RIP

Hundreds of Burt Reynolds look-alikes will flood the streets of Long Island this month for a car show honoring the late actor ... and the best impersonator wins a big ass trophy!!!

We're told Burt was invited to the Motor Mania Long Island Auto Expo, but he couldn't travel because of his health. After the actor passed away Thursday of a heart attack, the auto show organizers decided they'll honor Burt with a theme and costume contest.

Butch Yamali, the owner of the expo, tells us he saw Burt in May at a Florida auction for the Trans Am from Burt's personal collection, and that's when he extended the invite. Burt initially said yes.

Now, the car show has its first ever theme and costume contest in honor of Burt.

Cowboy hats, mustaches, red shirts and Trans Ams will be out in full force as event organizers search for the best Reynolds impersonator from his role in "Smokey and the Bandit."

There's another trophy for the car that's closest to the 1977 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am from the film.

We're told the car show is reaching out to Burt's family and living 'Bandit' castmembers for personal invites.

The annual show, which usually draws 10k-15k people, is set for September 29-30.

The Florida State University football team will pay tribute to one of their own -- Burt Reynolds -- by wearing special helmet decals this weekend honoring the late actor.

Reynolds played halfback at FSU back in the '50s -- and was a proud supporter of the Seminoles football team over the years.

The 82-year-old actor died Thursday after suffering a heart attack -- and when FSU takes the field on Saturday against the Samford Bulldogs in Tallahassee ... they'll all be sporting some sort of BW-inspired decal near the legendary arrowhead.

Reynolds was a scholarship athlete at FSU -- and in his 1st season with the Noles, ran for 134 yards and 2 touchdowns on 16 carries.

He was supposed to blow up his next season -- but a couple of knee injuries (along with a bad car accident) slowed him down.

The younger brother of L.A. Dodgers legend Tommy Lasorda died Thursday night in a major car accident involving a police vehicle.

Officials confirm 83-year-old Joseph Lasorda tried to make a left turn in front of a Boca Raton Police Dept. SUV patrol vehicle around 8:30 PM ... and was T-boned by the cop car.

Lasorda was transported to a nearby hospital where he was later pronounced dead. The officer driving the police vehicle was hospitalized for minor injuries and is expected to be okay.

Officials are investigating the incident.

Joseph is survived by his wife Gaetana, 2 children and a grandchild.

Cuba Gooding Jr. doesn't know what Burt Reynolds' mustache would've said if it could talked ... but he knows it had some sweet moves.

We got Cuba Thursday night at the NYC Italian joint Bice Cucina ... where the actor remembered his former costar. They were in the 2006 flick "End Game" together. Cuba tells us how he found out Burt had died ... comparing it to getting sucker punched. Ditto.

Cuba paid tribute to Burt as the OG international star who was an awesome storyteller. Then, there's the mustache. Cuba goes into storytelling mode himself to describe one of the all-time great 'staches.

As we reported, Burt died of a heart attack Thursday morning at a hospital in Florida.

Burt Reynolds was able to live out his final years at his longtime Florida estate thanks to a loving landlord who helped him out of a financial crisis.

Here's the backstory -- Burt sold his home in 2015 to his friend and neighbor Charles Modica after years of money woes and a decade-long struggle to unload it, but Charles allowed him to stay there for the rest of his life ... similar to Hugh Hefner at the Playboy Mansion.

Modica tells TMZ ... he bought Burt's pad with the intention of letting the legendary actor continue living there, because moving would have been traumatic. Modica says he always respected Reynolds for all the good he did in Florida, so he charged him relatives pennies in rent. In fact, Modica says he doesn't even recall the exact amount -- his accountant handles it -- but it was a super small sum.

As for the waterfront property ... Charles has no plans to sell. Fact is, it's a good investment.

Burt bought the estate back in 1980 for $700k, and later lived there with his then-wife, Loni Anderson. He put it on the market in 2005, and it was priced all over the place -- as high as $15 million -- before he sold it in 2015 to Modica for $3.3 mil. Modica says it's now worth somewhere between $4 and $5 mil.

The 3.4-acre estate has a 12,000 sq. ft. main house and a 2-bed guesthouse, a movie theater, a pool decorated with the FSU logo, a dock on the water and a helicopter landing pad.

As we reported ... Reynolds died of a heart attack Thursday in Florida. He was 82.

1:52 PM PT -- In the 911 call -- obtained by TMZ -- a male caller tells emergency operators Reynolds is experiencing trouble breathing and chest pain. The caller also says Reynolds is awake but not answering questions. The call was made just after noon on Thursday.

12:54 PM PT -- Burt was cast in Quentin Tarantino's Charles Manson film, "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood," but a source connected to the project tells us Burt hadn't shot his scenes yet.

He was supposed to shoot for 2 days, playing George Spahn ... the owner of the ranch where the Manson Family lived and plotted the Tate-LaBianca murders. Back in June, he showed up for a table read in Hollywood with the rest of the cast, including Brad Pitt.

Burt Reynolds died of a heart attack Thursday morning at a hospital in Florida, according to multiple reports.

Reynolds was 82.

Burt was transported to a Florida hospital after going into cardiac arrest at home. His family was by his side when he passed.

Reynolds had heart problems for years -- he underwent major heart surgery in February 2010. His rep tells us Burt had appeared extremely frail recently, and was in and out of the hospital.

Burt was a star in movies and on TV -- appearing in classics like "Smokey and the Bandit," "Boogie Nights" and "The Cannonball Run."

Reynolds was nominated for an Oscar for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for his role as porn director Jack Horner in "Boogie Nights" in 1997. He won the Golden Globe that year.

He's survived by his son.

Reynolds was famously married to Loni Anderson in 1988 -- but they split in 1993 in one of the nastiest breakups in Hollywood history.

He accused her of sleeping around. She accused him of physical brutality. And there were drug allegations and lots of other things. The 5-year marriage officially ended in 1993, when Burt agreed to pay Loni $234,794.13.

Reynolds refused to pay off the full bill for years -- but finally caved in 2015 ... 22 years after the divorce.

Reynolds was a star college football player -- who played at Florida State. His roommate was Lee Corso.

One of the biggest moments of Burt's career was when he posed naked for Cosmo magazine in 1972 on a bearskin rug. The photo became a national sensation. However, Burt expressed regrets about it later, saying, "It was really stupid. I don't know what I was thinking. I really wish I hadn't done that."

Burt was the #1 box office attraction for 5 solid years back in the '70s -- starring alongside iconic actresses like Jill Clayburgh, Dolly Parton, Goldie Hawn and Julie Andrews.

Did you know ... ESPN's Lee Corso was Burt Reynolds' college roommate back in the day?

It's true -- the two lived together at Florida State when Burt was a member of the Seminoles football team. And, according to Lee, Burt would often help him out with the ladies!

Lee used to tell the story when talking to college athletes back in the day -- and recounted it at a football event back in 2007.

"We would send him out for bait," Corso said ... "He would go to the student union and bring two girls back. One was gorgeous and the other one was ugly."

"He always took the beautiful girl ... and gave me the ugly one."

"But, you know what I found out early? Burt Reynolds' ugly girlfriends were better than anything I could get on my own."

Former San Francisco 49er Jason Hairston -- who, after pro football, founded an ultra successful hunting gear company popular with celebs -- is dead at the age of 47.

KUIU -- Hairston's company -- confirmed his passing, saying they were "shocked and saddened" by his death. Details surrounding his passing are unclear.

Hairston grew up in Orange County, CA and was a stud linebacker at UC Davis -- a division II school at the time -- but went undrafted out of college.

J.H. signed with the 49ers as a free agent -- and played 1 season under defensive coordinator Pete Carroll -- before retiring in '96 after a short stint with the Broncos.

For all the accolades he got playing football (he won a bunch at UC Davis) ... Hairston is known for his success as a businessman -- after launching his hunting gear company, KUIU, a few years back.

Big time athletes like Carson Palmer, San Francisco Giants pitcher Hunter Strickland, and Brent Burns from the San Jose Sharks were all reportedly fans of KUIU.

Hairston was also friends with Donald Trump Jr. -- an avid hunter -- and even visited the Trumps at the White House in 2017.

Hairston was 47.

The Cranberries singer Dolores O'Riordan died from drowning in a bathtub after drinking too much booze.

According to a coroner's report, Dolores' official cause of death was drowning due to alcohol intoxication. The report says a responding police officer told officials Dolores was found submerged in her bathtub in her London hotel on Jan. 15.

Also found nearby ... 5 miniature alcohol bottles and an extra bottle of champagne. Toxicology results show she had a blood alcohol level that was four times the legal limit for driving.

Coroner Shirley Radcliffe noted ... "There's no evidence that this was anything other than an accident." The details of her death eerily came out Thursday, on what would've been her 47th birthday.

As we reported ... Dolores died earlier this year, a day before she was set to hit the studio and record with a new band. Friends of hers told us they felt she'd been "deeply depressed" at the time, and implied suicide was possibly how she died. Oddly, enough, she sounded cheery on a voicemail to a friend just hours before perishing.

Kyle Pavone -- the late singer of metal band We Came as Romans -- was found lying on the floor unconscious in his bathroom just feet away from a used syringe before dying of an accidental overdose ... TMZ has learned.

Kyle's girlfriend told cops he'd gone into the bathroom at his home for a long time, and when she went to check on him, she found him unconscious. The police report, which we obtained, says the syringe was found on the counter of the bathroom sink.

Police say the GF also revealed Kyle had struggled in the past with heroin use. As we first reported, Kyle's family says he died from an accidental drug overdose.

His girlfriend is the one who dialed 911, and on the call she describes finding him unresponsive. She then got instructions on performing CPR.

According to the police report, EMTs gave Kyle a shot of Narcan after finding a pulse. He was rushed to the hospital where he went into cardiac arrest, and was eventually pronounced dead.

10:45 AM PT: Law enforcement sources tell TMZ, Lawford was at a yoga studio Tuesday night when he had a medical emergency and later died. Our sources say the death appears to be from "natural causes." The coroner is performing an autopsy to determine the exact cause of death.

Actor Christopher Lawford, the son of Peter Lawford and Patricia Kennedy, has died ... TMZ has confirmed.

Christopher -- a longtime Hollywood actor -- appeared on "General Hospital," "Terminator 3," "All My Children," "Fraiser" and various other TV series. He was also a correspondent on "EXTRA."

Lawford's uncle was John F. Kennedy and his family often hung out with the First Family during JFK's presidency.

Lawford, who got a J.D. at Boston College School of Law, was very politically active all his life. He was active with the Democratic National Committee and worked for his Uncle, Senator Ted Kennedy. He also worked with the Special Olympics, the org his Aunt Eunice Shriver created.

He was also a New York Times best selling author with his book, 'Symptoms of Withdrawal.'

Lawford had battled addiction issues back in the '70s and '80s. He was reportedly arrested in 1980 for allegedly impersonating a doctor to score prescriptions.

TMZ got Lawford out in 2013, when he talked candidly about addiction.

Lawford was 63.

John McCain and Hillary Clinton didn't need a recount when he challenged her to a vodka shots contest ... just ask former Virginia governor Terry McAuliffe.

We got McAuliffe at Fort Ward in Alexandria, VA and asked him how Bill Clinton got past John voting in 1999 to impeach him and 18 years later pay tribute to McCain at his memorial service over the weekend in the nation's capital.

A little backstory ... John and Hillary were in Estonia on a congressional tour in 2004 when the Arizona senator challenged the New York senator. McAuliffe tells us Hillary did NOT back down ... but ya gotta watch the vid to find out the final score.

In short, McAuliffe says even though McCain and the Clintons hailed from different political parties, there was never any disdain towards each other, and that much was evident with the Clintons -- along with scores of McCain's political rivals -- attending the late senator's memorial service.

As we reported ... former Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush delivered eulogies for McCain at the service inside the Washington National Cathedral. The eulogies came at McCain's request.

There was no shortage of shots at Trump, who was never mentioned by name.

4:00 PM PT -- Hard to tell if it's related, but the Prez just tweeted in all caps ... "MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!"

Trump's tweet could be regarding his current struggle with Canada to reach a new NAFTA deal ... or he may have just felt the need to repeat his oft-used slogan. Just as likely, though ... it's a retort to Meghan's eulogy for her father.

Wolf Blitzer doesn't think anything at John McCain's funeral was out of line or too political ... and he's got no apparent issues with Meghan McCain's shot at the Prez either.

We got the CNN anchor at the Reagan National Airport in D.C. Saturday shortly after the late Senator's service wrapped up ... he said it was a beautiful funeral, fitting for "a great American and a great patriot."

Wolf also supported Meghan's comments about her father and the country, clearly slamming Donald Trump's "Make America Great Again" motto.

Meghan said, "The America of John McCain has no need to be made great again because America was always great."

Blitzer's on board with that sentiment, telling us though America's made mistakes, it's the greatest country in the world in his opinion ... and "it's always been great."

As we reported ... former Presidents and McCain rivals George W. Bush and Barack Obama also delivered eulogies for the esteemed politician's National Memorial Service Saturday.

A couple of John McCain's biggest rivals -- the ones who respected him, anyway -- honored the late Senator at his National Memorial Service ... and so did his daughter, Meghan.

Former Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush delivered eulogies for McCain at the service inside the Washington National Cathedral ... which was packed with dignitaries paying their final respects.

President Obama clearly was addressing Donald Trump without mentioning his name, talking about politics today being small, mean, petty and grounded in insult. He talked about "phony controversy" and "manufacturing outrage." And, as Ivanka Trump looked on, he talked about certain people appearing "brave and tough" when they are actually steeped in fear.

Check out Meghan McCain's eulogy to her dad ... she moves the audience to applause as she explains how the current President can't hold a candle to her dad. She doesn't use Trump's name, but the message is clear.

McCain handpicked 43 and 44 earlier this year as speakers at his funeral, and Obama was reportedly surprised by the invitation. Remember, Obama defeated McCain in their run for the White House in 2008 -- and W bested him in the 2000 Republican primaries.

Although they butted heads with McCain on the campaign trail, there was always respect between the men. McCain famously shut down a voter who called Obama "an Arab" during their 2008 campaign battle.

15 people carried McCain's coffin at the memorial service ... including former VP Joe Biden, actor Warren Beatty, former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and former Secretary of Defense William Cohen.

Obviously President Trump was absent from the service -- as was his respect for an American war hero. McCain reportedly made Trump persona non grata when he was making his funeral plans. McCain's former running mate in 2008, Sarah Palin, was reportedly also excluded.

Veep Mike Pence and WH Chief of Staff Gen. John Kelly also attended.

Pence was one of the speakers at McCain's memorial service Friday, where Congress paid tribute as he lied in state at the U.S. Capitol.

McCain's private burial will be held Sunday at the Naval Academy in Annapolis.

Originally Published -- 9/01/2018 6:33 AM PDT

Susan Brown -- a soap opera veteran best known for her longstanding role as Dr. Gail Baldwin on "General Hospital" -- has died ... according to the executive producer of the show, Frank Valentini.

Brown reportedly died Friday after a battle with Alzheimer's.

Valentini tweeted ... "It's a very sad day in Port Charles as the wonderful Susan Brown ("Gail Baldwin") passed away today. My sincerest condolences to her family and to all who knew this amazing woman."

Brown joined the cast of 'GH' in 1977 and was a recurring character until she left in 1985. She made guest appearances on the show until an official return in 1992 ... and remained in the cast until 2004.

She also played the same character on the soap spin-off "Port Charles."

Susan earned a Daytime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress in 1979 for her performance on the daytime soap.

She was 86.

Dave Chappelle says John McCain is a symbol of national unity when our country needs it most, so he paid the late Senator his respects ... and gives props to his robot dance.

We got the famed comedian on Capitol Hill Friday after he visited McCain's casket at the U.S. Capitol. Chappelle tells us he was inspired to do so after he saw a video Jamie Foxx shared on his IG this week dancing with the Navy veteran onstage at an Apollo Theater charity event.

Foxx captioned the vid, "This is another reason why senator John McCain is so loved... he made u feel like politics and being a cool human being lived separately... he shined on em that night ... and that robot move was mean! R.I.P. you are a HERO!"

Seems like Chappelle totally agrees.