Conservative columnist and former TV pundit Robert Novak died early this morning in his Washington home after a battle with brain cancer. The Joilet, Illinois native became a major journalistic player with the syndicated "Inside Report" column, which he started in 1963 with the late Rowland Evans Jr. He subsequently became a familiar television personality, appearing often on CNN. A registered Democrat despite his conservative views, Novak was heavily criticized by some Republicans for opposing America's 2003 invasion of Iraq. Neoconservative writer David Frum labeled him an "Unpatriotic Conservative," along with Pat Buchanan. Novak was also at the center of the great CIA leak scandal that dragged on for years after he identified Valerie Plame as a CIA "operative" in his column in 2003. Some referred to Novak as a "journalistic Prince of Darkness," but to his wife Geraldine he "was someone who loved being a journalist, loved journalism and loved his country and loved his family." Timothy Carney at Human Events has filed a remembrance of his collaboration with Novak. more ›

None of the reports about director John Hughes's death specified exactly where in Manhattan he collapsed from a heart attack, and you can see conspiracy theories already sprouting on the internets, with one Hollywood Elsewhere commenter wondering, "I have been trying to discover WHERE in Manhattan he dropped dead since the day he died... Is he, in fact, not even dead yet? I'm not entirely joking." Well, Movie Line has just pinpointed where he passed away on the morning of August 6th: 60 West 55th Street, outside Alain Ducasse’s brasserie Benoit; there is now a small shrine with a photograph of Hughes and sixteen candles on the sidewalk. But that's probably not going to satisfy Michael Wolff, who's written a provocative essay titled "Who Killed John Hughes," which posits: "Certain deaths do something weird to the media mind and temperament. John Hughes, a maker of what are essentially genre slapstick films, has, by his early death the other day, become a great auteur and, as well, a saint, without anyone seeming to be remotely nosy about the strange circumstances of his life and untimely end... So, come on, what happened to the guy?" Let us know who you think killed Hughes, preferably IN ALL CAPS. more ›

Budd Schulberg, screenwriter for On the Waterfront, died yesterday of natural causes at his home Westhampton Beach, Long Island. He was 95. Besides writing the Academy Award-winning script for On the Waterfront, Schulberg also wrote short stories, novels (including What Makes Sammy Run?) and biographies. The son of Paramount Studios production chief B. P. Schulberg, he was born in New York but grew up in Hollywood in the 1920s. He joined the Communist Party in 1934, later explaining to the Times, "It didn’t take a genius to tell you that something was vitally wrong with the country." But he bristled at party pressure to make his writing more doctrinaire and, after six years, quit. In 1951 he appeared before the House Un-American Activities Committee, and like On the Waterfront director Elia Kazan, he publicly named other Hollywood figures as Communists, including screenwriter Ring Lardner Jr. and director Herbert Biberman. Both were blacklisted and imprisoned, and many in Hollywood denounced Schulberg. But in On the Waterfront, Schulberg seemed to justify his testimony with the following lines for the character of Father Barry: "Testifying for what is right against what is wrong. What’s ratting to them is telling the truth for you." more ›

The Rev. Frederick J. Eikerenkoetter II, a materialistic multimillionaire evangelist better known as Ike, died Tuesday in Los Angeles at the age of 74. He had been residing there since 2007 following a stroke, but he spent most of his life in New York City, where, in 1969, he paid $600,000 for the massive old Loew’s 175th Street theater and made it his headquarters, calling it the Palace Cathedral. For the past several years, the ornate Washington Heights theater has also been used for rock concerts, featuring such acts as Arcade Fire and Sonic Youth. But the Christ Community United Church continues to worship at the theater, albeit without Reverend's Ike's famous "Blessing of the Cadillacs," nor his exhortations to his flock to "close your eyes and see green. Money up to your armpits, a roomful of money and there you are, just tossing around in it like a swimming pool." We expect to see plenty of swim trunks and inflatable armbands stuffed with dollar bills at the next United Palace concert. more ›

Television icon and '70s sex symbol Farrah Fawcett passed away today in a hospital in Santa Monica, California. According to Newsday, the anal cancer she had been suffering from since 2005 had recently spread to her liver. A documentary TV program about her rounds of treatments for the disease, "A Wing and a Prayer," aired last month, and her death comes just days after actor Ryan O'Neal revealed plans to marry Fawcett. Aaron Spelling, who cast her in "Charlie's Angels," wrote in his memoir, "We were looking for a California beach girl type and Farrah was perfect for that. She was drop-dead gorgeous and the living image of the beautiful blonde in tennis shorts or a bathing suit." Recalling her work on the series, Fawcett once said, "When the show was number three, I figured it was our acting. When it got to be number one, I decided it could only be because none of us wears a bra." And Robert Greenwald, the producer who cast her in her most respected TV role, in "The Burning Bed," says Fawcett "went places that a beautiful star like her had not gone and that will have a lasting mark." more ›

The AP reports that legendary Johnny Carson sidekick Ed McMahon passed away shortly after midnight this morning at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, surrounded by his wife, Pam, and other family members. The entertainer, a Marine who served in WWII and Korea, was 86. Though his publicist declined to divulge the exact cause of death, it's known that McMahon suffered from multiple illnesses, including bone cancer, and sustained a neck injury caused by a 2007 fall. Recent years had been financially difficult for McMahon, whose Beverly Hills home was nearly foreclosed upon last year after he defaulted on a $4.8 million loan. But he didn't seem bitter while explaining his problems to Larry King (video), and still had fond memories of his 30-plus years on The Tonight Show. Other co-hosting gigs during his long career included Star Search, TV Bloopers And Practical Jokes, and, who could forget, Alf's Hit Talk Show. more ›

An eleven-week-old boy in the Bronx has become the fifth swine flu fatality in NYC, according to his family. Steven Montanez's mother, 28-year-old Gissele Montañez, says her baby seemed fine when she left him in the care of her sister Thursday afternoon. But he was found dead about an hour after he fell asleep at 3 p.m. Montanez's sister tells the Daily News, "I went in to check up on him, I turned him around and he was purple. He was a completely healthy baby. The Health Department told us he died because of swine flu." (Officials at the Health Department have not yet officially confirmed that the H1N1 virus caused Steven's death.) His father, Louis Montanez, is devastated, telling the News, "I have nothing to live for anymore. You don't know how painful this is. We're going through such a bad situation right now." more ›

The widow of a probationary firefighter plans to sue the city for $10 million, accusing the FDNY of implementing a more strenuous physical regimen than other FDNY classes had undergone in the past. Sherita Sears, an NYPD officer, says her husband Jamel Sears, 33, died during training last November because instructors were pushing him too hard in order to weed out minorities. The FDNY was sued two years ago for allegedly discriminatory hiring practices; Sears's class included the most minorities in the departments history, with more than a third of the 297 members either black, Hispanic, Asian or female. more ›

A lawsuit filed in Brooklyn Federal Court accuses NYPD officers of disregarding a man's weakened condition and medication needs after they arrested him for driving with a license that had been suspended for unpaid parking tickets. 50-year-old Glenn Seldon of Queens was battling colon cancer when police arrested him in May 2007; his wife says that when she tracked him down to the 108th Precinct station house, she found him handcuffed to a chair and sitting in his own waste. From there Seldon was taken to Central Booking, and when he was finally released from jail four days later, he was "gaunt from dehydration, incontinent, and weeping uncontrollably." Not only that, his infection had worsened and his blood platelet level was dangerously low. Seldon died days later of a cardiac arrest, but his wife tells the Daily News she "believes the stress and the trauma accelerated his death." more ›

W. Mark Felt, Sr., the number 2 man at the FBI during the Watergate scandal, died yesterday from Alzheimer's disease at a hospice near his home in Santa Rosa, California, the Washington Post reports. Felt was an instrumental player in the stunning downfall of President Nixon, but his identity as "Deep Throat"—reporter Bob Woodard's anonymous source for the Post's bombshell series of scoops on the Watergate affair in 1972—was unknown until three years ago, when Felt's family unmasked him in the pages of Vanity Fair. According to the Times, even Woodward was shocked at this; he had gaurded the secret so zealously that even his partner Carl Bernstein did not meet Felt until earlier this year. Felt never revealed why he leaked details on the Watergate break-in and cover up to Woodward, but the Times obituary points out that in May 1972 Feld had been passed over by Nixon as Edgar Hoover's successor to run the bureau. more ›

Widely-respected critic Clive Barnes lost his battle with cancer yesterday at Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan. He was 81. more ›

In defending the city against a lawsuit brought by the family of a San Francisco musician who died after riding the Cyclone last year, a city attorney is insisting that the roller coaster's potentially fatal dangers are "obvious." While riding the Cyclone on his birthday in July 2007, 53-year-old Keith Shirasawa fractured three neck vertebrae and died four days later after complications from surgery. In the lawsuit, his family contends that the Parks Department is at fault for not regularly inspecting the landmark ride. But city attorney Cynthia Goldman argues that "any and all risks, hazards, defects and dangers to the extent alleged are of an open, obvious, apparent and inherent nature known and should have been known to [Shirasawa]," according to court papers obtained by the Daily News. Shirasawa family attorneys blame the injury on a malfunction that made the Cyclone drop too fast, and an "antiquated" single position lap bar. more ›

On July 31st, 2007, 53-year-old Keith Shirasawa celebrated his birthday by riding the Coney Island Cyclone. Five days later he was dead. The San Fransisco musician fractured three neck vertebrae during the Cyclone's first 85-foot drop and later died after complications from surgery. His family has now filed a lawsuit against the city, arguing that the Parks Department is at fault for not inspecting the Landmark ride regularly. (The Parks Department contracts a private company to inspect and repair the ride; the contractor is also named as a defendant.) Lawyers for the Cyclone say the accident was caused by a malfunction that made the Cyclone drop too fast, and that's been fixed. In 2007 at least seven people were injured on the 81-year-old wooden roller coaster. more ›

Clay Felker, founder of New York magazine – a publication he once described as a guide to “how the power game is played, and who are the winners” – died this morning at his home in Manhattan. He was 82 and had been battling cancer of the throat and mouth. more ›

An amusement park ride inspector warns that some of the rides at Coney Island are so dangerous they should not be open for business. Last summer a man died after surgery to heal vertebrae fractured on the Cyclone, but the rides now targeted by “amusement-safety consultant” Walt Reiss don’t include the famous wooden roller coaster. more ›

Last summer was a rough one for some riders of the 81-year-old Coney Island Cyclone; the Post reports that at least seven people were injured throughout the season while riding the roller coaster. According to Astroland operator Carole Albert’s website, the ride “has the highest safety standards in the outdoor amusement industry,” and in order to maintain that perception, Albert’s been trying to quietly settle the ensuing lawsuits out of court. more ›

Health officials say his death was caused by a hardened resin, made partly from venom collected from toads of the Bufo genus, which contains chemicals called “bufadienolides” known to disrupt heart rhythms. The aphrodisiac is supposed to be applied topically, not eaten, but authorities warn that even that use can be harmful. more ›

Groundbreaking postwar artist Robert Rauschenberg died last night at the age of 82. The adventurous painter, photographer, printmaker, choreographer, set designer and composer was born Milton Ernest Rauschenberg on Oct. 22, 1925, in Port Arthur, Texas, a small refinery town with little cultural stimuli. (In his adult life he took the name Robert.) more ›

World renowned merry-go-round designer Marvin Sylvor has saddled up for the great carousel in the sky following a kidney failure. He was 75. The Bronx-born Sylvor’s love for the fanciful rides dated back to his childhood, when his father, hell-bent to get to Rockaway beach, would always refuse to stop so the young Sylvor could ride a carousel near the Marine Park Bridge. more ›