Tears Fall, Jokes Fly at Mac Memorial

Friends, family, and locals attend memorial Mass

(NEWSER) - Mourners including Jack Nicholson and Val Kilmer remembered Dennis Hopper yesterday at his memorial Mass. The actor was laid to rest in New Mexico, where he first went in 1969 while scouting locations for Easy Rider and lived for 12 years. Nicholson, who acted alongside Hopper in Easy Rider, called him “an all-around guy,” the AP reports. More»

Nearly everyone has an opinion on latest rant

(NEWSER) - Mel Gibson’s latest crazy rant comes as no surprise to those who have followed his offscreen woes, but this time the legendarily short-fused actor has proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that he needs help. “The actor who was so gifted at playing bitter, violent men on screen is apparently drawing all too easily on a store of bitterness and anger from deep inside his own psyche,” writes Patrick Goldstein for the Los Angeles Times . More»

Service held at Hollywood Palladium

(NEWSER) - Celeb pals including Lindsay Lohan (with Sam Ronson), Nicole Richie, and Robert Downey Jr. showed up last night to say goodbye to Adam Goldstein—better known as DJ AM. The private service at the Hollywood Palladium was open to "friends both from his life in recovery as well as those from other areas," read the invitation, which urged those in attendance not to talk to the media. Also spotted were Dr. Drew Pinsky, Rebecca Gayheart and Eric Dane, Tom Arnold, and Jon Favreau, E! Online reports. More»

Memorial service honors legendary TV news anchor

(NEWSER) - Family and friends of Walter Cronkite remembered the venerable television news anchor today at a memorial at St. Bartholomew’s Church in Manhattan, CBS News reports. Speakers at the service remembered Cronkite’s sense of humor, his love of sailing, and the strong emotions that lay beneath his calm, collected anchorman’s air. Sailing buddy Mike Ashford remembered how Cronkite cried “openly and without shame” at the death of his long-serving yellow lab. More»

(NEWSER) - The numbers of those who watched on TV or the Internet aren't yet crunched, but it's safe to say that Michael Jackson's funeral will rank up there with the biggest celebrity farewells. Time rounds up others:

• Rudolph Valentino, 1926. A superstar of the silent era, Valentino’s sudden death drew nearly 100,000 to his funeral procession on New York City streets. The organizer later admitted paying people to exaggerate their grief.
• Babe Ruth, 1948. 75,000 people descended upon St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York to bid farewell to the legendary slugger.