RIP

Frankie Ford, the rock 'n' roll singer and pianist who had a huge hit with "Sea Cruise" died Monday in his native Louisiana.

The coroner says Ford died of natural causes at the age of 76 in his home in Gretna -- a New Orleans suburb. Mike Shepherd from the Louisiana music Hall of Fame says Ford had been confined to his bed over the summer while fighting an illness.

Ford shot to fame with his top 20 hit "Sea Cruise" in 1959.

He was known as the New Orleans Dynamo because he tirelessly toured the country, and got inducted into Louisiana's Music Hall of Fame in 2010.

Oo-ee, oo-ee baby ...

Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson saved his dog once from death, but his second attempt failed.

The Rock's bulldog pup Brutus was put down Monday night after eating a poisonous mushroom in the family's backyard. The mushroom was so toxic, the dog's liver shut down within hours.

The Rock says the dog was on life-support, but after consulting with vets he decided to let Brutus go.

You'll recall earlier this month, Brutus fell in the pool and The Rock jumped in to save him.

Rock said, "We'll always love you Brutus ... and you'll always be my lil' main man and rough housing Brute."

RIP Brutus

9:43 AM PT -- Jim Carrey released a statement -- "I am shocked and deeply saddened by the passing of my sweet Cathriona. She was a truly kind and delicate Irish flower, too sensitive for this soil, to whom loving and being loved was all that sparkled. My heart goes out to her family and friends and to everyone who loved and cared about her. We have all been hit with a lightning bolt."

Jim Carrey's on-again/off-again 28-year-old girlfriend has committed suicide ... TMZ has learned.

Law enforcement tells TMZ, LAPD responded to a call in the L.A. area Monday night. We're told they went to a residence and found the body of Cathriona White.

Our sources say White left a suicide note addressed to Carrey which references their break up on Sept. 24. Cathriona tweeted on the 24th ... "Signing off Twitter, I hope I have been a light to my nearest and dearest."

Law enforcement tells us they believe she died from an overdose of drugs -- pills were next to her body. We're told 2 friends found Cathriona last night when they went to check on her.

53-year-old Carrey and White met in 2012, dated a few months and then split. They rekindled their relationship in May.

Action sports star Erik Roner -- one of the stars of MTV's "Nitro Circus" -- died in a freak skydiving accident in Lake Tahoe, California ... this according to the resort where it happened.

Bobbi Kristina's cause of death is now known, but no one's talking, because police are still on the hunt for evidence that could lead to a homicide prosecution.

The Fulton County Medical Examiner just said it knows exactly what killed Whitney Houston's daughter, but they can't reveal it to the public because a judge ordered the findings sealed.

The M.E. did say the Fulton County D.A. and the Roswell P.D. have been clued in.

It's not hard to read between the lines. Authorities don't want the findings to interfere with their investigation ... to give persons of interests and suspects a road map preventing them from making incriminating statements. The judge's order underscores that the criminal investigation is active.

Yogi Berra, a New York Yankees legend and one of the most beloved American sports stars in history, died Tuesday.

Yogi was an All-Star catcher for the Yankees from 1946 to 1963, and also played one year with the Mets before retiring as a player in 1965. He played in the Bronx alongside the likes of Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle ... earning a record TEN World Series rings.

Yogi also caught pitcher Don Larsen's perfect game in the 1956 World Series.

He was just as famous for his quirky sayings, known as "Yogi-isms," as he was his Hall of Fame baseball career. Some of the best include:

- "Baseball is 90 percent mental. The other half is physical."

- "It gets late early out there."

- "If you come to a fork in the road, take it."

- "It's like deja vu all over again."

Miller played off Yogi's idioms for a popular 1987 beer commercial that happened to co-star a young Jason Alexander -- who, coincidentally, worked for the Yankees years later on "Seinfeld."

Yogi, whose birth name was Lawrence Peter, served in the U.S. Navy during World War II, and participated in the D-Day invasion. He started playing pro baseball when he got out of the service.

The Yogi Berra Museum and Learning Center in NJ announced his death. Yogi was 90.

Jack Larson -- the first person to play Clark Kent's sidekick Jimmy Olsen -- died Sunday at his home in Brentwood, CA. He was 87.

Larson starred alongside George Reeves on "The Adventures of Superman" from 1952-1958. He acted sparingly after the series ended. He did make an appearance on a 1996 episode of "Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman" ... and also in 1991 on the series "Superboy."

However, Larson stayed in showbiz -- after acting, he went on to become a playwright and producer.

Best selling novelist Jackie Collins passed away Saturday, she was 77-years-old.

Collins has sold more than 500 million novels globally and all 32 of her books appeared on The New York Times bestsellers list.

Collins' family posted a statement on their Facebook saying, "It is with tremendous sadness that we announce the death of our beautiful, dynamic and one of a kind mother, Jackie Collins, who died of breast cancer today."

Jackie was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer six-and-a-half years ago.

Ex-Laker Ronny Turiaf says the death of Moses Malone at only 60-years-old ... hit very close to home for him ... since he too has dealt with life-threatening heart issues.

Turiaf was in L.A. Sunday night, and he opened up about Malone's legendary game -- and said it immediately reminded him about his 2005 open heart surgery. Seems Ronny assumed Malone had gone by heart attack, since he wasn't that old.

Turns out he was right. We broke the story ... the Medical Examiner says Malone died from heart disease.

On a lighter note -- former NBA star John Salley reminisced about ballin' against the "Chairman of the Boards."

NBA great Moses Malone died due to a severe hardening of his arteries ... TMZ Sports has learned.

8:30 A.M. PST -- It has been revealed the victims are American pilot Alan Purwin and Colombian pilot Carlos Berl. A third passenger, American Jimmy Garind was rushed to the hospital with serious injuries.

Two crew members from Tom Cruise's new movie "Mena" were killed on set Friday after a plane went down in Colombia.

Reports say the small twin-engine plane went down with 2 American pilots and a Colombian citizen on board. It has been used during production to transport crew members.

We do know Cruise was NOT on board. He had wrapped filming earlier in the day. There are reports the plane went down in bad weather near Medellin.

The movie is about a pilot who worked for drug lord Pablo Escobar.

Kerry Simon -- the "Iron Chef" winner known as the "Rock 'n' Roll Chef," has died.

Kerry had battled a rare form of Parkinson's disease called MSA. He went public with his diagnosis in 2013 and his condition deteriorated. He had been confined to a wheelchair.

Simon got his big break when Ivana Trump hired him as a chef at the famed Plaza Hotel in NYC.

He owned several big restaurants in Vegas, including Simon Kitchen and Bar at the Hard Rock, Simon at Palms, and KGB at Harrah's. They were all populated by celebs.

He also owned other restaurants around the country.

Martin Milner, who starred in the huge hit '60s and '70s show "Adam 12" -- which spawned generations of kids who wanted to become cops -- has died.

L.A. Police Chief Charlie Beck tells TMZ, "Milner's depiction of a professional and tough yet compassionate cop led to thousands of men and women applying to become LAPD officers, including me."

Milner also starred in another enormous show -- "Route 66" -- which was a big hit in the '60s.

The actor had roles on several other big hit shows, like "Columbo," "Swiss Family Robinson," "Valley of the Dolls" and "Murder She Wrote."

We're told he died peacefully at home, surrounded by his family.

Carter Lay, an heir to the Frito-Lay potato chip empire, was found dead in his L.A. home Thursday.

Cops tell TMZ they got a call around noon for an unconscious male. When they arrived they found Carter in his bedroom, unresponsive. CPR failed and he was pronounced dead on the scene.

Carter was the grandson of Herman Lay -- the founder of Frito-Lay. The company is valued at $13.1 billion, according to Forbes.

An autopsy is underway. We're told there is nothing suspicious surrounding his death.

A friend of Lay tells TMZ he recently beat leukemia.

Carter, who has 2 kids, was 44.

Amanda Peterson -- who starred in "Can't Buy Me Love" died from an accidental overdose of a deadly combination of drugs.

The 43-year-old disappeared just before the 4th of July and her body was found on July 5th.

According to the Weld County Coroner in Colorado, Peterson had a variety of prescription drugs in her system, including benzodizepines (anti-anxiety meds), opiates and phenothiazines (an anti-psychotic medication). She also had marijuana in her system.

One of the drugs in her system -- Gabapentin -- was prescribed for pain and the medical examiner said she had 6 times the normal level in her system.

The report says Peterson was "naive to opiates."

The toxicology report says a week before her death she told someone she ingested morphine medication she got from friends. The reports says she was self-medicating to control pain.

As for why she died, the report says it was because of a "morphine effect" ... which causes respiratory failure.

The first wife of Marlon Brando is turning over in her grave because her dying wish -- to be buried side-by-side with her son, Christian Brando -- was denied by Christian's first wife.

Anna Kashfi was laid to rest Wednesday in Kalama, WA after succumbing to breast and colon cancer. What friends planning her funeral didn't realize ... is that Mary Brando had snatched the prime real estate next to Christian's grave -- even though they'd divorced 21 years before his death.

Funeral organizers went to plan B, and instead buried Anna in the plot directly above Christian -- so they're now head-to-head.

Mary is still alive ... and Brando family sources tell us Anna's estate contacted her to try to buy back the prized plot, but she refused. That's more bad blood than a T. Swizzle video.