Miguel Ferrer, Star of NCIS: Los Angeles and Crossing Jordan, Dies at 61

Miguel Ferrer, Star Of NCIS: Los Angeles and Crossing Jordan, Dies at 61

Courtesy of http://people.com/celebrity/miguel-ferrer-ncis-los-angeles-dies-obituary/

Miguel Ferrer, who starred on NCIS: Los Angeles and Crossing Jordan, has died, PEOPLE confirms. He was 61.

Surrounded by close friends and family, the veteran actor passed away Thursday in his home after a battle with cancer.

Born Feb. 7, 1955 to singer and actress Rosemary Clooney and Academy Award winner José Ferrer, the actor  — who was cousin to George Clooney — previously starred as Dr. Garret Macy on CBS’ Crossing Jordan from 2001-07 and starred as Owen Granger on NCIS: Los Angeles from 2012 up until the time of his death.

The veteran actor was given the option of ending his run on NCIS: Los Angeles as his cancer worsened last year, but he wanted to keep working. His diagnosis quickly started to affect his voice, so the show’s writers incorporate his illness into Granger’s storyline.

“Today, NCIS: Los Angeles lost a beloved family member,” NCIS: Los Angeles showrunner R. Scott Gemmill told PEOPLE in a statement. “Miguel was a man of tremendous talent who had a powerful dramatic presence on screen, a wicked sense of humor, and a huge heart. Our thoughts go out to his wife Lori, his sons, and his entire family. He will be greatly missed.”

Ferrer, who appeared in the original Twin Peaks TV series, will return in the upcoming revival as his original character of Albert Rosenfield.

He is survived by his wife Lori, and sons Lukas and Rafi, whom he felt were his most important accomplishments in life, according to an obituary released by NCIS: Los Angeles.

Ferrer was cousin to George Clooney, who sent THR statement on the loss: "Miguel made the world brighter & funnier" http://thr.cm/KWRexb   

Olvia De Havilland from the Golden Age of Hollywood & last surviving main cast member of Gone With the Wind reaches 100th Birthday

Olivia de Havilland: Hollywood grande dame to celebrate 100th birthday

Courtesy of http://edition.cnn.com/2016/06/30/entertainment/cnnphotos-tbt-olivia-de-havilland-100th-birthday/index.html

She was pretty and demure, and usually played sympathetic heroines with ladylike airs in a movie career that spanned three decades.

But off-screen she was a fighter, maneuvering for challenging roles and winning a tough legal battle against a major studio, a victory that still resonates in Hollywood 70 years later.

This Friday, Olivia de Havilland proves once again she's no ordinary Hollywood survivor. The Oscar-winning actress is celebrating her 100th birthday as the last surviving female superstar from the golden era of movies. Her chief male competitor, Kirk Douglas, will join the centenarian club in December, but de Havilland made her screen debut more than 10 years before him.

She first became famous as a damsel in distress opposite Errol Flynn in swashbuckling epics such as "Captain Blood" (1935) and "The Adventures of Robin Hood" (1938).

Her most enduring role came in "Gone With the Wind" (1939), still Hollywood's top moneymaking film when adjusted for inflation. Her sweet and gentle Melanie Wilkes seemed too good to be true, but she held her own against the fiery Scarlett O'Hara.

De Havilland won two Academy Awards for best actress -- for "To Each His Own" (1946) and "The Heiress" (1949) -- after breaking free from what she considered the unworthy parts being offered to her at Warner Bros. She successfully sued the studio in 1943 after it tried to extend her seven-year contract. Under the old contract system, studios wielded enormous power over actors, forcing them to take roles and suspending them without pay if they refused.

De Havilland's case helped shift the power from the big studios of that era to the mega-celebrities and powerful talent agencies of today, and it remains a cornerstone of entertainment law.

The Hollywood grande dame has lived in Paris for six decades and outlasted most of her contemporaries, including her younger sister, actress Joan Fontaine, with whom she had a notoriously testy relationship.

In an interview last year for a recent Vanity Fair profile, writer William Stadiem remarked of de Havilland: "Her face is unlined, her eyes sparkling, her fabled contralto soaring ... her memory photographic. She could easily pass for someone decades younger."

To see this classic movie star in action, you can tune in to Turner Classic Movies on Friday nights in July. TCM, a Time Warner company like CNN, has named de Havilland its star of the month.