Celebrity Death

Hugh Hefner was in failing health for years, and he steadily deteriorated in the final months of his life.

This pic was taken in January ... inside the Playboy Mansion. Although Hef was frail, using a walker to get around, he still hosted movie nights and invited people over.

TMZ broke the story ... Hefner got a back infection 2 years ago and that became the linchpin for a variety of ailments that ultimately led to his death.

Hefner died Wednesday night at age 91.

Hugh Hefner will be in good company in his final resting place -- the cemetery where he'll be buried is filled with more celebs than the Holmby Hills 'hood where he lived in the Playboy Mansion.

Hef bought the crypt next to Marilyn Monroe years ago at the Westwood Memorial Park Cemetery -- but she's just the start. Merv Griffin, Farrah Fawcett, Florence Henderson and Rodney Dangerfield are also nearby.

Farrah graced the cover of Playboy in 1978 and then again 1995, when she also posed naked inside. There's also at least one other famous playmate of the month and centerfold buried there, too.

HINT: She was Playboy's "Miss January 1955."

Over on Hollywood Boulevard, a less permanent memorial went up Thursday morning ... the Chamber of Commerce placed a wreath over Hef's star.

Suge Knight is pouring fuel all over a legendary conspiracy theory by speaking out from jail to explain why he believes there's a good chance Tupac Shakur is alive.

The notorious Death Row Records CEO spoke to Ice-T and Soledad O'Brien -- on the phone from the L.A. County jail -- when he dropped the bombshell. Suge told them something about Pac's hospital stay after the 1996 shooting just doesn't add up for him.

TMZ got this exclusive clip from the special, "Who Shot Biggie & Tupac?" ... where Ice and Soledad lead an investigation into the unsolved murders and uncover new accounts of the shootings from people who were there. It airs Sunday, September 24 on Fox.

And we'll get Ice-T's reaction to Suge's theory on Friday's TMZ Live.

Frank Vincent won't get to play his final movie role, but he'll still be all over the project ... through the names of the film's 2 lead characters.

Frank was one of those leads in a movie called "Asbury Park." Krannel Pictures CEO, Dawn Krantz tells TMZ ... he was going to play Jimmy Two Shoes. The movie hasn't been shot yet, but Dawn says Frank was just starting to prep for the role. The other lead was named Big Mike.

Dawn says they've decided to change Jimmy's name to Frank, and Big Mike's to Vincent .. to honor their late star. She says there's no getting around recasting Frank's role -- the NJ native was such a big part of the film ... which is about '70s rock n' roll in Jersey.

As we reported ... Vincent died Wednesday after complications following heart surgery. He was 80.

Blake Heron, the actor who played Marty Preston in the 1996 movie, "Shiloh," was found on his couch, unresponsive, and his girlfriend tearfully called 911 to try to save him.

TMZ broke the story, Blake was found dead Friday morning ... of an apparent drug overdose.

In the 911 call, you hear the girlfriend say Blake's jaw is clenched, which is a sign rigor mortis has set in.

The dispatcher holds out hope and tells the girlfriend to get Blake on the floor and tells her how to do CPR. You hear her in agony, crying, "He's dead. He's dead."

Blake was 35.

The helicopter crash that killed country singer Troy Gentry is now under NTSB investigation, and we're told a central question will be whether the pilot should have attempted a landing instead of hovering with mechanical problems and waiting for emergency assistance.

Helicopter pilots at and around the Flying W Airport in Medford, New Jersey tell TMZ ... the pilot had options, though none were great.

You hear in the audio from first responders the pilot had mechanical problems and was waiting for emergency crews before attempting a landing. The chopper crashed before the responders arrived.

As one helicopter pilot in the area said, a hard landing often proves safer than hovering because low-flying helicopters with serious mechanical issues are extremely vulnerable while in the air. On the other hand ... he says because of the fire danger, you want the area foamed before touching down whenever possible.

The pilot also says there are beds of water nearby the crash scene, and putting a chopper in distress down in water is often a lot safer than hovering over ground.

Tupac Shakur knew who killed him but his murder remains unsolved because the Las Vegas PD never wanted to solve it ... according to a new 2Pac special, and TMZ has the exclusive first clip.

Pac's getting his own 'Snapped: Notorious' documentary on Oxygen airing September 10. It'll run 2 hours with in-depth interviews from people who were the last to see him alive before he was fatally shot dead in a drive-by in 1996. They include close friends and rappers Danny Boy and Yo-Yo, DJ Mister Cee, Pac's first manager Leila Steinberg, music journalist Toure and others.

The trailer, obtained by TMZ, paints a vivid picture of Pac's last breaths on his deathbed in a Las Vegas hospital ... his finger shot off and nodding that he knew who did this to him.

A must watch for any 2Pac fan.

Tanya Tucker's tribute to Glen Campbell has struck the wrong chord with his widow Kim Campbell, who thinks Tucker's serving a "distorted fairy tale" of their short-lived romance to the masses ... but Tucker says it's purely for charity.

Tanya, who dated Glen in the '80s before he married Kim, released the song "Forever Loving You" about Glen, on August 9, a day after he died of Alzheimer's. She's been on a media blitz promoting the track ever since.

Kim's people say Tanya is "callous and disrespectful," exploiting Glen's name. They say it pains Kim to see Glen and Tanya's faces all over tabloids, with headlines like "He Was The Love of My Life."

Kim's camp says, in reality, Tanya had nothing to do with Glen for 35 years, and Kim worked tirelessly to help him battle Alzheimer's.

Tanya's "Today" performance is what sent Kim through the roof, when the hosts expressed their sympathy to Tucker and not the grieving widow and 3 kids Glen left behind.

Tanya's camp says she's just using the moment to raise awareness for Alzheimer's.

We got Tanya in NYC this week and she seemed pretty clueless to any hard feelings.

Prince's former sound engineer is claiming victory over the estate in their battle over song rights, at the same time the engineer made an 8-figure offer to own Prince's enormously valuable music vault.

George Boxill claims the late singer gave him the masters and the rights to a number of Prince's published songs, which Boxill also claims he co-wrote.

The songs have been the subject of prolonged litigation, but Boxill says the estate recently admitted in open court he did indeed have the right to release the tracks and profit from them. This is a dramatic turn, since the estate actually got an injunction that derailed Boxill from releasing all but one song. Boxill is aggressively trying to get the injunction overturned.

Now here's where it gets good. Sources connected to Boxill tell TMZ, Boxill and his music label, RMA, recently made a $10 million offer to the cash-strapped estate for the entire vault of unreleased music, but our sources say they were turned down flat.

There were reports Jay-Z offered $40 mil but we're told it was way less and was for the entire catalog. Universal actually made a $31 mil offer for the entire catalog but the deal fell apart.

John Blackwell Jr. -- who toured with Prince as his drummer for over a decade -- died Tuesday.

John's wife, Yaritza said he died peacefully in her company. She said, "Thanks God for his life and thanks everyone for their support."

The cause of death is unknown but Blackwell battled a brain tumor last year after undergoing a battery of tests at a hospital in Japan. Yaritza setup a GoFundMe page last July ... and as of date it's raised over $78,000 to help cover medical expenses.

Blackwell took up drums at 3 years old, inspired by his father who was himself an accomplished drummer. Blackwell toured with Patti LaBelle before he met Prince, and he also toured with Justin Timberlake on his FutureSex/LoveSounds album.

John was 43.

#RIP

Prodigy may be gone, but he's not forgotten ... especially by his other half in Mobb Deep -- Havoc.

The rapper took the stage Friday night at the NJ PAC Center for the first time since Prodigy's death for the Art of Rap Festival ... and it was powerful stuff.

East Coast rap was fully represented for the show ... especially when Ice T joined Havoc on stage.

Prodigy was hospitalized after a show in Vegas and died June 20th. He suffered from sickle cell anemia for years, but his cause of death is still unknown.

Adam West -- star of TV's "Batman" -- has died after a short battle with leukemia.

The actor played Batman/Bruce Wayne in the campy 1960's television series and years later landed a recurring role on "Family Guy" as the voice of the mayor of Quahog.

The TV version of "Batman" ran on ABC from 1966 - 68 and was an enormous, campy hit and remains an iconic version of the famed Caped Crusader.

Wayne was always on the receiving end of hilarious lines delivered by co-star Burt Ward, aka Robin ... "Holy atomic pile," "Holy barracuda," "Holy Benedict Arnold," "Holy popcorn," and "Holy shrinkage!"

West died Friday night at his home in Los Angeles. The family released a statement, saying ... "Our dad always saw himself as The Bright Knight, and aspired to make a positive impact on his fans’ lives. He was and always will be our hero.”

Fellow Batman actor, Ben Affleck, echoed the sentiment in a tweet ... "Adam West exemplified heroism. Kind, funny and an all around great guy. Thank you for showing us all how it's done."

He was 88.

RIP

Gregg Allman's family and close friends gathered for a private funeral service before heading to the cemetery to lay the Southern rock legend to rest.

Allman's ex-wife, Cher, arrived at the service at a small chapel before the group of about 100 people moved to the Rose Hill Cemetery in Macon, GA ... the same place his brother Duane is buried.

Fans lined the streets from the funeral to the cemetery to pay tribute to The Allman Brothers Band frontman.

We're told former President Jimmy Carter attended as well.

Gregg died last week from complications due to liver cancer. He was 69.

Gregg Allman -- the musician, singer and songwriter known for fronting The Allman Brothers Band for 45 years -- has died from complications due to liver cancer ... TMZ has learned.

Allman's longtime manager tells us ... he died peacefully at his home Saturday in Savannah, Georgia. We're told he has been dealing with multiple health issues ever since being diagnosed with cancer 5 years ago.

The manager also tells us Gregg had finished his last record ... which will be released in September of this year.

Allman was known for his long blonde hair and being a rock n' blues pioneer along with his brother Duane. They founded their band in 1969, and Gregg rocked with them until their final show in 2014.

He became the band's frontman in 1971 after Duane was tragically killed in a motorcycle accident. He composed such hits as "Midnight Rider," "Whipping Post" and "Melissa."

He is survived by his wife, Shannon Allman, 5 children -- including a son he had with Cher -- 3 grandchildren and a large extended family.

Gregg was 69.

RIP

Chris Cornell was honored Friday night at the Rock on the Range music festival by the lead singer of Slipknot ... and the entire crowd got in the act.

Corey Taylor was joined onstage by his bandmate from Stone Sour, guitarist Christian Martucci, and they performed 2 tribute songs to Chris -- Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here" and "Hunger Strike" by Cornell's Temple of the Dog.

There was also a video montage honoring the late rock legend -- who died Thursday -- set to Soundgarden's "Black Hole Sun."

Ashley McNeely -- who appeared with Tila Tequila on her reality show, 'Shot at Love' -- was found dead Thursday ... TMZ has learned.

Law enforcement sources tell us cops responded to an incident and found him dead in his hometown, Beckley, WV. The circumstances surrounding his death are unclear.

McNeely had his moment ... in 2004 he rang in the New Year with Ryan Seacrest for the Times Square crystal ball drop on ABC.

Ashley also appeared on 6 episodes of the series, "That's Amore!"

He was 35.