Art Evans, the actor whose wide-ranging career spanned Broadway, critically acclaimed films, and beloved television shows, has died at the age of 74. His wife, Babe Evans, described him as a source of joy and light, saying in a statement that while the loss is profound, his legacy of laughter and inspiration will endure. Evans passed away peacefully surrounded by family, according to his obituary, though the cause of death has not been disclosed.

Evans’ acting career began on the stage in 1964 with a starring role in James Baldwin’s The Amen Corner at Frank Silvera’s Theater of Being in Los Angeles. The play later debuted on Broadway in 1965, marking Evans’ entry into the national spotlight. His talent quickly led to a series of roles in television and film throughout the 1970s and 1980s, including appearances in Leadbelly, Youngblood, Hill Street Blues, and MASH*. His breakthrough came in 1984 with the acclaimed film A Soldier’s Story, where he starred alongside Denzel Washington and Adolph Caesar.

In 1990, Evans delivered one of his most memorable performances in Die Hard 2, portraying Barnes, an air traffic controller who assists Bruce Willis’ John McClane in thwarting a terrorist plot. The role cemented his place in Hollywood and showcased his ability to bring depth and charisma to supporting characters. Evans continued to work steadily throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, with credits in Doogie Howser, M.D., Family Matters, The X Files, and films like Big Time and Fright Night.

Evans’ most recent role was in the Disney+ animated series The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder, where he lent his voice from 2022 to 2023. The project capped a career that spanned nearly six decades and included a wide variety of genres and formats. His contributions to both stage and screen highlighted his versatility and dedication to the craft of acting.

Memorial services for Evans will be announced in the coming days, according to his family. His enduring impact on audiences and colleagues alike underscores a career marked by passion, resilience, and an unrelenting commitment to storytelling.

Prolific artist and fearless civil rights activist, Harry Belafonte never minced words when it came to challenging perceptions of race, social justice and pushing humanity to “make the world a little better.”

“I am a man who perceives life in a certain way, a man who rejects things that defecate on humankind, who rejects anything that will not give people room for dissent,” he once said.

A warrior at heart who seamlessly combined soulful performances in film and music with a fearless sensibility in matters of race and human rights, Belafonte died on Tuesday at age  96.Harry Belafonte sits for a portrait on Sept. 27, 2011 in his New York office. (Credit: Robert Deutsch, USA TODAY via Imagn Content Services)

Belafonte was born in New York City to immigrant parents on March 1, 1927. His father, a Royal Navy chef, was from Martinique; his mother, a housekeeper, hailed from Jamaica. Both parents had racially mixed backgrounds. In Arnold Shaw’s biography, “Belafonte,” the performer talked about his family’s makeup and the influence it had on him as a child.

“If you could see my whole family congregated together, you would see every tonality of color, from the darkest black, like my Uncle Hyne, to the ruddiest white, like my Uncle Eric, a Scotsman,” he said.

Belafonte lived in New York until he was 9 when his mother moved him and his brother to her native country to protect them from Harlem’s harsh, Depression-era streets. He attended Jamaica’s private British boarding schools, which commonly used caning to discipline.

In Jamaica, he wasn’t always treated well by his lighter-skinned relatives, yet he found a way to embrace his new home, which had a major influence on him.

“I still have the impression of an environment that sang. Nature sang and the people sang, too,” Belafonte said in Shaw’s biography. “The streets of Kingston constantly rang with the songs of piping peddlers or politicians drumming up votes in the lifting singsong of the island. I loved it.”

Source: Harry Belafonte, actor, singer, activist dies at 96

Singer Kelis’ husband of eight years, Mike Mora, died from stage 4 stomach cancer at the age of 37, HuffPost reports.

The couple married in 2014 and moved to a farm on the outskirts of Los Angeles. Mora and Kelis share two children, a 6-year-old son, and a 2-year-old daughter. Kelis also has a 12-year-old son with ex-husband Nas.

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Last October, Mora shared his cancer prognosis on Instagram and how he was dealing with excruciating pain in his stomach, according to People.

“Loss of appetite. Pain in my back also started to creep in,” he wrote on Instagram, adding that he “finally decided to do something about it.”

Around the same time his daughter was born, doctors told him he had 18 months to live.

“Life is full of the most unexpected situations,” he posted in Oct. 2021. “I never thought this could happen to me. At just 36, with three kiddos, and a wife that loves me.”

Source: Kelis’ Husband, Mike Mora, Passes Away From Stomach Cancer