THE LAST DAYS OF GENE KELLY

The decision by Gene Kelly’s widow not to organise a funeral for her late husband when he died in 1996 no doubt surprised many, but she has now revealed the wish came from the Singin’ In The Rain star himself before he passed away.

The legendary actor and dancing star died at the age of 83 following a series of strokes, shortly after he married his third wife Patricia Ward Kelly. His declining health stemmed from strokes he suffered in July 1994 and February 1995, from which he never fully recovered.

Patricia tours the world talking about Gene in which she stands in front of a crowd and reads back, plays and recites some of their memories together – portraying a more personal side to the legendary star. And one subject she touches on is his declining health in his final years.

“I talk about this in the show because a lot of people don’t talk about the end of life and I think it’s really integral. It’s part of it, talking about grief and loss,” she said. “He was in and out ill for much of the time we were together. A lot of it was kept out of the press, we would sneak into hospitals as best we could. He really did face the end of his life with such grace and such dignity. It was really a lesson in how to deal with difficulty, and it was really a bonding time for the two of us.”

The pair first met at the Smithsonian in Washington DC, US, in 1985, when he was the host for a television special about the museum and she was a writer on the project. Despite their 47-year age gap, they enjoyed more than a decade of blissful happiness together, with Patricia helping to care for him before his death.

At the time, she was helping to write down his memories for a book about his life, so has records of almost all of their conversations and movements. She claimed patient confidentiality wasn’t so much of a thing in the ’90s and they’d have nurses selling stories to the press about Gene as he battled illness in his final years. In fact, she claimed some journalists even dressed up as priests to sneak in themselves.

“It was awful. People assume that a celebrity will have the best, but in fact I think it’s very, very hard for a celebrity, very difficult. But in a way it brought us closer, we were fighting the same fight. Of course I was writing down everything, which was a way for me to cope,” she explained.

“As long as I was writing, he was still alive. But then the problem is you realise when you stop writing, what happens then?”

While Patricia said she had grown up herself in a household that spoke openly about death, it wasn’t something she’d touched on initially with Gene. However as he grew older that changed and she expressed pride in how open he became with her.

“It was something that was very familiar when I grew up with my family, so I just felt that I wanted to know exactly what he wanted,” she said. “I assured him that I would do exactly what he wanted me to do.

“I think it was really good for him because, here was a guy from a different generation talking about things that you just generally didn’t talk about. I have to give him a lot of credit, for a man of that age and that stature to really assess and reassess his life and also to consider the end of life as frankly as he did, and lay it out.

“I was very proud of him. And it helped me a lot because I knew, people have such interesting feelings and thoughts about death and the final days, so I just needed to know what he wanted. I stuck to that and I knew, if I took any flack in the public, the press or anything, I would know that I did what he asked me to do. You have to do that for somebody, you have to make that promise.”

In the end, it was Gene’s wish not to have a memorial service or funeral, instead keeping the mourning private for his family. While many will no doubt have been surprised by the decision, Patricia explained it followed a life lived in the limelight – with his final wish for it to happen behind closed doors.

“He was very specific, he wrote that out – I had him write it out and notarise that!” she admitted. “He didn’t want to be buried anywhere, he said, ‘I’m tired of being on a tour bus route. Every time we would leave our house the tour bus would be going by and would follow us. He said, ‘For me it’s dust to dust’, he didn’t need to have a big memorial some place. I really understand that.

“I think some people think they have to go someplace, but for me he’s just always here so I don’t need to go to a particular spot to mourn him. He was very thoughtful.

“I think what helped him was experiencing the death of so many of his friends. He saw what happened to them, so it also helped to guide his choices. We’d sat through a lot of memorial services and visited a lot of gravesites, so he decided what he wanted.”

Before meeting Patricia and settling down, Gene had always insisted he would never marry again following the death of his second wife Jeanne Coyne. The couple had two children together, while Gene already had a daughter with his first wife Betsy Blair, who he divorced in 1957.

However, Patricia admitted it crept up on him and after five years, he eventually popped the question. She recalled: “I think by falling into this relationship through work… we set out to work together and then the other just came upon us both, it wasn’t until five years into being together when I’d lived with him the whole time that he finally got around to it.”

REFLECTIONS: BUTTERFLY MCQUEEN ON GONE WITH THE WIND

Actress Butterfly McQueen had this to say about her famous role in the 1939 classic: "Now I am happy I did 'Gone with the Wind.' I wasn't when I was 28, but it's part of black history. You have no idea how hard it is for black actors, but things change, things blossom in time."

Originally a dancer, Butterfly McQueen first appeared in film in 1939 as Prissy, Scarlett O'Hara's maid, in the film "Gone with the Wind." Often typecast as a maid, she said: "I didn't mind playing a maid the first time, because I thought that was how you got into the business. But after I did the same thing over and over, I resented it. I didn't mind being funny, but I didn't like being stupid."

While directing the scene where Prissy says, "Oh Miss Scarlett! I don't know nuthin' 'bout birthin' babies," director George Cukor told Vivien Leigh to actually slap McQueen and to make it as realistic as possible, and directed McQueen to scream. After many takes McQueen broke down in tears, complaining that Leigh was hitting her too hard. In a later interview, McQueen said that she "bargained" with the others, stating that if Leigh hit her, she would NOT scream, but if Leigh's hand only passed close to her face with the illusion of hitting her, she would scream as loudly as she could. McQueen also giggled and said that she thought "Prissy should have been slapped often, because she was horrid!"

McQueen appeared in an uncredited role in "Mildred Pierce" (1945) (where she had a good amount of screen time) and played a supporting role in "Duel in the Sun" (1946). By 1947, she had grown tired of the ethnic stereotypes she was required to play and ended her film career. McQueen received a bachelor's degree in political science from New York City College in 1975 (she was 64)...

MUSIC BREAK: JAYE P. MORGAN - BROTHERHOOD OF MAN

 

RIP: TIM CURRY

Tim Curry, the English actor and singer best known for The Rocky Horror Picture Show, has died at age 80, according to an initial report from TMZ. Entertainment Weekly has reached out to Curry’s representatives for confirmation.

Per the outlet, Curry died Tuesday night at his Los Angeles home, after enduring “serious health issues for more than a decade.” The LAPD confirmed to  that officers responded to a death investigation for a male in his 80s on Tuesday at 11:20 P.M. TMZ noted that “no foul play” was suspected at the time of his death.

The three-time Tony-nominee and winner of a Daytime Emmy Award, Curry will forever be known for creating the role of Dr. Frank-N-Furter, the “sweet transvestite from Transexual, Transylvania,” in The Rocky Horror Show stage production and follow-up film, The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Curry met the show’s composer, lyricist, and book writer Richard O’Brien when Curry was in the London production of Hair in 1968 and O’Brien was in the touring company in 1968. Though others have played the mad scientist at “The Frankenstein Place” over time — including an untold number of amateur players during Rocky Horror “shadow cast” performances — Curry’s mix of sleazy, slightly-demonic sexuality mixed with an upper crust demeanor immediately made him a legend, specifically in the LGBT community.

“The motto ‘Don’t dream it, be it’ is not necessarily limited to your sexuality,” he said in late 2025. “I think it applies to whatever you dream to be, and that’s a good thing. If it gives people permission to behave in a sexual way that they secretly want to, that’s a good thing, as long as it doesn’t hurt them.”

The success of Rocky Horror led to notable stage productions like Tom Stoppard’s Travesties, Peter Shaffer’s Amadeus, and comedic film roles like John Huston’s adaptation of Annie (1982) and the madcap all-star comedy free-for-all Clue (1985).

Curry was born the son of a British Naval chaplain in 1946. As per his website, his parents met in Malta, were married in Egypt, he was conceived in South Africa, born in England, and raised partially in Hong Kong. He studied drama in school and quickly found work after graduation in the London production of Hair. He didn’t last long in the show, but found work elsewhere on the stage and on television. His official audition for The Rocky Horror Show was singing the early rock ‘n’ roll classic “Tutti Frutti,” wholly appropriate for the retro-kitsch, boogie-woogie vibe of much of the score.

The Rocky Horror Show opened in 1973 in London, then travelled to Los Angeles for a legendary run at the Roxy Theatre in 1974. It moved to the Belasco Theatre on Broadway the following year. The story, which encourages audiences to not “dream it” but to “be it,” follows two sweethearts, Brad and Janet, whose car breaks down near a spooky castle commanded by the pansexual Dr. Frank-N-Furter.

The movie version, released in 1975, drew from the burgeoning glam-rock scene, and predated a great many styles found in the later punk movement. In a 2025 interview with NPR, Curry said he initially thought the doctor character would “ be in a white lab coat,” not fishnets. Curry’s costars included Bruce Bostwick, Susan Sarandon, and Meat Loaf… as well as everyone in the audience.

The movie was not an initial success, but midnight screenings in New York’s Waverly Theatre led to word-of-mouth. As the fandom increased, audiences began shouting back at the screen. Over time, this led to a semi-canonical talk back script of tongue-in-cheek zings. This soon led to props (hurled toast being the most famous) and, eventually, people in costume prancing around the auditorium along with the action on screen. Funnily enough, Curry lived just a block from the Waverly when the film took off, so got to see people dressed like his character walking home late at night. This phenomenon has continued for five decades.

Concerning the movie’s longevity, specifically with young people, Curry said “to them, it’s daring… It’s a kind of rite of passage now, I think. It’s a guaranteed weekend party to which you can go with or without a date and probably find one if you don’t have one. And it’s also, I think, a chance for people to try on a few roles for size, you know, figure out - help them maybe figure out their own sexuality. I mean, I think that’s probably taking it a little deeper than it needs to go, but I think it has had a useful purpose in that way.” He added, “I’ve certainly had some very interesting and moving mail from people who have said, you know, thanks for helping me figure out who I was.”

In the 1980s, Curry was seen on film in Annie and under 10 tons of demonic makeup in Ridley Scott’s high fantasy Legend opposite Tom Cruise and Mia Sara. Next came Clue, an adaptation of the detective board game with a stacked cast including Madeline Khan, Martin Mull, Michael McKean, Eileen Brennan, Lesley Ann Warren, Colleen Camp, Christopher Lloyd. The old school, screwball screenplay relies on Curry running around like a maniac barking dialogue at supersonic speeds for the film’s final scenes.

The late 1980s saw Curry’s first involvement with voiceover for animation. Paddington, Woody Woodpecker, Star Wars, Scooby-Doo, Barbie… Tim Curry has been involved with all of these brands at one time or another. One series, Peter Pan and the Pirates, led to a Daytime Emmy win.

In the early 2000s, he created the role of King Arthur in the Monty Python musical Spamalot on Broadway and on the West End. Curry also released three pop-rock albums from 1978 to 1981.

Curry suffered a stroke in 2012, limiting his mobility, which increased his working in voiceover. He did not give many interviews and worked to keep his private life private, though it is known that he was rather fond of gardening...

RIP: JAYE P. MORGAN

Talented actress, and game show panelist Jaye P. Morgan passed away on August 24, 2026 at age 94. In 1953, Morgan made a recording of "Life Is Just a Bowl of Cherries" issued by Derby Records, which made it to #26 on the U.S. Billboard record chart. Soon after, she received an RCA Victor recording contract, and she had five hits in one year, including her biggest hit "That's All I Want from You", which reached #3 on the chart. Her other notable hits included "There's a Dream in My Heart" by Rolande Maxwell Young, "The Longest Walk", and "Pepper Hot Baby".

After spending six years with RCA Victor, Morgan joined MGM Records in 1959. From 1954 to 1955, Morgan was a vocalist on the ABC television series show Stop the Music. In November 1955, the British music magazine, NME, reported that Morgan was the top female vocalist in the U.S. Cash Box poll. Beginning January 11, 1954, she was a featured singer on the Robert Q. Lewis Show on CBS-TV. In 1956, she had her own show, The Jaye P. Morgan Show, and made guest appearances on a number of other variety shows. She was a charter member of the Robert Q. Lewis "gang" on Lewis's weekday program on CBS, and was featured on a special episode of The Jackie Gleason Show in which Lewis's entire company substituted for the vacationing Gleason. In 1958, Morgan appeared on ABC's Pat Boone Chevy Showroom. On October 6, 1960, she guest starred on NBC's The Ford Show, Starring Tennessee Ernie Ford. In 1961, Morgan was cast as Sally Dwight in the episode "Money and the Minister" of the CBS anthology series, General Electric Theater, hosted by Ronald Reagan. In 1962, she played Patty Maxwell in "Patti's Tune" of the CBS military sitcom-drama Hennesey, starring Jackie Cooper. That same year, she was cast as Kitty Flanders in "That's Showbiz" on NBC's The Joey Bishop Show. In 1964, she portrayed the character Ruth Evans in the episode "Sunday Father" of the NBC medical drama The Eleventh Hour.

Although Morgan continued to spend considerable time in the 1960s and 1970s performing in nightclubs, she also continued to make additional appearances on television as well as in films. In 1964, she guest-starred on CBS's My Three Sons as Susan Duvall in the episode "Second Chorus” and in 1966 “A Falling Star", playing the fading singer Claudia Farrell. Later, in 1973, Morgan played herself in the episode "The Songwriter" of the sitcom The Odd Couple. That year she also appeared as Magda Valentine in the film The All-American Boy. She performed the theme song, "Coming into My Own," of the short-lived NBC situation comedy Fay, starring Lee Grant, which aired from 1975 to 1976. In 1978, Morgan guest-starred on The Muppet Show and sang "That Old Black Magic" as a duet with Dr. Teeth. 

Morgan made numerous appearances on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson during this period, and in the 1980s and into the early 1990s she performed again on the big screen, working in supportive roles in films such as Loose Shoes (1980), Night Patrol (1984), and Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992). Morgan largely retired in 1992...

RIP: DOLLY PARTON

Dolly Parton, who rose from a loving if impoverished upbringing in the mountains of East Tennessee to become the “Queen of Country” music, a Hollywood star and a beloved American icon, has died, her family announced on Tuesday. Parton was 80.

Parton’s nephew, Brian Seaver, announced the news in a video posted on her Instagram. He did not provide details about her death.

“My name is Brian Seaver, son of Cassie Parton, and I’m representing the Parton and Owens family today announcing the passing of my aunt, Dolly Rebecca Parton Dean, Sister, Sis and Granny to one generation and Gigi to the next,” Seaver said in a video.

“This video announcement is something Dolly asked of me years ago, before I fully absorbed it as a future reality. As her head of security for more than two decades, a role my father Larry held before me, I have imagined the heaviness of this moment but haven’t truly felt it til now,” he added.

Seaver added that Dolly “lived in the light and is in the arms of Jesus, surely met by Carl, her parents, and countless others.”

Her death comes after Parton suddenly announced in May 2026 that she was canceling a Las Vegas show and said she'd been undergoing treatment for kidney stones for several years.

"Lord, they dig more stones out of me a year than the rock quarry in Rockwood, Tennessee," Parton said in a statement. "But seriously, my immune system and my digestive system got all out of whack over the past couple three years, and they’re working real hard on rebuilding and strengthening those and hopefully I’ll be up to snuff again soon."

During her more than 60-year career, Parton sold more than 100 million records and won 11 Grammy Awards, making her one of the bestselling musical performers of all time.

Parton also became a star on the silver screen, gaining a whole new audience and critical acclaim when she brought her Southern charm to movies like “9 to 5” (she wrote and sang the theme song), “Steel Magnolias” and "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas."

Bedecked in blonde bouffant hairdos and never without her makeup, Parton also became one of the nation’s best known brands who parried questions about her hourglass figure and augmented breasts with her signature self-deprecating wit.

“It costs a lot of money to look this cheap,” Parton once said.Dolly Parton in 1970. Michael Ochs

Parton was also a shrewd businesswoman who amassed an estimated $650 million fortune and maintained creative control in the cutthroat and male-dominated music industry. She presided over an entertainment empire that included the Dollywood theme park. And she was a devoted philanthropist who launched the Dollywood Foundation to provide poverty relief and fund educational programs in her native East Tennessee.

Through it all, Parton leaned on the love of her life, her husband Carl Thomas Dean, who died in March 2025 at age 82 and who, from the moment they married in 1966, happily ceded the spotlight to his world-famous wife.

“Words can’t do justice to the love we shared for over 60 years,” Parton said in July 2025.Dolly Parton in a rare photo with her husband, Carl Thomas Dean. dollyparton.com

Born January 19, 1946, in a one-room cabin on the banks of the Little Pigeon River near the town of Sevierville, Parton was the fourth of 12 children. Her father, Robert Lee Parton, could not read or write and often supplemented the family's meager income from their farm by working constructions jobs. Her mother, Avie Lee Parton, ran the household and was fond of singing traditional Appalachian ballads. The future superstar said it was her mother who instilled in her a love for music.

And it was at church that Parton first started performing. By age 13, Parton was singing on local radio and television shows and made her debut at the Grand Ole Opry, where she met Johnny Cash.

“Dolly Parton has one of the most distinctive voices in American pop music,” Katherine Dacey, a professor at the Berklee College of Music, told NBC News before Parton’s death was announced. “Her high soprano voice gets its distinctive character from her fast vibrato and vocal twang.”Dolly Parton performs in 1976.

The day after she graduated from Sevier County High School in 1964, Parton headed to Nashville where she first made her mark writing songs for other performers, some of them with her uncle Bill Owens.

In songs like “Tennessee Homesick Blues” and “Coat of Many Colors,” Parton drew inspiration from her hardscrabble childhood.

Three years after leaving school, Parton released her first record, “Hello, I'm Dolly” and caught the attention of country star Porter Wagoner and became a regular on his shows.

Then, in 1974, Parton broke out on her own when she topped the country charts for the first time with a song she wrote and performed called “Jolene.” She later revealed it was inspired by a bank teller who flirted with her husband when they were newlyweds.

Her next four singles were also country chart toppers and one of them, “I Will Always Love You,” later became a huge hit for Whitney Houston in 1992.

In 1977, Parton released her first self-produced album “New Harvest...First Harvest” and became the first female country artist to have an album sell over a million copies.

Parton also won her first Grammy with a single from that record called “Here You Come Again.”Parton performing in 1995. Hollywood beckoned and 1980 Parton made her film debut in “9 to 5” which earned her two Golden Globe nominations for her acting and Oscar nomination for the title song, which many consider a feminist anthem.

Parton, who earned a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1984, made several more movies and performed around the world, but she always returned to the music that first made her famous — and to the hollers of East Tennessee where she was born and where she and her husband made their home.

“Never ignore your roots — your home or your hair,” she once said.

In 1986, Parton opened the Dollywood theme park in the Great Smokey Mountains near her hometown. The 165 acres includes rollercoasters, a bald eagle sanctuary and music and crafts that pay tribute to the region's Appalachian heritage.Parton at Dollywood in Pigeon Forge, Tenn., in 1988.Ron Davis / Getty 

Parton and her husband never had children of their own. And in public statements, Parton said she “believed that God didn’t mean for me to have kids.” Dolly is the godmother of Miley Cyrus.

Parton's philanthropic legacy also included the creation of the Imagination Library, which mails free books to children around the world. In the three decades since it was founded, the organization has mailed more than 300 million books to kids around the U.S., as well as Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland...

JACK BENNY: THE GREATEST COMEDIAN OF ALL TIME

Jack Benny, in my opinion was one of the greatest comedians of all-time. Recognized as a leading American entertainer of the 20th century, Benny portrayed his character as a miser, playing his violin badly. In character, he would be 39 years of age, regardless of his actual age. Benny was known for comic timing, and the ability to create laughter with a pregnant pause or a single expression, such as his signature exasperated "Well!" 

His radio and television programs, popular from the 1930s to the 1970s, were a major influence on the sitcom genre. Benny had been a minor vaudeville performer before becoming a national figure with The Jack Benny Program, a weekly radio show that ran from 1932 to 1948 on NBC and from 1949 to 1955 on CBS. It was among the most highly rated programs during its run. Benny's long radio career began on April 6, 1932, when the NBC Commercial Program Department auditioned him for the N.W. Ayer agency and their client, Canada Dry, after which Bertha Brainard, head of the division, said, "We think Mr. Benny is excellent for radio and, while the audition was unassisted as far as orchestra was concerned, we believe he would make a great bet for an air program." Benny's comic persona changed over the course of his career. At some point he developed a miserly persona. This stage character was everything that Jack Benny was not: cheap, petty, vain, and self-congratulatory. His comic rendering of these traits was the linchpin to the success of his show. Benny set himself up as comedic foil, allowing his supporting characters to draw laughs at the expense of his own flaws. With his humanism and vulnerability in an era where few male characters were allowed such character traits, Benny made what could have been an unlikable everyman character. Benny said: "I don't care who gets the laughs on my show, as long as the show is funny."

In 1937, Benny began his famous radio feud with rival Fred Allen. Allen kicked the feud off on his own show, after child violinist Stewart Canin gave a performance credible enough that Allen wisecracked about "a certain alleged violinist" who should by comparison be ashamed of himself. Benny, who either listened to the Allen show or was told about the crack, answered in kind on his own show. And the two comedians were off and running. The television version of The Jack Benny Program ran from October 28, 1950, to 1965. Initially scheduled as a series of five "specials" during the 1950–1951 season, the show appeared every six weeks for the 1951–1952 season, every four weeks for the 1952–1953 season and every three weeks in 1953–1954. For the 1953–1954 season, half the episodes were live and half were filmed during the summer, to allow Benny to continue doing his radio show. From the fall of 1954 to 1960, it appeared every other week, and from 1960 to 1965 it was seen weekly.

Benny also acted in movies, including the Academy Award-winning The Hollywood Revue of 1929, Broadway Melody of 1936 (as a benign nemesis for Eleanor Powell and Robert Taylor), George Washington Slept Here (1942), and notably, Charley's Aunt (1941) and To Be or Not to Be (1942). After his broadcasting career ended, Benny performed live as a stand up comedian and returned to films in 1963 with a cameo appearance in It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. Benny made one of his final television appearances in the fall of 1972 on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson when Carson celebrated his 10th anniversary.

In October 1974, Benny canceled a performance in Dallas after suffering a dizzy spell, coupled with numbness in his arms. Despite a battery of tests, Benny's ailment could not be determined. When he complained of stomach pains in early December, a first test showed nothing, but a subsequent one showed he had inoperable pancreatic cancer. Choosing to spend his final days at home, he was visited by close friends including George Burns, Bob Hope, Frank Sinatra, Johnny Carson and John Rowles. He died on December 26, 1974 at age 80, and is interred at Hillside Memorial Park in Culver City, CA...