Michael Jackson dead at 50 of cardiac arrest

It’s been confirmed that Michael Jackson has passed away at the age of 50.

At approximately 12:21 pm PST this afternoon Los Angeles paramedics responded to a call to his home. It’s been reported that Jackson was not breathing when the paramedics arrived and resuscitation attempts were made as he was transported to UCLA medical center.

The health crisis came as the singer was trying to mount a massive comeback with a series of London concerts after his acquittal on child molestation charges in 2005.

In the last few months there have been reports that Michael Jackson was suffering from skin cancer and a lung disorder however his concert promoter has denied those rumors. Michael had to undergo several medical tests in order to be insured for his upcoming UK concert series and his health, as stated by the concert promoter was good.

Jackson had apparently been preparing for the upcoming concerts by working out so he’d be able to physically withstand the toll the concerts would take on him. He was training with Lou Ferrigno, the star of the TV show The Incredible Hulk. Perhaps his concert preparation weakened his heart. [Read more...]





Share and Enjoy

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Delicious
  • Digg
  • StumbleUpon
  • Add to favorites
  • Email
  • RSS

Farrah Fawcett dead at 62

Farrah Fawcett died early this morning (9:28 am PST) after a three year battle with cancer.

She was in St. John’s Heath Center in Santa Monica, Calif when she passed away. She was with longtime partner Ryan O’Neal, friend Alana Stewart, friend and hairdresser Mela Murphy and her doctor Lawrence Piro. She had recently returned to St. John’s for treatment of complications from anal cancer, first diagnosed three years ago.

Ryan O’Neal, her long time companion stated “She’s gone. She now belongs to the ages,” he also confirmed that she received the last rites of the Catholic Church. “She’s now with her mother and sister and her God. I loved her with all my heart. I will miss her so very, very much. She was in and out of consciousness. I talked to her all through the night. I told her how very much I loved her. She’s in a better place now. She was with her team when she passed … Her eyes were open, but she didn’t say anything. But you could see in her eyes that she recognized us.”

Just a few days ago there were reports that Ryan and Fawcett had planned to wed before she died however, in the end, there just wasn’t time.

Friends and family plan to honor Fawcett with a funeral service at a Catholic cathedral in Los Angeles in the next few days.

A little background on Farrah Fawcett from People Magazine:

In 1973, Fawcett married actor Lee Majors, forever known as Col. Steve Austin on TV’s The Six Million Dollar Man. Three years later, she appeared in the cult sci-fi film Logan’s Run and began her stint with costars Jackson and Jaclyn Smith on Charlie’s Angels. Well-coiffed and scantily clad, the threesome created an instant sensation, with a weekly following of 23 million fans.

Farrah Fawcett’s 1976 poster Photo by: Pie InternationalFarrah Fawcett Dies of Cancer at 62| Farrah Fawcett, Ryan O’Neal
Fawcett moved on after just one season. By then, she was already a phenomenon, having donned a one-piece red bathing suit and a perfect smile for her legendary pin-up poster, which sold a still-record 12 million copies.

“I became famous almost before I had a craft,” Fawcett told The New York Times in 1986, four years after her divorce from Majors. (By then, she was already involved with Ryan O’Neal.) “I didn’t study drama at school. I was an art major. Suddenly, when I was doing Charlie’s Angels, I was getting all this fan mail, and I didn’t really know why. I don’t think anybody else did, either.”

Bumpy Film Career
Though she left TV for what was assumed to be greener pastures – feature films – Fawcett’s initial three big-screen vehicles all crash-landed. Her first, 1978′s Somebody Killed Her Husband, was lampooned in MAD magazine under the title, Somebody Killed Her Career.

It took some serious dramatic TV roles, including that of a battered wife in 1984′s The Burning Bed (which earned her an Emmy nomination), as well as starring in small-screen biopics about pioneering photojournalist Margaret Bourke-White and ill-fated Woolworth heiress Barbara Hutton, for Fawcett to bounce back.

“What would you do if someone said to you, ‘You’re so popular right now that you can be on the cover of every magazine, but if you do that, you might get overexposed and a backlash will develop’?” Fawcett told The Times after she had emerged from one of the valleys of her career.

Still, she said of fighting for survival in Hollywood, “That’s life. Everything has positive and negative consequences.”

We’ll miss you Farrah.

Share and Enjoy

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Delicious
  • Digg
  • StumbleUpon
  • Add to favorites
  • Email
  • RSS

Just 50 years old Bernie Mac dies suddenly

bernie_mac.jpg Sadly the world has lost another comedian. Bernie Mac passed away early this morning due to complications from pneumonia. He died in a Chicago area hospital.

Mac was admitted to Northwestern Memorial Hospital with pneumonia on August 1st said his rep in a statement. He’d been expected to recover however there had been rumors of the seriousness of his condition.

The comedian who has made people laugh for the last 30 years with rolls in film, television and routines in comedy clubs was only 50 years old.

Here’s some information about Bernie Macs long comedy career and how it all started courtesy of People Magazine Online:

Born Bernard Jeffrey McCullough in Chicago, Mac began his career as a stand-up comedian in the small comedy clubs of his native town. As a founding member of the Kings of Comedy comedy tour – the success of which spawned Spike Lee’s 2000 concert movie The Original Kings of Comedy (also starring Steve Harvey, D.L. Hughley, Cedric the Entertainer) – Mac was able to spotlight what would become his rapid-fire delivery. This effectively launched him into the big time.

The Bernie Mac Show, which ran from 2001 to 2006, often poked fun of Mac’s own life and proved a favorite of both critics and audiences – receiving a prestigious Peabody Award, as well as honors from the Television Critics Association (for best individual achievement in comedy).

In addition, the program provided a popular platform for Mac to win consecutive NAACP Image Awards for outstanding actor in a comedy series, from 2003 to 2006.

Named top actor in a comedy series at the ’06 ceremony, Mac clutched his trophy and reverted to his standup character, declaring: “America, I heard your prayers, and you wanted me here. The Mac Man cometh, and I’m bringing hell with me.”

Movie Roles
He scored on the big screen, too. Among his appearances were those in the comedy Guess Who (as Ashton Kutcher’s imposing, prospective father-in-law); the Ocean’s 11 franchise; Bad Santa; Charlie’s Angels; and Pride, costarring Terrence Howard.

This spring, Mac wrapped the upcoming film Soul Men, a comedy costarring Samuel L. Jackson about a former singing duo staging a comeback. He is also set to appear in Old Dogs with John Travolta, Robin Williams and Matt Dillon.

He also published a 2001 collection of comic riffs, I Ain’t Scared of You and a 2006 memoir, Maybe You Never Cry Again.

In February 2005, Mac, then 47, revealed that for the previous two decades he had suffered from sarcoidosis, an autoimmune disease that causes inflammation in organs such as the lungs or lymph nodes. “It has not altered or limited my lifestyle,” he said at the time.

Since 1977, Mac was married to Rhonda McCullough, with whom he had a daughter, Je’Niece, born in 1978. A graduate of Xavier University of Louisiana (with a bachelors degree in psychology and a masters in mental health counseling), Je’Niece married in 2003 and also has a daughter, Jasmine. His family survives Mac.

Share and Enjoy

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Delicious
  • Digg
  • StumbleUpon
  • Add to favorites
  • Email
  • RSS