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Paco de Lucia, considered by his fans and critics to be the world's greatest flamenco guitarist, died Wednesday in Mexico of a heart attack. The 66-year-old musician was a modern superstar in a Roma, or Gypsy, tradition that is hundreds of years old. To the world's flamenco fans, de Lucia's story is well-known. He was born Francisco Sanchez Gomez in 1947 and was exposed to the flamenco culture in his home of Andalusia, the cradle of Roma tradition in southern Spain. His father and two of his brothers were flamenco musicians and inspired him to take up the guitar at...

Jackson Mayor Chokwe Lumumba has died. He was admitted to St. Dominic Hospital Tuesday morning with chest pains and apparently died there. We don't have many details, but Hinds County Coroner Sharon Grisham Stewart has confirmed his death. Lumumba won the Mayor's office in June 4, 2013, pulling 86% of the vote and defeating independent candidates Francis P. Smith, Jr. , Richard C. Williams and Cornelius Griggs. Mayor Lumumba was born August 2, 1947 in Detroit, Michigan. He is the second of eight children born to Lucien and Priscilla Francis Taliaferro. Mayor Lumumba earned his Bachelor's degree in Political Science...

Roy Simmons, the fun-loving Giants offensive lineman who later became the second former player in NFL history to come out as gay, died in his New York home last week at 57. Simmons, the only player in NFL history to acknowledge that he was HIV positive, was known as "Sugar Bear" because of his big smile and sweet personality. But the former Giants offensive lineman was also tortured by his sexuality and struggled for years with substance abuse. When his NFL career ended, he was a homeless prostitute in San Francisco for a time, earning $15 a trick. Simmons told...

Harold Ramis, best known for appearing in "Ghostbusters" and directing comedic films "Groundhog Day," "National Lampoon's Vacation," and "Caddyshack," died at the age of 69 early Monday. Ramis died from complications of autoimmune inflammatory vasculitis, which is a rare disease that involves swelling of the blood vessels, according to his wife Erica Mann.

Harold Ramis was one of Hollywood’s most successful comedy filmmakers when he moved his family from Los Angeles back to the Chicago area in 1996. His career was still thriving, with “Groundhog Day” acquiring almost instant classic status upon its 1993 release and 1984’s “Ghostbusters” ranking among the highest-grossing comedies of all time, but the writer-director wanted to return to the city where he’d launched his career as a Second City performer. “There's a pride in what I do that other people share because I'm local, which in L.A. is meaningless; no one's local,” Ramis said upon the launch of...

Harold Ramis was one of Hollywood’s most successful comedy filmmakers when he moved his family from Los Angeles back to the Chicago area in 1996. His career was still thriving, with "Groundhog Day" acquiring almost instant classic status upon its 1993 release and 1984's "Ghostbusters" ranking among the highest-grossing comedies of all time, but the writer-director wanted to return to the city where he’d launched his career as a Second City performer. "There's a pride in what I do that other people share because I'm local, which in L.A. is meaningless; no one's local," Ramis said upon the launch of...

COLUMBIA, SC — Maurice Bessinger, who was as famous for his barbecue shops and sauces as he was for his diehard segregation stands, has died at 83. A Korean war veteran, a gentlemanly demeanor, a businessman who grew a restaurant business that employed 200 employees, a devout Baptist who supported missionaries abroad, Bessinger in many ways had a background as American as the finger-licking tasty Southern food his establishments were known for. "I'm just a fair man. I want to be known as a hard-working, Christian man that loves God and wants to further (God's) work throughout the world as...

LONDON (AP) — Alice Herz-Sommer, believed to be the oldest Holocaust survivor, died at age 110 on Sunday, a family member said. The accomplished pianist's death came just a week before her extraordinary story of surviving two years in a Nazi prison camp through devotion to music and her son is up for an Oscar. Herz-Sommer died in a hospital after being admitted Friday with health problems, daughter-in-law Genevieve Sommer said. "We all came to believe that she would just never die," said Frederic Bohbot, a producer of the documentary "The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life." ''There...

Maria von Trapp, whose family's story was told in The Sound of Music, has died. She was the last surviving member of the musical family of seven brothers and sisters and passed away in her sleep at home in Vermont at the age of 99 on Tuesday, PEOPLE confirms. Von Trapp, who was the second-eldest daughter, and her family fled their home in Austria to escape from the Nazis in the 1930s and eventually ended up in the U.S., where their story inspired a Rodgers & Hammerstein musical and the popular 1965 movie starring Julie Andrews.

Garrick Utley, a former anchor for NBC News who for many years was one of a rare breed in television news reporting, a full-time foreign correspondent, died on Thursday night at his home in Manhattan. He was 74. He died of prostate cancer, his wife, Gertje Utley, said. From the battlefields of Vietnam and Iraq to the Soviet-led invasion of Prague, Mr. Utley was a forthright interviewer of troops and commanders in the field and of presidents and diplomats in the halls of power. Fluent in Russian, German and French, he reported from some 75 countries in a multifaceted career...

Devo founding guitarist Bob Casale died Monday after medical complications unexpectedly led to heart failure, his brother Gerald said. Bob Casale was 61. Bob had recently been hospitalized due to stomach ailments, his brother said when reached by phone Tuesday, but had been thought to be recovering. Gerald said his brother was otherwise in good health and had been working on numerous Devo-related projects. "During testing, he de-stabilized. They were a little flummoxed," Gerald said. "He was sitting up, talking and the next thing he was in an ER, life-and-death situation. His blood pressure dropped too low and they couldn't...

Nelson Frazier, a former WWE wrestler better known for his stage names Mabel, Viscera and Big Daddy V, passed away Tuesday at age 43 after suffering a massive heart attack. WWE.com's Staff confirmed Frazier's passing, stating: WWE is saddened by the news that Nelson Frazier Jr., aka Big Daddy V and Mabel, has passed away. A larger-than-life Superstar, Frazier was a former World Tag Team Champion, Hardcore Champion and the 1995 King of the Ring. As the dark, formidable Viscera, he was also a member of Undertaker's faction, The Ministry of Darkness. Frazier's colorful personality made him a memorable competitor...

Mary Grace Canfield, a character actress best known as part of the daffy Ralph-and-Alf brother-sister carpenter team on the TV comedy "Green Acres," died Saturday in a Santa Barbara hospice. She was 89. The cause was lung cancer, her daughter Phoebe Alexiades said. On "Green Acres," Canfield was Ralph Monroe, who, with her brother Alf, was perennially working on the bedroom of a city slicker couple (Eddie Albert and Eva Gabor) at their newly acquired farm near Hooterville. She was a down-home gal in bib overalls and a white painter's cap worn backward, a funny, plain-spoken woman doing "man's work" before...

Ralph Waite, known to millions as John Walton Sr. on the warmhearted 1970s TV series The Waltons – and, more recently, as the Mark Harmon character's father, Jackson "Jack" Gibbs, on the CBS hit NCIS – died at his Palm Desert home at about 11 a.m. Thursday, according to the Desert Sun. He was 85. Reacting to the news of her costar's death, Michael Learned, who played Olivia Walton, Waite's onscreen wife on The Waltons, told PEOPLE Thursday evening, "I'm a little emotional right now. It's such a shock." Of Waite's work, she said, "I don't think people realized the...

Ralph Waite, a hard-working actor best known for his role as the father on CBS’ hit drama “The Waltons” during the 1970s but more recently seen in recurring roles on “NCIS” and “Days of Our Lives,” has died. He was 85. Waite was nominated for two Emmys, one for his role as John Walton Sr. on “The Waltons” in 1978 and another for his role in the miniseries “Roots” the previous year.

Sid Caesar, a comedic force of nature who became one of television’s first stars in the early 1950s and influenced generations of comedians and comedy writers, died on Wednesday at his home in Beverly Hills, Calif. He was 91. His death was announced by Eddy Friedfeld, a family spokesman. Mr. Caesar largely faded from the public eye in his middle years as he struggled with crippling self-doubt and addiction to alcohol and pills. But from 1950 to 1954, he and his co-stars on the live 90-minute comedy-variety extravaganza “Your Show of Shows” dominated the Saturday night viewing habits of millions...

Comedy legend Sid Caesar has died at the age of 91 after a brief illness, family spokesman Eddy Friedfeld said. His former colleague Carl Reiner's assistant told FOX411 that Caesar "passed away at his home this morning." Caesar hosted 'Your Show of Shows' with partner Imogene Coca in the early 1950s, and did "Caesar's Hour" solo from 1954-57. The shows were huge hits, and became breeding grounds for young comedy writers, including Reiner, Mel Brooks, Woody Allen, and Neil Simon. "The one great star that television created and who created television was Sid Caesar," said critic Joel Siegel on the...

Sid Caesar, one of the first stars created by television via his weekly live comedy program “Your Show of Shows,” has died at 91. TV host Larry King announced the news on Twitter. Caesar, partnered with Imogene Coca, is credited with breaking ripe comedic ground with the 90-minute live program: It didn’t rely on vaudeville or standup-inspired material but rather on long skits and sketches written by an impressive roster of comedy writers including Mel Brooks, Woody Allen, Neil Simon, Larry Gelbart, Lucille Kallen and Mel Tolkin. “Your Show of Shows” was “different from other programs of its time because...

<p>Shirley Temple Black SNIP died surrounded by family at her home in Woodside, Calif. She was 85.</p> <p>By six, she'd received a miniature Academy Award and left her hand and footprints in cement at Grauman's Chinese Theatre.</p> <p>She married twice and gave birth to three children before venturing onto the political stage, serving as US ambassador to both Ghana and Czechoslovakia, a US representative to the United Nations and chief of protocol in the administration of President Gerald Ford.</p>

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Shirley Temple, the dimpled, curly-haired child star who sang, danced, sobbed and grinned her way into the hearts of Depression-era moviegoers, has died, according to publicist Cheryl Kagan. She was 85. Temple, known in private life as Shirley Temple Black, died Monday night at about 11 p.m. at her home near San Francisco. She was surrounded by family members and caregivers, Kagan said.