MALCOLM McLaren was the outrageous icon who boasted that he invented punk rock - and unleashed the Sex Pistols on the world.

The legendary impresario, who died yesterday, achieved notoriety when the band's anti-establishment single God Save The Queen hit No1 during Her Majesty's 1977 silver jubilee.

Last night Pistols frontman John Lydon, dubbed Johnny Rotten, said: "For me Malc was always entertaining, and I hope you remember that.

"Above all else he was an entertainer. I'll miss him and so should you."

was heartsick to hear of the sudden death over the weekend of director David E. Durston, the man who brought us the deliriously deranged cult classic I Drink Your Blood. David was a funny, sweet man who I had the good fortune to meet and correspond with. I Drink Your Blood (1970) was always one of my favorite grindhouse classics. Filmed on a shoestring in Sharon Springs, NY, the plot centers on a group of Satanist hippies who descend on a small mountain town, brutalize a young woman, and feed LSD to an old man, causing his grandson to inject a dead rabid dog's blood into a bunch of meat pies. The hippies eat the pies and turn into foaming psychotic killers and infect a group of construction workers, turning the town into a bloodbath. The fiendish leader of the cult, Horace Bones, was played by Bhaskar  Roy Chowdhury, and I remember a wonderful day with David Durston and director Frank Henenlotter (Basket Case) visiting Bhaskar's Manhattan apartment. (Durston and Bhaskar are pictured in the photo below.)

Durston directed many films, including The Love Statue, Blue Sextet and Stigma, and had been writing scripts right up to his death at age 89. In a letter he wrote me a few months ago he complained about his health problems and quoted Bette Davis' sage comment: "Old age is not for sissies" but his mood was, as always, upbeat, as he wroter about about a recent screening of his film at the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh and an updated remake of I Drink Your Blood called Hydrophobia. I shall miss him dearly. 

Our new South African limey friend will not take happily to this.

PROVO, Utah — Gary Coleman, the child star of the smash 1970s TV sitcom "Diff'rent Strokes" whose later career was marred by medical and legal problems, has died after suffering an intercranial hemorrhage. He was 42.

Utah Valley Regional Medical Center spokeswoman Janet Frank said life support was terminated and Coleman died at 12:05 p.m. MDT.

Coleman, with his sparkling eyes and perfect comic timing, became a star after "Diff'rent Strokes" debuted in 1978. He played the younger brother in a pair of African-American siblings adopted by a wealthy white man.

William Winckler has informed ANN that Peter Fernandez, the actor and voice director best known as the title character in the animated Speed Racer  series, passed away this morning due to lung cancer. He was 83.

Fernandez not only voiced Speed himself, but also his brother Racer X and several other characters in the English-dubbed adaptation of Tatsunoko's Mach Go Go Go anime series. He also directed the voice cast and even wrote the lyrics to the signature theme song. He later played Lupin III, Daisuke Jigen, and President Jimmy Carter in the JAL dubbing of the Lupin III: The Secret of Mamo film. His voice can be heard in such dubbed anime titles as Astro Boy, Gigantor, Marine Boy, Star Blazers: The Bolar Wars, and Superbook. He made a cameo appearance as an announcer in the 2008 live-action Speed Racer film.

Corinne Orr, the actress who played Speed Racer's romantic interest Trixie and younger brother Sprittle Racer, spoke with Fernandez as recently as last week. The two had worked together on 200 productions, and she noted that he was a big star on radio and Broadway and had starred in the 1949 film City Across the River "where Tony Curtis only had a bit part." Orr is the last surviving member of Speed Racer's main cast. Orr told ANN, "His great joy was doing all these conventions and receiving the acknowledgement and accolades from all his fans at the end of his life."

Winckler said that he was glad that, in the renewed interest that accompanied the Speed Racer film, Fernandez "finally got the attention and respect he deserved from the general public and mainstream press." He added, "Anime and Japanese live-action fantasy will never be the same without him. Peter's contribution to anime and Japanese live-action will live forever."

Fernandez's family is planning a private service, but there are plans for a public celebration of his life in September in Pomona, New York.

Kevin McCarthy, who tried to warn of invading "pod people" in the 1956 classic "Invasion of the Body Snatchers," has died. He was 96.

His daughter Lillah confirmed to the Los Angeles Times that McCarthy died Saturday of natural causes at a Massachusetts hospital.

McCarthy's 70-year acting career included notable turns on Broadway, including playing Biff Loman in the 1949 London production of "Death of a Salesman."

McCarthy appeared in more than 200 TV and film roles, including the 1951 film version of “Death of a Salesman,” for which he was nominated for a supporting actor Oscar. He also won the Golden Globe that year for “new star of the year.”

But he's best remembered from “Invasion of the Body Snatchers,” in which McCarthy starred as Dr. Miles Bennell, a local doctor who starts seeing a rash of patients who accuse loved ones of being impostors. Bennell soon discovers that it’s not a mild case of mass hysteria – but rather that the townspeople are being replaced by perfect physical duplicates.

The film’s climax comes when Bennell and a love interest attempt to escape the pod people to warn the world.