Griffith died at about 7 a.m. at his home on Roanoke Island, the sheriff said in a statement. The statement did not provide a cause of death.

Best known for his role on “The Andy Griffith Show,” the actor also starred as a murder-solving Southern attorney in the television series “Matlock” during the 1980s and 1990s. He was also known for his roles in movies and on the stage, as a producer and as a Grammy Award-winning gospel singer.

Ron Howard, who played Griffith’s son, Opie Taylor, on “The Andy Griffith Show,” said he is “forever grateful” to the actor.

“His pursuit of excellence and the joy he took in creating served generations & shaped my life,” Howard said on Twitter.

President George W. Bush honored Griffith in 2005 with the Presidential Medal of Freedom for “demonstrating the finest qualities of our country and for a lifetime of memorable performances that have brought joy to millions of Americans of all ages.”

A member of the Televison Hall of Fame, Griffith also was inducted into the Christian Music Hall of Fame and Museum in 2007. His 1996 album, “I Love to Tell the Story — 25 Timeless Hymns,” netted him a Grammy Award.

Share your photos, videos, memories of Griffith with CNN iReport

After his eight-year run as Taylor on “The Andy Griffith Show,” the actor tried to break out of his mold as a genial father figure with mixed success.

“I wanted to prove that I could play something else, but there were 249 episodes out there of ‘Mayberry,’ and it was aired every day. It was hard to escape,” Griffith said, according to a quote on IMBD.

Born in Mount Airy, North Carolina, in 1926, Griffith graduated from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1949 with a degree in music.

He originally wanted to be a preacher, he told American Profile magazine in a 2005 piece.

“I went to the bishop and said, ‘Can I major in music and still be a minister?’ and he said no,” the magazine quoted him as saying. “I went back and prayed over it for a couple of weeks, and I went back to the bishop and said, ‘I’m going to major in music.’ So that was it.”

He began his entertainment career with a traveling act with his first wife, Barbara Edwards, according to biography.com.

After regular appearances on “The Ed Sullivan Show,” Griffith appeared in the 1955 Broadway play “No Time for Sergeants,” for which he received a Tony nomination.

He was again nominated for a Tony in 1960 for the play “Destry Rides Again.”

A 2010 role in a television commercial for the Department of Health and Human Resources generated some political controversy.

In the commercial, Griffith praised the Affordable Care Act and its reforms. Department officials said the ad was meant to educate the public, but congressional Republicans said it was partisan propaganda and demanded that it be pulled.

Griffith came down with the muscular disease Guillain-Barre syndrome in 1983, according to biography.com, but made a full recovery. In 2000, he underwent quadruple bypass surgery, and had hip surgery following a fall in 2007, according to his IMDB profile.

Griffith’s first marriage ended in divorce in 1972. He married again in 1976 but divorced after five years, according to biography.com. In 1983, he married Cindi Knight, his current wife.

Griffith is survived by two children from his first marriage, according to the biography site. A third son died of an overdose at the age of 36, according to American Profile.

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Ira Schwartz

“I love that you get cold when it’s 71 degrees out. I love that it takes you an hour and a half to order a sandwich. I love that you get a little crinkle above your nose when you’re looking at me like I’m nuts. I love that after I spend the day with you, I can still smell your perfume on my clothes. And I love that you are the last person I want to talk to before I go to sleep at night. And it’s not because I’m lonely, and it’s not because it’s New Year’s Eve. I came here tonight because when you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible.”

That is a line delivered by Billy Crystal as Harry Burns in the movie “When Harry Met Sally.”  It was written by 3 time Oscar nominee Norah Ephron.  Norah Ephron, filmmaker, director, producer, screenwriter, novelist, playwright, journalist, author, blogger and an all around good person died in New York last night of acute Myeloid Leukemia at the age of 71.

She directed eight feature films; two of her best known are “Sleepless in Seattle” and “You’ve Got Mail” and had screenplay credits on more than a dozen productions. Her films “Sleepless in Seattle,” “When Harry Met Sally” and “Silkwood” earned her Oscar nominations.

She was loved and respected by her peers and colleges alike.

Tom Hanks:

“Nora Ephron was a journalist/artist who knew what was important to know; how things really worked, what was worthwhile, who was fascinating and why.  At a dinner table and on a film set she lifted us all with wisdom and wit mixed with love for us and love for life. Rita and I are so very sad to lose our friend who brought so much joy to all who were lucky enough to know her.”

Nicole Kidman:

“I will never forget the dinners, games and laughter we all shared.  Grateful that she was my friend and we had the opportunity to work together.”

Billy Crystal:

“….A brilliant writer and humorist. Being her Harry to Meg’s Sally will always have a special place in my heart. I was very lucky to get to say her words.” 

Norah Ephron on her own mortality:

“You do get to a certain point in life where you have to realistically, I think, understand that the days are getting shorter, and you can’t put things off thinking you’ll get to them someday. If you really want to do them, you better do them. There are simply too many people getting sick, and sooner or later you will. So I’m very much a believer in knowing what it is that you love doing so you can do a great deal of it.”

Our industry and the world has lost a brilliant talent whose writings made us laugh and cry but most of all made us realize that if we look hard enough we can find a rainbow after every  storm.  Norah Ephron will be greatly missed by all.  All of us here at A Hollywood Republican extend our deepest condolences to her family and friends.

Norah Ephron 1941 - 2012

From left: Ann Rutherford, Vivien Leigh (as Scarlett O'Hara) and Evelyn Keyes, in Gone with the Wind

Ann Rutherford, the demure brunette actress who played the sweetheart in the long-running Andy Hardy series and Scarlett O’Hara‘s youngest sister in Gone With the Wind, has died. She was 94.

A close friend, actress Anne Jeffreys, tells the Los Angeles Times that Rutherford died Monday night at her home in Beverly Hills. She had heart problems and was in declining health.

The Andy Hardy series, a hugely popular string of comical, sentimental films, starred Lewis Stone as a small-town judge and Mickey Rooney as his spirited teenage son.

Rutherford first appeared in the second film of the series, You’re Only Young Once, in 1938, and she went on 11 more. She played Polly Benedict, the ever-faithful girlfriend that Andy always returned to, no matter what other, more glamorous girl had temporarily caught his eye. (Among the other girls: Judy Garland and Lana Turner.)

It was said she won the part of Carreen — the youngest of the three O’Hara sisters in Gone With the Wind— because Judy Garland was filming The Wizard of Oz.

Rutherford told the Times in 2010 that MGM head Louis B. Mayer was going to refuse her the role, calling it “a nothing part.” But Rutherford, who was a fan of the novel, uncharacteristically burst into tears and he relented.

Rutherford plays the sister who, early in the film, begs to be allowed to go to the ball at Ashley Wilkes’ plantation. “Oh, Mother, can’t I stay up for the ball tomorrow? … I’m 13 now,” she says in a sweet voice.

In 1989, she was one of 10 surviving GWTW cast members who gathered in Atlanta for the celebration of the film’s 50th anniversary.

“Anyone who had read the book sensed they were into something that would belong to the ages, and everyone was in a frenzy to read the book,” she said.

“The specialness of this is with each generation of young people who are touched byGone With the Wind,” she said. “As long as there are little children, there will always be aMickey Mouse. … On an adult version, Gone With the Wind does that.”

Rutherford concurred with other cast members that no matter what else they had done, “Our obituary will say we were in Gone With the Wind and we’ll be proud of it.”

In a 1969 Los Angeles Times interview, she lamented that the “permissive generation” of the 1960s wasn’t getting the old-fashioned parenting that the fictional Andy Hardy got.

“Someday someone will have to sit down with today’s youth and give them a man-to-man talk,” she said.

She also joked that “my life has reached the point where I’m now ‘camp.’”

Rutherford was born in 1917, according to the reference book The Film Encyclopedia. Some sources give other dates. The daughter of an opera tenor and an actress, she began performing on the stage as a child.

She launched her movie career in Westerns while still in her teens, often appearing with singing cowboy hero Gene Autry and sometimes with John Wayne.

She joined MGM in 1937, playing a variety of roles for several years before leaving the studio to freelance.

Among her other films: Whistling in the Dark, with Red Skelton, 1941, and its two sequels, Whistling in Dixie and Whistling in Brooklyn; Orchestra Wives, with bandleaderGlenn Miller, 1942; and The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, with Danny Kaye, 1947.

She largely retired from the screen in 1950, but appeared in a couple of films in the 1970s, They Only Kill Their Masters, 1972, and Won Ton Ton — The Dog Who Saved Hollywood, 1976.

Her first marriage, to David May in 1942, ended in divorce; they had two children. In 1953, she married producer William Dozier, a union that lasted until his death in 1991. He was best known as the producer of the Batman TV series.

Vivien Leigh, who played Scarlett O’Hara, died in 1967. Evelyn Keyes, who played the middle O’Hara sister, Suellen, died in July 2008.

Rutherford recalled that the night of the Gone With the Wind premiere in Atlanta, authorMargaret Mitchell invited the cast, including Leigh and co-star Clark Gable, to her home for scrambled eggs. Gable and Mitchell disappeared.

“Clark Gable and Margaret were hiding in the bathroom, Clark on the edge of the tub and Margaret you know where, just talking,” she chuckled. “They had to get away from the photographers.”

Beck’s show, “The Glenn Beck Program,” is the third-highest rated radio show in the country behind fellow conservative pundits Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity. According to Premiere, Beck’s ratings have risen 50 percent in the last five years and he’s nearly doubled the number of stations carrying him, with 200 stations added for a total of more than 400.

In addition to the radio syndication, Premiere Networks, a unit of Clear Channel Communications, will continue to represent Beck’s websites to advertisers. The sites include his Internet TV station GBTV, news site TheBlaze.com, e-commerce site Markdown.com and his own fan site, GlennBeck.com.

Beck’s subscription-based streaming site, GBTV, launched nine months ago and carries Beck’s daily show along with a variety of other programming, including a children’s show called “Liberty Treehouse.

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Lindsay was driving on the PCH yesterday when she collided with a semi-truck driven by James (we’re leaving out his last name). Lohan was trailed by a Cadillac Escalade (which James refers to as a limousine) … driving by someone connected with her Lifetime movie.

James tells TMZ after the accident, he called 911 as Lindsay and her male assistant got out of the Porsche and into the Escalade. James says the assistant picked up a pink bag, “filled it up with something” and then put clothes on top of it.

James claims the driver of the Escalade was trying to keep him away from the SUV.  James says he wanted to exchange info with Lindsay (whom he did not recognize) but it was apparent to him she was about to flee the scene.

James says the Escalade driver offered him money, saying they could “go to the bank” and withdraw some cash.

James says  the Escalade driver and Lindsay’s assistant put on a full court press: “Him and the guy took me across the street and told me this was some kind of famous person and they didn’t want to be in the media. But I’d already called 911 because they were trying to get away from the scene. But they packed a bag and then the limousine driver told me, ‘Don’t mention the bag to the cops.’”

Steve Honig, Lindsay’s rep, tells TMZ, “Lindsay is cooperating fully with law enforcement. She has answered all their questions and provided them with everything they have asked for.”

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Bob Welch with Fleetwood Mac

Fleetwood Mac drummer Mick Fleetwood was completely shocked by the death of his former band mate Bob Welch yesterday, telling Reuters that the guitarist’s suicide was “incredibly out of character.” “He was a very, very profoundly intelligent human being and always in good humor, which is why this is so unbelievably shocking,” says Fleetwood.

“He was a huge part of our history which sometimes gets forgotten. Mostly his legacy would be his songwriting abilities that he brought to Fleetwood Mac, which will survive all of us,” Fleetwood said. “If you look into our musical history, you’ll see a huge period that was completely ensconced in Bob’s work.”

Welch was a member of Fleetwood Mac from 1971 until 1974, entering the band upon the departure of Peter Green and exiting just before the addition of Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks. In addition to playing with Welch in the band, Fleetwood also served as the guitarist’s manager in his solo years through the Eighties.

Nicks also commented on the death of Welch, saying in a statement that “he was an amazing guitar player – he was funny, sweet – and he was smart. I’m so very sorry for his family and for the family of Fleetwood Mac – so, so sad.”

Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/mick-fleetwood-bob-welchs-suicide-was-out-of-character-20120608#ixzz1xCqfDtx4

In an interview with CNN’s Soledad O’Brien, Davis — who also played in NFL Europe — said he didn’t want to be defined by his sexuality during his time in the league.

“Me being a gay person wasn’t what I wanted to be known for,” he said.

Davis, 34, retired from the league seven years ago. The former Tennessee Titan and Seattle Seahawk came out publicly to Outsports.com this week.

While his friends and family have known for years, he said he chose to speak out about his experience because of his position at the Hetrick-Martin Institute, which helps lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youths.

“Having the opportunity to work at the Hetrick-Martin Institute gives me the opportunity to talk about lives that I’m able to effect in a real way,” he told CNN.

As the discussion over gay players in professional sports has continued, most NFL and NBA players have said they wouldn’t care if a teammate was gay. Many have participated in NOH8 campaigns (which raise awareness for marriage equality), and last month Outsports.com interviewed a dozen of big name NFL players who all said they would support a teammate if he was gay.

Many pundits believe and statistics show there is most likely a number of gay players in the NFL, even if they haven’t come out.

For Davis, it wasn’t that simple.

“I don’t believe most NFL players have a problem with having a gay teammate. I do get the feeling they have to protect who they are,” he said referring to their so-called “brand”. “At the end of the day it’s a job, so all of these players have to make sure they’re in a certain type of light.”

In an interview, Davis’ former teammate Jevon Kearse told Outsports.com he wouldn’t have had a problem.

“I know there have been a lot more than just Wade,” Kearse said. “It’s just becoming more acceptable, which is a good thing so they can come out and not feel secluded.”

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/football/wade-davis-i-ready-nfl-article-1.1091419#ixzz1x7Fxp8ir

The Brown University student, 20, was arrested at 6:30 p.m. Monday in Union Square for criminal impersonation and a violation of the open-container law, an NYPD spokesperson tells PEOPLE.

Willis, who’s younger than the legal drinking age, was released without bail Tuesday following her arrest, reports New York’s Daily News, which broke the story.

She’ll return to Manhattan Criminal Court on July 31.

An officer saw Willis, who’s made her mark in the city singing with her band, drinking an 8-ounce Pakistani beer just before 7 p.m. Monday, police confirm.

After flashing the officer a New York ID card with the name “Katherine Kelly,” according to the Daily News report, the officer continued questioning Willis.

“My name is Scout Willis,” she reportedly said when she pulled out her actual California ID, according to the criminal complaint. “The first ID isn’t mine. My friend gave it to me. I don’t know Katherine Kelly.”

This isn’t the first time the celebrity daughter has made an edgy impression.

In March, Willis was outed as one of the voices behind a Twitter feed stocked with thoughts about sex, drugs, cigarettes and partying. However, a rep called the Twitter feed an attempt to test a theory and “illustrate how social media is utilized” as part of a college project.

By now everyone probably knows that NASCAR has parked Kurt and he won’t be racing this weekend at Pocono. In addition to that, they have extended his probation until Dec. 31. All this arose from a confrontation with a media member following this past Saturday’s Nationwide race in Dover.

Let’s be clear, Kurt was driving Saturday for his little brother, Kyle, but NASCAR has told Kurt he can’t race in the NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Pocono for car owner James Finch. Sometimes I wonder if the poor guy is just misunderstood, or maybe he needs to find a better way to express himself.

Now in the song, the lyrics go:

Baby, do you understand me now?

Sometimes I feel a little mad

But don’t you know that no one alive can always be an angel

When things go wrong I feel real bad

Now as a driver, I have been in these spots myself. I’ve flown off the handle, I’ve overreacted, I’ve said things I’ve regretted, and I’ve made a lot people mad at times. The difference with me is it wasn’t on such a regular basis as with Kurt.

Sadly he keeps adding bad chapters to an already-bad novel. He just can’t seem to get past the things that have happened to him. Kurt’s a very reasonable and smart man. Unfortunately he just can’t seem to stop the downward spiral.

It really is the sum of a lot of parts. He lost his ride with Roush-Fenway Racing in 2005. Then at the end of last year he lost his ride with Penske Racing following, yes, a confrontation with media members at Homestead.

This is a NASCAR Sprint Cup champion that has lost two high-profile rides. That’s traumatic for a race car driver — especially the one with the God-given ability behind the wheel that Kurt has. So when he began the 2012 season without a top-tier ride, he was already viewed as damaged goods.

But let’s look at what has happened to him on the track recently. The man has had great runs in both the Nationwide and Sprint Cup series that have ended with blown tires, blown engines and wrecked race cars. Places like Iowa, Darlington and Talladega all saw him having great runs but with really nothing to show for them at the end of the day.

For a volatile guy like Kurt, who is already under probation by NASCAR, it’s hard to keep the lid on the pressure cooker. Then when you stick a microphone or a camera in his face in the wrong situation or right after a tough race, well, you kind of have to expect the unexpected.

Remember, our sport is one where you get to hear from the athlete mere minutes after something good or something bad happens. Everyone wants to complain about drivers being too vanilla, too predictable and too politically correct these days.

Then when a guy steps outside that box, everyone is ready to pounce and come down on him like a ton of bricks. It’s the blind obvious everyone: You simply can’t have it both ways. A lot of today’s drivers have told me they don’t speak out and avoid controversy for that very reason. Look what it has done to Kurt.

I’ll be the first to tell these drivers that they can’t be loose cannons on and off the track. You can’t simply run around blowing up all the time at everyone. We all understand that. But you also can’t target Kurt hoping to get some kind of reaction. I haven’t heard Kurt say anything any other driver hasn’t said in the heat of battle in the past. I haven’t heard Kurt say anything that other drivers haven’t felt.

I’ve seen guys like Kurt be put in situations where they are set up to lose. Kurt knows he blew it again. He said as much in his statement following the penalty announcement by NASCAR.

Kurt’s response was, “I accept NASCAR’s decision. I put them in a box. They had to take action and it’s my fault for putting them in this position.”

“I put them in a box” — see, he realizes that. I sure can empathize with him. Like the lyrics in The Animals song says:

I’m just a soul whose intentions are good

Oh Lord, please don’t let me be misunderstood

I kinda think that’s where the guy is. Sometimes I think guys with personalities and attitudes like Kurt are misunderstood. One thing I do know for certain, people would be surprised how much Kurt does for our military and for charity where there aren’t cameras and media folks around. He does a lot of good stuff.

I don’t know. It’s just frustrating when you look at this from every angle. Our sport can’t be all vanilla. Our sport can’t have someone with the talent Kurt possesses behind the wheel on the sidelines. At the same time, there has to a balance because you can’t have drivers constantly blowing a fuse every time you turn around and taking their frustrations out on you.

Again, the lyrics from “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood” come into play:

If I seem edgy, I want you to know,

That I never mean to take it out on you

Life has its problems, and I get my share,

And that’s one thing I never mean to do

I really believe that. I don’t really believe Kurt means to offend or hurt anybody. I know what good work he does away from the track. It’s just the way he is wired up but he has to get control of it. Again, I have yet to hear him say anything that other drivers haven’t said or probably wanted to say but can’t.

One of the other lyrics in the song goes:

Oh, oh, oh, baby — don’t you know I’m human

I have thoughts like any other one

Sometimes I find myself, Lord, regretting

Some foolish thing, some little simple thing I’ve done

Drivers are high-strung athletes with a lot of emotions. You don’t get to watch a reporter run up to a wide receiver in an NFL game after he’s dropped the winning touchdown pass and ask him what happened and how he’s feeling. Guess what: You do in our sport. That’s the kind of access and responsibility that comes with the territory when you are a NASCAR Sprint Cup driver.

I don’t condone being rude to someone. I don’t condone threatening someone. I don’t condone cussing someone out who is simply doing their job. Kurt’s right, he put NASCAR in a box. I don’t blame them one bit for what they had to do. A driver’s livelihood is sitting behind the wheel of a stock car and trying to beat the other forty-two competitors on Sundays. The quickest way to get a driver’s attention is to take away that livelihood.

I just hate it for Kurt. I hate the fact he keeps finding himself in this position. Many times high-strung athletes can control their emotions. Then there are those that need help at times controlling theirs. We’re all going to find out pretty quickly if being forced to sit out of the thing he loves doing the most and is also really good at, that being racing on Sunday at Pocono, will finally help Kurt learn to control his emotions.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/sports/2012/06/05/dw-kurt-busch-in-trouble-again/#ixzz1wvIjgxKF

In his lawsuit, actor Stephen Baldwin claims Kevin Costner and a business partner duped Baldwin and a friend out of their shares of an $18 million deal for BP to buy oil-separating centrifuges after the April 2010 spill.

U.S. District Judge Martin L.C. Feldman told prospective jurors they could not be influenced by the celebrity status of Baldwin and Costner. Both actors were in court. Costner wore a blazer and khakis, while Baldwin wore an olive suit.

“Celebrity has no place in this courtroom or in any of the issues that need to be resolved by the jury in this trial,” Feldman said.

Jury selection ended shortly before 1 p.m. ET, CBS New Orleans affiliate WWL-TV reports.

Feldman asked the potential jurors whether the entertainers’ on-screen portrayals compromised the ability to deliver an objective verdict. No one in the pool said they would feel influenced.

Among Baldwin’s roles was caveman Barney Rubble in “The Flintstones: Viva Rock Vegas.” Costner’s films include “Dancing with Wolves,” “Field of Dreams,” and “JFK,” Oliver Stone’s film with New Orleans connections to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

Baldwin and Costner did not interact before the proceedings started. Baldwin told The Associated Press his attorneys had advised him not to comment.

Baldwin and his friend, Spyridon Contogouris, said they didn’t know about the deal when they agreed to sell their shares of Ocean Therapy Solutions, a company that marketed the centrifuges to BP, for $1.4 million and $500,000, respectively.

BP ordered 32 of the centrifuges and deployed a few of the devices on a barge in June 2010. BP capped its blown-out Macondo well the following month and kept more oil from leaking until the well was permanently sealed in September 2010.

Baldwin and Contogouris claim they were deliberately excluded from a June 8 meeting between Costner, his business partner Patrick Smith and BP executive Doug Suttles, who agreed to make an $18 million deposit on a $52 million order for the 32 devices, according to the lawsuit.

Later that month, Costner and Suttles visited Port Fourchon, La., to talk about the plan to use the centrifuges.

“It was designed to give us a fighting chance, to fight back the oil before it got us by the throat,” Costner said at the time.

Baldwin and Contogouris say they were entitled to shares of BP’s deposit. Their lawsuit claims Costner and Smith schemed to use BP’s deposit buy their shares in Ocean Therapy Solutions.

“Maybe one of the directions that Mr. Costner might go as a defendant in this case is that he had taken a great deal of risk as it relates to these machines,” legal analyst Chick Foret told WWL-TV.

Costner said he didn’t attend a June 6, 2010, meeting at which Contogouris agreed to sell his OTS interests.

“Not only did Costner not know that Plaintiffs were negotiating to sell their OTS interests, he was surprised and offended by the idea that Contogouris and Baldwin would walk away from OTS with almost $2 million in cash despite having invested no money in the company, and at a time when a contract with BP was uncertain to materialize,” says a court filing summarizing Costner’s version of events.

Baldwin and Contogouris are seeking more than $21 million in damages. Costner and other defendants also are seeking damages in counterclaims.

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