Gawker: and now she's dead

Snark Break

Richard — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 15:33:00 EDT

Del Martin, lifelong gay rights activists and one half of one of the first gay couples to wed in California, has passed away at the age of 87. Her new wife (and partner of some fifty years) was by her side. [SFGate]

Estelle Getty, Everyone's Favorite Ma

Richard — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 13:57:00 EDT

Estelle Getty, actress and adorable little old shrunken lady, passed away today. She was 84. Perhaps best known for her role as cranky and wise-cracking "Ma" Sophia Petrillo to Bea Arthur's Dorothy on the sitcom The Golden Girls, Ms. Getty got her start in the theatre. She once played Harvey Fierstein's mother in the Broadway show Torch Song Trilogy! Those two roles alone ought to cement her in the gay pantheon of revered tough and hilarious broads for the rest of time. Ms. Getty suffered from something called Lewy body dementia, which was misdiagnosed earlier as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease. In 2006 she issued a statement through her caregiver about her condition and outlook, telling her fans "that if she has made you laugh, encouraged you to think, and challenged your beliefs, then she has done her job."

DC Madam Deborah Palfrey: 1956-2008

Pareene — Thu, 01 May 2008 13:58:30 EDT

Deborah Jeane Palfrey, the "DC Madam" who was convicted in April of charges related to her famous prostitution ring, died today in an apparent suicide at her mother's house in Florida. She was 52. Palfrey was busted in October of 2006, and it wasn't long before she captured national attention by threatening to release her phone records—records that could've destroyed the careers of hundreds of Washington politicians and officials. Or so went speculation at the time.

Palfrey, a former receptionist, cocktail waitress, and probable escort herself, began her escort service under the name "Pamela Martin & Associates" in 1993. By 2006 her girls charged $300-per-hour and allegedly counted as clients thousands of important Washington figures.

She was finally busted in 2006 (by the Post Office!), whereupon she began her second career as an inescapable media figure (in DC, at least). She made headlines by threatening to sell her client list to pay for her attorneys—attorneys she kept firing, until finally deciding to defend herself. The presiding judge eventually convinced her to take a court-appointed lawyer as the case went to court this February.

Meanwhile, Palfrey continued insisting she'd done nothing illegal. She was merely offering an "erotic fantasy service." The first high-profile johns Palfrey outed—Deputy Secretary of State Randall Tobias and some think-tank nut—admitted no wrong-doing. Tobias did eventually resign.

And finally she released what is probably the biggest name on her list—Senator David Vitter. Vitter, who's even been linked to other whores, did not resign.

She didn't sell the list. She did hand it over to ABC, but they apparently found nothing on it newsworthy enough to share.

As her trial for money laundering and racketeering drew closer, Palfrey found herself settling into a comfortable role as a media talking head—DC's own unrepentant Heidi Fleiss, happy to opine on the whoring of great men in case tomorrow's column was looking a little dry.

Faced with the convictions on all charges, though, and possible jail time, well—who the hell knows what was really going on. You never do.

Now we await the conspiracy theorists who'll swear she was killed by the government before she could reveal that Dick Cheney was a client, or something.

Remembering Bob Marley's Mom

Hamilton Nolan — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 17:12:43 EDT

Thousands of people in Jamaica turned out last weekend to celebrate the life of Bob Marley's mother, who apparently died earlier this month, in a development I totally missed. Her name was Cedella Booker, and she died at the age of 81, outliving her son by 27 years. Bob Marley, the reggae superstar who was (argument starter) the most notable musician of the 20th century, now leaves behind only his seemingly endless procession of kids to carry on his name—his British dad died in 1955. We should also note that Marley once had a brief affair with Vogue editor Anna Wintour. Noted! Anyhow, let's take a moment to remember Cedella Booker, who recorded two albums herself, and wrote two books about her son [The Root]. Her life produced a net gain in the world's happiness. How shall we memorialize her? With a video of her son singing "Natural Mystic," of course:

Critic, biographer and novelist Elizabeth ...

Choire — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 11:15:22 EST

Critic, biographer and novelist Elizabeth Hardwick, co-founder of the New York Review of Books, has died. In a response to a letter from screenwriter and New Yorker columnist Penelope Gilliatt that complained about Hardwick's trashing of Lillian Hellman in 1968, Hardwick wrote: "Perhaps Miss Gilliatt doesn't yet understand all there is to know about New York and the literary and intellectual world here. When we remember the number of unjustified slams and unwarranted raves, the way convictions sometimes cross uncomfortably, it is astonishing that relations remain as humorous, slap-dash, unparanoiac, and, above all, as pleasantly disorganized as they really are." [NYO]

Medical Examiner Rules On Linda Stein Killing

Joshua Stein — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 13:30:20 EDT

Yesterday, real estate agent to the stars, former Ramones manager and ex-wife of Belle and Sebastian muse Seymour Stein was found lying in a pool of blood in her multimillion dollar apartment. The medical examiner has since ruled that she died from "blows to the head and neck." She lived, as the Times writes in a "building, at the corner of 78th Street, [that[ has the security of doormen, elevator operators, and surveillance cameras mounted on the sidewalk canopy and in the lobby." However: "a reporter found an unlocked service door on the side street."

'Meerkat Manor' Fans Devastated By Loss of Flowers

Maggie — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 15:23:45 EDT

"meerkat manor" "funerals"

The New York Times' Ginia Bellafante reminds us today of how the untimely death-by-snake of matriarchal "Meerkat Manor" star, Flower Whiskers, has touched so many, so deeply. YouTube memorial videos like the one above abound, and Animal Planet has this to say: "We at Animal Planet our devastated by her loss and recognize that her death will have a deep impact on our viewers. Life in the Kalahari will never be the same." Perhaps our favorite line comes from narrator and 'Rudy' star Sean Astin: "Flower was a formidable leader and a noble mother. The desert has lost its favorite rose."

Related: US detains nearly 25,000 in Iraq [AFP]

America will observe a Very Gay National ...

Choire — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 15:40:19 EDT

America will observe a Very Gay National Day of Mourning; Brett Somers, queen of Match Game, has passed away at the age of 83. So long, comic genius. [Westport Now]

Anita Roddick, founder of the Body Shop and ...

Choire — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 12:20:00 EDT

Anita Roddick, founder of the Body Shop and pioneer of "ethical beauty," general greenness and all-around good personness, died yesterday; she was 64. [The Business]

Madeleine L'Engle, beloved author of our ...

Emily Gould — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 16:45:56 EDT

Madeleine L'Engle, beloved author of our first chapter book A Wrinkle In Time, among many many others, is dead at 88. Thank you, Madeleine L'Engle, for introducing us to the pleasure of the written word. And, later on, for all those hot sexual fantasies about twins Sandy and Dennys Murry. [AP]

American hero Grace Paley, one of the great ...

Choire — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 11:00:10 EDT

American hero Grace Paley, one of the great writers and humanists of our time, is dead at the age of 84. Start here, if you haven't. [Maud Newton]

Remembering Leona Helmsley

abalk — Mon, 20 Aug 2007 15:50:46 EDT

Leona Helmsley was more than just a former secretary who helped her third husband create a massive real estate empire while becoming a recognizable face to New Yorkers through a series of commercials in which she starred. She was a pioneer whose conviction on tax fraud (Rudy Giuliani was her prosecutor!) established that if a female executive is as abrasive, rude towards the help, and generally corrupt as her male counterparts, she deserves to be treated easily twice as harshly as a man would. Because, you know, that's not what we expect from ladies. In many ways, we can view the late Mrs. Helmsley as a precursor to fellow orange-jumpsuit wearer Martha Stewart. Thank you for blazing that trail, Leona! In memoriam, here's a clip of actress Suzanne Pleshette portraying the hotelier in the 1990 television movie "Leona Helmsley: The Queen of Mean."

Leona Helmsley Is Dead at 87 [NYT]

Hotelier and ex-con Leona Helmsley—whose ...

abalk — Mon, 20 Aug 2007 10:19:37 EDT

Hotelier and ex-con Leona Helmsley—whose famous remark that "Only the little people pay taxes" will be her lasting legacy—has died at the age of 88. [1010Wins]

Live At Brooke Astor's Funeral

Joshua Stein — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 14:25:31 EDT

New York Times photog Bill Cunningham works the pit outside the funeral, which is set to start at 2:30 p.m., up at St. Thomas Church, Fifth Avenue and 53rd Street.

Brooke Astor died this afternoon. She was ...

Choire — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 16:18:53 EDT

Brooke Astor died this afternoon. She was 105. A grand life—one only slightly marred by having idiots in her family. [City Room]

D. D. Ryan, of fashion-world fame and Harpers ...

Choire — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 16:29:39 EDT

D. D. Ryan, of fashion-world fame and Harpers Bazaar, passed away this morning. [Michael Gross]

Maybellined televangelista Tammy Faye Bakker ...

abalk — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 09:40:58 EDT

Maybellined televangelista Tammy Faye Bakker Messner passed away on Friday. If you haven't seen this final interview with Larry King, fair warning: it's pretty creepy. Still, you have to admire the fact that she stuck with that look all the way to the end. You're in God's hands now, Tammy. Thanks for all the fun. [Bloomberg]

Beverly Sills, who embodied opera in New ...

abalk — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 12:17:57 EDT

Beverly Sills, who embodied opera in New York for more than fifty years, has passed away at the age of 78. [NYT]

Fashion designer Liz Claiborne, 78, has ...

abalk — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 15:40:59 EDT

Fashion designer Liz Claiborne, 78, has passed away. [AP]