Mickey Rooney, Longtime Hollywood Icon, 1920-2014
Mickey Rooney, who began his long film career as a silent movie kid star, became a top Hollywood attraction in Andy Rooney films and a partner with Judy Garland, before…
Comedy Genius Sid Caesar, 1922-2014
One of the last public appearances for Sid Caesar, the great TV clown who died Wednesday at 91, came at one of the stranger sessions of the TV Critics Association…
Remembering Shirley Temple, 1928-2014
It was just a few days ago that I saw, on rail of some internet site fraught with clickbait, the familiar picture in pincurls, young Shirley Temple, accompanying a headline…
The Sad Shocking Death of Philip Seymour Hoffman
Among the many things dangled before our eyes at the TV Critics winter press tour last month, one of the easy standouts was for Showtime's planned "Happyish." It starred Philip…
Remembering Pete Seeger, 1919-2014
The death of Pete Seeger Monday at 1994 brings to an end of one of the great names in American music, a personification of folk music and the folk spirit,…
Elmore Leonard, Detroiter, 1925-2013
Elmore Leonard, who died today at 87, was not only one of the great crime writers of the day, whose work was the basis of TV and movie scripts from…
Gia of ‘The Bachelor’ Takes Her Life
I'm used to writing of contestants losing on "The Bachelor," but not of suicide deaths. Sadly, that's what happened to Gia Allemand, 29, the cheery and exotic standout from Jake…
Cory Monteith, 1982-2013
The sad death of Cory Monteith this weekend at just 31 became more shocking when contrasted with what we saw of his life. On a show called "Glee," for heaven's…
James Gandolfini, 1961-2013
Shocking, of course, to hear of the death of James Gandolfini today in Italy at only the age of 51. A great actor with serious gravitas, he played a big…
Remembering Annette Funicello, 1942-2013
It may have been the assertive way she said her name: "Annette!" Or that she was the tallest of the first batch of Mickey Mouse Club Mouskateers (certainly she was…