Evel Knievel Dead at 69

Evangelist reached millions during his heyday

(AP) - Evangelist Oral Roberts, who rose from tent revivals to found a multimillion-dollar organization and an Oklahoma university bearing his name, died today at 91 of complications from pneumonia in Newport Beach, Calif. He had been hospitalized after a fall on Saturday. Roberts was a pioneer on two fronts—he helped bring spirit-filled charismatic Christianity into the mainstream and took his trademark revivals to television, a new frontier for religion. More»

Friends call NYC cops after not seeing Adam Goldstein for several days

(NEWSER) - DJ AM, who less than a year ago survived a plane crash, was found dead this afternoon in a New York apartment, TMZ reports; his real name was Adam Goldstein, and he was 36. Police, called by a friend who hadn’t seen Goldstein in several days, found drug paraphernalia at the scene after breaking down the door of the SoHo apartment. More»

(NEWSER) - Frank McCourt, the former schoolteacher who gained literary stardom by recounting his unhappy childhood in Angela's Ashes, died today in New York of skin cancer, the New York Times reports. He was 78. The Brooklyn-born author grew up in Limerick and taught in New York public schools for 30 years before writing Ashes, which dazzled critics with its simple account of poverty—and sparked anger in Ireland, where McCourt was "denounced from hill, pulpit and barstool," he said. More»

(NEWSER) - Michael Jackson died today after suffering cardiac arrest at home and arriving at the hospital in a deep coma, report TMZ and the Los Angeles Times. The King of Pop, 50, was rushed to a Los Angeles hospital this afternoon after collapsing. A police rep said he was not breathing when paramedics arrived; they performed CPR and took him to the UCLA Medical Center. More»

(NEWSER) - David Carradine, the star of campy '70s TV classic Kung Fu who enjoyed a career renaissance as the villain in the Kill Bill films, was found dead today in Bangkok, where he was shooting a movie, the AP reports. Carradine, part of a prominent Hollywood family that included father John, a legendary character actor, and niece Martha Plimpton, had apparently hanged himself, according to a local media outlet. More»