Celebrities, Deaths | featured news

Phyllis Diller, the housewife turned humorist who aimed some of her sharpest barbs at herself, punctuating her jokes with her trademark cackle, died Monday morning in Los Angeles at age 95.

Hair stylist Vidal Sassoon, who undid the beehive with his wash-and-wear cuts and went on to become an international name in hair care, died Wednesday. He was 84.

Maurice Sendak, the children's book author and illustrator who saw the sometimes-dark side of childhood in books like "Where the Wild Things Are" and "In the Night Kitchen," died early Tuesday. He was 83. Longtime friend and caretaker Lynn Caponera said she was with him when Sendak died at a hospital in Danbury, Conn. She said he had a stroke on Friday.

CBS newsman Mike Wallace, the dogged, merciless reporter and interviewer who took on politicians, celebrities and other public figures in a 60-year career highlighted by the on-air confrontations that helped make "60 Minutes" the most successful primetime television news program ever, has died. He was 93.

Investigators probing the death of Whitney Houston are trying to determine whether she drowned while in a bathtub at the Beverly Hilton on Saturday shortly before she was set to attend a pre-Grammy Awards gala, according to a source who has been briefed about the case.

An investigation into the death of Natalie Wood has been reopened after “additional information” was presented to the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department, the Associated Press reports. The Oscar-nominated actress drowned 30 years ago this month after spending the day on Catalina Island and a yacht with husband Robert Wagner and her “Brainstorm” co-star, Christopher Walken.

A yacht skipper says he lied to Natalie Wood's death investigators 30 years ago and he's blaming her then-husband Robert Wagner for the actress' drowning in the ocean off Southern California....

Andy Rooney so dreaded the day he had to end his signature "60 Minutes" commentaries about life's large and small absurdities that he kept going until he was 92 years old. Just a month ago, Rooney delivered his last regular essay on the CBS newsmagazine. CBS said he died Friday night in New York from complications from a recent surgery.

British singer Beryl Davis, who sang with Frank Sinatra and Benny Goodman, dies aged 87.

Esther Gordy Edwards, who helped build Motown Records alongside her brother Berry Gordy Jr. and led efforts to turn its original Detroit headquarters into a museum, has died. She was 91.