Celebrity Gossip

[Perdita]

Such sad news- our friend and colleague Denise Robertson has lost her short but determined battle against cancer.


Awww, that has come unexpected. RIP Denise, you have been much help to a lot of people and you will be missed by many.

[Perdita]

The American soul singer Billy Paul has died at the age of 80.
He was best known for his 1972 hit Me and Mrs Jones, which won a Grammy award and reached number one in the US.
A statement on his website said he died on Sunday of a "serious medical condition". The NME music magazine has reported that this was pancreatic cancer.
Mr Paul, who was born as Paul Williams in Philadelphia, helped shape the course of modern R&B music.
In his youth, he performed alongside soul legends including Charlie Parker and Nina Simone.
His biggest hit Me and Mrs Jones, about an extra-marital affair, has been covered by artists including Michael Buble and Hall & Oates.
In 2003, Mr Paul won a $500,000 (then £250,534) lawsuit for royalties owed for it from 1994 to 2002 by Assorted Music.
The company said it was an accounting issue and not a case of trying to cheat anyone out of money.
Mr Paul is survived by his wife, Blanche Williams.

BBC News


RIP Billy

[Perdita]

Television writer Carla Lane, who created shows including 1980s Liverpool sitcom Bread, has died aged 87.
Lane, who was born in Liverpool and later became known for her animal rights activism, also wrote Butterflies and co-wrote The Liver Birds.
She died at Stapely Care Home on Tuesday, her family confirmed.
They paid tribute to her "quick wit, determination and passion" which "brought Liverpool to life on screen for others to share".
The family said: "With heavy hearts we said goodbye to our darling Carla today.
"But with smiles on our faces we also take this opportunity to reflect on her incredible achievements all of which make us so unbelievably proud to be part of her family."
The Liver Birds
Image caption
Lane first became known for co-creating and writing The Liver Birds
Lane first became known for The Liver Birds, a sitcom which focused on the lives of two women who shared a flat together in Liverpool, co-writing and creating the programme with her friend and fellow Liverpudlian Myra Taylor.
The programme aired from 1969 to 1979 and returned for a one-off series in 1996.
Her next sitcom, Butterflies, which aired from 1978 to 1983, focused on the lives of the Parkinson family and helped launch the career of actor Nicholas Lyndhurst.
Lane then created and wrote Bread, which focused on the working class Boswell family as they struggled through the city's high unemployment and poor prospects in the late 1980s. It aired for seven series between 1986 and 1991.
Much of her work focused on women's lives and featured frustrated housewives and working class matriarchs.
She received an OBE for services to writing in 1989 but returned it to the then Prime Minister Tony Blair in 2002 in disgust at animal cruelty.
In 1995, Lane was given a Royal Television Society award for her Outstanding Contribution to British Television.
Lane later became known for looking after hundreds of rescue animals - running an animal sanctuary from her mansion in Horsted Keynes, Sussex, until 2009 - and was a close friend of Sir Paul McCartney's late wife Linda.
Speaking to the Observer in 2008 about their friendship, Lane said: "She had a lot of good friends, but we were friendship-struck from moment one.
"We used to sit on the lawn with our two puppies, kicking leaves, and looking at them. We were like two scientists trying to find out why people don't like animals, and what we'd do to them, if we only could."
Lane also had an animal sanctuary named after her.
Fran Ellis, founder and trustee at the Carla Lane Animals in Need Sanctuary in Melling, Merseyside, paid tribute to a "champion of animal welfare".
"We changed the name of our charity to recognise the work done by this special lady. Her name will live on in all we do," she said.
BBC entertainment correspondent Lizo Mzimba said Lane was someone that "understood people and that's why she was able to write them so well... there was a real degree of honesty".
Tributes have been paid to the comedy writer on Twitter.
Actress Melanie Hill, who played Aveline in Bread and starred in long-running school TV drama Waterloo Road, tweeted: "Very sad to hear #CarlaLane has left us. Writer and creator of many fantastic shows @BBCOne #bread #Aveline."
Piers Morgan tweeted: "RIP Carla Lane, who made us all laugh."

BBC News


RIP Carla, you brought us many moments of fun and enjoyment

[Perdita]

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-37215553

US actor Gene Wilder, remembered by many for his namesake role in Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, has died at the age of 83, his family confirmed.
The comic actor also starred in classic films such as The Producers, Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein.
Mr Wilder frequently collaborated with writer and director Mel Brooks as well as stand-up comedian Richard Pryor.
The two-time Oscar-nominated actor was diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma in 1989.


RIP Gene

[Splashy]

See No Evil, Hear No Evil

Is one of my fav films ever

Your were a comic genius

Thank you Gene.

[Splashy]

See No Evil, Hear No Evil

Is one of my fav films ever

Your were a comic genius

Thank you Gene.

[lizann]

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-37215553

US actor Gene Wilder, remembered by many for his namesake role in Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, has died at the age of 83, his family confirmed.
The comic actor also starred in classic films such as The Producers, Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein.
Mr Wilder frequently collaborated with writer and director Mel Brooks as well as stand-up comedian Richard Pryor.
The two-time Oscar-nominated actor was diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma in 1989.


RIP Gene

rip

love all his films especially blazing saddles

[lizann]

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-37215553

US actor Gene Wilder, remembered by many for his namesake role in Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, has died at the age of 83, his family confirmed.
The comic actor also starred in classic films such as The Producers, Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein.
Mr Wilder frequently collaborated with writer and director Mel Brooks as well as stand-up comedian Richard Pryor.
The two-time Oscar-nominated actor was diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma in 1989.


RIP Gene

rip

love all his films especially blazing saddles

[Perdita]

Rolling Stones front man Mick Jagger has become a dad for the eighth time at the age of 73, his publicist has said.

The new addition is his first child with ballerina Melanie Hamrick.

A statement said: "Melanie Hamrick and Mick Jagger's son was born today in New York and they are both delighted.

"Mick was at the hospital for the arrival. Mother and baby are doing well and we request that the media respect their privacy at this time."

He has seven other children with four different women, including jewellery designer Jade and models Lizzie and Georgia May Jagger. Their ages range from 17 to 46 years old.

Jagger also has five grandchildren and one great grandchild.

ITV


Congratulations to them

[lizann]

mick still a horny old goat with a loaded weapon