Hollywood legend Debbie Reynolds has died a day after the death of her daughter, Carrie Fisher.
Debbie Reynolds was best known for starring opposite Gene Kelly in the 1952 musical Singin’ in the Rain.
The 84-year-old actress had been rushed to hospital with a suspected stroke.
Debbie Reynolds’ son, Todd Fisher, said the stress of Carrie’s death had been too much for her and in her last words, she had said she wanted to be with her daughter.
She had been at her son’s house in Beverly Hills – apparently discussing the arrangements for Carrie Fisher’s funeral – when she was taken ill.
Debbie Reynolds was admitted to Cedars-Sinai Medical Centre suffering from breathing difficulties and her death was confirmed a few hours later. It is thought she suffered a stroke.
Image source Wikimedia
Carrie Fisher, renowned for her role as Princess Leia in the Star Wars series, had died at the age of 60 the day before, after spending three days in a LA hospital.
The actress never regained consciousness after suffering a massive heart attack on board a flight from London to Los Angeles on Christmas Eve.
Speaking to the Associated Press about his mother, Todd Fisher said: “She’s now with Carrie and we’re all heartbroken.”
TMZ reported that Debbie Reynolds cracked while discussing plans for Carrie’s funeral with her son, telling him: “I miss her so much; I want to be with Carrie.”
Debbie Reynolds was leading lady in a succession of major Hollywood musicals and comedies in the 1950s and 60s.
She rose to stardom with Singin’ in the Rain, at the age of only 19.
Debbie Reynolds received a best actress Academy Award nomination for the 1964 musical The Unsinkable Molly Brown.
In 2015, Debbie Reynolds she was given a lifetime achievement award by the Screen Actors Guild. The award was presented to her by Carrie Fisher.
She married singer Eddie Fisher in 1955 and had two children, Carrie and Todd. The couple divorced in 1959 after news emerged of his affair with movie star Elizabeth Taylor.
Debbie Reynolds married twice more.
She had a sometimes strained relationship with Carrie Fisher, who wrote about it in her semi-autobiographical novel Postcards from the Edge.
Debbie Reynolds and Carrie Fisher stopped speaking to each other for many years but became closer later in life.
Carrie Fisher has died at the age of 60, days after suffering a heart attack during a flight from London to Los Angeles.
The actress was best known for her role as Princess Leia in the Star Wars series.
Carrie Fisher was taken ill on the flight on December 23 and was taken to hospital when the plane landed in LA.
Photo Flickr
A family statement said with “deep sadness” Carrie Fisher died on December 27.
As well as starring in other films such as The Blues Brothers and When Harry Met Sally, Carrie Fisher also wrote four novels and three memoirs.
In a statement released on behalf of Carrie Fisher’s daughter Billie Lourd, spokesman Simon Halls said: “It is with a very deep sadness that Billie Lourd confirms that her beloved mother Carrie Fisher passed away at 8.55 this morning.
“She was loved by the world and she will be missed profoundly. Our entire family thanks you for your thoughts and prayers.”
Star Wars legend Carrie Fisher is in a critical condition after suffering a massive heart attack and being unresponsive for 10 minutes during a flight from London to Los Angeles, reports say.
Carrie Fisher, 60, is best known for playing Princess Leia in the Star Wars saga.
According to TMZ, passengers attempted to revive the actress with CPR and she was rushed to hospital when the plane landed after midday local time.
Carrie Fisher had been on tour promoting her latest book The Princess Diarist.
The heart attack happened about 15 minutes before the plane landed in LA, TMZ reported. A medic who was traveling on the plane administered CPR.
A law enforcement official told NBC that Carrie Fisher’s condition was “not good”.
Photo Flickr
United Airlines issued a statement saying that Flight 935 from London to Los Angeles was met on the ground by medical personnel after the crew reported that a passenger was “unresponsive”, but did not name the passenger, Reuters reported.
Passengers on the plane have been tweeting about what they saw.
Fellow Star Wars actor Peter Mayhew, who played Chewbacca in the saga, tweeted his thoughts and prayers for “everyone’s favorite princess”.
Carrie Fisher appeared in the original Star Wars trilogy and Star Wars: The Force Awakens, a sequel released in 2015.
The actress also appeared in other movies including The Blues Brothers and When Harry Met Sally.
Carrie Fisher has written four novels and three memoirs and was previously married to the musician Paul Simon.
In her latest memoir, Carrie Fisher reveals that she and Harrison Ford, who played Han Solo, had an affair during the filming of Star Wars when she was 19 years old, and he was 33 and married with two children.
Carrie Fisher is the daughter of singer Eddie Fisher and actress Debbie Reynolds.
Silvio Berlusconi is to have heart surgery after an attack that could have killed him, his doctor says.
The former Italian prime minister will undergo surgery by the middle of next week to replace a defective aortic valve, Dr. Alberto Zangrillo told reporters in Rome.
Silvio Berlusconi, 79, served as prime minister four times but has since been convicted of tax fraud and bribery.
His political influence has waned since he left office in 2011.
Dr. Alberto Zangrillo said Berlusconi had “arrived at the hospital in a severe state”.
“He risked his life, he risked dying and he knew it… We have identified in an exact and certain way a pathology of aortic valve that is called aortic insufficiency,” the physician said.
“There’s only one way to correct it, which is the substitution of the aortic valve.”
Alberto Zangrillo added that his patient had been shocked by the news.
“At the beginning he didn’t want to believe it,” he was quoted as saying by Reuters news agency.
“For a man who wants to live to be 130, this is a very unpleasant jolt.”
Silvio Berlusconi, a billionaire businessman who leads the Forza Italia party, was taken into hospital for tests in his home city, Milan, earlier this week.
A spokeswoman for the party said at the time Silvio Berlusconi’s condition was not life-threatening.
According to a recent study, some people with high levels of supposedly “good” cholesterol are at much greater risk of heart disease.
A bloodstream tussle takes place between “bad” cholesterol dumping fatty material in the arteries and good cholesterol taking it away.
The Cambridge University study published in Science showed more “good” cholesterol was not always better.
It is thought the findings may help find new ways to protect the heart.
Eating olive oil, fish and nuts raises levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) – which is more commonly known as “good” cholesterol.
HDL is one of the things doctors test for when predicting your risk of a heart attack.
However, repeated trials that raise HDL with drugs have flopped, leading doctors to think something else is going on.
Some insight has come from studying rare mutations that leave people with high levels of good cholesterol.
Trials showed people with a mutation in a gene called SCARB1, which affects one-in-1,700 people, had very high levels of good cholesterol.
They also had an 80% increased risk of heart disease – that is roughly the same increased risk as for smoking.
Further experiments showed the mutation was preventing HDL from dumping the fat it had collected in the liver for processing.
There have been huge efforts put into drugs to raise HDL in the hope they have the same impact as statins, which lower the bad cholesterol.
While the researchers have questioned the importance of boosting levels of HDL cholesterol, they insist it still remains a valuable tool for predicting the risk of a heart attack.
Israel’s ex-President Shimon Peres has been taken to hospital after suffering chest pains, 10 days after he had a small heart attack.
Shimon Peres, 92, underwent minor surgery last week for a constricted artery.
A spokeswoman said on January 24 that Shimon Peres was readmitted to a Tel Aviv hospital “for observation and testing”.
The former president was not due to undergo any invasive procedures, Haaretz reported.
Shimon Peres twice served as Israel’s prime minister and was president from 2007 to 2014.
On January 24, he was found by doctors to have an irregular heartbeat, his spokeswoman said.
Shimon Peres won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1994 for his role negotiating the Oslo peace accords with the Palestinians a year earlier, a prize he shared with PM Yitzhak Rabin, who was later assassinated, and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.
He was defeated in the 1996 election by the head of the opposition Likud, Benjamin Netanyahu.
Shimon Peres has held almost every major political office since Israel was founded in 1948, and was the architect of Israel’s secret nuclear program in 1959.
Despite his age, Shimon Peres has maintained an active public schedule, mostly through his non-governmental Peres Center for Peace, which promotes closer ties between Israel and the Palestinians.
New Orleans R&B legend Allen Toussaint has died at the age of 77, Spanish authorities have announced.
Allen Toussaint was known for songs like Working In The Coalmine, Southern Nights and Fortune Teller.
The musician a heart attack shortly after coming off stage at Madrid’s Teatro Lara on November 9, reported Spanish newspaper El Mundo.
Allen Toussaint was found in his hotel and resuscitated – but suffered a second heart attack en route to hospital.
He worked with some of music’s biggest stars – including Paul McCartney, Irma Thomas, Aaron Neville, Joe Cocker, Glen Campbell and Elvis Costello.
Allen Toussaint was born in 1938 in the working class neighborhood of Gert Town, New Orleans.
He began learning piano at the age of seven, influenced by the likes of Huey “Piano” Smith and Ray Charles, and got his big break when he was asked to fill in for an absent Fats Domino at a recording session.
In 1960, Allen Toussaint was hired by Joe Banashak’s Minit record label and masterminded many of the company’s biggest hits – including Irma Thomas’s Ruler of My Heart (later recorded by Otis Redding as Pain in My Heart) and Benny Spellman’s Lipstick Traces (On A Cigarette).
Drafted by the military in 1963, he continued to make music on service leave, but scored his biggest hits after his discharge in 1965.
Allen Toussaint’s most successful collaborations were with singer Lee Dorsey, who recorded Toussaint’s compositions Ride Your Pony, Get Out of My Life Woman, Working in a Coalmine and Everything I Do Gon’ Be Funky.
Many of his songs became famous through cover versions, with the likes of The Who, The Rolling Stones, Robert Plant, Bo Diddley and The Doors re-interpreting his songs.
Allen Toussaint was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998. The citation said his greatest contribution “was in not allowing [New Orelans] old-school R&B traditions to die out but by keeping pace with developments in the rapidly evolving worlds of soul and funk”.
In 2013, he was presented with America’s National Medal of Arts, the highest honor given to an American artist.
Allen Toussaint is survived by his two children, including his son Clarence, known as Reginald, and his daughter, Alison, both of whom managed his career in recent years.
Legendary Indian actress Gopishantha, better-known by her stage name Manorama, has died of a heart attack in the city of Chennai, her family members say.
Manorama was 78 and had been ill for some time.
A comedian, singer and a stage performer, Manorama, also called Aachi, was a quintessential artist.
Although she mainly appeared in Tamil films, Manorama also acted in other South Indian language movies and in Hindi.
Tamil media reports say Manorama appeared in more than 1,000 films in a career spanning nearly six decades.
While she became famous for her comedy roles in films, Manorama was a character artist in the later part of her career.
“The most difficult thing is to make people laugh. It is easy to make them cry,” she said in an interview.
Manorama started acting in plays at the age of 12 and had appeared in more than 1,000 plays.
Her first break in movies came in 1958 when she acted in the Tamil movie Maalaiyitta Mangai.
After that she worked with some of the leading actors and playwrights of her day – five of whom went on to become chief ministers of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh states.
Very few women actresses have managed to continue their career in the Tamil film industry over so many years.
She was hugely popular in the southern state of Tamil Nadu and widely regarded as a cultural icon.
Manorama had won several awards including India’s National Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1989.
Lynn Anderson has died in hospital in Nashville, Tennessee, at the age of 67.
She was best known for her worldwide 1971 hit (I Never Promised You a) Rose Garden.
The country singer had been in hospital after suffering a heart attack on July 30.
The Grammy-winning singer had just returned from Italy and was admitted to the hospital for pneumonia.
Born in North Dakota and raised in Sacramento, California, Lynn Anderson was the daughter of two country songwriters and started performing at the age of six.
In 1967, Lynn Anderson began a two-year television engagement on The Lawrence Welk Show, which led to a contract with Columbia Records in Nashville, the capital of country music.
She won a Grammy award for Rose Garden and was the Country Music Association’s female vocalist of the year in 1971.
“It was popular because it touched on emotions,” she told AP.
“It was perfectly timed. It was out just as we came out of the Vietnam years and a lot of people were trying to recover. This song stated that you can make something out of nothing. You take it and go ahead.”
Alongside her singing career, Lynn Anderson made a number of TV appearances with stars including Lucille Ball, Bing Crosby and John Wayne.
Lynn Anderson also appeared in episodes of the cop show Starsky and Hutch.
Ex-NFL lineman Damion Cook has died on June 26 at the age of 36 after suffering an apparent heart attack.
He was an undrafted offensive lineman who went on to play in parts of seven NFL seasons.
Damion Cook, a Nashville native, appeared in 26 NFL games at guard and made 10 starts from 2001-09 after a college career at Bethune-Cookman, which confirmed his death Friday, June 26, via Twitter.
He signed with the Ravens out of college and spent the 2001 season with the Bears. After joining the Dolphins during the 2002 offseason, he returned to Baltimore. In 2004, he joined the Browns and started four games.
After another stint with the Dolphins, Damion Cook joined the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in the CFL and the Tampa Bay Storm in the Arena League before capping his career with the NFL’s Lions in 2008-09.
NFL fans may remember Damion Cook for the impression of Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis captured by HBO’s Hard Knocks during training camp.
Saddam Hussein’s aide, Tariq Aziz, has died in an Iraqi hospital at the age of 79, officials say.
Tariq Aziz served as Iraq’s foreign minister and deputy prime minister and was a close adviser to Saddam Hussein.
He was sentenced to death by the Iraqi Supreme Court in 2010 for the persecution of religious parties under Saddam’s rule but was never executed.
Tariq Aziz surrendered to US troops in 2003 shortly after the fall of Baghdad.
A local health official told reporters that Tariq Aziz was taken to hospital from prison after suffering a heart attack. Initial reports said he had died in prison.
Photo EPA
He had long been in poor health, suffering from heart and respiratory problems, high blood pressure and diabetes, and his family repeatedly called for his release from custody
Tariq Aziz, who was known for his black-rimmed glasses and love of cigars, first came to prominence while serving as foreign minister during the first Gulf War in 1991.
As a Christian in a mainly Sunni Muslim government, Tariq Aziz was not considered a member of Saddam Hussein’s innermost circle.
A fluent English speaker, Tariq Aziz played a vocal role before the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, meeting Pope John Paul II in the Vatican to call for peace.
However, when Baghdad fell, Tariq Aziz’s lack of influence was reflected in his lowly ranking as the eight of spades in the US military’s famous “deck of cards” used to identify the most-wanted players in Saddam Hussein’s regime.
In 2009, Tariq Aziz was sentenced to 15 years for the execution of 42 Iraqi traders who had been accused of manipulating food prices while Iraq was subject to international trade sanctions.
Five months later, Tariq Aziz was sentenced to another seven years in prison for his role in the forced displacement of Kurds.
Twisted Sister drummer Anthony Jude Pero died on Friday, March 20, at the age of 55.
The heavy-metal band said A.J. Pero died of an apparent heart attack while touring with Adrenaline Mob, a group with which he played in between engagements with Twisted Sister.
Twisted Sister guitarist Jay Jay French said A.J. Pero was on a tour bus Friday morning when Adrenaline Mob band members tried unsuccessfully to awaken him, then called an ambulance. He was taken to a hospital in Poughkeepsie, New York, where he was declared dead shortly after 11 a.m.
Twisted Sister singer Dee Snider called A.J. Pero “the final piece in a band that would become an international sensation and one of the greatest live rock acts to ever hit the stage.”
A.J. Pero, who joined Twisted Sister in 1982, was well-known for a scene in the video for 1984’s We’re Not Gonna Take It in which he struck a snare drum covered with glitter, sending it spraying into the air.
Twisted Sister will soon consider what to do about its six upcoming summer tour dates.
According to British experts, a Mediterranean diet may be a better way of tackling obesity than calorie counting.
Writing in the Postgraduate Medical Journal (PMJ), the doctors said a Mediterranean diet quickly reduced the risk of heart attacks and strokes.
And they said it may be better than low-fat diets for sustained weight loss.
The PMJ editorial argues a focus on food intake is the best approach, but it warns crash dieting is harmful.
Signatories of the piece included the chair of the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, Prof. Terence Stephenson, and Dr. Mahiben Maruthappu.
They criticize the weight-loss industry for focusing on calorie restriction rather than “good nutrition”.
And they make the case for a Mediterranean diet, including fruit and vegetables, nuts and olive oil, citing research suggesting it quickly reduces the risk of heart attacks and strokes, and may be better than low-fat diets for sustained weight loss.
The lead author, cardiologist Dr. Aseem Malhotra, says the scientific evidence is overwhelming.
Inspired by traditional cuisine of countries such as Greece, Spain and Italy, the Mediterranean diet has long been associated with good health and fit hearts.
Typically, it consists of an abundance of vegetables, fresh fruit, wholegrain cereals, olive oil and nuts, as well as poultry and fish, rather than lots of red meat and butter or animal fats.
The article also says adopting a Mediterranean diet after a heart attack is almost three times as effective at reducing deaths as taking cholesterol-lowering statin medication.
Google is working on a technology to detect cancer and heart attack.
The technology combines disease-detecting nanoparticles, which would enter a patient’s bloodstream via a swallowed pill, with a wrist-worn sensor.
The idea is to identify slight changes in the person’s biochemistry that could act as an early warning system.
The work is still at an early stage.
Early diagnosis is the key to treating disease. Many cancers, such as pancreatic, are detected only after they have become untreatable and fatal.
There are marked differences between cancerous and healthy tissues.
Google’s ambition is to constantly monitor the blood for the unique traces of cancer, allowing diagnosis long before any physical symptoms appear.
The project is being conducted by the search company’s research unit, Google X, which is dedicated to investigating potentially revolutionary innovations.
It marks the company’s latest shift into the medical sector following its work on glucose-measuring contact lenses for patients with diabetes and the acquisition of a start-up that developed a spoon to counteract the tremors caused by Parkinson’s disease.
Google’s technology combines disease-detecting nanoparticles, which would enter a patient’s bloodstream via a swallowed pill, with a wrist-worn sensor
Google has also bought stakes in Calico, an anti-ageing research company, and 23andMe, which offers personal genetic-testing kits.
The diagnostic project is being led by Dr. Andrew Conrad, a molecular biologist who previously developed a cheap HIV test that has become widely used.
Google is designing a suite of nanoparticles which are intended to match markers for different conditions.
They could be tailored to stick to a cancerous cell or a fragment of cancerous DNA.
Or they could find evidence of fatty plaques about to break free from the lining of blood vessels. These can cause a heart attack or stroke if they stop the flow of blood.
Another set would constantly monitor chemicals in the blood.
High levels of potassium are linked to kidney disease. Google believes it will be possible to construct porous nanoparticles that alter color as potassium passes through.
Unattached nanoparticles would move differently in a magnetic field from those clumped around a cancer cell.
In theory, software could then provide a diagnosis by studying their movements.
As part of the project, the researchers have also explored ways of using magnetism to concentrate the nanoparticles temporarily in a single area.
The tech company’s ambition is ultimately to create a wristband that would take readings of the nanoparticles via light and radio waves one or more times a day.
The basic principles are sound and mirror the work already taking place around the world.
Many research groups are looking at bits of cancer floating in the blood as a better way of diagnosing the disease and also to assess which tumors are more aggressive.
Legendary country singer George Hamilton IV has died at a hospital in Nashville, Tennessee, at the age of 77.
George Hamilton IV passed away on September 17, just days after suffering a heart attack.
A statement posted on the singer’s official website reads: “Grand Ole Opry Legend George Hamilton IV The International Ambassador of Country Music passed away … at Saint Thomas Midtown Hospital with his family by his side. George IV suffered a serious heart attack on Saturday and had been in critical condition from that time. The Hamilton family greatly appreciates everyone’s prayers!”
George Hamilton IV began his music career while studying at the University of North Carolina, scoring a chart success with his song A Rose and A Baby Ruth in 1956. He went on to land a slew of hits and was inducted into the Grand Ole Opry in 1960.
George Hamilton IV was named the International Ambassador of Country Music after becoming the first country singer to perform in the Soviet Union
He embraced folk music in the late 1960s, working with stars including Joni Mitchell, and in the early 1970s, he was named the International Ambassador of Country Music after becoming the first country singer to perform in the Soviet Union.
In the 1970s, George Hamilton IV also hosted a number of TV shows in the UK and Canada.
George Hamilton IV last performed at the Grand Ole Opry on September 6, just days before his death.
According to a new research, anger may trigger a heart attack or stroke, with a “danger window” of about two hours following an outburst.
The US researchers, who trawled medical literature, say rage often precedes an attack and may be the trigger.
They identified a dangerous period of about two hours following an outburst when people were at heightened risk.
But they say more work is needed to understand the link and find out if stress-busting strategies could avoid such complications.
People who have existing risk factors, such as a history of heart disease, are particularly susceptible, the researchers told the European Heart Journal.
In the two hours immediately after an angry outburst, risk of a heart attack increased nearly five-fold and risk of stroke increased more than three-fold, the data from nine studies and involving thousands of people suggests.
Anger may trigger a heart attack or stroke, with a danger window of about two hours following an outburst
The Harvard School of Public Health researchers say, at a population level, the risk with a single outburst of anger is relatively low – one extra heart attack per 10,000 people per year could be expected among people with low cardiovascular risk who were angry only once a month, increasing to an extra four per 10,000 people with a high cardiovascular risk.
But the risk is cumulative, meaning temper-prone individuals will be at higher risk still.
Five episodes of anger a day would result in around 158 extra heart attacks per 10,000 people with a low cardiovascular risk per year, increasing to about 657 extra heart attacks per 10,000 among those with a high cardiovascular risk, Dr. Elizabeth Mostofsky and colleagues calculate.
Elizabeth Mostofsky said: “Although the risk of experiencing an acute cardiovascular event with any single outburst of anger is relatively low, the risk can accumulate for people with frequent episodes of anger.”
It’s unclear why anger might be dangerous – the researchers point out that their results do not necessarily indicate that anger causes heart and circulatory problems.
Experts know that chronic stress can contribute to heart disease, partly because it can raise blood pressure but also because people may deal with stress in unhealthy ways – by smoking or drinking too much alcohol, for example.
The researchers say it is worth testing what protection stress-busting strategies, such as yoga, might offer.
Bernard Madoff has been returned to jail after being hospitalized for a heart attack last month.
According to CNBC, Bernard Madoff, 75, also has stage four kidney disease, but is not receiving dialysis.
Bernard Madoff has been returned to jail after being hospitalized for a heart attack last month
He has served less than five years of his 150-year prison sentence for running the largest investment fraud in US history.
Bernard Madoff was hospitalized last month at Duke University Medical Center, and has since been returned to the medium security federal prison in nearby Butner, North Carolina, CNBC reported.
A United Airlines plane with 161 passengers on board was forced to make an emergency landing after the pilot suffered what was later proved to be a fatal heart attack.
The flight from Houston, Texas to Seattle, Washington was diverted to Boise, Idaho on Thursday evening.
Passengers on board with medical training attempted life saving manoeuvres prior to landing.
Pilot Henry Skillern, 63, later died in hospital.
The flight from Houston, Texas to Seattle, Washington was diverted to Boise, Idaho
He had worked for the airline for 26 years.
The flight’s first officer radioed the Boise airport’s control tower at 19:55 on Thursday to report a medical emergency.
Two military medical residents onboard tended to Henry Skillern as the plane made its emergency approach, according to media reports.
The plane landed at the airport by 20:10 and was greeted by firefighters who removed Henry Skillern and transported him to a local hospital.
The Texas resident later succumbed to a fatal heart attack.
An airport official told the Associated Press news agency the 161 passengers on board the Boeing 737 aircraft appeared to handle the incident well.
“It seemed like they felt that everything that could be done, was being done. The passengers were concerned for him, but everyone was very calm,” Boise airport spokeswoman Patti Miller said.
Another pilot later joined the crew and flew the original plane on to its final destination in Seattle.
James Gandolfini was reportedly robbed on the same day that he died of heart attack in Rome almost two months ago.
James Gandolfini’s expensive Rolex watch was stolen from his hotel room shortly after his life was tragically cut short.
According to insurance forms obtained by TMZ, a $3,000 Rolex submariner timepiece went missing from James Gandolfini’s Boscolo Luxury Hotel Exedra suite.
James Gandolfini’s expensive Rolex watch was stolen from his hotel room shortly after his life was tragically cut short
The form implies that the thief perhaps took the watch during the commotion following the heart attack that killed James Gandolfini.
It states that there were no signs of forced entry nor any damage done to the room.
James Gandolfini died following a massive heart attack during a family trip to the Italian city.
He was vacationing with wife Deborah Lin and his 13-year-old son Michael when he collapsed in the bathroom of his suite at the city’s Boscola Exedra Hotel on June 19.
James Gandolfini – best known for his role as mob boss Tony Soprano in hit HBO show The Sopranos – had spent the day sightseeing in Rome ahead of an expected flight to Sicily on June 22 to collect an award at the Taormina Film Festival.
Grammy award-winning singer and songwriter JJ Cale had died of heart attack at the age of 74.
An announcement on his personal website said JJ Cale had passed away at a hospital in La Jolla, California, on Friday.
JJ Cale helped originate the Tulsa Sound, combining blues, rockabilly, and country
Born in Oklahoma, JJ Cale helped originate the Tulsa Sound, combining blues, rockabilly, and country. He became famous in 1970, when Eric Clapton covered his song After Midnight.
JJ Cale recorded more than a dozen albums over four decades.
JJ Cale’s songs were covered by Carlos Santana, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Tom Petty, Bryan Ferry, among others.
In 1977 Eric Clapton also popularized JJ Cale’s Cocaine.
James Gandolfini’s newly-filed will reveals the actor has left the bulk of his estimated $70 million estate to his 13-year-old son Michael and 8-month-old daughter Liliana.
James Gandolfini, who died of a heart attack while on vacation in Italy last month, also left millions to his wife, his two older sisters and friends – including his personal secretary and assistant.
James Gandolfini will reveals he left bulk of his $70 million estate to his children
James Gandolfini’s funeral service is scheduled to take place at the Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine, one of New York City’s largest churches.
The ceremony at the Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine is planned for 10 a.m. on Thursday, June 27.
It comes after a private wake for James Gandolfini on Wednesday in New Jersey.
James Gandolfini’s funeral service is scheduled to take place at the Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine in NYC
The 51-year-old Sopranos star died of a heart attack last week while vacationing in Italy with his son Michael, wife Deborah Lin and their 8-month daughter.
Broadway theaters paid tribute by dimming their lights briefly Wednesday night.
James Gandolfini was nominated for a Tony Award in 2009 as an actor in God of Carnage.
The Italian news agency ANSA reported that James Gandolfini’s body departed Rome for the US on Sunday. Gandolfini family spokesman Michael Kobold earlier told reporters the “provisional plan” was to repatriate the actor’s body Monday.
James Gandolfini had been headed to Sicily to appear at the Taormina Film Festival, which paid tribute to him Saturday.
Details about James Gandolfini’s final moments come as a photograph has emerged apparently showing the actor enjoying an evening out with his son Michael the night before his sudden death.
In what could be the last picture of the award-winning actor, James Gandolfini appeared at ease and in good health as he ate dinner at the Sabatini Restaurant with his son Michael, according to fellow holidaymaker Blake Kahn, who took the photo.
James Gandolfini pictured having family meal night before fatal heart attack
Another member of Blake Kahn’s group, Dee Duncan of Roswell, Georgia, added that James Gandolfini looked as if he was enjoying the “magical atmosphere” as jugglers and magicians performed in the square.
Blake Kahn, from Atlanta, Georgia, later shared the images with 11Alive.
James Gandolfini was on vacation in Rome with Michael, wife Deborah and their nine-month-old daughter Liliana to “reconnect with his Italian roots” before the Taormina Film Festival in Sicily.
James Gandolfini’s Sopranos colleagues have led tributes from the showbiz world, with the show’s creator David Chase who compared him to Mozart, praising him as “one of the greatest actors of this or any time”.
James Gandolfini died after he suffered a heart attack in his hotel room in Italy on Wednesday night, and doctors battled for 40 minutes to save him.
Medical staff rushed to Hotel Boscolo in Rome after James Gandolfini’s 13-year-old son found his father suffering the attack in their bathroom around 10 p.m. on Wednesday.
James Gandolfini died after he suffered a heart attack in his hotel room in Italy on Wednesday night
James Gandolfini was taken by ambulance to Policlinico Umberto I hospital where he was pronounced dead. The actor, best known for his role as Tony Soprano in HBO series The Sopranos, was just 51.
“The resuscitation maneuvers, including heart massage etc., continued for 40 minutes and then, seeing no electric activity from the heart, this was interrupted and we declared James dead,” said emergency room chief Claudio Modini.
“The patient was considered dead on arrival, and for that reason an autopsy has been requested to be carried out by a pathologist, as is normal procedure in our country.”
James Gandolfini died last night after he was discovered having a heart attack in his hotel bathroom in Rome by his teenage son, Michael, it emerged today.
James Gandolfini was on vacation in Rome with Michael, 13, as well as his wife Deborah and baby daughter Liliana, nine months, and had apparently been hoping to “reconnect with his Italian roots” before attending the Taormina Film Festival in Sicily.
After a day out with the family, James Gandolfini, 51, had a heart attack in his bathroom at the Hotel Boscolo and was found by Michael, who raised the alarm and called the hotel reception, according to the hotel manager.
His Sopranos colleagues have led tributes from the showbiz world, with the show’s creator David Chase who compared him to Mozart, praising him as “one of the greatest actors of this or any time”.
When paramedics arrived to take James Gandolfini to hospital, they found him lying on the bathroom floor, according to hotel owner Antonio D’amore.
James Gandolfini was taken to Policlinico Umberto I at 10.20 p.m., and was pronounced dead at 11 p.m. when efforts to revive him proved unsuccessful, according to Dr. Claudio Modini, head of the hospital’s emergency room.
An autopsy on his body will take place today, as is required by Italian law.
James Gandolfini died last night after he was discovered having a heart attack in his hotel bathroom in Rome by his teenage son, Michael
Mario Sesti, director of the film festival which the star was due to attend this weekend, claimed that James Gandolfini was excited by his Italian vacation because of his family’s link to the country.
“He was so happy to be in Italy, to reconnect with his Italian roots, and he was very excited to come here and receive this award,” Mario Sesti told USA Today.
James Gandolfini was born and brought up in New Jersey, but both his parents were Italian.
The Taormini Film Festival will host a tribute to the actor in place of a round-table discussion which James Gandolfini had agreed to take part in.
James Gandolfini and his family had spent a “beautiful day out together” in Rome before his tragic passing, according to the actor’s assistant, Tom Richardson.
According to Mike Sullivan, a close friend of James Gandolfini’s, Tom Richardson told him: “When they got back to the hotel, Jimmy went to use the restroom. And something happened in there.
“His sister said he was alive when they took him out in the ambulance on the way to the hospital.”
James Gandolfini’s first wife Marcy Wudarski, Michael’s mother, is said to have immediately booked a flight to Italy to comfort her son after learning of the actor’s death.
Marcy Wudarski and James Gandolfini were married for three years until they divorced in 2002.
James Gandolfini’s second wife, former model Deborah Lin, was with the star in Italy along with their daughter Liliana.
Deborah Lin and James Gandolfini married in Hawaii in 2008, and Liliana was born last October. After his daughter’s birth, James Gandolfini said he was “thrilled” to become a father for the second time.
James Gandolfini rose to fame playing a hitman in the 1993 film True Romance, and roles in films such as Terminal Velocity and Get Shorty followed.
However, it was not until his breakout role in 1999 in the hit television show The Sopranos that he became a household name.
James Gandolfini played the powerful mob boss Tony Soprano, whose stressful gangster and family life left him needing to visit a psychiatrist, played by Lorraine Bracco.
His compelling portrayal of the ruthless mob boss who suffered from panic attacks saw him win three Emmy Awards for the role.
The character apparently died in the series finale, although the audience was never shown the moment of his death, with the screen just fading to black instead.
Speaking to Vanity Fair about the ending, James Gandolfini said: “What the f***? I mean, after all I went through, all this death, and then it’s over like that?”
James Gandolfini’s managers Mark Armstrong and Nancy Sanders paid tribute to the star, saying in a statement: “Our hearts are shattered and we will miss him deeply. He and his family were part of our family for many years and we are all grieving.”
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