by David K. Li | NBC News Beloved finger-wagging Hall of Fame center Dikembe Mutombo, one of basketball's most feared shot blockers and admired humanitarians, died after fighting brain cancer, officials said Monday. Mutombo, the NBA's first "global ambassador," was...
by Chris Williams | Variety Tito Jackson, who along with brothers Michael, Jermaine, Jackie and Marlon was a founding member of the iconic family group the Jackson 5, died Sunday at age 70. His sons Taj, Taryll and TJ remembered him on Instagram, writing, “It’s with...
by Adam B. Vary, Carmel Dagan | Variety James Earl Jones, the prolific film, TV and theater actor whose resonant, unmistakable baritone was most widely known as the voice of “Star Wars” villain Darth Vader, died Monday morning at his home in Dutchess County, N.Y., his...
by Jahaura Michelle | Blavity South African actor Connie Chiume, known for her role in the Black Panther films, died at age 72. Chiume died Tuesday at the Garden City Hospital in Johannesburg, South Africa, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Her family shared the...
By Selena Kuznikov | Variety Erica Ash, who played M-Chuck in the Starz drama “Survivor’s Remorse” and worked on shows like “MADtv,” died Monday of cancer. She was 46. Ash’s family confirmed her death and her mother Diann paid tribute to her daughter with a statement...
Mike Barnes | Hollywood Reporter Bill Cobbs, the convincing character actor who had pivotal turns in such films as The Hudsucker Proxy, Sunshine State and Night at the Museum, has died. He was 90. Cobbs died Tuesday night of natural causes at his home in Riverside,...
By Erik Pedersen, Greg Evans | Deadline O.J. Simpson, the college and NFL football legend, Hollywood actor, broadcaster and pitchman, died Wednesday of cancer, his family has announced. He was 76. “On April 10th, our father, Orenthal James Simpson, succumbed to his...
by Carmel Dagan | Variety Louis Gossett Jr., who won a supporting actor Oscar for playing the hard-as-nails drill instructor in 1982’s “An Officer and a Gentleman” a few years after winning an Emmy for his role as the cunning Fiddler in “Roots,” died early Friday...
By Jem Aswad | Variety Les McCann, the legendary jazz pianist who has been sampled countless times and is perhaps best known for the protest song “Compared to What,” died Friday at a Los Angeles area hospital, his manager confirmed. No cause of death was announced,...
By Pat Saperstein | Variety Maurice Hines, an actor, dancer and choreographer who starred with his brother Gregory Hines in Francis Ford Coppola’s “The Cotton Club,” died Friday. He was 80. Friends including Debbie Allen and John Manzari reported the news of his...
By Jake Kanter | Deadline Mbongeni Ngema, the South African creator of Whoopi Goldberg film Sarafina!, has died in a car accident. He was aged 68. Ngema’s family announced his death in a statement, revealing that he was killed in a head-on collision December 27 while...
By Armando Tinoco | Deadline Bobby Rivers, an entertainment reporter and television personality on the Food Network and VH1, has died. He was 70. ABC affiliate in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, WISN 12, shared the news about Rivers. The on-air host joined the station in 1979...