The legendary Patrick Swayze passed away September 14th after a two-year battle with pancreatic cancer. Swayze died at his Los Angeles home. He was 57 years-old.

The Texas native catapulted into super stardom after 1987’s Dirty Dancing, which earned him his one out of three Golden Globe nominations. The movie grossed 300-million worldwide and spawned a top ten hit pop hit from Swayze called “She’s Like the Wind.”  Also, Swayze delivered one of the classic pop culture lines, “Nobody puts baby in a corner!”

Swayze was a household name and his success only continued with the outrageously successful Ghost in 1990. The movie included Demi Moore, Whoopi Goldberg, which earned her an Oscar, and made Swayze one of the most sought after actors in the world. In 1991 People magazine said Swayze was the “Sexiest Man Alive.”

Other successful films continued such as Point Break and To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar, which racked up his third Golden Globe nomination as drag diva Vida Boheme.

In January 2008 Patrick Swayze was diagnosed with stage IV pancreatic cancer. Swayze was a smoker and in 2008 he told Barbara Walters, “I will go so far as to say probably smoking had something to do with my pancreatic cancer.”

Rest in peace Patrick Swayze.

Check out the clip below from Ghost.

Watch Ghost in Entertainment |  View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

Eight years ago today, R&B singer Aaliyah died in a plane crash in the Bahamas. The death of the 22-year-old star sent shock waves across the world.  Her life seemed to be cut short when she was on the verge of even more success, especially in Hollywood.

On March 22, 2000, Aaliyah’s first film, Romeo Must Die, debuted and it was an international success. The film grossed over $145 million at the box office and Aaliyah’s performance was met with solid reviews. The New York Times said Aaliyah was a natural.

The sky was the limit for her film career and she even landed a role in The Matrix sequel. Earlier, she signed on to play Akasha in an adaptation of Anne Rice’s Queen of the Damned. However, during filming Aaliyah passed away on August 25th, 2001. The film was released February 22, 2002 with poor reviews, but Aaliyah’s performance was praised. One critic raved, “She’s damned good!” Other critics wanted more Aaliyah (she was only on screen for about 20 minutes) and assumed the death of the songstress made the film difficult to properly complete.

Many fans hoped there was enough footage for Aaliyah to be in the Matrix sequel, but unfortunately her character was recast with Nona Gaye.

In addition, there were plans for Aaliyah to play in a remake of the 1976 film Sparkle. The script was to be written by E. Lynn Harris, who passed away in late July.

While Aaliyah had many movie roles coming to her, she always stressed how she waited for the right role to come along and it wasn’t until 8 years after being signed to a major label did her first movie hit theaters. Nowadays, anyone who can carry a note wants to be an actress.

Without a doubt Aaliyah was on the verge of expanding her talent beyond music. It’s safe to say her film career would’ve equaled her music and maybe surpassed it. I could easily see Aaliyah in a movie like Dreamgirls, venturing into Disney films, or maybe developing her own film projects. It’s good to embrace what we have now, but we can’t help but mourn the loss of what could’ve been.

Check out a clip from Aaliyah in Queen of the Damned (portions of this clip are graphic).

It’s been a sad week in Hollywood. First, Ed McMahon and now the legendary Farrah Fawcett has passed.

Before Halle, Angelina Jolie, or Meagan Fox, Farrah Fawcett was the most beautiful and popular woman in the world, ruling the 70s and early 80s. Fawcett’s lean body and blond hair with the classic “Farrah” flip made her a pop culture phenomenon. She got her start on televison in 1976 with Charlie’s Angels but left after only one season. Her career would explode as a film star in movies like Extremities, which included Alfre Woodard and The Burning Bed, earning her an Emmy  nomination and proving to the critics she was more than a sex symbol — she could act.

Farrah Fawcett had a long battle with cancer that was documented in a NBC documentary, which aired May 15th, 2009 and brought in almost 9 million viewers.  Farrah, who was a Texas native and originally born Mary Farrah Leni Fawcett, succumbed to the disease today at 62 years old in Santa Monica, California.

Check out the clip below of an interview a healthy Farrah did with CNN.

According to published reports, the iconic Ed McMahon died at 86 at the Ronald Reagan Medical Center in Westwood, California. The Detroit native is most known for being Johnny Carson’s sidekick on The Tonight Show from 1962 to 1992. Also, he hosted the American Idol of the ’80s, Star Search, which featured young artists like Aaliyah, Usher and Beyonce.

McMahon appeared in several films like Fun With Dick and Jane (1977), Full Moon High (1981) and Bewitched (2005).  He was also the face of American Family Publishers (not Publishers Clearing House, which was their competitor), where random people would sign up for magazine subscriptions and get the chance to win — anyone raised in the ’80s or early ’90s prayed for Ed to show up at their front door!

McMahon is one of the last remaining film and television legends before the era of cable and Internet. Over the past year, he suffered health and finanical problems — a neck injury and one of many celebrities to suffer from home foreclosure due to the economy. McMahon is survived by his wife and five children.

If you are a lover of Kung-Fu films then you have to know the legendary David Carradine, who is most popular for his role as Kwai Chang Caine in the 1970s television series Kung Fu.

Carradine was born and raised in Hollywood, California and studied theatre at San Francisco State College. According to Wikipedia, he had a diverse ethnic background which consisted of German, Spanish, Italian, Ukrainian and Cherokee. His role in Kung Fu garnered him a cult following and would land him roles in Jackie Chan movies and Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill films.

According to published reports, David Carradine hung himself yesterday in his hotel room at the Park Nai Lert Hotel in Bangkok. The police are saying it is a suicide. Eerily enough, Carradine spoke of suicide in past interviews. According to Telegraph.co.uk:

“I remember one time sitting in the window of the third or fourth floor of the Plaza Hotel for about an hour, thinking about just tipping off. And that was at a time when I was having more fun than you could imagine.

“I just thought, ‘Who the —- cares, man? Why don’t I just split?’ Of course I didn’t, so there you go.”

David Carradine was 72 years old.  Check out the vintage clip of Carradine below.

The widow of the legendary Sammy Davis Jr., Altovise Davis, died Saturday at 65 due to complications from a stroke. According to the New York Times:

“Ms. Davis worked her way to the Broadway stage and was appearing in the musical ‘High Spirits,’ which ran in 1964 and ’65, when she met Sammy Davis Jr., who was starring in the musical ‘Golden Boy.’ She became his third wife in 1970, and they adopted a son. She was widowed when Mr. Davis died of throat cancer in 1990 at age 64.

After his death she was left to sort through his multimillion-dollar tax debt and oversee his troubled estate. Last year she sued two former business partners in federal court, claiming they tricked her into signing away the rights to the estate. The suit is pending.”

Rest in peace.

Just like a true diva to go out on the biggest holiday of the year!

On Christmas Day the legendary Eartha Kitt died of colon cancer at 81 years-old.  Born on a cotton plantation in South Carolina, Kitt clawed her way to Hollywood despite the worst case scenarios.  According to her, Kitt was a child conceived by rape and she was never sure of her exact birthday.

Once called “The Tigeress of Stage,” Kitt made her film debut in 1948’s Cabash beginning a professional career that would span over six decades.  Never to be a victim, Kitt triumphantly stood in the face of ferocious racism and sexism.  Nowadays, any performer can be a triple threat — Kitt practically invented the term.

Despite once being booed off stage at the legendary Apollo Theatre, Kitt was a dancer, singer, and actress.  Kitt would become an international megastar with appearances on Broadway, charting on the Billboard charts, and, most famously, integrated Gotham City by playing Catwoman.  Kitt’s portrayal of Catwoman outshined the original (Julie Newmar) and no one since has been able to match — not Michelle Pfeiffer or even Halle Berry.

Of course no one can forget her role as Lady Eloise in 1992’s Boomerang, “Maaaaarcusssss!”

Coupled with her fame, she was an outspoken activist.  Kitt was aggressively against the Vietnam War –  she reportedly made the First Lady Bird Johnson at a White House luncheon in 1968 cry and was famously on President Richard Nixon’s enemies list.  Kitt was notoriously exiled from the United States, forced to only perform overseas — following a tradition of many black artists like Josephine Baker.  Kitt was also a champion for HIV/AIDS research.

Rest in peace Eartha — I am sure she is walking around heaven with Sammy Davis, Jr. (a former ex lover), Dorothy Dandridge, Josephine Baker,  and many others who added a little soul to Hollywood, Broadway, and stages across the world.