Honorary starter Arnold Palmer attends the ceremonial tee off to start the first round of the 2016 Masters Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club on April 7, 2016 in Augusta, Georgia. (Photo by Andrew Redington/Getty Images)
Arnold Palmer, by acclamation the most important golfer in the game’s history, died Sunday at University of Pittsburgh Medical Center of complications from heart problems at the age of 87. He had been admitted to the hospital on Thursday and was scheduled to undergo a surgical procedure for his heart on Monday morning.
The winner of seven major championships and 62 PGA Tour titles, Palmer passed away at approximately 5 p.m. EDT, according to Alastair Johnston, chairman of Arnold Palmer Enterprises. His daughters, Peggy and Amy, were by his side.
Details for a memorial service are pending, said Johnston, who stressed that “all manner of sensitivity” would be given to its scheduling due to the 41st Ryder Cup matches being held this week in the Minneapolis area.
As per stipulations in his will, Palmer is to join his parents and his first wife Winnie in having his ashes spread at a specific location at Latrobe Country Club in Latrobe, Pa., where Arnold grew up and learned the game from his father Deacon. That ceremony will be private and its date undisclosed. Palmer is survived by his second wife, Kit; his daughters, Amy (Roy) Saunders and Peggy (Stewart) Bryan; six grandchildren; numerous great-grandchildren; his brother, Jerry, and sisters, Sandra Sarni and Lois “Cheech” Tilly.
Just 25 months ago Palmer underwent surgery to have a pacemaker implanted. That procedure marked the first of a series of health issues for arguably the game’s most popular figure.
In December 2014, he dislocated and fractured his shoulder when he tripped over his late Labrador retriever, Mulligan, in his condominium at Bay Hill Club & Lodge in Orlando, where he annually hosted the PGA Tour event that bears his name, the Arnold Palmer Invitational. Complications from tooth and foot ailments this past winter further slowed him and contributed to his decision to forgo hitting the ceremonial opening tee shot in this year’s Masters. He did make an appearance on the first tee as contemporaries Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player hit shots, but he appeared unsteady and needed help from his longtime friends leaving the tee box.
Last month Palmer underwent an operation to stop internal bleeding in his colon.
“I was not shocked, because his health wasn’t good, but I must say I did not expect it,” said his close friend and business associate, Charlie Mechem, who in the winter months lived next door to Palmer at The Tradition C.C. in La Quinta, Calif. “We spoke on the phone almost every day last week, and most days he was in good spirits. Arnold was the greatest page-turner I’ve ever known, and I mean that in the most positive way. It was part of his greatness as a golfer, and it was part of his greatness as a person. For him, tomorrow was always going to be a better day.”
Jack Nicklaus, who succeeded Palmer as the game’s greatest player in the 1960s, responded to the news with deep emotion.
“My friend—many people’s friend—just wore out,” Nicklaus said. “I know he was in Pittsburgh trying to find out how to make himself better. That’s what Arnold has always tried to do. He has always been a fighter, and he never gave up on anything. He didn’t give up even now. Maybe his body did, but I know Arnold’s will and spirit did not. I wish I had another chance to talk to him, but I am so glad we talked a couple weeks ago on his birthday [Sept. 10], when he sounded great. So Barbara and I are just in shock and incredibly saddened. He was one of my best friends, closest friends, and he was for a long, long time. I will miss him greatly.”
Palmer collaborated with this writer last year to write a final memoir of his life and career. St. Martin’s Press is releasing the book, titled A Life Well Played, My Stories within the next few weeks.
Two decades after California became the first state to legalize medical marijuana, voters now overwhelmingly support an initiative to legitimize the drug for recreational use, according to a poll released late Thursday.
Proposition 64, the well-funded initiative to allow those 21 and older to carry, use and share up to an ounce of marijuana, is backed by a 2-to-1 ratio of likely voters.
The Field Poll/Institute for Governmental Studies survey found that 60 percent intend to vote for pot legalization on the Nov. 8 ballot, the largest proportion to express their support since the poll began tracking views about marijuana laws nearly a half century ago. Just 31 percent are opposed and 9 percent are undecided.
“The broad-base nature of support for marijuana legalization is really the top finding here,” poll director Mark DiCamillo said. “And it does lead to the conclusion that this is likely to pass, especially compared to previous marijuana initiatives.”
The poll shows support for the initiative, which is being closely monitored because of the state’s size, influence and reputation as a leader on social issues, includes majorities across every age, region and ethnicity. Only Republicans, conservatives and those with high school degrees or lower registered less than majority support.
Alexis Arquette, the transgender character actress and sibling of actors David, Rosanna, Richmond and Patricia Arquette, died early Sunday morning in Los Angeles. She was 47 and surrounded by family who serenaded her with David Bowie's "Starman," her siblings said in a statement Sunday. No cause of death was given.
"Alexis was a brilliant artist and painter, a singer, an entertainer and an actor," her brothers and sisters said. "We learned what real bravery is through watching her journey of living as a trans woman. We came to discover the one truth — that love is everything."
Alexis was born Robert Arquette in Los Angeles in 1969, and she was a performer from a young age, appearing in a music video for The Tubes' "She's a Beauty" at age 12 and the occasional other project.
A versatile performer, Arquette got her big break in the 1989 adaptation of "Last Exit to Brooklyn" where she played the trans sex worker Georgette. She was just visiting New York with her sister Patricia Arquette who was up for a role in the film, but pregnant at the time.
"They asked me if I wanted to read for a role because they knew that I'd done a drag thing at one of my friend's clubs," Arquette said in a 1999 Index Magazine interview. "I ended up getting the job, basically through my sister. If it wasn't for her, I wouldn't have been in New York. But nobody gives you a job, you've got to earn it on your own. I would never want anyone to think that there's some kind of cachet to my name."
She also had bit roles in films like "Pulp Fiction," "Bride of Chucky" and as a Boy George impersonator first in the Adam Sandler comedy "The Wedding Singer" and again in "Blended."
Boy George even tweeted his condolences to "his sister Alexis ... another bright light gone out far too soon."
Her long list of credits are comprised of mostly low-budget and independent fare. Arquette also performed in nightclubs and cabarets sometimes under the name Eva Destruction.
"I enjoy being a character actor, I enjoy being different in everything. I want a private life, I want to be able to go to 7-11 and not get into a fight with a guy because he saw me in a movie, or not have people hitting on me simply because they saw me in a movie," Arquette said in the 1999 interview. "You want to be wanted for who you are, not what you've done or who you've become."
Arquette also appeared on season 6 of the VH1 reality series "The Surreal Life," and she was credited for bringing increased awareness and visibility to the transgender community.
She chronicled her transition and the process of her sex reassignment surgery in the 2007 documentary "Alexis Arquette: She's My Brother."
In their statement, the Arquettes said that their sister's career "was cut short, not by her passing, but by her decision to live her truth and her life as a transgender woman."
"Despite the fact that there are few parts for trans actors, she refused to play roles that were demeaning or stereotypical," they said. "She was a vanguard in the fight for understanding and acceptance for all trans people."
The Arquette family has requested privacy at this time, and that donations be made to organizations that support the LGBTQ community in honor of Alexis Arquette in lieu of flowers or gifts.
"We are comforted by the fact that Alexis came into our family and was our brother and then our sister, and that she gave us so much love. We will love you always, Alexis," said the Arquette siblings. "We know we were the lucky ones."
Brad Pitt spoke with Los Angeles authorities recently about an incident involving one of his children with Angelina Jolie, who filed for divorce this week.
A source with knowledge of the situation said Thursday: "[Brad] is taking this very seriously and he's cooperated. He has always worked hard to be a good father and wants to do whatever is best for his family."
"LAPD is not handling any report of allegations of child abuse for Mr. Brad Pitt," LAPD Officer Jenny Houser told CNN.
A spokesman for LA County Children and Family Services, Armand Montiel, added that "DCFS is not allowed to confirm or deny any subject of allegations."
People magazine reported that the incident took place on September 14 on the couple's private plane. Jolie lists September 15 as the date of their separation.
After a bizarre, hours-long standoff, L.A. police officers took Chris Brown into custody Tuesday evening and said the singer would be arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon.
