The talented and well known actor Paul Newman died of cancer at his Connecticut home yesterday at 83 years of age. My first memory of Paul Newman was in the movie The Color Of Money.  According to an MSNBC story that I read he had appeared in major roles in more than fifty movies. People may not be aware of Newman’s charitable interests. Anyone that goes to a grocery store has probably seen his line of foods, Newman’s Own. What people may not know is that all profits from his foods are donated to charities, and that through 2007 more than $175 million had been donated. Newman also set up several camps for children with terminal illnesses. Goodbye Paul.

Actress Estelle Getty passed away this morning at the age of 84. If you’re my age you probably remember the comedy series Golden Girls that was on in the second half of the 1980s. Estelle Getty portrayed Sophia, the mother of Bea Arthur’s character, on the successful series for more than seven years and won an Emmy for her role. I always thought she was adorable and that they gave her the funniest lines. Goodbye Estelle, you’ll be missed.

This Saturday NBC will be rebroadcasting the first episode of Saturday Night Live this Saturday in tribute to George Carlin. The episode will be shown on Saturday 06/28/08 and will be shown in its entirety. George Carlin, who died this past weekend, hosted the first episode of SNL back in 1975. The episode includes 3 monologues from Carlin. This is the episode of SNL that introduced the viewers to the Not Ready for Primetime Players, which included Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, Chevy Chase, Jane Curtin, Garrett Morris, Laraine Newman and Gilda Radner. A special performance from Andy Kaufman was also part of the show.

Comedian George Carlin passed away yesterday in Los Angeles from heart failure at the age of 71. George was well known for speaking his mind. Many comedians considered him to be revolutionary, blazing a trail for other comics after him. He had 23 comedy albums and wrote three books, and also appeared in several movies. It was just recently announced that the comedian was to be awarded the annual Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, which will now be given posthumously. George Carlin is one of the first comedians I remember hearing. I loved his old material, such as A Place For My Stuff.  Goodbye George. We’ll miss you.

Sometimes when I watch television I realize there’s a good product placement opportunity. Here’s an example. On a number of entertainment shows the hosts try their best to keep the public in the know concerning certain events in the lives of celebrities. For example, many people are fascinated by celebrity pregnancy and childbirth. As soon as someone is expecting it’s announced. As soon as people are seen shopping the sex of the baby is speculated. As soon as the due date nears we often hear news about a baby shower, which is what brought me to my realization. I’m sure there’s many people out there that would try and fashion a baby shower after one a celebrity had. So, a smart company might try and get a product placement on an entertainment show so when they tell the viewers about a celeb baby shower they can show viewers one of the baby shower invitations. I bet people will go out and buy them like crazy.

It’s come out that the masseuse that found Heath Ledger’s unresponsive body called MaryKate Olsen not once, but twice, before calling 911 from Ledger’s cell phone for help. My mind is totally boggled trying to figure out what the reasoning for this could be. It really doesn’t matter what their relationship had been in the past or was at the time, it just doesn’t make sense. It was reported in the news today stated that a period of twenty six minutes lapsed between the first call to MaryKate and the 911 call. I can’t help but wonder what would have happened had 911 been called earlier. More will be known if the tissue and toxicology can come up with a tight time frame for the actual death.

Recently 25 year old actor Brad Renfro was found dead. I was watching an E! news show where they were announcing the young actor’s untimely death. I heard them give their announcement and I was quite surprised to look up at the television screen to see Brad’s last name spelled incorrectly. They showed his name as Redfro. The letter d is not near the letter n on the keyboard. Don’t these shows use some sort of quality control before they air? For all of the niceties they showed, they could have had the decency to get his name right. An autopsy was performed. The toxicology results will reportedly take up to six weeks, so no official cause of death has been made yet.

The autopsy of actor Heath Ledger was performed today. Today’s findings were inconclusive, and the coroner is calling for more tests including toxicology and tissue tests. Those results are expected to take approximately another two weeks. The most popular theory is accidental overdose, as bottles of anti-anxiety and sleeping pills were found nearby. A rolled up $20 bill was also found at the scene and will be routinely tested. It has been made very clear that no illegal drugs were found. Heath said in an interview with The New York Times given in November 2007 that he was stressed and having difficulty sleeping while filming the Batman movie Dark Knight. In that interview he mentioned he’d taken two Ambien pills to help him sleep but he had only slept for an hour.

Heath Ledger was found dead today in his lower Manhattan apartment. His housekeeper went to inform him that the masseuse he had an appointment with had arrived and found him nude on the floor at the foot of the bed. The death is possibly from a prescription pill overdose, as three empty prescription and nonprescription bottles, all of the sleeping pill variety, were found nearby. No note was found and at this time no foul play is suspected. An autopsy will be performed late tonight or tomorrow.

The actor was named after the main character Heathcliff in his mother’s favorite book Wuthering Heights. He was born in Perth, Australia in 1979. At the young age of 28 he was already well known for his Oscar nominated role in Brokeback Mountain. He had a daughter Matilda with Brokeback costar Michelle Williams, but the two had separated last year. Ledger was most recently seen in the Bob Dylan biographical film “I’m Not There”. He’d recently finished filming his role of the Joker in the next Batman movie “The Dark Knight” which is currently set to open in July.

Allan Melvin, the actor that played Sam the Butcher, Alice’s boyfriend, on the Brady Bunch died of cancer at home at the age of 84. I did know he’d been on All In The Family and The Phil Silvers Show. I did not know that Allan was the voice behind the animated character Magilla Gorilla, which I used to watch.

Suzanne Pleshette, best known as Bob Newhart’s wife on The Bob Newhart show, died of respiratory failure at home at the age of 70. She also appeared in numerous films and television movies.