Brittany Murphy 32 (November 10, 1977 – December 20, 2009) Cause of death Cardiac Arrest

Actress Brittany Murphy died at age, 32, after she reportedly went into full cardiac arrest and could not be revived.
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center Spokeswoman Sally Stewart told the Associated Press Murphy died at 10:04 a.m. Sunday. She would not provide a cause of death, or any other information.
Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman Devon Gale says crews responded to a call at 8 a.m. Sunday from a home in Los Angeles that is listed as belonging to British screenwriter Simon Monjack, who is married to Murphy. Gale says one person was transported to a hospital.
Messages left for Murphy's manager, agent and publicist weren't immediately returned.
TMZ reports Murphy's mother found the actress unconscious in the shower, and was in full cardiac arrest and started CPR.
The Los Angeles County Coroner's Office is reportedly launching an investigation into Murphy's death, according to TMZ.
Born Nov. 10, 1977 in Atlanta, Murphy grew up in New Jersey and later moved with her mother to Los Angeles to pursue acting.
Her career started in the early 1990s with small roles in television series, commercials and movies. She is best known for parts in "Girl, Interrupted," "Clueless" and "8 Mile."
Her on-screen roles declined in recent years, but Murphy's voice gave life to numerous animated characters, including Luanne Platter on more than 200 episodes of Fox's "King of the Hill" and Gloria the penguin in "Happy Feet."
She is due to appear in Sylvester Stallone's upcoming film, "The Expendables," set for release next year.
Her role in "8 Mile" led to more recognition, Murphy told The Associated Press in 2003. "That changed a lot," she said
Murphy credited her mother, Sharon, with being a key to her success.
"When I asked my mom to move to California, she sold everything and moved out here for me," Murphy told the AP in 2003. "I was really grateful to have grown up in an environment that was conducive to creating and didn't stifle any of that. She always believed in me."

Diana Lynn October 7, 1926 – December 18, 1971 Cause of Death Stroke

Born Dolores Loehr in Los Angeles, California, Lynn was considered a child prodigy because of her exceptional abilities as a pianist at an early age, and by the age of 12 was playing with the Los Angeles Junior Symphony Orchestra. She made her film debut, playing the piano in They Shall Have Music (1939), and was once again playing piano, accompanying Susanna Foster in There's Magic in Music (1941) when it was decided that she had more potential than she had been allowed to show. Paramount Studios changed her name to "Diana Lynn" and began casting her in films that allowed her to show her personality and developed her skills as an actress.

Her comedic scenes with Ginger Rogers in The Major and the Minor (1942) were well received, and in 1944 she scored an outstanding success in Preston Sturges' The Miracle of Morgan's Creek. She appeared in two Henry Aldrich films, and played writer Emily Kimbrough in two films Our Hearts Were Young and Gay (1944) and Our Hearts Were Growing Up (1946) both costarring with Gail Russell.


She was then cast in the comedy My Friend Irma (1949) with Marie Wilson as Irma, and Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis in their film debuts. The group reprised their roles for the sequel My Friend Irma Goes West (1950). During the 1950s Lynn continued acting in films, and was the female lead in the much lampooned Bedtime for Bonzo (1951) opposite Ronald Reagan.


She also acted frequently in television and appeared in numerous guest roles through to the 1960s. By 1970 she had virtually retired from acting, and had relocated to New York where she was running a travel agency. Paramount Studios offered her a part in a new film, and after some consideration she accepted the offer and moved back to Los Angeles. Before filming started, she suffered a stroke and died nine days later.

She was only 45 years old.

The most beautiful suicide

The most beautiful suicide


On May 1, 1947, Evelyn McHale leapt to her death from the observation deck of the Empire State Building. Photographer Robert Wiles took a photo of McHale a few minutes after her death.


The photo ran a couple of weeks later in Life magazine accompanied by the following caption:

On May Day, just after leaving her fiancé, 23-year-old Evelyn McHale wrote a note. 'He is much better off without me ... I wouldn't make a good wife for anybody,' ... Then she crossed it out. She went to the observation platform of the Empire State Building. Through the mist she gazed at the street, 86 floors below. Then she jumped. In her desperate determination she leaped clear of the setbacks and hit a United Nations limousine parked at the curb. Across the street photography student Robert Wiles heard an explosive crash. Just four minutes after Evelyn McHale's death Wiles got this picture of death's violence and its composure.

From McHale's NY Times obituary, Empire State Ends Life of Girl, 20:

At 10:40 A. M., Patrolman John Morrissey of Traffic C, directing traffic at Thirty-fourth Street and Fifth Avenue, noticed a swirling white scarf floating down from the upper floors of the Empire State. A moment later he heard a crash that sounded like an explosion. He saw a crowd converge in Thirty-third Street.

Two hundred feet west of Fifth Avenue, Miss McHale's body landed atop the car. The impact stove in the metal roof and shattered the car's windows. The driver was in a near-by drug store, thereby escaping death or serious injury.

On the observation deck, Detective Frank Murray of the West Thirtieth Street station, found Miss McHale's gray cloth coat, her pocketbook with several dollars and the note, and a make-up kit filled with family pictures.

The serenity of McHale's body amidst the crumpled wreckage it caused is astounding. Years later, Andy Warhol appropriated Wiles' photography for a print called "Suicide".

King Sister Yvonne King Burch Passes away at 89

Yvonne King Burch, a leading voice and driving force in "America's First Family of Song," died this week just a month short of her 90th birthday, her family said.

Known by family and friends as "Vonnie," she began her singing career in 1934 when she joined sisters Luise, Alyce and Donna to form The Four King Sisters.

Her last performance was this month for a public television special, "Christmas with the King Family."

She was surrounded by family when she "passed away peacefully" at a Santa Barbara, California, hospital on Sunday, a family spokesman said.

The King Sisters developed a signature four-part-harmony vocal style that dominated American pop charts during World War II. Their classic hits included "Mairzy Doats," "Miss Otis Regrets," "Jersey Bounce" and the "Hut-Sut Song."

Yvonne King -- known as "the cute little blonde on the end" -- also recorded, as a solo artist, the wartime hit "Nighty-Night." Armed Forces Radio often played it as the last song before signing off at the end of a broadcast day, the family spokesman said.

On the PBS 2009 Christmas special, which is airing across the United States this month, she sang "Winter Wonderland" with the whole family and one verse of "Ain't We Got Fun" with her sister Marilyn at the end of the program. She also served as associate producer of the show.

"This would essentially be the last 'King Sisters' performance ever," family spokesman Shane Rosamonda said.

"Recently I thought doing those shows was a gift from God," Yvonne King said in a 2009 interview. "I didn't go out to make money. I didn't go out to make a big deal out of it. It was just something that happened. It just happened and brought our family memories that will last a lifetime."

The King Sisters hit Hollywood during the 1940s to co-star in films, including "Cuban Pete" with Desi Arnaz and "Sing Your Worries Away" with Buddy Ebsen.

Their success continued into the television era, when younger sister Marilyn joined the quartet -- replacing Donna. They were frequent guests on the top shows of the 1950s, leading to their own musical showcase -- "The Alvino Rey-King Sisters Show" on NBC in 1954.The sisters changed their sound by lowering their harmonies in 1957, when they signed a new contract with Capitol Records. The 1959 hit "Imagination" was one result.The King Family became a television sensation in the 1960s when the sisters were joined by 36 family members -- brothers, sisters, spouses, children and family patriarch King Driggs. The sisters' stage name had been taken from Driggs, their father.

Their ABC television specials, conceived by Yvonne King in 1963, led to two separate King family variety series, 17 King family specials, numerous national concert tours and several appearances on the legendary "Ed Sullivan Show," a family statement said.

"Yvonne was always at the center of the King family's performing success both behind the scenes, serving as producer, and in front of the camera as the host and, along with her sisters, star of the musical shows," the family said.
William "Bill" Burch, whom she married in 1966, died in 2005.

The months before her death were spent compiling a book of poems and love letters given her by Burch, the family spokesman said.Her survivors include sister Marilyn King, daughters Cathy Cole Green and Tina Cole, Tina Cole is known for her role as "Katie Douglas" on the 1960s ABC television sitcom "My Three Sons."

A private memorial service will be held at a later date, the family said.

Comedian, Actor. Chris Farley Died Dec. 18, 1997 age 33 Cause of death Drug overdose, heart attack

Chris was born on February 15, 1964. In his youth he was a class clown and at summer camp he was a very popular camp counselor. He attended Marquette University in Wisconsin and graduated with a degree in communications and theatre. Farley then worked briefly with his father, then began performing with the Ark Improv Theatre group studying under legendary director Del Close at the Improv Olympic Theatre. He then performed at Chicago's Second City Theatre through the late 1980's and created quite a buzz in Chicago with his wild antics which attracted Saturday Night Live producer Lorne Michaels. Michaels was so impressed he brought Farley to the cast of Saturday Night Live in 1990. On Saturday Night Live, Farley created uproarious characters such as an overzealous Chippendales dancer and motivational speaker Matt Foley. During his Saturday Night Live tenure, he was making brief appearances in movies such as Waynes World and Coneheads. In 1995, Farley left Saturday Night Live to pursue his movie career. He hit box office gold with movies such as Tommy Boy and Black Sheep.

Jennifer Jones dead at age 90

Los Angeles, California (CNN) -- Jennifer Jones, who won the best actress Oscar for a 1943 film, died Thursday at age 90, according to a family spokesman.
Jones starred in two dozen movies and was nominated for Academy Awards five times in her 35-year film career.
"She put herself completely in the hands of the director more than any other actress I have worked with," director John Houston once said of her. "Jennifer took what you gave her and made it distinctly her own."
Her death was confirmed by a spokesman at the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena, which she had chaired.
Jones spent much of the last four decades of her life supporting mental health research, hereditary disease, cancer research and the arts, the museum spokesman said.
Born Phylis Lee Isley in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on March 2, 1919, she studied drama at Monte Cassino Junior College in Tulsa and Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. She then moved to New York to attend the American Academy of Dramatic Arts.
It was in New York in 1939 that she married actor Robert Hudson Walker and began her acting career. They had a son together.
She changed her name to Jennifer Jones when she moved to Hollywood in the early 1940s for a screen test with legendary producer David O. Selznick.
Her first major movie was "The Song of Bernadette" in 1943. Her portrayal of Bernadette Soubirous, a peasant girl in 19th century France, won her the best actress Oscar.
Jones earned Oscar nominations in each of the next three years -- for Selznick's "Since You Went Away" in 1944, "Love Letters" in 1945 and Selznick's "Duel in the Sun" in 1946.
Jones, who divorced Walker in 1945, married Selznick in 1949. She and Selznick had a daughter together.
A fifth Oscar nomination came in 1955 for her co-starring role with William Holden in "Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing."
Jones accepted few acting jobs after her performance in "A Farewell to Arms" in 1957.
Her last movie appearance was a cameo role in the star-studded disaster movie "The Towering Inferno" in 1974.
Six years after Selznick's death in 1965, Jones married California industrialist Norton Simon. She and Simon moved to India, where Simon began collecting South Asian and Southeast Asian art.
The art formed a significant part of the collections housed in the Norton Simon Museum, the museum spokesman said.

Jones became chairman of the museum after Simon's death in 1993, working to increase its programming and public outreach, he said. She became chair emeritus in 2003.