A private funeral for the late actor Michael Clarke Duncan will be held Monday, a day after friends and fans gathered for a public memorial.
A large crowd turned out Sunday for a public viewing of Duncan’s casket at the Hall of Liberty in Forest Lawn Park in Los Angeles.
There was also a viewing on a screen of “The Green Mile,” the film that made Duncan a star.
“He was an incredible actor, an incredible talent, but at the same time he was just an incredible human being,” said friend Bobby Hernandez. “He’s somebody that has probably the biggest heart I’ve ever met and probably the most genuine person I’ve ever met.”
Duncan died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center on Sept. 3 after nearly two months of treatment following a heart attack. He was 54.
Duncan was hospitalized after suffering a myocardial infarction on July 13.
He was moved from the intensive care unit nearly a month later in August but remained in the hospital.
Coroner’s officials said there was nothing to suggest officials needed to review the case.
Officials noted that Duncan had had heart problems and was under medical care. In such cases, it is normal for the doctor to sign the death certificate without any review by the coroner.
In the days since Duncan’s death, a growing memorial with flowers, candles, notes and cards has appeared outside his Woodland Hills home.
Friends say that the man with a big smile and an even bigger heart was unaffected by his success, and never let fame go to his head.
“He was always willing to help the next person. He was just that kind of guy,” friend Kiyano La’Vin said Sunday.
LOS ANGELES – Michael Clarke Duncan, the hulking, prolific character actor whose dozens of films included an Oscar-nominated performance as a death row inmate in “The Green Mile” and such other box office hits as “Armageddon,” ”Planet of the Apes” and “Kung Fu Panda,” is dead at age 54.
The muscular, 6-foot-4 Duncan, a former bodyguard who turned to acting in his 30s, “suffered a myocardial infarction on July 13 and never fully recovered,” the statement said. “Manigault is grateful for all of your prayers and asks for privacy at this time. Celebrations of his life, both private and public, will be announced at a later date.”
In the spring of 2012, Clarke had appeared in a video for PETA, the animal rights organization, in which he spoke of how much better he felt since becoming a vegetarian three years earlier.
“I cleared out my refrigerator, about $5,000 worth of meat,” he said. “I’m a lot healthier than I was when I was eating meat.”
Duncan had a handful of minor roles before “The Green Mile” brought him an Academy Award nomination for best supporting actor. The 1999 film, based on the Stephen King novel of the same name, starred Tom Hanks as a corrections officer at a penitentiary in the 1930s. Duncan played John Coffey, a convicted murderer with a surprisingly gentle demeanor and extraordinary healing powers.
Duncan’s performance caught on with critics and moviegoers and he quickly became a favorite in Hollywood, appearing in several films a year. He owed some of his good fortune to Bruce Willis, who recommended Duncan for “The Green Mile” after the two appeared together in “Armageddon.” Clarke would work with Willis again in “Breakfast of Champions,” ”The Whole Nine Yards” and “Sin City.”
His industrial-sized build was suited for everything from superhero films (“Daredevil”) to comedy (“Talledega Nights,” ”School for Scoundrels”). His gravelly baritone alone was good enough for several animated movies, including, “Kung Fu Panda,” ”Delgo” and “Brother Bear.” Among Clarke’s television credits: “The Apprentice,” ”The Finder,” ”Two and a Half Men” and “The Suite Life of Zack and Cody.”
Born in Chicago in 1957, Duncan was raised by a single mother whose resistance to his playing football led to his deciding he wanted to become an actor. But when his mother became ill, he dropped out of college, Alcorn State University, and worked as a ditch digger and bouncer to support her. By his mid-20s, he was in Los Angeles, where he looked for acting parts and became a bodyguard for Will Smith, Jamie Foxx and other stars. The murder of rapper Notorious B.I.G., for whom Duncan had been hired to protect before switching assignments, led him to quit his job and pursue acting full-time.
Early film and television credits, when he was usually cast as a bodyguard or bouncer, included “Bulworth,” ”A Night at the Roxbury” and “The Players Club.”
Yvette Wilson (born March 6, 1964 – June 15, 2012, in Los Angeles, California) was an American comedian and actress. She is best known for her role as Andell Wilkerson on the UPN sitcom Moesha and its spinoff The Parkers. She has appeared on many comedy films such as House Party 2, House Party 3, Friday, and on Russell Simmons’ Def Comedy Jam.
On June 15, 2012, Yvette lost her battle to cervical cancer and died.
I am sadden by her passing I remember writing on her wall that my family would pray for her and that she will beat this. I can say she is no longer suffering and that god needed her more. May she rest in peace we will miss her dearly….I send my condolences to her family,friends and fans…
Update:
Wilson’s friend Jeffrey Pittle, who organized a fund to help with her medical bills, confirmed her death to The Times. “She was a fighter to the end, and her talent, humor and amazing friendship will be sorely missed,” he wrote on the fund’s website. “She will live on through her awesome body of work.”
Wilson’s friends and former co-stars remembered her on Twitter. Shar Jackson, who also appeared on “Moesha,” wrote Thursday: “I wanna thank all my tweeties for their prayers but god has chosen to take my sister Yvette home…”
Jamie Foxx wrote: “God bless u Yvette wilson. Tears in my eyes. Keep God laughing.”
After a start in stand-up comedy, Wilson’s first acting roles came in the 1993 ABC sitcom “Thea” and in the films “House Party 3,” “Friday” and “Poetic Justice.”
She appeared with R&B singer Brandy on “Moesha,” a 1996 UPN sitcom, for five seasons before leaving to star in “The Parkers,” where she worked for an another five seasons.
(CNN) — Elizabeth Edwards, the estranged wife of 2004 vice presidential candidate and former North Carolina senator John Edwards, died Tuesday after a lengthy battle with cancer. She was 61.
She died at the family home in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, according to a statement released by the family.
“Today we have lost the comfort of Elizabeth’s presence but she remains the heart of this family,” the statement said. “We love her and will never know anyone more inspiring or full of life.”
Edwards was diagnosed with breast cancer shortly after her husband lost his bid for vice president in November 2004. John Edwards, a one-term Democratic senator, was Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry’s running mate.
It was later revealed that she knew before the election she might have cancer, but shielded her husband from the news during the campaign. She immediately underwent treatment, and the cancer was believed to be in remission.
In March 2007 — at the start her husband’s 2008 presidential campaign — Edwards learned that the cancer had returned and spread.
Dr. Lisa Carey, the oncologist treating Edwards, categorized the cancer as metastatic stage four cancer, largely confined to the bones.
The cancer was diagnosed treatable but not curable, Edwards said.
Despite the diagnosis, Edwards said she was ready to go forward with her husband’s bid for the White House.
“Either you push forward with the things that you were doing yesterday or you start dying,” she said. “If I had given up everything that my life was about … I’d let cancer win before it needed to.”
“Maybe eventually it will win,” she said. “But I’d let it win before I needed to.”
John Edwards, unable to compete with the attention focused on then-Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, withdrew from the presidential race in January 2008.
Several months later, he admitted that tabloid claims about an extramarital affair with former campaign videographer Rielle Hunter were true. Eventually, he also admitted to fathering a child with Hunter — an allegation he initially vociferously denied even after conceding the affair.
John Edwards said the affair happened in 2006 while his wife’s cancer was in remission. He claimed he informed his wife at the time and asked for her forgiveness.
The couple was criticized by some activists for not revealing the affair prior to his presidential bid, as the news could have damaged Democratic chances if it became publicly known during a general election campaign in which John Edwards was the party’s standard bearer.
“This was our private matter, and I frankly wanted it to be private because as painful as it was I did not want to have to play it out on a public stage as well,” Elizabeth Edwards said.
The affair appeared to end any future political ambitions the former senator may have had. It also led to the couple’s separation.
Elizabeth Edwards was born Mary Elizabeth Anania on July 3, 1949, in Jacksonville, Florida. Her father was a Navy pilot, and in her early years, she attended school in Japan.
She attended the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, and met her future husband while studying at UNC’s law school.
They spent their first date dancing at a local Holiday Inn, and it ended with John kissing Elizabeth on the forehead.
“It was just really sweet,” she said of the kiss. “I wasn’t used to men being sweet.”
The couple was married July 30, 1977, the Saturday after they took their state bar exams. They had four children: Wade, Cate, Emma Claire, and Jack. Wade Edwards was killed in a car accident in 1996.
Mrs. Edwards worked as a clerk for U.S. District Judge Calvitt Clarke Jr. in Norfolk, Virginia, and was a bankruptcy lawyer in Raleigh.
In 2006, after her initial cancer diagnosis, she wrote “Saving Graces: Finding Solace and Strength from Friends and Strangers,” which chronicled the aftermath of her son’s death and her battle with the disease.
Marie Osmond‘s son Michael Blosil took his own life Friday night after leaping to his death from his Los Angeles apartment, E! News confirms.
The 18-year-old reportedly suffered from severe depression in recent years, leaving behind a note which detailed his plans to commit suicide. In it, Blosil explained his loneliness, stating that he felt as if he had no friends and simply did not fit in.
Osmond expressed her grief over the tragedy in a statement released Saturday evening: “My family and I are devastated and in deep shock by the tragic loss of our dear Michael and ask that everyone respect our privacy during this difficult time.”
An autopsy will likely be done Sunday.
Back in 2007, Blosil, then age 16, entered a rehab facility for undisclosed treatment. At the time, Osmond released a statement saying “Michael is an amazing young man, shown through his courage in facing his issues. As his mother, I couldn’t be more proud of him.”
Blosil is one of Osmond and her music producing ex-husband Brian Blosil‘s seven children, five of whom, including Michael, are adopted.
Prior to any public knowledge of Blosil’s emotional issues, Marie fought back against National Enquirer claims that she herself had attempted suicide in 2006, and had been hospitalized in Utah.
Osmond and brother Donny have indefinitely canceled their Las Vegas show at the Flamingo Hotel.
Speaking to Entertainment Tonight on Saturday, Donny simply said, “Please pray for my sister and her family.”
Chicago Bears defensive endGaines Adams(notes), 26, died early Sunday in South Carolina, according to the Greenville (S.C.) News.
Adams, a former star at Clemson, died at 9 a.m. after he was taken to the emergency room at Self Regional in Greenwood County, Coroner James T. Coursey told the newspaper.
An autopsy will be performed today by the Anderson County forensic pathologist, Coursey said.
Adams was traded to the Bears in October 2009 in exchange for a second-round pick in the 2010 draft.
With Chicago, Adams played in 10 games. But he had his best season with the Bucs in 2008, where he started all 16 games and had 6.5 sacks.
Bucs coach Raheem Morris singled out the 6-foot-5, 258-pound defensive end on the opening day of training camp this past season, saying Adams would be considered a “bust” if he didn’t post double-digit sacks in 2009.
After failing to live up to those expectations, the Bucs traded Adams on Oct. 16, four days before the NFL trade deadline.
Chicago Bears defensive end Gaines Adams(notes), 26, died early Sunday in South Carolina, according to the Greenville (S.C.) News.
Adams, a former star at Clemson, died at 9 a.m. after he was taken to the emergency room at Self Regional in Greenwood County, Coroner James T. Coursey told the newspaper.
An autopsy will be performed today by the Anderson County forensic pathologist, Coursey said.
He was drafted fourth overall by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the 2007 NFL draft.
Adams was traded to the Bears in October 2009 in exchange for a second-round pick in the 2010 draft.
With Chicago, Adams played in 10 games. But he had his best season with the Bucs in 2008, where he started all 16 games and had 6.5 sacks.
Bucs coach Raheem Morris singled out the 6-foot-5, 258-pound defensive end on the opening day of training camp this past season, saying Adams would be considered a “bust” if he didn’t post double-digit sacks in 2009.
After failing to live up to those expectations, the Bucs traded Adams on Oct. 16, four days before the NFL trade deadline.
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Actor Patrick Swayze, whose turn as a smoldering dance instructor in “Dirty Dancing” made him one of the iconic film stars of the 1980s, died on Monday after a long battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 57.
Swayze, an actor and dancer who cemented his status as sex symbol opposite Demi Moore in the 1990 romance “Ghost”, died at his home.
“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 in a statement.
Swayze became one of Hollywood’s top stars with 1987’s “Dirty Dancing,” which defied Hollywood expectations to become one of the most-watched movies of all time. Read more reuters
Our prayers goes out to Jade and her family, friends and fans. I shed tears because I have two little boys myself, and this is so heart breaking. I feel this way sometimes doing these post. So my heart goes out to her family, friends and fans. Cancer is serious we need to find a cure, but we also need to call on our maker for answers. She is in a better places that we know may she rest in peace. If anyone has lost a family member,or friend no matter how they passed may you know that they are fine.Take the steps ladies to get tested for cervical cancer, breast cancer early detection is the key.
LONDON (AP) — Jade Goody’s family asks for “privacy at last” after the death at 27 of the brash former dental assistant who turned her tumultuous life and struggle with cervical cancer into a one-woman reality show.
Mocked as a slob, then celebrated as an everywoman, Goody lived one of the world’s most public lives, with cameras capturing everything from her racial slurs to her cancer diagnosis and chemotherapy. Publicist Max Clifford said Goody died in her sleep at home in Upshire, southeast England, early Sunday.
Goody gained fame in 2002 at age 21 when she joined the British version of the reality television show “Big Brother,” in which contestants live together for weeks and are constantly filmed. She became a highly divisive star and something of a national touchstone who sparked debate about race, class and celebrity.
During filming of an Indian version of “Celebrity Big Brother” in the summer of 2008, Goody received a diagnosis of cervical cancer by telephone from a doctor in Britain. The camera captured the deeply personal moment, which was shown repeatedly on TV.
The progress of her illness was chronicled in detail in the tabloid press and weekly magazines. She underwent surgery and chemotherapy in the public eye — filming part of the experience.
The Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, who heads the Church of England, said Goody showed a brave side in the face of death.
“If in her earlier career it was all about her, then I think at the end it was about something else,” Williams said.
Bald and frail, Goody married fiancee Jack Tweed last month in an elaborate event staged at an elegant countryside hotel outside London. The wedding was shown on television and the photos were sold, prompting criticism.
But Goody, who grew up in a poor London neighborhood, defended herself — saying she wanted her two young sons to have a better life than she had. Goody’s father was a heroin addict who served jail time for robbery and died in 2005; her mother was a former crack addict who lost the use of an arm in a motorcycle accident.
“People will say I’m doing this for money,” she said. “And they’re right, I am. But not to buy flash cars or big houses — it’s for my sons’ future if I’m not here. I don’t want my kids to have the same miserable, drug-blighted, poverty-stricken childhood I did.”
Goody’s publicist said last month that the cancer had spread to her liver, bowel and groin.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Sunday that Goody used her fame to help others.
“She was a courageous woman both in life and death, and the whole country have admired her determination to provide a bright future for her children,” Brown said. He also praised her for her efforts, after her diagnosis, to raise awareness about cervical cancer and the need for screening.
Though many praised Goody in recent months for the way in which she handled her illness, she was often mocked in the press during her stint on “Big Brother” for her weight, her big mouth and her apparent lack of general knowledge. She branded the English region of East Anglia “East Angular,” and asked whether it was abroad.
She didn’t win the show, but she earned millions through television and magazine appearances, an autobiography, a perfume and a series of exercise videos.
Goody was labeled a racist bully for her treatment of another contestant, Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty, while filming the British version of “Celebrity Big Brother” in 2007. Goody bad-mouthed Shetty’s cooking of Indian food, mocked her accent and referred to her as “Shilpa Poppadom.” While complaints against the show skyrocketed, so did ratings.
Goody’s treatment of Shetty sparked anger in India and Britain — even becoming the topic of debate during a House of Commons question-and-answer session with then Prime Minister Tony Blair. A major sponsor suspended its advertising deal with “Celebrity Big Brother,” and a chain of perfume shops pulled a Goody-endorsed fragrance, ironically named “Shh…”
After television viewers voted to evict Goody from the show, Goody — herself of mixed race — insisted she wasn’t a racist. “I argue like that with everybody. It wasn’t just because of the color of her skin that I was that aggressive,” she said during an interview on Britain’s GMTV.
Shetty and Goody eventually reconciled. On Sunday, Shetty told the BBC, “I am deeply saddened, but I am glad Jade is out of pain and that she died peacefully with her family around her.”
After Goody was evicted from the “Celebrity Big Brother” house, the Indian Tourism Office invited Goody to travel to the country. She did, visiting charity projects and later agreeing to appear on the Indian reality show.
“The people of India have only seen a small part of me, and I’d like to show them that there is more to me,” Goody said. “I’m a mother of two, a businesswoman. I can’t be all that bad.”
Goody is survived by Tweed and her two sons, Bobby and Freddie, with an ex-boyfriend, television presenter Jeff Brazier. She also is survived by her mother, Jackiey Budden.
Budden told reporters Sunday: “Family and friends would like privacy at last.”
Jennifer Schofield was just 11 days old when she died in November 2006 of multiple organ failure caused by the herpes simplex virus. The newborn was infected by her mother, Ruth Schofield, either through kisses or breastfeeding. “The hardest thing any woman can do is watch her baby die,” Schofield told the BBC on Friday.
Jennifer’s mother, 35-year-old Ruth Schofield, probably caught the virus late in her pregnancy, the inquest was told. She experienced flu-like symptoms before Jennifer’s birth and developed mouth ulcers after the birth.
Although her doctor gave her a mouthwash, the herpes virus was not diagnosed, the BBC said. HSV can be extremely hard to detect, the inquest heard. “If I had known I was suffering from HSV and the risks of being near a newborn baby, then Jennifer could be here today.”
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](https://i0.wp.com/img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png)
LONDON (AP) — Jade Goody’s family asks for “privacy at last” after the death at 27 of the brash former dental assistant who turned her tumultuous life and struggle with cervical cancer into a one-woman reality show.
Jennifer’s mother, 35-year-old Ruth Schofield, probably caught the virus late in her pregnancy, the inquest was told. She experienced flu-like symptoms before Jennifer’s birth and developed mouth ulcers after the birth.
Fresh News Daily 