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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/

Writer-director John Hughes, Hollywood’s youth impresario of the 1980s and ’90s who captured and cornered the teen and pre-teen market with such favorites as “Home Alone,” “The Breakfast Club” and “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” died Thursday, a spokeswoman said. He was 59.

Hughes died of a heart attack during a morning walk in Manhattan, Michelle Bega said. He was in New York to visit family.

A native of Lansing, Mich., who later moved to suburban Chicago and set much of his work there, Hughes rose from ad writer to comedy writer to silver screen champ with his affectionate and idealized portraits of teens, whether the romantic and sexual insecurity of “Sixteen Candles,” or the J.D. Salinger-esque rebellion against conformity in “The Breakfast Club.”

Hughes’ ensemble comedies helped make stars out of Molly Ringwald, Anthony Michael Hall, Ally Sheedy and many other young performers. He also scripted the phenomenally popular “Home Alone,” which made little-known Macaulay Culkin a sensation as the 8-year-old accidentally abandoned by his vacationing family, and wrote or directed such hits as “National Lampoon’s Vacation,” “Pretty in Pink,” “Planes, Trains & Automobiles” and “Uncle Buck.”

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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/

Farrah Fawcett, the “Charlie’s Angels” star whose feathered blond hair and dazzling smile made her one of the biggest sex symbols of the 1970s, died Thursday after battling cancer. She was 62.

The pop icon, who in the 1980s set aside the fantasy girl image to tackle serious roles, died shortly before 9:30 a.m. in a Santa Monica hospital, spokesman Paul Bloch said.

Ryan O’Neal, the longtime companion who had reunited with Fawcett as she fought anal cancer, was at her side, along with close friend Alana Stewart, Bloch said.

“After a long and brave battle with cancer, our beloved Farrah has passed away,” O’Neal said. “Although this is an extremely difficult time for her family and friends, we take comfort in the beautiful times that we shared with Farrah over the years and the knowledge that her life brought joy to so many people around the world.”

She burst on the scene in 1976 as one-third of the crime-fighting trio in TV’s “Charlie’s Angels.” A poster of her in a clingy swimsuit sold in the millions.

She left the show after one season but had a flop on the big screen with “Somebody Killed Her Husband.” She turned to more serious roles in the 1980s and 1990s, winning praise playing an abused wife in “The Burning Bed.”

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Source: http://www.popeater.com/

Kung fu movie legend David Carradine, who recently revamped his career in Quentin Tarantino’s ‘Kill Bill’ movies, has died at the age of 72.

Carradine was found dead in his hotel room in Bangkok, where he was set to shoot a new movie titled ‘Stretch.’ The Nation newspaper, citing Thai police sources, is reporting that Carradine was found hanged in his hotel closet and that it may have been a suicide. There’s been no other confirmation of that report so far, and Carradine’s agent told KABC that he believed the actor died of natural causes.

Thai police also told the BBC that Carradine was found by a hotel maid “with a rope around his neck and body.”

The Nation report claims that a preliminary police investigation found that Carradine hanged himself with a curtain cord, and that he was dead for at least 12 hours when he was found. The report also states that there were no signs of assault or foul play.

A rep for Carradine, however, tells TMZ that his camp “can confirm 100% that he never would have committed suicide. It was an accidental death. Everybody is in shock.”

Carradine’s manager, Chuck Binder, is calling the news “shocking.” He said that Carradine “was full of life, always wanting to work,” and that he was “a great person.”

Carradine’s career is a vast one, with over 200 movies and TV shows to his credit, including the hit ’70s show ‘Kung Fu’ and years later, more than 80 episodes of ‘Kung Fu: The Legend Continues.’ His breakout film role came in 1976, when he played Woody Guthrie in the biopic ‘Bound for Glory.’

Younger fans will likely know him as title character ‘Bill’ in Tarantino’s 2003-04 ‘Kill Bill’ movies, where he played the leader of a group of assassins and was eventually killed by one of his own disciples.

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