Goodbye Leah Beckmann, Our Intern From Heaven
On May 5, 2010, Gawker received an unsolicited intern application letter from a woman who billed herself as “The (Potential) Intern From Heaven?” Her name was Leah Beckmann.
Karen Black, the actress best known for her work in films like Easy Rider, Nashville, and Five Easy Pieces, for which she received an Oscar nod, died today after a long battle with cancer. In March it was reported that Black had resorted to crowdfunding in order to pay for her final treatments. She was 74.
Esther Williams, swimming champion and star of dozens of musicals, has died at 91.
Dr. Joyce Brothers, the celebrity psychologist who came to pop-culture prominence in the late 1950s, died today in New York City. She was 85.
Margaret Thatcher Is Dead
Baroness Margaret Thatcher, the longest-serving Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in the 20th century, and the first and only female prime minister, has died of a stroke at age 87.
Another former "Mickey Mouse Club" Mouseketeer has died, along with the good old days.
Infamous 'Pauper Princess' Who Continued to Collect Welfare After Winning Lottery Dies of Suspected OD
Amanda Clayton, the Michigan woman who gained national notoriety earlier this year after it was revealed that she continued to collect welfare benefits despite winning a $1 million lottery jackpot, was found dead inside her home Saturday morning.
Phyllis Diller, 1917-2012
Legendary comedian Phyllis Diller has passed away, TMZ reports. She was 95, and had been under hospice care following a fall. Her family was with her when she died.
Helen Gurley Brown, Legendary Cosmopolitan Editor, Dead at 90
Helen Gurley Brown, the legendary editor who presided over Cosmopolitan for three decades, has died at age 90, according to the Hearst Corporation.
Washington Post Now Confirms Nora Ephron's Death [UPDATE]
Screenwriter Nora Ephron seems to have passed away, according to this uncomfortably indeterminate column by her friend Liz Smith that just appeared on the internet. Her former close friend Margo Howard also writes on Twitter that Ephron passed away from cancer, and that a funeral is
scheduled for Thursday.
[Update:…
Socialite Keels Over in the Middle of a Fashion Show in the Front Row
Zelda Kaplan, the hard-partying 95-year-old socialite who has been a fixture of the New York scene since the '60s, collapsed right in the middle of the Joanna Mastroianni fashion show at Lincoln Center yesterday, just as the second model walked past her. She was later pronounced dead. This is the first time a fashion…
Lifelong Journalist Marge Miley Composed Her Own Obituary and It's Very Nice
Marge Miley, a former editor and columnist at the Manitowoc (WI) Herald Times Reporter passed away this week at the age of 86. Marge composed her own obituary, which she left on file with her funeral home. (Here's the first page—click to enlarge.) She would surely take some satisfaction from the fact that what she…
Leslie Carter, Singer of 'Like Wow,' Dead at 25
Leslie Carter, the sister of pre-Bieber tween star Aaron Carter and Backstreet Boys survivor Nick Carter, is dead. She was 25.
Etta James Has Died
Etta James, the great singer, died today in California of complications from leukemia. She was 72. Over the six decades of her career, James won six Grammys and was inducted into the Rock n Roll hall of fame, survived a heroin addiction and a variety of health problems, and sold millions of records. In 2009, the …
Helen Frankenthaler, Awesome Painter, Dead at 83
Helen Frankenthaler, the great abstract painter (and legendary party-thrower) died today "after a long illness." She was 83. Frankenthaler's big abstract paintings—made by staining canvas with thin paint—were among the best-known of the "second generation" of abstract expressionism. And even if you don't like them…
No, Stalin Was Not Really Such a Good Dad
Josef Stalin's last surviving daughter, Lana Peters, née Svetlana Stalina, has died. She was in Wisconsin, of all places, where she'd been living on and off since 1986; unsurprisingly, she had a hard, shitty life, thanks in no small part to her father, who was nearly as brutal a father as he was a dictator. But don't…
Daughters of Walter Mondale, Ted Kennedy Both Die at 51
Eleanor Mondale, daughter of Vice President Walter Mondale, died on Saturday, six years after being diagnosed with brain cancer; on Friday, Kara Kennedy, daughter of Senator Ted Kennedy, apparently suffered a heart attack and passed away. Both women were 51.
The Cosby Show's Clarice Taylor Dies at 93
Clarice Taylor, the Emmy-nominated actress who played Cliff Huxtable's mother Anna on The Cosby Show and Harriet on Sesame Street died of heart failure on Monday. She was 93 but will live in syndication forever.
Singer Phoebe Snow Dies at 60
Phoebe Snow, known for her '70s hit "Poetry Man," as well as singing many well-known jingles and theme songs and her frequent appearances on Howard Stern, died today from complications from a brain hemorrhage she suffered last year. It's a rough day for female vocalists.
The Many Weddings of Elizabeth Taylor
Most of us will remember Elizabeth Taylor, who passed away today at 79, by her many great roles or the work she did for numerous charitable causes. But she'll also be remembered for walking down the aisle seven times over the course of her life. With the help of LIFE.com's archives, here's a little look at some of the…
