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One of the world's wealthiest animals, Trouble Helmsley, has died at her Florida estate at the age of 12.

Leona Helmsley's pampered pooch "Trouble," who inherited $12 million from the real estate mogul, has died at the age of 12. That's 84 in dog years. Like many Americans, the pampered Maltese retired to Florida in 2007, shortly after Helmsley died. Carl Lekic, the general manager of the Helmsley Sandcastle hotel in Sarasota, cared for her. "Trouble was cremated, and her remains are being privately retained," spokeswoman Eileen Sullivan said. "The funds held in trust for her care have reverted to The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust for charitable purposes."

Trouble had reportedly received more than 20 kidnapping and death threats over the years.

The Associated Press reports:

Matt Dillon, the mythical marshal of Dodge City, stood tall — all 6 feet, 6 inches of him — on "Gunsmoke" from 1955 to 1975. He outlasted dozens of other Western heroes while making history on TV's longest-running dramatic series, a record that held until NBC's "Law & Order" tied the CBS Western's record in 2010. Through all those gunslinging years, James Arness, who died Friday, kept Marshal Dillon righteous, peace-seeking and, most of all, believable.

I was never a fan of Gunsmoke, but I do fondly recall Arness for playing the monster in The Thing From Another World.

Assisted suicide advocate Dr. Jack Kevorkian has died of a pulmonary thrombosis at the age of 84. Kevorkian claims to have helped over 100 terminally ill patients end their lives. He spent eight years in prison for doing so.

No word yet on the cause of death.

The New York Times reports:

Jeff Conaway, the personable actor who won television fame on the sitcom “Taxi” and movie success in the musical “Grease” three decades ago and who later publicly struggled with drug and alcohol abuse, died on Friday in Los Angeles. He was 60. He died of complications of pneumonia at Encino Tarzana Medical Center after being taken off life support on Thursday, a talent representative, Phil Brock, said.

Conaway had been in a coma since May 11th.

Stonewall veteran and noted playwright Doric Wilson died this weekend at the age of 72. The cause of death has not been disclosed. Playbill notes his passing:

Doric Wilson was present on June 28, 1969, when riots broke out at the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in Greenwich Village. The rebellion of the bar's gay denizens against harassing police is generally recognized as having signaled the beginning of the gay rights movement. Mr. Wilson had already been an active participant in the anti-war and civil rights fights of the 1960s. Following the riot, he became active in Gay Activist Alliance and, as a "star" bartender, helped open post-Stonewall gay bars like The Spike, TY's and Brothers & Sisters Cabaret. In 1974, Doric Wilson, along with Billy Blackwell, Peter del Valle and John McSpadden, formed TOSOS (The Other Side of Silence), the first professional theatre company to deal openly and honestly with the gay experience. "I was involved with Circle Rep at the time," he later recalled, "when it suddenly occurred to me that I could use the Cino experience to combine my talents with my politics. I could focus my life and abilities to promote a theatre dedicated 'to an honest and open exploration of the GLBT life experience and cultural sensibility.'”

Here's an interview with Wilson from earlier this year.

NOTE: Doric Wilson was an occasional news tipper to JMG. We'll miss his emails.

Openly gay Broadway legend Arthur Laurents has died at the age of 93. Theater Mania reports:

Laurents was best known for his collaborations with Stephen Sondheim, including writing the books for West Side Story and Gypsy (earning Tony nominations for both), Anyone Can Whistle, and Do I Hear a Waltz. Early in his career, Laurents wrote such plays as Home of the Brave and The Time of the Cuckoo. In later years, he wrote and directed the musicals The Madwoman of Central Park West and Nick & Nora. Laurents directed the 1975, 1989, and 2008 revivals of Gypsy, each of which earned Tony Awards for its respective leading ladies, Angela Lansbury, Tyne Daly, and Patti LuPone. He also directed the 2009 Broadway revival of West Side Story.

Laurents was temporarily blacklisted during the McCarthy era after a review of one of his plays was published in the Communist Party USA newspaper.

NOTE: Laurents asked that his obituaries include this line: "He was predeceased by his partner, Tom Hatcher, with whom he had lived in happiness for more than 50 years."