Eddy Arnold, whose mellow baritone on songs like “Make the World Go Away” made him one of the most successful country singers in history, died Thursday morning, days short of his 90th birthday.

Arnold died at a care facility near Nashville, said Don Cusic, a professor at Belmont University and author of the biography “Eddy Arnold: I’ll Hold You in My Heart.” His wife of 66 years, Sally, had died in March, and in the same month, Arnold fell outside his home, injuring his hip.

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Arnold lived in Brentwood, a Nashville suburb. Survivors include a son, Richard Edward Arnold Jr., and daughter, Jo Ann Pollard, both of Brentwood.

Rest In Peace, Eddy.

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While I blog a lot of celebrity deaths, rarely do any of them have a direct impact on my life. Tonight, however, I am saddened to learn about the death of Beverlee McKinsey.

Beverlee McKinsey, an actress best known for roles she played on the daytime soap operas “Another World” in the 1970s and “Guiding Light” in the 1980s, has died. She was 72.

McKinsey died May 2 at Olympic Medical Center in Los Angeles. The cause of death was complications from a kidney transplant, her son, Scott McKinsey, said.

In an acting career of more than 30 years, McKinsey began in New York theater. She was an understudy for the Neil Simon play, “Barefoot in The Park,” performing the female lead, Corrie, a number of times in the 1960s. Robert Redford played the love interest.

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She married Mark McKinsey in 1956. They divorced three years later.

McKinsey was married three times. Her last husband, actor Berkeley Harris, died in 1984.

Along with her son, McKinsey is survived by her grandson, Marley.

I first watched “Another World” with my grandmother during one summer when I spent the days at her house. She got me hooked on a few soaps and I have been watching them, well, the ones that are still on the air anyway, ever since.

Beverlee McKinsey was an excellent actress and no matter what role she was playing, when she appeared on the screen it was always the bright spot of my day. Back in the 80’s I always hoped that Alexandra Spaulding from “Guiding Light” would hook up with Stefano DiMera on “Days of Our Lives”. Ahh, the dreams of a young impressionable kid.

Rest In Peace, Beverlee.

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Irvine Robbins, co-founder of Baskin-Robbins whose penchant for creating unusual ice-cream flavors helped push post-World War II America far beyond its chocolate-vanilla-strawberry tastes, has died. He was 90.

Robbins, who opened his first ice-cream shop in 1945 in Glendale, died Monday of complications related to old age at Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage, said his daughter, Marsha Veit.

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With his wife, Irma, whom he married in 1942, he raised three children. As an adult, his son John rejected the family business and wrote “Diet for a New America,” a 1987 book critical of the meat and dairy industries.

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In addition to his wife and daughter Marsha Veit of Mount Kisco, N.Y., Robbins is survived by two other children, John Robbins of Soquel, Calif., and Erin Robbins of Grass Valley, Calif.; sisters Shirley Familian and Elka Weiner of Los Angeles; five grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren.

Rest In Peace, Irvine.

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Cartoonist Ted Key, whose comic strip “Hazel” about a bossy maid went from magazine page to TV screen, has died. He was 95.

He died Saturday at his home in the Philadelphia suburb of Tredyffrin Township after a 1 1/2-year battle with cancer, his son Peter Key said Monday.

“Hazel” was a popular feature in The Saturday Evening Post from the time it debuted in 1943. It evolved into a prime-time series in 1961 that starred Shirley Booth and ran for four years on NBC and one year on CBS.

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Key was diagnosed with bladder cancer in 2006 and suffered a stroke in September.

He is survived by his second wife, Bonnie, three sons and three grandchildren. His first wife, Anne, died in 1984.

Rest In Peace, Ted.

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Lynne Harvey, wife of longtime broadcaster Paul Harvey, has died.

A release from the “Paul Harvey News” office says Lynne Harvey died early Saturday at their home in suburban River Forest after a yearlong battle with leukemia. Her age was not immediately available.

The Harveys met in Lynne’s hometown of St. Louis, where they both worked at radio station KXOK. They married in 1940 and later moved to Chicago.

Lynne Harvey is credited with developing some of Paul Harvey’s best known broadcast features, including “The Rest of the Story.”

She was the first producer to enter the Radio Hall of Fame and was inducted in 1997.

She is survived by her husband Paul Harvey and their son, Paul Harvey Jr.

Rest In Peace, Lynne.

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Jim Hager, one of the Hager Twins who satirized country life with cornball one-liners on TV’s “Hee Haw,” died in Nashville, the show’s producer said Friday. He was 66.

Hager was at a coffee shop when he collapsed Thursday, Sam Lovullo said. He said he had been told that by Jon Hager, the surviving twin. Vanderbilt University Medical Center, where he had been taken, gave no details on the cause of death.

The twins, who were also guitarists and drummers, rose to national fame as original cast members of the TV show in 1969. With its mixture of music and country-flavored humor, the show was a huge hit

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The twins were born in the Chicago area. They said in 1988 that they had been together all their lives except for 3 1/2 years when Jon left Los Angeles and moved to Nashville. Jim remained on the West Coast, but finally followed.

“He and Jon were a dynamic and extremely talented duo,” Roman said. “I pray for his family.”.

Rest In Peace, Jim.

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Kate Phillips, who played mostly supporting roles on Broadway and in more than 50 films in the 1930s and ’40s and who later was a co-writer of the 1958 horror film “The Blob,” died on April 18 in Keene, N.H. She was 94.

The death was confirmed by Lawrence Benaquist, chairman of film studies at Keene State College. Mrs. Phillips, known during her acting career as Kay Linaker, taught at the college from 1980 until two years ago.

In 1956, while working with Theodore Simonson on the script for a movie that was supposed to be called “The Molten Meteor,” Mrs. Phillips referred to the giant jellylike creature from another planet that had plopped into a field outside of a small town as “the blob.” Overhearing her, the producers changed the name of what became something of a cult classic.

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Her husband died before her. She is survived by a son, Bill, of El Cerrito, Calif.; a daughter, Regina Paquette of Keene; and four grandchildren.

In July 2003, Mrs. Phillips traveled to Phoenixville, Pa., to celebrate the town’s annual Blob Fest. As always, hundreds of B-movie fans raced out of the Colonial Theater, re-enacting the panic caused by a gelatinous creature in a scene filmed there almost five decades ago.

Rest In Peace, Kate.

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Joy Page, the stepdaughter of Jack L. Warner, a president of the Warner Brothers studio, who made her film debut as a Bulgarian newlywed in “Casablanca,” died on April 18 in Los Angeles. She was 83.

The cause was complications of a stroke and pneumonia, said her son, Gregory Orr.

Born on Nov. 9, 1924, in Los Angeles, Ms. Page was the daughter of the silent-film star Don Alvarado (also known as Don Page) and Ann Boyar, who married Mr. Warner after she and Mr. Alvarado divorced.

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Besides her son, Gregory, she is survived by her daughter, Diane Orr, and her half sister, Barbara Warner Howard.

Rest In Peace, Joy.

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Paul Davis, a singer and songwriter whose soft rock hit “I Go Crazy” stayed on the charts for months after its release in 1977, died Tuesday. He was 60.
Davis

Paul Davis’ hits included “I Go Crazy,” ” ‘65 Love Affair” and “Cool Night.”

Davis died of a heart attack at Rush Foundation Hospital in Meridian, the city where he grew up, cousin James Edwards said.

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After Davis left Jackson, he moved to New York, Nashville and then back to Meridian, Couch said.

Edwards said his cousin had returned to Mississippi to retire.

Rest In Peace, Paul.

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Al Wilson, the soul singer and songwriter who had a number of 1970s hits including “Show and Tell,” has died. He was 68.

Wilson died Monday of kidney failure at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Fontana, according to his son, Tony Wilson of Yucaipa.

“He was always singing,” his son said. “He would call me in the middle of the night with a new song that he had written.”

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“Show and Tell” was released in 1973 and the next year was No. 1 on the Billboard Top 100 chart.

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In addition to his son, Wilson is survived by his wife, Patricia; daughters Alene Harris and Sharon Burley; a brother, Eddie Wilson; sisters Lottie Ross, Ruby Conyers and Maebell Cole, and 13 grandchildren.

Rest In Peace, Al.

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