A longtime commissioner of the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority was found dead on Monday, "reclining in a lounge chair in the backyard of his Burbank home," according to the Valley Sun more ›

Jeff 'Ox' Kargola, a Southern California freestyle racer, died Friday from injuries sustained in a crash on day two of the"Desert Assassins' 2011 Rip to the Tip" motocross competition in Mexico, an event that takes riders along the length of the Baja Peninsula in an eight-day, 1,300-mile race to Cabo San Lucas over mountains, beaches and deserts, reports the LA Times. He was 27. more ›

One of the cinematic greats, director Sidney Lumet, died of lymphoma at home on Saturday morning. He was 86. The iconic 1957 courtroom drama 12 Angry Men was Lumet's feature debut, and over his lifetime the prolific filmmaker received five Academy Award nominations and was awarded an honorary Oscar in 2005. Here's an extra special video lunch tribute to Lumet's classic films. Click the more ›

A one-time circus performer and 20-year resident of the Los Angeles Zoo, Ruby, an African elephant who moved to a Northern CA sanctuary in 2007 amid controversy over her habitat at the Los Angeles Zoo, died on Tuesday at the Performing Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) elephant sanctuary in San Andreas. She was 50. more ›

Geraldine Ferraro, the Democratic congresswoman who, as Walter Mondale's VP pick in 1984, was the first woman to run on a major party presidential ticket, died on Saturday in Boston, reports Reuters, of a blood cancer after a 12-year illness. She was 75. more ›

A powerful advocate for peace during the Clinton Administration and a key force behind LAPD reforms following the Rodney King beating, former Secretary of State Warren Christopher died of complications from bladder and kidney cancer late Friday night at his home in Los Angeles. He was 85. more ›

Frank: It's the same old story. Boy finds girl, boy loses girl, girl finds boy, boy forgets girl, boy remembers girl, girls dies in a tragic blimp accident over the Orange Bowl on New Year's Day. Jane: Goodyear? Frank: No, the worst. more ›

Irvin Kershner, USC graduate, USC professor, director of the Star Wars film, “The Empire Strikes Back” and the James Bond film “Never Say Never Again,” has died at age 87. The Philly-born Kershner passed away Saturday in Los Angeles after a long illness and is survived by two sons. more ›

Canadian comedian and actor Leslie Nielsen has passed away in a Ft. Lauderdale, Florida hospital, reports CJOB 68 in Manitoba. The "Airplane" and the "Naked Gun" star died of complications from pneumonia, according to his nephew Doug Nielsen. Story is developing. more ›

Mr. Cunningham has gone to the big Arnold's Drive-in in the sky. Actor Tom Bosley, the father from TV's long-running 'Happy Days,' has died at 83 years old from a staph infection and "a brief battle with lung cancer," according to family members who spoke to TMZ. People Magazine reports that Bosley died on Tuesday in California at his Palm Springs home. more ›

After eluding authorities for over three days, adult industry worker and sometimes actor Stephen Hill, 34, engaged the LAPD's SWAT team in a standoff today that ended in Hill's death. more ›

Charlie's Angels darling, Farrah Fawcett, died this morning at 9:28 a.m. at St. John’s Heath Center in Santa Monica where she had returned "for treatment of complications from anal cancer, first diagnosed three years ago," according to People Magazine. She was 62 years old. Her spokesperson is saying the cause of death is the cancer. Ryan O'Neal and Alana Stewart were at her bedside as she passed away, reported TMZ. A multiple Golden Globe and Emmy Award nominee, she had become pop culture figure and sex symbol after her role on Charlie's Angels when it began airing in 1976. You will be sorely missed, Farrah Fawcett, sorely missed. RIP. more ›

Another comic great has left us. Dom Deluise, 75, reportedly died last night at a Los Angeles area hospital. "One of the truly funniest comics, EVER!!! "His brand of humor will be greatly missed," an LAist reader wrote in an e-mail this morning. "I'm actually a thin, serious person, but I play fat and funny, but only for the movies," DeLuise once joked about himself. His death follows last week's loss of Vegas performer Danny Gans. more ›

One of the most important composers of the 20th Century, German avant-garde and electronic composer Karlheinz Stockhausen, has died. The cause of his Wednesday death, which was announced today, is unknown at this point. Stockhausen made his way into pop culture when his image appeared on the Beatles album cover to the "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" album. After 9/11, his name surfaced in the main stream media when the press misinterpreted a statement... more ›

One of the world's most famous singers, Luciano Pavarotti, the most interesting of The Three Tenors, has just died. He was 71. more ›

Denny Doherty, 66, of the 1960s, electo-folk foursome The Mamas & The Papas, died Friday at his home near Toronto. He suffered from kidney problems and was put on dialysis after surgery last month. more ›

Peter Boyle (favorite role: Chief Orman in the Nic Cage/SJP masterpiece Honeymoon in Vegas) died last night in New York after suffering from heart disease and a bone marrow cancer called multiple myeloma. more ›