We’ve just heard rumors that Golden Girls actress Betty White is dead. Don’t believe the hype!

TMZ reports:

We’ve lost a lot of icons recently — but no matter what NBC says, Betty White isn’t one of ‘em!

During a report yesterday morning at Forest Lawn Cemetery, “Today’s” Michael Okwu listed the “Golden Girl” as one of the celebrities already buried there.

Meredith Vieira corrected him — he probably meant Bette Davis.

Source, Bauer-Griffin

More details about David Carradine’s death are coming to light.

The actor died from accidental asphyxiation, a medical examiner who performed a private autopsy on the actor has concluded. “The cause of death was asphyxiation, an inability to breathe, now why that happened is still what we’re working on,” Dr. Michael Baden, who was hired by the late actor’s family, told Reuters.

The ties that bound Carradine, who was found hanging in the closet of his Bangkok hotel on June 4, helped Baden rule out suicide as well. “He didn’t die of natural causes, and he didn’t die of suicidal causes from the nature of the ligatures around the body, so that leaves some kind of accidental death,” he said.

Baden also clarified that Carradine’s hands were tied above his head and not behind his back, as some had previously reported. His report also did not rule out the possibility that the former Kung Fu star died of auto erotic asphyxiation, though he did not say that was the cause of death, either.

Results from an earlier autopsy performed on Carradine after his death at age 72 were unclear, though on June 11, Baden did publicly state the actor’s death was not suicide.

Source, Bauer-Griffin

TV legend Ed McMahon was remembered by friends and family yesterday, at a memorial service held at the Church of the Hills at Forest Lawn Memorial Parks and Mortuaries in the Hollywood Hills, Entertainment Tonight reports.

Around 200 guests were on hand to memorialize the late entertainer. Natalie Cole sang her touching ballad “Smile,” while Ed’s wife Pam and his children and grandchildren spoke as well.

Jimmy Kimmel, Tony Danza and his wife, George Schlatter, Johnny Carson’s former wife Joanna Carson and other celebrities were also there to celebrate the TV icon, who passed away last Tuesday after battling systemic cancer.

Source, Bauer-Griffin

Pitchman extraordinaire Billy Mays died from a pulmonary embolism, according to the coroner in Tampa, Fla., who announced preliminary autopsy results at a press conference Monday. Evidence of heart disease was also found.

According to Hillsborough County Medical Examiner Vernard Adams, Mays “had an enlarged heart, a thickening of the wall of the ventricle which takes blood to the heart.” Final results of the autopsy and cause of death will not be known for several weeks.

Mays, 50, the bearded man with the booming voice best known for his ubiquitous OxiClean ads died in his sleep in his Florida home over the weekend.

On Saturday, Mays was aboard a U.S. Airways flight that had a rough landing in Tampa. Mays told a TV crew that he bumped his head in the landing, fueling speculation that a possible injury could have lead to his untimely death. But the coroner says there was no evidence of head trauma. Internal and external injuries also did not exist.

“The news of Billy’s death came as a total shock to me,” Anthony Sullivan, his longtime friend and comrade on the Discovery Channel series Pitchmen told People Sunday night. “I’m devastated.”

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What’s going on in the world! Another death!

Tampa police say Billy Mays, the television pitchman known for his boisterous hawking of products such as Orange Glo and OxiClean, has died. He was 50.

Authorities say Mays was pronounced dead Sunday morning after being found by his wife at home. There were no signs of a break-in, and investigators do not suspect foul play. The coroner’s office expects to have an autopsy done by Monday afternoon.

Mays’ wife, Deborah Mays, says the family doesn’t expect to make any public statements and asked for privacy.

Mays was also featured on the reality TV show “Pitchmen” on the Discovery Channel, which followed Mays and Anthony Sullivan in their marketing jobs.

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According to reports from TMZ, Michael Jackson has passed away today. I still can’t believe it.

We’ve just learned Michael Jackson has died. He was 50.

Michael suffered a cardiac arrest earlier this afternoon and paramedics were unable to revive him. We’re told when paramedics arrived Jackson had no pulse and they never got a pulse back.

Michael is survived by three children: Michael Joseph Jackson, Jr., Paris Michael Katherine Jackson and Prince “Blanket” Michael Jackson II.

Jackson had 13 number one hits during his solo career.

So sad.

Source

More information from Us Magazine:

Michael Jackson, best known as the King of Pop, has died. He was 50.

He went into cardiac arrest at his Holmby Hills home in L.A. Thursday (a 911 call was placed shortly before 12:30 p.m. PT), according to TMZ, which first reported the news. Paramedics were unable to revive the singer (who had no pulse upon their arrival), the site reports.

He was then rushed to UCLA Medical Center while in a deep coma before passing away, The Los Angeles Times.

According to X17, more than 10 members of Michael’s entourage arrived at the hospital just after 1 p.m. PST after following the ambulance.

“They all got out of the SUVs in a panic and Michael was wheeled into
the emergency room on a stretcher,” the site reports. “There was definitely a sense of urgency and everyone looked worried.”

TMZ reports that his sister LaToya ran in the hospital sobbing after her brother was pronounced dead.

Michael’s father, Joe Jackson, confirmed to E! News his son had a heart attack.

“He is not OK,” he said. “His mother is on her way to the hospital now to check in on him.”

Jackson was set to headline 50 sold-out shows at London’s O2 Arena beginning in July, billed “This Is It” — his final London performances.

I’m still in shock.

The angels are in mourning.

“Farrah had courage, she had strength, and she had faith. And now she has peace as she rests with the real angels,” said Jaclyn Smith after the death of her friend and Charlie’s Angels costar Farrah Fawcett.

Cheryl Ladd, who replaced Fawcett on the wildly popular ’70s show, says: “I’m terribly sad about Farrah’s passing. She was incredibly brave, and God will be welcoming her with open arms.”

“I will miss Farrah every day,” says Kate Jackson. “She was a selfless person who loved her family and friends with all her heart, and what a big heart it was. Farrah showed immense courage and grace throughout her illness and was an inspiration to those around her. When I think of Farrah I will remember her kindness, her cutting dry wit and, of course, her beautiful smile.”

Added Jackson, “Today when you think of Farrah remember her smiling, because that is exactly how she wanted to be remembered.”

Fond Remembrances

From pinup, to TV star, to entertainment icon, to hero: Fawcett is being fondly remembered by both Hollywood and the style community.

Playboy publisher Hugh Hefner called Fawcett, who died of cancer at age 62 Thursday morning, the “Marilyn Monroe of the 1970s” whose famous poster “defined what one thinks of as the All-American girl.”

“Men fell in love with her and women wanted to look like her,” says Hefner of his magazine’s cover model. “She had a magic that never went away. She became a part of the pop culture.

Former Husband Mourns

Fawcett’s former husband, Lee Majors, says, “She fought a tremendous battle against a terrible disease. She was an angel on earth and now an angel forever.”

Hairstylist Jose Eber, who created Fawcett’s famous blonde mane, says, “She was blessed with the most amazing hair anybody could have.”

“Her hair had its own personality,” he says. “In my business, doing hair for so long now, very rarely do you see a person who has hair with such perfection. And it was all natural.”

Although Fawcett was known for her beauty and glamour, Robert Duvall, who starred with her in The Apostle, notes that “Farrah had an outstanding talent, better than most feature-film actresses that I’ve seen. She was great to work with and will be missed.”

David Pinksy, an entertainment marketing executive and a longtime friend, says, “It has been a true pleasure to call Farrah my friend for the past 15 years. While we may have met because of who she was, we became friends because of who she is – a good-hearted, funny and generous soul. I will miss her terribly but her spirit lives on inside her son Redmond.”

Source, Bauer-Griffin