RIP Bea Arthur

We are losing American icons left and right this month...   :(

Actress Beatrice "Bea" Arthur, best known as Dorothy on Golden Girls, lost her battle with cancer today. She was 86. 

[read the full story]

Thank you for being a friend, Bea.

RIP Gus

Sad news, everyone: Gus, the World's Ugliest Dog, is dead.

The 9-year-old pooch, who won the ugly crown in June, lost his battle with cancer today.

Gus, a hairless Chinese crested from Florida, had one eye and three legs. His adopted family reportedly rescued him after learning he was being kept in a crate inside someone's garage. He had one leg amputated because of a skin tumor and lost an eye in a cat fight.

Owner Jeanenne Teed said Gus passed away in her arms this morning. The skin cancer he had been battling had wrapped around his spine and the dog had lost half of his body weight. He was in a lot of pain and needed to be put down, she said.

As World's Ugliest dog, Gus had been featured on the Today show, Fox & Friends, Rachel Ray. He even had his own Animal Planet special.

Chinese crested dogs have a reputation for being pretty ugly, but poor Gus...he was hideous.

RIP Michael Crichton

Famed writer Michael Crichton died unexpectedly Tuesday night after a private battle with cancer, sources say.

Crichton, a 66-year-old medical doctor, was best known for penning "Jurassic Park" and his work with the television show "ER."

He also wrote "The Andromeda Strain," "Sphere" and "Rising Sun" and his 2004 novel, "State of Fear," in which he took on global warming and the theories surrounding it. He directed "Westworld" (1973), "Coma" (1978), "Looker" (1981) and "Runaway" (1984).

Crichton, who graduated from Harvard Medical School, won an Emmy, a Peabody and a Writers Guild of America Award for "ER," and won other awards as well.

[click here to read his New York Times obit]

He is survived by his wife, Sherri, and daughter, Taylor.

RIP Paul Newman

Sorry, I'm a little late on this...

Actor Paul Newman has died pf cancer at the age of 83.

He died Friday in his home in Westport, Conn, according to spokeswoman Marni Tomljanovic.

Newman appeared in classic films such as "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof," "Exodus," "The Hustler," "Cool Hand Luke," "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," "The Sting" and "The Verdict." He won an Oscar in 1986 for "The Color of Money."

In 1982, Newman and his friend A.E. Hotchner founded Newman's Own, a food company that produced food ranging from pasta sauces to salad dressing to chocolate chip cookies.

"The embarrassing thing is that the salad dressing is outgrossing my films," Newman once wryly noted.

My family and I used the Newman's Own Raspberry Walnut Vinaigrette on our salads last night as a tribute.

Click here to read what some celebs are saying about the late Newman.

Newman is survived by his wife, Joanne Woodward, and five children.