celebrity morgue report

some celebrity death news that i've neglected to post over the last couple of days:

• Peter Benchley, the guy who gave most of America a complex about being eaten by a shark while swimming, died at age 65.
• Phil Brown, better known to the rest of the world as Luke Skywalker's uncle Owen Lars, died at age 89 last week.
• Coroners have ruled that actor Chris Penn's death was an accident, a combination of an enlarged heart and a mix of perscription medication.
• Rapper Jay Dee, who was a member of a Tribe Called Quest's production team, and one of the people who helped bring Detroit hip hop to national prominence, died at age 32. According to his label, he was suffering from an incurable blood disease and lupus. He just released a new record, Donuts, this past week, which was partially recorded in his hospital room with a mobile studio.

more from the celebrity morgue when we get wind of it.