RIP

Harry Anderson, who became a household name starring in the massive TV hit, "Night Court," has died.

We spoke to Harry's son, Dashiell, and he tells TMZ ... his father passed away of natural causes. Anderson rose to fame playing Judge Harry T. Stone on the sitcom that ran from 1984 to 1992. Before "Night Court" he frequently appeared on "Saturday Night Live."

The actor died at his home Monday in North Carolina. All authorities are saying is that no foul play is suspected.

Anderson also appeared on "Cheers" and starred in his own sitcom, "Dave's World," which ran from 1993 to 1997.

He was also an accomplished magician and even opened a magic shop in the French Quarter of New Orleans. He also had a nightclub in the French Quarter called Oswald's Speakeasy.

In his later years, Anderson kept a low profile, only occasionally appearing in shows like "30 Rock," "Son of the Beach" and "Comedy Bang! Bang!"

He's survived by 2 children and his wife, Elizabeth Morgan.

Anderson was 65.

Zsa Zsa Gabor fans are dropping some major dough on over 450 of her personal belongings -- from the most glamorous to the most ordinary ... and there's still time to spend more.

The late Hungarian beauty's property is being auctioned off at her Beverly Hills home Saturday, and a few of the featured big-ticket items have already raked in big bucks.

So far, a diamond and 14-karat gold necklace with her iconic "Dah-ling" catchphrase has fetched $20,000 ... and her Steinway piano -- featured in the film "Behind the Candelabra" -- sold for thousands more than expected at $23,750.

More of Gabor's normal possessions -- like her 1961 American passport and her 1989 California driver's licence -- sold for around $4k each.

11:55 AM PT -- Pauly tells TMZ ... "Looking back on my mom’s life, the one word that comes to mind is giver. She gave her heart, her soul, and her stages. So Mom, on behalf of myself and all of the other comedians, we want to thank you from the bottom of our hearts for letting us develop our craft at the Store. Not only were you our comedy Godmother, you are my mother. We’d be nothing without you and your guidance. While you’re up in heaven, we will be down here on Earth making sure the Main Room, Belly Room, and Original room stay sacred. I love you. You will always be in my heart. Love Pauly, your baby."

Comedy Store founder and owner Mitzi Shore has died ... TMZ has learned.

Mitzi, the mother of Pauly Shore, died in L.A. Wednesday morning after battling an unknown neurological disorder for years.

Mitzi's Comedy Store was the launching pad for some of the biggest comics in the world, including Robin Williams, Richard Pryor, David Letterman, Jay Leno, Jim Carrey, Chris Rock, Arsenio Hall and Roseanne Barr.

Mitzi had been in hospice for a while, and Pauly took her to the Comedy Store Monday afternoon to say goodbye.

The Comedy Store opened its doors in 1972 on the Sunset Strip, where it has become a landmark for tourists as well as locals in Los Angeles. The huge names who got their start there would famously return unannounced to test out material.

Case in point ... imagine seeing Richard Pryor do a 2 minute set, before introducing an up-and-comer named Robin Williams.

Comics who performed at the venue recently knew the end was near, because over the last few weeks they would tell the audience to pray for Mitzi. Pauly said Mitzi was not in pain in her final days.

She's survived by 4 children.

Mitzi was 87.

RIP

Andre the Giant was a booze-swillin' LEGEND -- so says WWE Hall of Famer "Mean" Gene Okerlund, who tells TMZ Sports there were times he tried matching the Giant drink-for-drink!

Yeah ... you can guess how that turned out.

We spoke to Mean Gene before the "Andre the Giant" doc premieres Tuesday night on HBO ... and he told us some fun facts about his larger than life friend.

Turns out, Andre was a serious fine-dining nut -- especially for delicacies like animal hearts, kidneys and tongues. Gene also told us the Giant was one of the most honest human beings he's ever met.

But, the best part was when Gene revealed he went on a few benders with Andre -- and ended up getting WASTED.

"I did try to stand toe-to-toe with him on a couple of occasions, and trust me, I got bent," Okerlund said.

Coachella is a death trap for people trying to go to and from their campsites, and a woman was killed because of the festival's negligence ... according to a new suit.

The parents of Micha'la Josephine Freeland are suing Coachella for her wrongful death, claiming their daughter was struck by a Jeep Cherokee while she was crossing Avenue 52 -- an unpaved, dirt road -- on her way back to her camp because the festival failed to provide temporary pedestrian barricades, fences, lighting, warning signs and other safety provisions.

According to the docs ... Freeland was a Coachella security employee, but was not assigned to work on April 15, 2016, so she planned to hang with her family at the Ave 52 campsite. That night around 8:15 PM, she was hit by the vehicle while crossing Avenue 52 and later died at the hospital from her injuries.

Freeland's parents claim Coachella knew security personnel and their families would be traveling from the festival to the campsite on that road ... but failed to properly protect them.

Yvonne Staples -- best known as the baritone voice of The Staple Singers -- has died at her home in Chicago ... according to Chicago’s Leak & Sons Funeral Homes.

Yvonne helped her family's gospel, soul and R&B group reach the top of the music charts with "I'll Take You There" in 1972, shortly after bursting onto the scene with another smash hit, "Respect Yourself."

She performed with her sisters, along with their father -- guitarist Roebuck "Pops" Staples -- in churches across the South Side of Chicago before branching out and making it big in the '70s ... after she replaced her brother in the group.

The Staple Singers also had chart-topping hits like "If You're Ready (Come Go With Me)" and "Let's Do it Again." They made more than 30 albums and had 8 Top 40 tracks from 1971-1975. The group was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1999.

With Yvonne's passing, 78-year-old Mavis is the only living Staples sister ... and their father died in 2000.

Yvonne was 80.

Things got very real for Ronda Rousey during a session with Tyler Henry -- when the "Hollywood Medium" made a connection with her father ... who took his own life when she was only 8-years-old.

Henry -- a self-described "clairvoyant medium" -- told Ronda he was seeing imagery connected with a a vehicle and someone's final moments.

Ronda instantly become emotional and revealed that her father took his own life inside of a car after suffering from a debilitating medical condition for years.

The UFC legend (turned WWE superstar) began recalling memories of her father and started to tear up during the episode which airs Wednesday on E!.

Richard Pryor's widow says his daughter needs to be proud of her father's truth -- that he also liked having sex with men ... and there's no shame in that.

We got Jennifer Lee Pryor leaving Book Soup on Sunday in WeHo where she was signing copies of Richard's reissued book, "Pryor Convictions And Other Life Sentences." She was particularly upset about Richard's daughter, Rain, insisting Richard never slept with Marlon Brando.

Jennifer told us why she thinks it's true. Remember, she's planning to publish Richard's diaries in October ... so, she clearly has inside knowledge.

Tiffany Haddish will introduce a man who needs no introduction, but will get it anyway, because he's the late, great and legendary Richard Pryor.

We're told Tiffany's writing the intro to the highly-anticipated 'Richard Pryor Diaries' ... a project spearheaded by Richard's wife, Jennifer Lee Pryor. The book's due out in October, but there's been tremendous buzz since TMZ broke the story that Richard did, in fact, bang Marlon Brando.

The book, of course, will dive into Richard's bisexuality, his home life and storied career.

We're told Tiffany jumped at the opportunity because Richard's one of her heroes. Tiffany, of course, attended a Laugh Factory camp back in the late '90s when she was in high school, which Pryor visited. He also mentored Tiffany, whose career skyrocketed since "Girls Trip."

Unclear what Tiffany's gonna let outta the bag -- she's good at that -- but pretty sure it'll be hilarious.

Richard's wife will be at a book signing Sunday for the reissue of Richard's book, "Pryor Convictions And Other Life Sentences" at Book Soup in WeHo.

October can't come soon enough.

"This is Us" star Justin Hartley's reeling from the loss of his dog ... but it's his second pooch he's even more concerned about.

We got Justin out in Studio City on Thursday and our guy offered his condolences after the passing of Memphis ... the 11-year-old rescue Justin and his wife, Chrishell, adopted in December 2016. Chrishell said Memphis died earlier this week after his kidneys gave out.

Justin says it's been a tough few days but watch the vid to find out why he's also worried for his second rescue, Gracie. And for what it's worth ... he's also kinda concerned about our guy running into trees.

Ex-MTV "Road Rules" star Brian Lancaster has died at just 43 years old ... TMZ has learned.

Brian appeared on season 7 of "Road Rules" back in 1999. His family tells us he was found dead in his Pennsylvania home last Thursday. They believe it was heart failure, and tell us he had a history of arrhythmia.

The family says the death was not drug or alcohol related -- and, as far as they know, no substances were found in the home.

Brian was 23 years old when he competed on "Road Rules." He didn't win the grand prize of $43k, but he competed on 13 different "missions" over the course of 15 episodes while shooting in Mexico, Costa Rica and the United States.

Dolores O'Riordan sounded pumped and ready to belt out her old tune with a new band the day she died ... this according to her last voicemail ever.

TMZ has obtained a voice message Dolores left for her longtime friend and label exec, Dan Waite, on Jan. 15 -- the day she unexpectedly passed away -- which also happened to be the day she was set to record a cover of The Cranberries' song "Zombie" with Bad Wolves.

We're told the voicemail's time stamp was 1:12 AM GMT in London ... and, as you can hear, Dan -- who set up the collab -- is clearly mentioned in the audio. Dolores also says she loved Bad Wolves' version of "Zombie" ... adding it "sounds f****** terribly good."

Clearly, she was excited to get in the studio -- but, unfortunately, she never made it. As we reported ... The Cranberries singer was found dead just hours later in her hotel. Her cause of death has yet to be released -- police have only said she died suddenly.

Reports surfaced Dolores may have taken her own life, especially because she had extreme bouts with depression. If it turns out to be the case, it would be eerily similar to Chris Cornell's death ... where his wife said he was in a great mood hours before he died. You'll recall, Chris seemed as if nothing was wrong just before he took the stage for his final performance.

Dolores was officially laid to rest in her native Ireland a couple days after a public reposal was held for her. She was 46 years old.

As for the Bad Wolves cover ... the band released their version in Dolores' honor about a month after she passed, donating the proceeds of the song to her three children.

WWE Hall of Famer Johnny Valiant -- a 2-time World Tag Team champ -- was killed Wednesday morning near Pittsburgh when he was hit by a truck while crossing the street.

The 71-year-old -- real name Tommy Sullivan -- was walking in Ross Township, Pennsylvania when he was struck by a pickup truck around 5:30 AM.

Valiant was rushed to a nearby hospital but his injuries were too severe and he died shortly after the incident.

After his wrestling career, Valiant went on to manage WWE superstars like Hulk Hogan, Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake, Dino Bravo and Demolition.

Martin Luther King Jr.'s daughter says President Trump can better honor her father on the 50th anniversary of his assassination with real life actions ... NOT tweets.

We talked to Bernice King on Wednesday about Trump's remembrance to Dr. King, which he did on Twitter. Granted, it's his favorite platform to address the world ... but for Bernice it rings a little hollow.

She admits, it's not realistic to hold POTUS to MLK's standard, but thinks we should be encouraging Trump to better embrace her father's ideals.

Ted Kennedy didn't abandon Mary Jo Kopechne when his car plunged off a bridge on Chappaquiddick Island ... he didn't even know she was in the car, according to a retired CIA operative.

We've been asked not to use the CIA person's name, but he worked for the agency for decades. He says back in 1969, Kennedy was romantically involved with the wife of a very powerful politician, and if word got out about the affair Kennedy was afraid it would ruin his career.

The operative says the night of the accident Kennedy and some of his buddies were all drunk and drove to a party on the Island. They went there because the politician's wife was at the party and Kennedy wanted to hook up with her. Mary Jo Kopechne was at the party ... she and Kennedy were acquaintances but not romantically involved.

According to the operative, Mary Jo was drunk, said she had a headache, got up and said she was going into one of the bedrooms to lie down.

At some point later in the evening, Kennedy and the politician's wife wanted "some alone time" and didn't want to do anything in front of the group, so they got in the car and drove ... eventually plunging off the bridge into the water. They both swam to shore safely. The operative says both were not injured.

The operative says unbeknownst to either Kennedy or the politician's wife, Mary Jo apparently was unable to sleep in the house because of the noise, so she went into the back seat of the car where she fell asleep ... which is where she died. At least one person at the party knew Mary Jo had gone into one of the cars and told authorities that after the accident.

The operative says cops immediately knew the politician's wife was in the car, because she had left her purse on the front seat. The operative says so began a cover-up to protect Kennedy.

When Van Met Winnie, it was nothing like Harry and Sally ... but CNN host Van Jones still got an unforgettable story out of it.

We got the CNN host Monday at LAX as he was heading to Memphis to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination. He also reflected on Winnie Mandela's death ... and the moment he, unexpectedly, came face-to-face with her.

As we reported, Nelson Mandela's wife died Monday after a lengthy battle with illness -- and even though her life was filled with scandals, Van says it's hard to judge her.