Comedian Reggie McFadden, best known for his work on HBO’s Def Comedy Jam and the FOX sketch comedy show In Living Color, has died at the age of 57. His family was told by the U.S. State Department that he died in Tanzania, where he had lived for the past 18 years. Details of his death are unknown. (TMZ)
Sass Jordan, the Canadian rock singer and longtime Canadian Idol judge, died October 2nd at age 65, her family confirmed. Jordan rose to prominence with albums including Tell Somebody and Racine and later became familiar to television audiences as a judge on Canadian Idol. Her family said she died peacefully but did not immediately disclose a cause of death. (Variety)
Marjoe Gortner, the former child evangelist who became an actor and the subject of the Academy Award-winning documentary Marjoe, has died at age 82. Gortner exposed the techniques used by revival preachers in the 1972 documentary before pursuing an acting career that included roles in Earthquake, Starcrash and television’s Falcon Crest. (Variety)
John Steinbeck’s East of Eden has surged back to the top of book sales charts following the release of Netflix’s new limited-series adaptation. The classic 1952 novel reached number-one on Amazon’s bestseller rankings as viewers discovered or revisited the source material. Netflix’s seven-episode adaptation stars Florence Pugh. (Variety)