwillingness to operate according to Mother Nature’s laws,” he told the AP in 2004.
Swayze was married since 1975 to Niemi, a fellow dancer who took lessons with his mother; they met when he was 19 and she was 15. A licensed pilot, Niemi would fly her husband from Los Angeles to Northern California for treatment at Stanford University Medical Center, People magazine reported in a cover story.
Michael Jackson’s burial service
(from left) Janet, Randy, Jackie, Tito, Jermaine and Marlon Jackson sat on the front row during Michael Jackson's burial service. (AP photo)
More than two-and-a-half months after his death, Michael Jackson’s body can now rest in peace. A burial service was held for the singer Sept. 3 at Forest Lawn Memorial Parkv in Glendale, C alifornia.
The Jackson family and several celebrity guests were in attendance including Elizabeth Taylor, Chris Tucker, Macaulay Culkin, Quincy Jones, Corey Feldman, Barry Gordy, Gladys Knight and Lisa Marie Presley.
Associated Press photos from the burial service are posted below. Click on the photos to enlarge them.
DJ AM dies at age 36
Adam Goldstein (also known as DJ AM) was found dead in his New York City apartment Friday Afternoon, according to TMZ.
A crack pipe and prescriptions drugs were found in his apartment, but the official cause of death is unknown.
Ironically, Goldstein was involved in a plane crash last year with Blink 182 rocker Travis Barker. Both men survived the crash.
This eerily sounds like the movie “Final Destination,” where a group of people were supposed to die in a plane crash, but they survived. However, they each were killed one by one throughout the movie
DJ AM was a disc jockey who played at numerous celebrity events. He was engaged to Nicole Richie until they broke up in 2005.
Ted Kennedy dies at age 77
Sen. Edward Kenneday (aka Ted Kennedy) died Tuesday night after a battle witih brain cancer. He was 77 years old. The Associated Press story is posted below via NewsOK.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Sen. Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts, the last surviving brother in a political dynasty and one of the most influential senators in history, died Tuesday night at his home on Cape Cod after a year-long struggle with brain cancer. He was 77.
In nearly 50 years in the Senate, Kennedy served alongside 10 presidents – his brother John Fitzgerald Kennedy among them – compiling an impressive list of legislative achievements on health care, civil rights, education, immigration and more.
His only run for the White House ended in defeat in 1980. More than a quarter-century later, he handed then-Sen. Barack Obama an endorsement at a critical point in the campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination, explicitly likening the young contender to President Kennedy.
To the American public, Kennedy was best known as the last surviving son of America’s most glamorous political family, father figure and, memorably, eulogist of an Irish-American clan plagued again and again by tragedy.
Kennedy’s death triggered an outpouring of superlatives, from Democrats and Republicans as well as foreign leaders.
“An important chapter in our history has come to an end. Our country has lost a great leader, who picked up the torch of his fallen brothers and became the greatest United States senator of our time,” Obama said in a written statement.
“For five decades, virtually every major piece of legislation to advance the civil rights, health and economic well being of the American people bore his name and resulted from his efforts,” said Obama, vacationing at Martha’s Vineyard off the Massachusetts coast.
Kennedy’s family announced his death in a brief statement released early Wednesday.
“We’ve lost the irreplaceable center of our family and joyous light in our lives, but the inspiration of his faith, optimism, and perseverance will live on in our hearts forever,” the statement said. “We thank everyone who gave him care and support over this last year, and everyone who stood with him for so many years in his tireless march for progress toward justice, fairness and opportunity for all.”
A few hours later, two vans left the family compound at Hyannis Port in pre-dawn darkness. Both bore hearse license plates – with the word “hearse” blacked out.
There was no immediate word on funeral arrangements. Two of Kennedy’s brothers, John and Robert, are buried at Arlington National Cemetery across the Potomac River from Washington.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada issued a statement that said, “It was the thrill of my lifetime to work with Ted Kennedy�..The liberal lion’s mighty roar may now fall silent, but his dream shall never die.”
Former First Lady Nancy Reagan said that her husband and Kennedy “could always find common ground, and they had great respect for one another.”
Kennedy was elected to the Senate in 1962, taking the seat that his brother John had occupied before winning the White House, and served longer than all but two senators in history.
His own hopes of reaching the White House were damaged – perhaps doomed – in 1969 by the scandal that came to be known as Chappaquiddick, an auto accident that left a young woman dead.
He sought the White House more than a decade later, lost the Democratic nomination to President Jimmy Carter, and bowed out with a stirring valedictory that echoed across the decades: “For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives and the dream shall never die.”
Kennedy was diagnosed with a cancerous brain tumor in May 2008 and underwent surgery and a grueling regimen of radiation and chemotherapy.
He made a surprise return to the Capitol last summer to cast the decisive vote for the Democrats on Medicare. He made sure he was there again last January to see his former Senate colleague Barack Obama sworn in as the nation’s first black president, but suffered a seizure at a celebratory luncheon afterward.
He also made a surprise and forceful appearance at last summer’s Democratic National Convention, where he spoke of his own illness and said health care was the cause of his life. His death occurred precisely one year later, almost to the hour.
He was away from the Senate for much of this year, leaving Republicans and Democrats to speculate about the impact what his absence meant for the fate of Obama’s health care proposals.
Under state law, Kennedy’s successor will be chosen by special election. In his last known public act, the senator urged state officials to give Democratic Gov. Deval Patrick the power to name an interim replacement. But that appears unlikely, leaving Democrats in Washington with one less vote for the next several months as they struggle to pass Obama’s health care legislation.
His death came less than two weeks after that of his sister Eunice Kennedy Shriver on Aug. 11. Kennedy was not present for the funeral, an indication of the precariousness of his own health.
In a recent interview with The Associated Press, Kennedy’s son Rep. Patrick Kennedy, D-R.I., said his father had defied the predictions of doctors by surviving more than a year with his fight against brain cancer.
The younger Kennedy said that gave family members a surprise blessing, as they were able to spend more time with the senator and to tell him how much he had meant to their lives.
“There are very few people who have touched the life of this nation in the same breadth and the same order of magnitude,” Obama said in April as he signed the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act into law.
Kennedy arrived at his place in the Senate after a string of family tragedies. He was the only one of the four Kennedy brothers to die of natural causes.
Kennedy’s eldest brother, Joseph, was killed in a plane crash in World War II. President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas in 1963. Sen. Robert F. Kennedy was gunned down in Los Angeles as he campaigned for the 1968 Democratic presidential nomination. Years later, in 1999, John F. Kennedy Jr. was killed in a plane crash at age 38 along with his wife.
It fell to Ted Kennedy to deliver the eulogies, to comfort his brothers’ widows, to mentor fatherless nieces and nephews. It was Ted Kennedy who walked JFK’s daughter, Caroline, down the aisle at her wedding.
Tragedy had a way of bringing out his eloquence.
Kennedy sketched a dream of a better future as he laid to rest his brother Robert in 1968: “My brother need not be idealized, or enlarged in death beyond what he was in life; to be remembered simply as a good and decent man, who saw wrong and tried to right it, saw suffering and tried to heal it, saw war and tried to stop it.”
After John Jr.’s death, the senator said: “We dared to think, in that other Irish phrase, that this John Kennedy would live to comb gray hair, with his beloved Carolyn by his side. But like his father, he had every gift but length of years.”
His own legacy was blighted on the night of July 18, 1969, when Kennedy drove his car off a bridge and into a pond on Chappaquiddick Island, on Martha’s Vineyard. Mary Jo Kopechne, a 28-year-old worker with RFK’s campaign, was found dead in the submerged car’s back seat 10 hours later.
Kennedy, then 37, pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of an accident and received a two-month suspended sentence and a year’s probation. A judge eventually determined there was “probable cause to believe that Kennedy operated his motor vehicle negligently � and that such operation appears to have contributed to the death of Mary Jo Kopechne.”
At the height of the scandal, Kennedy went on national television to explain himself in an extraordinary 13-minute address in which he denied driving drunk and rejected rumors of “immoral conduct” with Ms. Kopechne.
He said he was haunted by “irrational” thoughts immediately after the accident, and wondered “whether some awful curse did actually hang over all the Kennedys.” He said his failure to report the accident right away was “indefensible.”
After Chappaquiddick especially, Kennedy gained a reputation as a heavy drinker and a womanizer, a tragically flawed figure haunted by the fear that he did not quite measure up to his brothers. As his weight ballooned, he was lampooned by comics and cartoonists in the 1980s and ’90s as the very embodiment of government waste, bloat and decadence.
But in his later years, after he had remarried, he came to be regarded as a statesman on Capitol Hill, seen as one of the most effective, hardworking lawmakers Washington has ever seen.
A barrel-chested figure with a swath of white hair, a booming voice and a thick, widely imitated Boston accent, he coupled fist-pumping floor speeches with his well-honed Irish charm and formidable negotiating skills. He was both a passionate liberal and a clear-eyed pragmatist, willing to reach across the aisle to get things done.
Kennedy’s speech in accepting defeat to Carter electrified the Democratic convention and turned out to be a defining moment. At 48, he seemed liberated from the towering expectations and high hopes invested in him after the death of his brothers, and he plunged into his work in the Senate.
First elected to the Senate in 1962 to his brother John’s seat, easily re-elected in 2006, Kennedy served close to 47 years, longer than all but two senators in history: Robert Byrd of West Virginia (50 years and counting) and the late Strom Thurmond of South Carolina, who died after a tenure of nearly 47 1 / 2 years. Kennedy’s career spanned 10 presidencies.
His legislative achievements included bills to provide health insurance for children of the working poor, the landmark 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act, Meals on Wheels for the elderly, abortion clinic access, family leave, and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
He was also a key negotiator on legislation creating a Medicare prescription drug benefit for senior citizens and was a driving force for peace in Ireland and a persistent critic of the war in Iraq.
Kennedy did not always prevail. In late 2008, he unsuccessfully lobbied for niece Caroline’s appointment to the Senate from New York. New York Gov. David Paterson chose then-Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand instead.
Wildly popular among Democrats, Kennedy routinely won re-election by large margins. He grew comfortable in his role as Republican foil and leader of his party’s liberal wing.
President George W. Bush welcomed Kennedy to the Rose Garden on several occasions as he signed bills that the Democrat helped write.
“He’s the kind of person who will state his case, sometimes quite eloquently and vociferously, and then on another issue will come along and you can work with him,” Bush said shortly before his first term began in 2001.
But Bush was also the target of some of Kennedy’s sharpest attacks. Kennedy assailed the Iraq war as Bush’s Vietnam, a conflict “made up in Texas” and marketed by the Bush administration for political gain.
Kennedy and his niece Caroline shook up the Democratic establishment in January 2008 when they endorsed Obama over Hillary Rodham Clinton for the nomination for president.
After Obama won in November, Kennedy renewed words once spoken by his brother John, declaring: “The world is changing. The old ways will not do. � It is time for a new generation of leadership.”
Born in 1932, the youngest of Joseph and Rose Kennedy’s nine children, Edward Moore Kennedy was part of a family bristling with political ambition, beginning with maternal grandfather John F. “Honey Fitz” Fitzgerald, a congressman and mayor of Boston.
Round-cheeked Teddy was thrown out of Harvard in 1951 for cheating, after arranging for a classmate to take a freshman Spanish exam for him. He eventually returned, earning his degree in 1956.
He went on to the University of Virginia Law School, and in 1962, while his brother John was president, announced plans to run for the Senate seat JFK had vacated in 1960. A family friend had held the seat in the interim because Kennedy was not yet 30, the minimum age for a senator.
Kennedy was immediately involved in a bruising primary campaign against state Attorney General Edward J. McCormack, a nephew of U.S. House Speaker John W. McCormack.
“If your name was simply Edward Moore, your candidacy would be a joke,” chided McCormack.
Kennedy won the primary by 300,000 votes and went on to overwhelmingly defeat Republican George Cabot Lodge, son of the late Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge, in the general election.
Devastated by his brothers’ assassinations and injured in a 1964 plane crash that left him with back pain that would plague him for decades, Kennedy temporarily withdrew from public life in 1968. But he re-emerged in 1969 to be elected majority whip of the Senate.
Then came Chappaquiddick.
Kennedy still handily won re-election in 1970, but he lost his leadership job. He remained outspoken in his opposition to the Vietnam War and support of social programs but ruled out a 1976 presidential bid.
In the summer of 1978, a Gallup Poll showed that Democrats preferred Kennedy over President Carter 54 percent to 32 percent. A year later, Kennedy decided to run for the White House with a campaign that accused Carter of turning his back on the Democratic agenda.
The difficult task of dislodging a sitting president was compounded by Kennedy’s fumbling answer to a question posed by CBS’ Roger Mudd: Why do you want to be president?
“Well, it’s um, you know you have to come to grips with the different issues that, ah, we’re facing,” Kennedy said. “I mean, we can, we have to deal with each of the various questions of the economy, whether it’s in the area of energy �”
He bowed out of the race after getting roundly beaten by Carter in the primaries and losing a rules battle at the Democratic convention. Later, when asked to assess the campaign, he replied: “Well, I learned to lose, and for a Kennedy that’s hard.”
Kennedy married Virginia Joan Bennett, known as Joan, in 1958. They divorced in 1982. In 1992, he married Washington lawyer Victoria Reggie. His survivors include a daughter, Kara Kennedy Allen; two sons, Edward Jr. and Patrick, a congressman from Rhode Island; and two stepchildren, Caroline and Curran Raclin.
In 1991, Kennedy roused his nephew William Kennedy Smith and his son Patrick from bed to go out for drinks while staying at the family’s Palm Beach, Fla., estate. Later that night, a woman Smith met at a bar accused him of raping her at the home.
Smith was acquitted, but the senator’s carousing – and testimony about him wandering about the house in his shirttails and no pants – further damaged his reputation.
Kennedy offered a mea culpa in a speech at Harvard that October, recognizing “my own shortcomings, the faults in the conduct of my private life.”
Later on, his second wife appeared to have a calming influence on him, helping him rehabilitate his image.
Kennedy’s family life has been marked by illness.
Edward Jr. lost a leg to bone cancer in 1973 at age 12. Kara had a cancerous tumor removed from her lung in 2003. In 1988, Patrick had a noncancerous tumor pressing on his spine removed. He has also struggled with depression and addiction and announced in June that he was re-entering rehab.
Kennedy’s memoir, “True Compass,” is set to be published in the fall.
Michael Jackson’s death ruled a homicide
Pop singer Michael Jackson’s death was officially ruled a homicide. (no surprise there). The Associated Press story is posted below via NewsOK.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
The Los Angeles County coroner has ruled Michael Jackson’s death a homicide, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press, a finding that makes it more likely criminal charges will be filed against the doctor who was with the pop star when he died and is the target of a manslaughter investigation.
Reports from law enforcement say the Los Angeles County coroner has ruled Michael Jackson’s death a homicide.
The coroner determined a fatal combination of drugs was given to Jackson hours before he died June 25 in his rented Los Angeles mansion, according to the official who spoke on condition of anonymity because the findings have not been publicly released. Forensic tests found the powerful anesthetic propofol acted together with at least two sedatives to cause Jackson’s death, the official said.
Dr. Conrad Murray, a Las Vegas cardiologist who became Jackson’s personal physician weeks before his death, is the target of the Los Angeles Police Department’s manslaughter investigation.
According to a search warrant affidavit unsealed Monday in Houston, Murray told investigators he administered a 25 mg dose of propofol around 10:40 a.m. after spending the night injecting Jackson with two sedatives in an unsuccessful attempt to get him to sleep.
The warrant, dated July 23, states that lethal levels of propofol were found in Jackson’s system. Besides the propofol and two sedatives, the coroner’s toxicology report found other substances in Jackson’s system but they were not believed to have been a factor in the singer’s death, the official said.
Murray has spoken to police and last week released a video saying he “told the truth and I have faith the truth will prevail.” His attorney, Edward Chernoff, had no immediate comment but has previously said Murray never administered anything that “should have” killed Jackson.
A call to the coroner’s office was not returned Monday.
Murray did not say anything about the drugs he gave to Jackson.
Michael Jackson’s autopsy results kept a secret
The autopsy results on Michael Jackson’s body have been complete. Unfortunately, we won’t know the results just yet.
The Los Angeles Police Department requested the results be kept secret because they’re afraid it could hinder the investigation into Jackson’s death.
Although we don’t know the official cause of death, I think it’s safe to say that prescription drugs were somehow involved.
Tim Henley
