Latest in Obituaries

Martha De Laurentiis, an American film and TV producer and wife of Dino De Laurentiis, died early in the morning of December 4 after a long battle with cancer. “My mother was both a warm, generous, optimistic soul – my father always referred to her as his ‘sunshine’ – and a fierce protector,” her daughter Dina De…

Stonewall Jackson, a country singer, guitarist and longtime member of the Grand Ole Opry radio show, died Saturday at age 89. The cause was complications from vascular dementia, according to a statement from the Opry. Not everything was so smooth between Jackson and the Opry. In 2008, the 75-year-old Jackson settled a…

Bob Dole, a longtime elder statesman in the Republican party who was its vice presidential nominee in 1976 and presidential nominee 20 years later, has died. He was 98. The Elizabeth Dole Foundation, named for his wife, said in a statement that Dole died early Sunday morning in his sleep. Dole had been diagnosed with…

Colonel Edward Shames, the last surviving officer from the World War II paratroopers that inspired an HBO series, died Friday at age 99. He passed at home, according to a message posted by his funeral home. Band of Brothers was a miniseries that first aired in 2001. It was based on historian Stephen E. Ambrose’s 1992…

Jay Jay Phillips, the heavy-metal keyboardist who rocked the America’s Got Talent judges like a hurricane in 2017, has died, his band announced on its Instagram page. He was 30, and reportedly succumbed, unvaccinated, from…

Sir Antony Sher, the acclaimed UK theater actor who also starred in Shakespeare In Love and Mrs Brown, has died. He was 72. The Royal Shakespeare Company tweeted earlier Friday that Sher had died of cancer. Sher’s husband Gregory Doran, the RSC’s artistic director, has been taking compassionate leave since September…

Marcus Lamb, who founded the Texas-based Christian television network Daystar, died on Tuesday from Covid complications. He was 64 and his death was confirmed by his wife, Joni Lamb, on a show they cohosted on the network. Lamb was an outspoken critic of coronavirus vaccines and advised against inoculations. However…

Cindy Williams paid tribute to her Laverne & Shirley co-star Eddie Mekka today, tweeting her love and calling the late actor “a world-class talent who could do it all.” The tweet (see it below) also includes a video of Mekka highlights from Laverne & Shirley, with many of the clips showcasing Mekka’s song-and-dance…

Eddie Mekka, the actor who played Carmine Ragusa, the high school sweetheart of Cindy Williams’ Shirley Feeney on the hit ’70s sitcom Laverne & Shirley, has died at his home in Newhall, CA. He was 69. His November 27 death was announced on Facebook by longtime friend Pat Benti, who did not disclose a cause of death…

Harriet Halpern Beck, an entertainment attorney who specialized in children’s programming during her long career, died Friday, Nov. 26 after a long illness. She was 80. As the VP of business affairs at Ruby Spears Productions in the 1980s, she played a pivotal role in shaping the Saturday morning children's television…

Jonshel Alexander, a supporting child actor in the Academy Award-nominated film Beasts of the Southern Wild, was fatally shot Saturday night in New Orleans’ 7th Ward, according to multiple reports. She was 22. Alexander and an unidentified man were shot while sitting in a vehicle in the 1500 block of North Claiborne…

Laurane “LaLa” Sheehan, the actor-turned-corporate entertainment publicist and events planner who had worked at Maggie Begley Communications for 30 years, died November 11 of a sudden heart attack. She was 61. Sheehan was a Senior Accounts Supervisor at entertainment marketing and PR firm MBC, working with clients…