Corey Haim Found Dead, Aged 38

1980s teen heartthrob Corey Haim, famous for his role in The Lost Boys, died on Wednesday morning at Providence St Joseph Medical Centre in Burbank, Los Angeles County coroner’s Lieutenant Cheryl MacWillie confirms. He was 38.

The cause of death is unknown, according to Police Sergeant William Mann, who said that Haim had flu-like symptoms before he died and was getting over-the-counter and prescription medication.

“He could have succumbed to whatever (illness) he had or it could have been drugs. Who knows?” Mann said. “He has had a drug problem in the past.”

Haim was taken by ambulance to the hospital from an apartment in Los Angeles, located in a complex known as Oakwood, it s popular with young actors.

An autopsy will determine the cause of death, although Police Sergeant Michael Kammert said there is no evidence of foul play.

Haim collaborated numerous times with actor Corey Feldman throughout his career, leading to the pair being dubbed “The Two Coreys”.

Feldman today mourned the loss of a ‘‘wonderful, beautiful, tormented soul,’’ who he said would ‘‘always be my brother, family and best friend’’.

‘‘I was awakened at 8.30 this morning by my brother and sister knocking on my bedroom door,’’ Feldman wrote on his official blog.

‘‘They informed me of the loss of my brother Corey Haim. My eyes weren’t even open all the way when the tears started streaming down my face.’’

Feldman called for respect for his and Haim’s families while they grieved.

‘‘We must all take this as a lesson in how we treat the people we share this world with while they are still here to make a difference,’’ he said.

‘‘I hope the art Corey has left behind will be remembered as the passion of that for which he truly lived.’’

Haim endured a long struggle with drug abuse, after smoking his first joint as a child when working on Lost Boys. He took both stimulants and sedatives such as Valium, and at one point, “it was about 85 [pills] a day”, he revealed to a newspaper in 2004.

In a 2007 interview on CNN’s Larry King Live, Haim admitted that he was “a chronic relapser for the rest of my life”.

Christina Applegate’s Boyfriend Found Dead In Hollywood

Lee Grivas, on-off boyfriend of ‘Samantha Who?’ star Christina Applegate, was found dead in his Hollywood Apartment on Tuesday (July 1).

The body of the 26-year-old was found by his neighbor, according to TMZ, with no visible signs of trauma apparent.

Applegate, 36, released a statement about Grivas, who she had been dating on-and-off for several years, saying, “I am profoundly saddened. Lee was an incredible human being who was an extremely important and beautiful part of my life.”

She adds, “He is missed beyond words. He touched so many and I feel much sadness for his mother, father, brother, and all of his family and friends.”

The couple reportedly met in 2005, when Applegate was starring on stage in ‘Sweet Charity’ in Chicago.

Heath Ledger, Found Dead in NYC

NEW YORK - Heath Ledger was found dead Tuesday at a downtown Manhattan apartment, naked in bed with sleeping pills nearby, police said. The Australian-born actor was 28. It wasn't immediately clear if Ledger had committed suicide.

He had an appointment for a massage at a residence in the tony neighborhood of SoHo, NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said. A housekeeper who went to let him know the massage therapist had arrived found him dead at 3:26 p.m.

A large crowd of paparazzi and gawkers gathered outside the building on an upscale block. Ledger's body was still inside, and several police officers guarded the door.

The medical examiner's office planned an autopsy Wednesday, spokeswoman Ellen Borakove said.

While not a marquee movie star, Ledger was a respected, award-winning actor who chose his roles carefully rather than cashing in on his heartthrob looks. He was nominated for an Oscar for his performance as a gay cowboy in "Brokeback Mountain," where he met Michelle Williams, who played his wife in the film. The two had a daughter, Matilda, and lived together in Brooklyn until they split up last year.

Ledger most recently appeared in "I'm Not There," in which he played one of the many incarnations of Bob Dylan as did Cate Blanchett, whose performance in that film earned an Oscar nomination Tuesday for best supporting actress.

Ledger had finished filming his role as the Joker this year in "The Dark Knight," a sequel to 2005's "Batman Begins."

He's had starring roles in "A Knight's Tale" and "The Patriot," and played the suicidal son of Billy Bob Thornton in "Monster's Ball." He also played a heroin addict in the 2006 Australian film "Candy."

Before settling down with Williams, Ledger had relationships with actresses Heather Graham and Naomi Watts. He met Watts while working on "The Lords of Dogtown," a fictionalized version of a cult classic skateboarding documentary, in 2004.

Ledger was born in 1979 in Perth, in western Australia, to a mining engineer and a French teacher, and got his first acting role playing Peter Pan at age 10 at a local theater company. He began acting in independent films as a 16-year-old in Sydney and played a cyclist hoping to land a spot on an Olympic team in a 1996 television show, "Seat."

After several independent films, Ledger moved to Los Angeles at age 19 and co-starred opposite Julia Stiles in "10 Things I Hate About You," a teen comedy reworking of "The Taming of the Shrew."

Offers for other teen flicks soon came his way, but Ledger turned them down, preferring to remain idle than sign on for projects he didn't like.

"It wasn't a hard decision for me," Ledger told the Associated Press in 2001. "It was hard for everyone else around me to understand. Agents were like, 'You're crazy,' my parents were like, 'Come on, you have to eat.'"

His movie career caught on anyway, culminating with his Academy Award nomination opposite Jake Gyllenhaal in "Brokeback."

"Dark Knight" director Christopher Nolan said earlier this month that Ledger's performance as the Joker would be wildly different than Jack Nicholson's memorable turn in 1989's "Batman."

"It was a very great challenge for Heath," Nolan said. "He's extremely original, extremely frightening, tremendously edgy. A very young character, a very anarchic presence that taps into a lot of our basic fears and panic."

Anna Nicole Smith Dies In Florida

Anna Nicole Smith, the voluptuous former Playboy centerfold who married an octogenarian billionaire and waged a legal battle for his fortune all the way to the Supreme Court, died Thursday after collapsing at a hotel. She was 39.

The blond bombshell — who recently became tabloid fodder all over again after the sudden, apparently drug-related death of her 20-year-old son — was stricken while staying at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino and was rushed to a hospital.


Edwina Johnson, chief investigator of the Broward County Medical Examiner's Office, said the cause of death was under investigation and an autopsy would be done on Friday.

A private nurse called 911 after finding Smith unresponsive in her sixth-floor room, said Seminole Police Chief Charlie Tiger. He said Smith's bodyguard administered cardiopulmonary resuscitation about an hour before she was declared dead.

Through the '90s and into the new century, Smith was famous for being famous, a pop-culture punchline because of her up-and-down weight, her exaggerated curves, her little-girl voice, her ditzy-blonde persona, and her over-the-top revealing outfits.

The curvaceous Texas-born Smith was a topless dancer at strip club before she entered her photos in a search contest and made the cover of Playboy magazine in 1992, captivating readers with her Marilyn Monroe looks.

She became Playboy's playmate of the year in 1993. She was also signed to a contract with Guess jeans, appearing in TV commercials, billboards and magazine ads.
In 1994, she married 89-year-old oil tycoon J.

Howard Marshall II, the head of oil-based Koch Industries, which is part of a family fortune worth at least $400 million. He died in 1995 at age 90, setting off a feud with her former stepson, E. Pierce Marshall, over whether she had a right to his estate.

A federal court in California awarded Smith $474 million. That was later overturned. But in May, the U.S. Supreme Court revived her case, ruling that she deserved another day in court in her battle with her former stepson. The stepson died June 20 at age 67. But the family said the court fight would continue.

More recently, Smith's ballooning figure and up-and-down weight became a subject of public fascination. But she lost a reported 69 pounds and became a spokeswoman for TrimSpa, a weight-loss supplement.

She starred in her own reality TV series, "The Anna Nicole Show," in 2002-04. Cameras followed her around as she sparred with her lawyer, hung out with her personal assistant and interior decorator, and cooed at her poodle, Sugar Pie. She also appeared in movies, performing a bit part in "The Hudsucker Proxy" in 1994.

After news came of Smith's death, G. Eric Brunstad Jr., the lawyer who represented Marshall, said in a statement: "We're very shocked by the news and extend the deepest condolences to her family."

Smith's son, Daniel Smith, died Sept. 10 in his mother's hospital room in the Bahamas, just days after she gave birth to a daughter. An American medical examiner hired by the family, Cyril Wecht, said he had methadone and two antidepressants in his system when he died.

Low levels of the three drugs interacted to cause an accidental death, Wecht said. Last month, a Bahamas magistrate scheduled a formal inquiry into the death for March 27.

Meanwhile, the paternity of her now 5-month-old daughter remained a matter of dispute. The birth certificate lists Dannielynn's father as attorney Howard K. Stern, Smith's most recent companion. Smith's ex-boyfriend Larry Birkhead was waging a legal challenge, saying he was the father.

Debra Opri, the attorney who filed his paternity suit, said Birkhead "is devastated. He is inconsolable, and we are taking steps now to protect the DNA testing of the child. The child is our number one priority."

She was born Vickie Lynn Hogan on Nov. 28, 1967, in Houston, one of six children of Donald Eugene and Virgie Hart Hogan. She married Bill Smith in 1985, giving birth to Daniel before divorcing two years later.

"From my professional exposure to Anna Nicole, I can say she was always personable, down to earth and driven. All in all, a joy to have as a client," said Wayne Munroe, her Bahamian lawyer who has overseen the aftermath of her son's mysterious death in Nassau.

A Death in the Family for Jolie

Angelina Jolie's mother, Marcheline Bertrand, died Saturday afternoon at Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, the Associated Press reports.

Bertrand, who had endured a long-term battle with cancer, was 56. According to a family statement, Jolie, 31, her older brother, James Haven, and her boyfriend, Brad Pitt, were at the hospital when Bertrand passed away.

"Angelina came to visit her two weekends ago and spent the afternoon with her in her room," a source at Beverly Hills' Raffles L'Ermitage hotel, where Bertrand kept a residence, tells Usmagazine.com.

Bertrand, a former actress, raised Jolie and her brother as a single mother after she and Oscar-winning actor Jon Voight divorced in 1978. She appeared in the movies Lookin' to Get Out in 1982 and The Man Who Loved Women in 1983. A private funeral is planned. In lieu of flowers, the family is asking that donations be made to the Women's Cancer Research Institute at Cedars Sinai.