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Gary Wright, the singer and keyboardist known for the 1970s synthesizer-driven hits “Dream Weaver” and “Love Is Alive,” has died. He was 80.

Wright died Monday at his home in Palos Verdes Estates, his son Justin Wright told TMZ.

Born on April 26, 1943, in New Jersey, Wright worked as a child actor and at age 7 appeared on the 1949 TV series Captain Video and His Video Rangers. He also worked on TV commercials and starred in the 1954 Broadway musical Fanny.

Wright went to college in New York to study psychology before moving to Germany to complete his studies. In Europe, he met Island Records founder Chris Blackwell, who introduced him to musician Mike Harrison in the late ’60s. They formed the British rock band Spooky Tooth, which disbanded in 1970.

Wright recorded solo for A&m Records, formed the band Wonderwheel and collaborated with other artists, including playing keyboard on George Harrison’s All Things Must Pass album,...

Gary Wright, known for songs like “Dream Weaver” and “Love is Alive” has died. He was 80.

The singer and songwriter had been suffering from Parkinson’s disease and Lewy body dementia, according to his son Justin who confirmed the news to Kabc.

Wright died in his home on Monday morning surrounded by his family and close love ones.

Following news of his death, fellow singer and songwriter Stephen Bishop shared a tribute in honor of Wright.

“It is with great sadness that I received the news of my dear friend Gary Wright’s passing,” Bishop posted on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. “The attached photos hold precious memories from the very first and last time we shared the stage together, alongside our mutual musical pal John Ford Coley.”

Bishop continued, “Gary’s vibrant personality and exceptional talent made every moment together truly enjoyable. His legacy will...

Singer-songwriter and synth pioneer Gary Wright, who penned the massive hits “Dream Weaver” and “Love Is Alive” and became George Harrison’s longtime friend and collaborator, died Monday morning. He was 80.

Wright’s son, Justin, confirmed the musician’s death to Rolling Stone, adding that the cause was Parkinson’s disease and Lewy body dementia. According to Justin, Wright was diagnosed with Parkinson’s “around six or seven years ago” before a subsequent dementia diagnosis. “He managed it fairly well for a while,” Justin tells Rolling Stone. “But a few years ago,...

Arthur Forrest, a television legend with a 75-year career that covered long-running hits such as “Whose Line Is It Anyway?” and “That’s Incredible!,” died on Oct. 25. He was 95.

Marcy Forrest, Arthur’s wife, confirmed the death to Variety.

Born in 1926 in Brooklyn and raised in the Bronx as a first-generation American, Forrest completed his education at NYU and landed a job at DuMont Network’s studio as a janitor. After learning the business, Forrest went from janitor to page, from page to studio assistant, all the way up to the cameraman on “The Honeymooners” and “Captain Video.”

After leaving DuMont and working for New York’s Channel 5, Forrest directed the popular children’s show, “Wonderama,” and stayed at the station until 1973, when he left to direct the late night “Dick Cavett Show.”

Moving to Los Angeles in 1975, Forrest established himself in the world of live television, finding success with...

Los Angeles (AP) — Bob Hastings, an actor best known from the 1960s sitcom McHale's Navy, has died. He was 89. Allison Knowles says her grandfather died Monday in his Burbank, California, home after a lengthy battle with prostate cancer. Hastings won fans on McHale's Navy as Lt. Carpenter, a bumbling yes-man. Other memorable roles were on All in the Family and General Hospital. Photos Hollywood's Notable Deaths of 2014 The Brooklyn, New York-born Hastings began his career at age 11 on radio dramas. He branched out into TV in its infancy, snagging a role on Captain Video and

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The first man to play Captain Video — the Guardian of the Safety of the World! — in the early days of television died today in Los Angeles. Richard Coogan was 99. He starred on the first two seasons of Captain Video And His Video Rangers, the popular low-budget space opera that premiered in 1949 on the DuMont Network. The future-set series aired for a half-hour Monday through Friday, also on Saturdays in 1950, with a reported prop budget of 25 bucks a week. The jut-jawed Coogan played a scientific genius who invented radical weapons and led a vast network of defenders of good. The program was a favorite of The Honeymooners‘ Ralph Cramden and Ed Norton, who were card-carrying members of the Captain Video Space Rangers fan club. After leaving Captain Video, the New Jersey native starred on the CBS soap Love Of Life and toplined late-’50s Gold Rush drama The Californians. He also...

Richard Coogan, who played Captain Video on the early TV sci-fi adventure series Captain Video and His Video Rangers, died Wednesday in Los Angeles. He was 99. Captain Video and His Video Rangers, which aired on the DuMont Television Network from 1949-55, was set in the distant future and revolved around a band of heroes fighting for truth and justice. The show was broadcast live five to six days a week, usually starting at 7 p.m., and was beloved by adults and children alike. The show was a huge, and unexpected, hit. “Captain Video and His Video

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Los Angeles — He was a tubby tough guy with a pug of a mug, as unlikely a big-screen star or a romantic lead as could be imagined.

Yet Ernest Borgnine won a woman's love and an Academy Award in one of the great lonelyhearts roles in "Marty," a highlight in a workhorse career that spanned nearly seven decades and more than 200 film and television parts.

Borgnine, who died Sunday at 95, worked to the end. One of his final roles was a bit part as a CIA records-keeper in 2011's action comedy "Red" – fittingly for his age, a story of retired spies who show that it's never too late to remain in the game when they're pulled back into action.

"I keep telling myself, `Damn it, you gotta go to work,'" Borgnine said in a 2007 interview with The Associated Press. "But there aren't many people who want to put Borgnine to work these days.

Ernest Borgnine, the rugged, stocky actor with a brassy voice and the face of the local butcher, died today in Los Angeles at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center of renal failure. He was 95.

Borgnine was known for playing characters both brutal and gentle. On the brutal side was the cruel Sgt. "Fatso" Judson in From Here to Eternity, Coley Trimble, the right-hand goon in Bad Day at Black Rock, Dutch Engstrom, in the enduring classic The Wild Bunch and Shack, the train bull after Lee Marvin in Emperor of the North. On the gentle side he was known as the love-lorn Marty in the 1955 film of the same name (for which he earned an Oscar for Best Actor), Lt. Commander Quinton McHale from "McHale's Navy," Rogo, the cop with the prostitute-wife in The Poseidon Adventure and, to a whole new generation, as the voice of the starfish-donning, geriatric Mermaid Man on "SpongeBob SquarePants."

A first generation American Ernest Borgnine was born Ermes Effron Borgnino on January 24, 1917, in Hamden, Connecticut. His father was Camillo (later Charles) Borgnino of Ottiglio, in northern Italy and his mother was Anna Bosselli, from Capri, Italy.

Borgnine showed no real interest in acting until well after a ten-year stint in the Navy. He was 32 when his mother suggested that he become an actor, observing "you like to make a fool of yourself in front of other people" so Ernie enrolled in the Randall School of Drama in Hartford and then moved to Abingdon, Virginia for Robert Porterfield's famous Barter Theatre.

Times were lean for Borgnine. He had married for the first time and moved from the Barter to New York, quickly getting noticed for his role as a male nurse in a Broadway production of "Harvey" but he soon moved back to the Barter school again. He then returned to New York but the nascent medium of television, not the stage, sustained him for a while. Borgnine prided himself on not being picky. His original TV work included a stint in the action serial "Captain Video and His Video Rangers." He was noticed by Delbert Mann, himself a budding director, who encouraged Borgnine and gave him small roles.

Borgnine's true break came when he moved to Los Angeles and landed the role of Sergeant "Fatso" Judson in Eternity, a smash hit that, in addition to launching Borgnine's helped reinvigorate numerous careers including Frank Sinatra's and Deborah Kerr's. He played the bad guy again, though one of the goons this time, in Johnny Guitar. Borgnine then parlayed his new-found notoriety with the lead in a screenplay written by Paddy Chayefsky, that of Marty, in the film of the same name, slated to be directed by his mentor, Delbert Mann. The story was about an underdog named Marty, a self-avowed ugly man, who has to evolve beyond his dedication to his overbearing mother and his bonds with his best friend, when he falls in love with Clara, a woman who is also unpopular and unattractive, played by Betsy Blair.

Marty was a surprise hit, was nominated for eight Oscars (including Best Picture and Best Director for Mann) and won four, including Borgnine's unexpected win over a very crowded field which included his co-star in Bad Day at Black Rock,Spencer Tracy, and a posthumous nod to James Dean (who had died the previous September in a car crash) for his role in East of Eden.

The Oscar helped keep the actor in the game and the next seven years included a mix of TV and film work including A Catered Affair, Jubal, The Vikings and various "Playhouse" appearances on the small screen.

1962 brought "McHale's Navy," with Borgnine assaying the role of Lt. Commander Quinton McHale, the put-upon chief of PT boat 73. The cast included Joe Flynn and Tim Conway (Conway would, 35 years later, team up again with Borgnine as the voice of Mermaid Man's sidekick, Barnacle Boy, on "SpongeBob SquarePants"). "McHale's" had a healthy following for four years.

Borgnine had a mid-life Renaissance in the late '60s and early '70s. He played a small but pivotal role in The Dirty Dozen, was Boris Vaslov in Ice Station Zebra and was Dutch Engstrom, the taciturn but decisive bandit throwing in with Sam Peckinpah's Wild Bunch. He also joined the capsized cast of The Poseidon Adventure, played Shack, the train bull in The Emperor of the North Pole and was the simple-minded but helpful Cabbie in Escape from New York.

Borgnine was married five times. His second marriage was to the fiery actress Katy Jurado. It began in 1959 but was over four years later. Reports differ on when he met his third wife, Ethel Merman. She claimed it was in November of 1963, the same month that he was finalizing his divorce to Jurado. He insisted it wasn't until the next spring. Regardless they were married on June 24th, the following year. It lasted less than a month. In her autobiography entitled "Merman," the actress intimated that Borgnine was abusive stating, "I just feel lucky to have been able to 'walk' away from the marriage." She devoted an entire chapter to their union, entitled "My Marriage to Ernest Borgnine"--it consisted of one blank page.

His last marriage, to Tova Traesnaes, lasted over 35 years and until his death. Borgnine had four children: Gina Kemins-Borgnine, the child from his first marriage to Rhoda Kemins, and three from his fourth wife, Donna Rancourt, named Diana Rancourt-Borgnine (born December 29th 1970), Sharon (born 1965) and Cristofer (born 1969). Oddly, in his autobiography, "Ernie" Bornine only acknowledged the first three children, dropping Diana out entirely.

The 25 Most Stylish Men on TV

GQ has named the 25 best-dressed men on television including:

24. Lane Pryce (Jared Harris), Mad Men

23. Chuck Bass (Ed Westwick), Gossip Girl

19. Eric Northman (Alexander Skarsgård), True Blood

16. Blaine Anderson, (Darren Criss), Glee

15. Damon Salvatore (Ian Somerhalder), The Vampire Diaries

13. Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin), 30 Rock

9. Nucky Thompson (Steve Buscemi), Boardwalk Empire

7. Will Schuester (Matthew Morrison), Glee

5. Chalky White (Michael Kenneth Williams), Boardwalk Empire

2. Don Draper (Jon Hamm), Mad Men

Hulk Hogan, other WWE stars react to "Macho Man" Randy Savage's death

"I'm completely devastated, after over 10 years of not talking with Randy, we've finally started to talk and communicate," Hulk tweeted. "He had so much life in his eyes & in his spirit, I just pray that he's happy and in a better place and we miss him."

Mary Hart's "Et" exit marks the end of an era of nice TV

"The tone of television has changed,...

AMC Officially Greenlights Season 5 Of 'Mad Men' For March 2012 Premiere

The upcoming fifth season of Mad Men is now slated to debut in March 2012. That is 17 months from the series' fourth season finale. While the protracted negotiations between Mad Men creator/ exec producer Matt Weiner and AMC/Lionsgate TV led to the series' pushed production start and, in turn, caused the show to miss its original July premiere date, the new March return date is not directly tied to the contract talks. According to sources with knowledge of the negotiations, Weiner had been actually pushing for a shorter gap between Seasons 4 and 5 and had stated that he could get Season 5 produced and delivered on budget for a 2011 premiere.

General Hospital Tragedy: Has This Soap Finally Gone Too Far?

Ed Martin writes: "The current Death of Jake Webber disappointment is another matter entirely, and it comes at a time...

The Screen Actors Guild honored Ernest Borgnine with its Life Achievement Award - and he honored the acting profession right back. "There are millions of those around the world who would love to be in our shoes," Borgnine, 94, told the crowd in L.A.'s Shrine Auditorium, after Morgan Freeman presented him his award. Calling acting a "privilege," Borgnine added, "I hope we will never let our dedication to our craft fail, and we will always give our best to our profession." Photos: Screen Actors Guild Awards 2011 Best DressedThe actor, who tells new acquaintances to call him Ernie, was christened Ermes Effron Borgnine in Hamden,...

Kudos to Vci Entertainment for once again making some rare serials available. Their latest DVDs are the Universal serials The Green Hornet (1940) and The Green Hornet Strikes Again (1941). Although the movies were released less than a year apart, the role of Britt Reid—the crusading publisher of the Daily Sentinel and secretly the masked crime fighter, the Green Hornet—was played by different actors. The first starred Gordon Jones, usually seen in comedy roles and who would later play Mike the Cop on the Abbott & Costello TV show. For the second serial, Universal brought in Warren Hull, who was no stranger to costumed heroes, having portrayed Mandrake the Magician in a serial and the pulp favorite character the Spider in another chapterplay; Hull would also star in The Spider Returns that same year. Jones speaks as Reid, but in a clever move, whenever the Hornet puts on his mask, the...

Actor Bob Hastings is a television veteran. Yet, you are more likely to know his voice than his face. He has worked in many genres and featured in several innovative radio and television science fiction shows. His career took in the earliest days of TV entertainment and playing a regular character in acclaimed superhero cartoons from the 1990s. But it all began with a song.

"I think it was about 1935 or the beginning of 1936," Hastings said. "A teacher heard me sing in school at an assembly and he thought I sang well enough that I should be on radio. So I started singing radio shows and from there... There was a newspaper called 'The Daily Mirror' and they had a children's show on Wmca in New York and I sang on that...for maybe a couple of years. Then I went over to NBC and that was before the networks...

Veteran character actor Lonny Chapman has died of heart disease. He was 87. Chapman, who appeared in movies including Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds, Woody Allen's Take The Money And Run and disaster film Earthquake, passed away on October 12 in North Hollywood, California. Chapman made his television debut in Captain Video in 1949, the same year he first appeared on the Broadway stage in The Closing Door, directed by Lee Strasberg. His last movie role was in 2003's The Hunted. For the last 34 years, Chapman was artistic director of the Lonny Chapman Theater in Los Angeles. He is survived by his wife Erma and a son.