and-now-shes-dead
Cord Jefferson · 08/08/13 05:38PM
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.
Max Read · 06/06/13 12:43PM
Cord Jefferson · 05/13/13 06:54PM
Margaret Thatcher Is Dead
Max Read · 04/08/13 07:37AMHamilton Nolan · 11/20/12 03:04PM
Infamous 'Pauper Princess' Who Continued to Collect Welfare After Winning Lottery Dies of Suspected OD
Neetzan Zimmerman · 10/01/12 08:48AMPhyllis Diller, 1917-2012
Max Read · 08/20/12 02:47PMHelen Gurley Brown, Legendary Cosmopolitan Editor, Dead at 90
Max Read · 08/13/12 02:20PMWashington Post Now Confirms Nora Ephron's Death [UPDATE]
John Cook · 06/26/12 04:37PM![](http://d20hvt89h2l7r8.cloudfront.net/17r04janrgrahjpg/c_scale,fl_progressive,q_80,w_800.jpg)
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: We're told it has now been pushed back until after the Fourth of July.] According to the Observer, Ephron's representatives are not commenting on Smith's column.
Socialite Keels Over in the Middle of a Fashion Show in the Front Row
Brian Moylan · 02/16/12 11:15AM![](http://d20hvt89h2l7r8.cloudfront.net/18k19e2cxtaawjpg/c_scale,fl_progressive,q_80,w_800.jpg)
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 show has literally been deadly boring.
Lifelong Journalist Marge Miley Composed Her Own Obituary and It's Very Nice
Hamilton Nolan · 02/09/12 02:17PM![](http://d20hvt89h2l7r8.cloudfront.net/18k19qy10if9njpg/c_scale,fl_progressive,q_80,w_800.jpg)
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 wrote was better than the obit the newspaper did for her.
Leslie Carter, Singer of 'Like Wow,' Dead at 25
Brian Moylan · 02/01/12 03:51PMEtta James Has Died
Max Read · 01/20/12 12:04PMEtta 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 Obamas danced to "At Last" — sung by Beyoncé, who played James in Cadillac Records — at the Neighborhood Inaugural Ball. Above, her "I'd Rather Go Blind," recorded in 1968.
Helen Frankenthaler, Awesome Painter, Dead at 83
Max Read · 12/27/11 11:54AM![](http://d20hvt89h2l7r8.cloudfront.net/18k1bzqck3a9qjpg/c_scale,fl_progressive,q_80,w_800.jpg)
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 (which, hey, whatever, "art"), you will probably appreciate this story from the Times obit:
No, Stalin Was Not Really Such a Good Dad
Max Read · 11/28/11 10:00PM![](http://d20hvt89h2l7r8.cloudfront.net/18k1dqre285zrjpg/c_scale,fl_progressive,q_80,w_800.jpg)
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 take our word for it!
Daughters of Walter Mondale, Ted Kennedy Both Die at 51
Max Read · 09/17/11 10:48AMThe Cosby Show's Clarice Taylor Dies at 93
Brian Moylan · 06/01/11 03:41PMSinger Phoebe Snow Dies at 60
Brian Moylan · 04/26/11 11:39AMThe Many Weddings of Elizabeth Taylor
Brian Moylan · 03/23/11 04:45PM![](http://d20hvt89h2l7r8.cloudfront.net/18k214ru2gi5ojpg/c_scale,fl_progressive,q_80,w_800.jpg)
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 happiest days of Elizabeth Taylor Hilton Wilding Todd Fisher Burton Burton Warner Fortensky's life.