Grete Waitz, a Norwegian runner who won nine New York City Marathons and the silver medal at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, has died after a six-year battle with cancer. She was 57.

Helle Aanesen, the manager of the Active Against Cancer Foundation in Norway, said Waitz died early Tuesday at the Ulleval University Hospital in Oslo.

A former Oslo schoolteacher, Waitz won her first New York City Marathon in 1978, setting a world best in 2 hours, 32 minutes, 30 seconds in her first attempt at running the distance. She went on to win eight more times – more than any other runner, male or female – with her last victory coming in 1988.

She won the London Marathon twice, in 1983 and ’86, and earned five titles at the world cross-country championships from 1978-81 and 1983.

Waitz also won the gold medal in the marathon at the 1983 world championships in Helsinki, Finland. A year later, she took second behind Joan Benoit in the first women’s Olympic marathon.

Waitz competed at the 1972 and 1976 Olympics in the 1,500 meters, but missed the 1980 Moscow Games because of the American-led boycott.

“Grete is in my eyes one of the greatest Norwegian athletes of all time,” Norwegian Athletics Federation president Svein Arne Hansen said. “Not only through her performances in the sport, but also as a role model for women in sports.”

In a Twitter posting, marathon world record-holder Paula Radcliffe remembered Waitz as “an amazing champion and more amazing person.”

Aanesen said a private funeral ceremony is planned for next week, according to Waitz’s wishes.

What would you do if you were 114 years old?   I don’t know about you, but I’d do whatever the hell I wanted and blame it on the meds.  Jump on the court during a Lakers Play-off game… “I’ll take it from here young fella!”

Walter Breuning’s on the other hand sat at home and remembered his grandfather’s tales of killing Southerners in the Civil War. Breuning was 3 and horrified: “I thought that was a hell of a thing to say.”  Man, I can’t ever remember if I brushed my teeth this morning.

But the stories stuck, becoming the first building blocks into what would develop into a deceptively simple philosophy that Breuning, the world’s oldest man at 114 before he died Thursday, credited to his longevity.

Here’s the world’s oldest man’s secret to a long life:

_ Embrace change, even when the change slaps you in the face. (Basically, never get divorced)

_ Eat two meals a day (Basically, don’t smoke weed)

_ Work as long as you can (Basically, don’t let da man clean you out)

_ Help others “The more you do for others, the better shape you’re in.” (Basically, Don’t be a lazy ass!)

Then there’s the hardest part. It’s a lesson Breuning said he learned from his grandfather: Accept death.

“We’re going to die. Some people are scared of dying. Never be afraid to die. Because you’re born to die,” he said.

Wise words from a wise man.

Hip-hop star Nate Dogg died Tuesday, according to reports.

Despite being around seemingly forever, Nate (real name Nathaniel Dwayne Hale) was just 41 and had battled serious health issues for several years.

Nate survived strokes in 2007 and 2008. His smooth vocal collaborations with Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Warren G., Dr. Dre and others led to many hits.

The Press Telegram in Nate’s hometown of Long Beach, Calif., broke the story.

Nate broke out singing backup on Dr. Dre’s classic album The Chronic followed by his performance alongside Warren G on the smash record “Regulate.”

You can listen to that collaboration right here. R.I.P. Nate Dogg …

According to The Arizona Republic, Meyerhoff’s bike collided with a pickup truck in Maricopa, Ariz.

The accident occurred at an intersection near the Maricopa-Casa Grande Highway around 1:30 p.m. local time.

AOL News reports the Arizona native was a star runner in high school, All-American in college, and qualified for the Olympic trials after her very first marathon. She qualified in her second Olympic trials in 2010 after running the New York City Marathon.

Meyerhoff won the P.F. Chang’s Rock’n'Roll Arizona Marathon in January with a time of 2:37:36. She was the first female to win the race, according to competitor.com.

“Last Comic Standing” comedian Mike DeStefano died of a heart attack yesterday, according to Punchline Magazine. Cringe Humor, DeStefano’s producer, confirmed the comedian’s death. According to his MySpace page, he was 44.

DeStefano had lately been working on his sold-out stand-up show “Drugs, Disease and Death: A Comedy,” and was set to start his new performance “A Cherry Tree in The Bronx” this week.

DeStefano struggled with the death of his wife and overcoming drug addiction, as well as being HIV positive, much of which factored into his dark, yet still undeniably funny, shows.

Gary Winick — an pioneering independent film lensman who found mainstream success with his romantic comedies 13 Going on 30 and Letters to Juliet – lost his battle with inoperable brain cancer over the weekend.

He was 49.

The filmmaker — who directed Hollywood starlets Jennifer Garner Amanda Seyfried of the course of his career — had been battling the disease for some time before quietly passing away on Sunday.

Director Matt Dentler first announced the news on Twitter shortly after the director’s passing: “Gary Winick died today. Too late to make the Oscars tribute, but way too early. He leaves behind a legacy of supporting indie film and NYC.”

“He was suffering from brain cancer for quite some time, and it ultimately metastasized throughout his body,” Winick longtime manager Rosalie Swedin later confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter. “What’s remarkable is that after his first surgery, he was able to direct Letters to Juliet. It was a battle that we thought he had won, and ultimately they just didn’t get it all,” she added.

“He was very special to me. He was a dear friend as well as a longtime client. Gary was an incredibly important figure in the indie movement. He will be missed.”

In 1999, Winick founded the company InDigEnt, which went on to produce nineteen independent films over the course of a decade. His other directing credits included Charlotte’s Web, which starred a young Dakota Fanning, and Bride Wars, which featured Anne Hathaway and Kate Hudson.

A private funeral service is still being planned. In lieu of flowers, Winick’s family requests that all donations be made to charity.

Glam Flags are flying at half-staff this morning as Cinema Aficionados process the news that raven-haired siren Jane Russell, an actress and former pinup girl, died of respiratory failure at her home in Santa Maria, California on Monday.

She was 89.

Born Ernestine Jane Geraldine Russell in Minnesota she’s best remembered for her screen credits in films like The Pale Face, Gentlemen Marry Brunettes, The Revolt of Mamie Stover, Young Widow, His Kind of Woman, The Las Vegas Story, The French Line, The Fuzzy Pink Night Gown, Fate Is the Hunter, Born Losers, and Darker Than Amber. She was discovered by the wealthy industrialist Howard Hughes who in 1940 cast her in the film The Outlaw. The promotional photos for the picture (Shown Above…) were so racy that censors delayed the film’s release until 1943. Her best known role, however, came 10 years later when she starred alongside another Hollywood legend, Marilyn Monroe in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. Russell also starred in films alongside Clark Cable, Frank Sinatra, and Bob Hope.

Russell saw a career resurgence in the 1970s when she landed the gig of spokesmodel for Playtex bras. At 60, her famous figure was used to promote bras for “full figured” women in Playtex’s “Cross Your Heart” promo campaign.

She continued to perform and carry out work for charities until her health began to decline a few weeks ago.

Her son, Buck Waterfield, tells The Los Angeles Times that his mom passed away surrounded by family.

The New York Daily News is reporting that Perry Moore, executive producer of the hit “Chronicles of Narnia” movie trilogy, was found dead in his apartment on Thursday after an apparent overdose. In addition to his great work adapting the C.S. Lewis books, Moore was an author himself. He wrote “Hero,” about a gay teen superhero who struggles in a homophobic society — a novel that must have made the book-banners blanch.

R.I.P. Perry.

Blake Griffin is in the midst of one of the more startling rookie seasons in NBA history. He was voted onto the All-Star team by the coaches in his conference. He’s the odds-on favorite to win the dunk contest. He’s leading an otherwise-woeful Clippers team to a respectable record. And his astonishing and nearly nightly dunking exploits regularly lead off these pages every morning.

This year’s All-Star weekend is taking shape in Los Angeles, with Griffin’s Clippers acting as the hometown team. And on the eve of his most prominent turn as a pro, Griffin is mourning.

Word of his personal troubles hit Wednesday night, hidden inside an otherwise-routine AP gamer of Wednesday night’s Clipper win over the Timberwolves:

When reporters entered the locker room after the game, Griffin was anything but jubilant. His head was in his hands after receiving a phone call and he was sobbing.

Griffin, who is scheduled to compete in the dunk contest on Saturday in Los Angeles, did not speak to reporters after the game, with a team spokesman calling it an unspecified personal issue.

Thursday rolls around, and we find out the unfortunate news.

From ESPN Los Angeles:

After Wednesday night’s Clippers win over the Timberwolves in Minneapolis, Griffin had his head in his hands in the locker room after receiving a phone call that a friend from home had died.

That friend appears to be Wilson Holloway, his high school teammate and Tulsa football player who died from complications of Hodgkin’s lymphoma on Wednesday.

Holloway, who was profiled by ESPN.com in 2008, had been battling cancer since 2008.

Incredibly sad. Clearly, our thoughts are with the Holloway family in their time of loss.

Starting in the early 1950s, Lesser built a reputation for mostly playing the heavy in dozens of movies and hundreds of TV appearances, while nurturing his love of the theater. But the bald, hook-nosed actor took his career to a higher plane once he established himself as Jerry Seinfeld’s annoying Uncle Leo with his trademark greeting “Hello!”

“He’s the kind of guy who is a total nuisance at times and the kind of guy you avoid,” Lesser said of Uncle Leo in a 1998 interview with The Times. “He’s a very expansive character, and that has an attraction to it.”

Born Dec. 3, 1922, in New York, Lesser received a bachelor’s degree in economics and government from the City College of New York in 1942. He served in the Army during World War II, then returned to New York to study acting.

He moved to Los Angeles in 1954 and began working in television and commercials. Movie roles followed, including small parts in “Kelly’s Heroes,” “Papillon” and “The Outlaw Josey Wales.”

Besides “Seinfeld,” he also had a recurring role on the CBS sitcom “Everybody Loves Raymond” as Raymond’s father’s friend Garvin.

He appeared frequently on local stages, including in “Cold Storage” at the Gnu Theatre in 1993, “Cantorial” at the Actors Alley in 1992 and “Awake and Sing!” at A Noise Within last year.