Celebrity Deaths

[moreton407]

RE: Celebrity Deaths
Stage and screen actor Michael Pennington has died at the age of 82. Best known as Death Star Commander Moff Jerjerrod in Star Wars: Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, the actor was an accomplished Shakespearean and is listed as an Honorary Associate Artist with the Royal Shakespeare Company. He also co-founded the English Shakespeare Company alongside theatre director Michael Bogdanov. The actor's on-screen career began in 1965 with a supporting part in the BBC mini-series, The War of the Roses. He went on to have more than 70 screen roles across his career, including starring opposite actress Meryl Streep in The Iron Lady, for which she won her third Academy Award for best actress.

[moreton407]

RE: Celebrity Deaths
Veteran actor Alan Rothwell, best known for playing David Barlow in the original cast of ITV soap Coronation Street, has died aged 89 after a short illness. Born in Oldham, he starred in the programme from its inception in 1960 until 1969, and later appeared in TV series such as Gideon's Way and The Villains. Rothwell also starred in the Channel 4 soap Brookside as Nicholas Black in the 1980s and became a familiar face to generations of viewers as the presenter of the long-running children's television programmes Picture Box and Hickory House.

[moreton407]

RE: Celebrity Deaths
Actress Jill Curzon, who was best known for her role in the Doctor Who spin-off film Daleks’ Invasion Earth 2150 AD, has died at the age of 87. Curzon starred as Louise opposite Peter Cushing in the 1966 sci-fi adventure. Her extensive career also saw her appear alongside Hollywood greats such as Cliff Robertson in The Sunshine Patriot and Robert Wagner in It Takes A Thief. British audiences may also remember her from Dr Syn, Alias The Scarecrow and the Morecambe and Wise comedy The Intelligence Men.

[moreton407]

RE: Celebrity Deaths
Scott Hastings, one of Scotland's best and most loved rugby union players, has died at age 61. Alongside his brother Gavin, Hastings was part of the last Scotland side to win a Grand Slam when they triumphed in the 1990 Five Nations. In 2022 Hastings revealed he had been diagnosed with cancer, receiving treatment for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, which could not be cured.

[moreton407]

RE: Celebrity Deaths
Dame Felicity Lott, one of Britain's best-loved sopranos, has died at the age of 79. The singer died on 15 May after a recent interview she gave to the BBC in which she announced she had been diagnosed with terminal cancer. The acclaimed soprano built an international career spanning four decades, in which she performed at opera houses and concert halls around the world, singing works by composers including Richard Strauss, Schubert and Mozart.

[moreton407]

RE: Celebrity Deaths
TV presenter Judith Chalmers has died at the age of 90. She was most famed for presenting the travel show Wish You Were Here…?. In a statement released by her family announcing her death, it was confirmed that she had been living with Alzheimer’s disease.

[moreton407]

RE: Celebrity Deaths
Peabo Bryson, the acclaimed R&B singer whose voice graced some of Disney's most beloved film duets, has died at the age of 75. The two-time Grammy Award winner was internationally recognised for his Oscar-winning collaborations, including “Beauty and the Beast” with Celine Dion and "A Whole New World" with Regina Belle from Aladdin. His family confirmed in a statement that Bryson passed away on Tuesday evening, just days after suffering a stroke.

[moreton407]

RE: Celebrity Deaths
British actor Anthony Head, best known for his roles in TV shows including Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Ted Lasso, Merlin, Dr Who and Little Britain, has died at the age of 72. Head found international fame as Rupert Giles in hit supernatural teen show Buffy in the late 1990s. He passed away peacefully of complications due to pneumonia, surrounded by his family.

[moreton407]

RE: Celebrity Deaths
MOBO Awards founder Kanya King has died at the age of 57.

[moreton407]

RE: Celebrity Deaths
US actor James Handy, known for his roles in films including Jumanji and Top Gun: Maverick, has been stabbed to death at his home in Los Angeles. Handy, who was 81, was found unconscious in the front garden of his home in Tarzana, California, on Wednesday with several stab wounds to the chest. Michael Gledhill, 44, the son of Handy's girlfriend, has been arrested on suspicion of murder.