Patrick Swayze dies at 57 of pancreatic cancer

Heartthrob Patrick Swayze died today, losing his battle against pancreatic cancer. The star of such popular films as "Dirty Dancing," "Ghost" and "Point Break" 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," publicist Annett Wolf said a statement.

Earlier this year, in an interview with Barbara Walters, Swayze spoke of the seriousness of his illness, saying he didn't think he would live more than two years. "I'd say five years is pretty wishful thinking," the actor said. "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."

Feel free to leave your thoughts about his life and accomplishments here.

-- Tony Pierce

Photo: Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey in "Dirty Dancing." Credit: Vestron Pictures

Fans on Twitter react to death of DJ AM

Adam Goldstein, better known as DJ AM, was found dead this afternoon in his New York City apartment, according to his publicist.

The popular disc jockey toured with Travis Barker, formally of Blink-182, and called off a much-publicized engagement with "Simple Life" star Nicole Richie in 2005.

Goldstein, who escaped a plane crash with Barker in September, was found in an apartment in the SoHo district of Manhattan, according to the Associated Press. Drugs may have been involved, NBC New York reports.

"The circumstances surrounding his death are unclear," Jenni Weinman, his publicist, wrote in an e-mail. "Out of respect for his family and loved ones, please respect their privacy at this time."

Goldstein was scheduled to premiere an MTV show in October, called "Gone Too Far," about overcoming drug addiction after having battled his own cocaine addiction.

Barker's ex-wife, Shanna Moakler, wrote a message on Twitter after reports of Goldstein's death, saying, "My deepest condolences for DJ AM, you were a great artist and will be severely missed. My thoughts and Prayers to his family and friends."

Goldstein wrote a rather grim message on his own Twitter page on Tuesday, quoting lyrics to the Grand Master Flash song, "New York New York." His tweet, which was sent from a Blackberry phone, read, "New york, new york. Big city of dreams, but everything in new york aint always what it seems."

Thousands of fans and friends are reacting to the news on Twitter. We've highlighted some of the more memorable tweets after the jump.

Dominick Dunne dead at age 83

Dominick Dunne, author, Vanity Fair reporter and former Hollywood producer, died today at his New York City home at age 83, Vanity Fair has announced.

Dunne famously covered such trials as Claus von Bulow, the Menendez brothers and O.J. Simpson, and he hosted the program "Power, Privilege and Justice" on Court TV.  He became a celebrity in his own right, causing many to question his motives in covering sensational cases.   "O.J. Simpson improved my social position," he once told USA Today.  From The Times' obituary:

Like Truman Capote, another social chronicler, Dunne often bit the well-manicured hands that fed him. A friend of Alfred and Betsy Bloomingdale of the department store fortune, he turned Alfred's relationship with his mistress, Vicki Morgan, into a roman a clef, "An Inconvenient Woman" (1990). Similarly, Dunne, who had been a guest at the 1950 wedding of Robert F. Kennedy and Ethel Skakel, turned his theories about the culpability of Ethel's nephew, Michael Skakel, in a long-unsolved murder into another novel, "A Season in Purgatory" (1993). Skakel ultimately was tried and convicted. His cousin, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., blamed Dunne for the conviction and told talk show host Larry King that the writer was "not a journalist. He's a gossip columnist."

If, as Capote said, all literature is gossip, Dunne was a believer. He loved to "dish," giving rumor equal time with news in his Vanity Fair reports. His story on the Edmond Safra murder, for instance, was an engrossing brew of fact and rank speculation as only Dunne could produce. He repeated hearsay and used unnamed sources liberally, such as a "well-connected woman once married to a prominent figure in the film world" or "a waiter serving me risotto" at a dinner party. Dunne had everyone whispering in his ear.

Share your thoughts on Dunne's life and work here.

-- Lindsay Barnett

Photo: Dunne in a 1995 file photo.  Credit: Nick Ut / Associated Press

Guitar legend and multitracking innovator Les Paul dead at 94

Guitar legend, inventor and pop music hit-maker Les Paul has died at age 94.  Paul died of complications from pneumonia at White Plains Hospital, surrounded by friends and family, in White Plains, N.Y.  From The Times' obituary:

One of the finest pickers on the American music scene, Paul was often cited as a major influence on other guitarists, including Chet Atkins, who called him "one of my idols."

But for many other music fans, it was Paul's innovations that will ensure his legacy. They include an early electric guitar as well as new ways to create multiple tracks and echo effects for recordings, which he used in his recordings with Ford and which were later were broadly adopted by other musicians.

The music world was never the same after Paul introduced multi-tracking in the late 1940s. (Having taken time off from a lucrative career playing guitar with such singers as Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters, Paul holed himself up in a garage right here in L.A., eventually emerging with his first multitracked hit, "Lover.")  With his then-wife Mary Ford, he recorded a litany of hits like "How High the Moon," "Mockingbird Hill" and a singular version of old favorite "Tennessee Waltz." 

Beyond his innovative recording-studio creations, Paul was an extraordinarily gifted guitar player; his famous solo on Crosby's hit "It's Been a Long, Long Time" is viewed by many as one of the best guitar solos ever recorded.  When Paul's arm was injured in an automobile accident, he even made a famous request of his doctors -- when told that his arm would remain locked in the position in which it was set, he asked that it be set at an angle so he could still play the guitar.  And one of rock music's most instantly recognizable guitars -- created by the Gibson Guitar Corp. using Paul's guitar-building concepts -- even bears the name Les Paul.

What are your memories of this great musician?  Share your thoughts here.

-- Lindsay Barnett

Photo: Paul with Ford in 1951.  Credit: Associated Press

Share your thoughts and memories about John Hughes and his films

The sad news of John Hughes' death has just broken. The talented writer and director is responsible for a cadre of teen films which were the cornerstone of the 1980s.

Hughes' impressive streak of writing and directing credits from 1982-1990 included such classics as "Sixteen Candles,"  "The Breakfast Club,"  "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," "Vacation,"  "Planes, Trains & Automobiles," "Weird Science," "Uncle Buck," "Home Alone" and "Christmas Vacation."

Clearly there are many in Generation X who like me took a date to "Sixteen Candles" while in high school and then rushed out to "The Breakfast Club" the day it hit the screens. Hughes made stars out of unknowns like Anthony Michael Hall, Macaulay Culkin and Molly Ringwald with believable, wonderful, and far-fetched scripts.

Meanwhile the bands that he used to score his soundtracks also benefited immensely. Modern English's "Melt With You" is eternally tied to "Sixteen Candles," as is "Don't You (Forget About Me)" by Simple Minds off "The Breakfast Club" soundtrack. And although Yello's uber-1980s hit "Oh Yeah" was perfectly placed in "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," it was Hughes who allegedly spiked the soundtrack because he felt the music was too obscure (Big Audio Dynamite, Sigue Sigue Sputnik, General Public) to appeal to the mainstream.

So what are your memories of his films? Here's your chance to share.

Correction: Although "Melt With You" was featured in "Sixteen Candles", a commentor below is correct, that tune is better associated with another '80s film, "Valley Girl".

-- Tony Pierce

Related: Patrick Goldstein's feature on John Hughes from March of 2008

Top photo: Molly Ringwald and Michael Schoeffling in "Sixteen Candles." Credit: Universal Pictures. Bottom photo of John Hughes. Credit: Los Angeles Times

Revered newsman Walter Cronkite dead at 92

Walter Cronkite, the revered news anchor and managing editor who presided over "CBS Evening News" from 1962 to 1981, has died.  Cronkite was 92.  From The Times' obituary:

Beginning with the Kennedy assassination in 1963, Cronkite shaped coverage of some of the most tumultuous times in U.S. history, including the 1968 assassinations of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Sen. Robert F. Kennedy.

In the early 1970s, an opinion poll identified Cronkite as the most trusted public figure in America, a label that stayed with him for decades.

Indeed, Cronkite invaded the American consciousness like few other journalists.  Times television critic Robert Lloyd recalls that, during his childhood, "I conflated him in my mind with Captain Kangaroo, another graying man with a mustache who ordered the world in a voice of quiet authority, and with that other grand-paternal Uncle Walter, Disney -- men who gave you the feeling that things would be all right, in the near future and the far."

How did Walter Cronkite affect your life?  Share your memories and thoughts about his life and work here.

Photo: Cronkite during the 1963 CBS News broadcast when he announced to the world that President John F. Kennedy was dead.  Credit: cbsnews.com

Farrah Fawcett, 1970s icon, dead at 62

Actress and 1970s icon Farrah Fawcett died this morning at about 9:30 a.m., finally succumbing to the rare cancer she was diagnosed with in 1996.  She was 62.

Fawcett, who rose to fame with her portrayal of Jill Munroe in "Charlie's Angels," became an icon (and a generation's favorite pinup girl) in the 1970s. Her hair, her relationships -- and yes, also her acting ability -- were the subject of scrutiny. 

"In an odd way, even with all that Lycra and bralessness, ["Charlie's Angels"] was a feminist statement," Robert Thompson, a professor of television and popular culture at Syracuse University, told The Times. "This was an hour-long drama with women as action heroes. They were working in areas of power that generally we didn't see women in much."

After leaving the show that made her famous, Fawcett sought to showcase her acting skills with roles in the TV movie "The Burning Bed," the off-Broadway play "Extremities" (which was later made into a film) and the independent film "The Apostle." 

Fawcett's battle with cancer was very public; she fought for patient privacy even as she was fighting for her life. Just last month a video diary chronicling her fight, "Farrah's Story," aired on NBC.

Share your memories of Farrah Fawcett here.

RELATED:
Farrah Fawcett: a legacy bigger than her hair
Farrah Fawcett's life in photos

Photo: Fawcett in a 1975 publicity portrait.  Credit: Hulton Archive / Getty Images

Ed McMahon, Johnny Carson's sidekick on 'The Tonight Show,' dead at 86

Entertainer Ed McMahon, best known for his nearly 30-year stint as sidekick to Johnny Carson on "The Tonight Show," died today at age 86. 

McMahon's publicist, Howard Bragman, said the beloved comedian and big-check presenter passed away this morning at Ronald Reagan/UCLA Medical Center. The cause of death wasn't announced, but McMahon had been in failing health for some time.

"Ed has been a rock for 30 years, sitting over here next to me ... . We have been friends for 34 years," Carson said of McMahon during the pair's final "Tonight Show" taping in 1992.  "A lot of people who work together on television don't necessarily like each other. This hasn't been true ... . We're good friends; you can't fake that on television."

What are your favorite McMahon moments? Share your memories here.

Photo: Associated Press

Tony-winning actress Natasha Richardson dies after skiing accident

British stage and film actress Natasha Richardson has died at age 45, according to a spokesman for her family.  Richardson suffered a head injury while skiing at a resort in Canada.

The actress, who won a Tony award for her performance in a 1998 Broadway revival of the musical "Cabaret," was a member of the prominent British theatrical family the Redgraves and was married to actor Liam Neeson.  The couple have two sons.

The Times' John Horn reports:

Alan Nierob of Rogers & Cowan said in a statement Wednesday night: "Liam Neeson, his sons, and the entire family are shocked and devastated by the tragic death of their beloved Natasha. They are profoundly grateful for the support, love and prayers of everyone, and ask for privacy during this very difficult time."

Share your thoughts on Richardson's life, work and death here.

Photo: Richardson holds her Tony award for best leading actress in a musical for her role in "Cabaret."  Credit: Kathy Willens / Associated Press