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Lionel Rose dies aged 62

Legendary Australian boxer Lionel Rose has died aged 62.

Rose had been ill for several months and suffered a stroke in 2007 that left him partially paralysed with speech difficulties.

He beat Japan's Fighting Harada in 1968 to win the world bantamweight title and became the first Indigenous boxer to win a world title.

On his return to Australia, Rose was greeted by more than 100,000 people outside Melbourne's Town Hall.

In his career he had 53 fights for 42 wins, and was named Australian of the Year in 1968 for his world title.

In the 1970's Rose became a recording artist and had two hits with I Thank You and Please Remember Me.

Geelong legend Bob Davis has died at the age of 82.

Davis was one of the most beloved figures in the game after a long and colourful association as player, coach and commentator.

He had been unwell for some time but took a turn for the worse yesterday and was rushed to hospital, where he died last night. Geelong Football Club chief executive officer Brian Cook said Davis's "heart just gave way".

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla (Reuters) - Professional wrestling great "Macho Man" Randy Savage died after a car crash on Friday near his home in Seminole, Florida, the Florida Highway Patrol said.

The colorful champion -- known for his husky voice, gaudy costumes and "oooh, yeah!" catch phrase -- appeared to have lost control of his 2009 Jeep Wrangler on Friday morning, crash investigators said.

Savage, 58, drove over a concrete barrier into oncoming traffic lanes before crashing head-on into a tree. He died of his injuries at a nearby hospital, a crash report said.

Though some media outlets quoted his brother as saying the former wrestler suffered a heart attack while driving, the Florida Highway Patrol said that could not be confirmed until an autopsy is performed.

The crash was not alcohol-related, authorities said.

The wrestler, whose legal name was Randy Mario Poffo, and his wife Barbara, who was a passenger in the car, were both wearing seat belts. His wife suffered minor injuries.

Once a minor league baseball player, the wrestler rose to fame as "Macho Man" in the 1980s.

He was "an iconic figure," said hall of fame professional wrestler Dusty "The American Dream" Rhodes on Friday.

Under contract with the WWE from 1985 to 1993, he sparred against Hulk Hogan and Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat. He clinched two WWE Championships, two World Heavyweight Championships and held a 14-month reign as Intercontinental Champion.

His entrance music was "Pomp and Circumstance" and his signature accessories were sunglasses, bandannas and cowboy hats.

"WWE is saddened to learn of the passing of one of the greatest Superstars of his time," read a statement posted on the WWE site on Friday. "Our sincerest condolences go out to his family and friends."

Actor Bill Hunter dies

Tributes are flowing for Bill Hunter, one of Australia's most beloved actors, who has died at the age of 71 after a battle with cancer.

His manager Mark Morrissey said the actor was surrounded by family and friends at a hospice in the Melbourne suburb of Kew when he died just after 8pm on Saturday night.

Hunter was admitted to the hospice earlier this week after refusing to go into hospital. The acting legend had inoperable cancer.

In a storied career which spanned 50 years, Hunter worked with most of Australia's notable directors and actors.

Mr Morrissey described Hunter as a fine actor, a true storyteller and a great friend, saying he will be sorely missed.

"During the course of his long and esteemed career, Bill touched the lives of many people," Mr Morrissey said.

He said Hunter recently summed up his approach to his craft in an interview for the feature film The Cup, in which he played Australian racing legend Bart Cummings.

Hunter said: "As long as the director told me where to stand and what to say, I was happy.

"Anyone who says there's any more to it than that, is full of bullshit. It's a job. It is a craft, but there's no art involved.

"What you need is common sense and a reasonably rough head.

"You put on the make-up and the wardrobe and that is half the performance.

"That upsets the purists but never mind, they don't work as much as I do."

Mr Morrissey said Hunter was "much loved, a gentleman, an inspiration to fellow actors, a journeyman, and a rogue".

Hunter's list of work reads like a history of Australian film and television, with appearances in more than 100 big and small screen productions.

He worked alongside Mel Gibson in Peter Weir's Gallipoli (1981), played the meddling ballroom federation president Barry Fife in Baz Luhrmann's Strictly Ballroom (1992) and starred as then-newcomer Toni Collette's father in Muriel's Wedding (1994).

At the same time as filming Muriel's Wedding, he worked on PJ Hogan's The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen Of The Desert (1994), starring alongside Terence Stamp, Guy Pearce and Hugo Weaving.

More recently, Hunter worked on Red Dog, TV miniseries The Pacific, Finding Nemo, Crackerjack and Luhrmann's Australia.

In 1978 he won an AFI award for Best Actor in a Leading Role for his part as Len Maguire in the movie Newsfront, which won eight AFIs that year, including Best Film.

Hunter, born in Ballarat, Victoria, started his career in television in the 1960s and worked on many Australian shows including Homicide, Prisoner, Matlock Police, SeaChange and Police Rescue.

Vale Rex Mossop – The Moose who roared

Rugby league lost one of its toughest and most colourful figures after legendary player and commentator Rex Mossop died aged 83 on Friday after a long fight with Alzheimer's disease.

Mossop, a dual-international, who switched to league after playing eight rugby union Tests for the Wallabies, was a fierce competitor whose tough-as-nails attitude earned Manly's forward packs of the 1950s and '60s a feared reputation.

Mossop's enormous frame made him a target on the field, but his remarkable talent saw him transfer his skills from rugby union into the 13-man game with ease.

He went on to play 129 games for his beloved Sea Eagles, with whom he was a life member, including grand finals in 1957 and 1959.

After his playing career, which also included 12 Tests for the Kangaroos, Mossop was a key figure as rugby league evolved into the televised sport it is today in his role as a controversial commentator for more than three decades.

Manly confirmed on Saturday they would wear black armbands and hold a minute's silence in memory of Mossop before Monday night's NRL clash with traditional rivals Parramatta.

Former Manly hooker Max Krilich's earliest memories of Mossop were on the sidelines of Brookvale Oval as a ballboy, while watching the giant second-rower thumping opponents, and invariably being sent from the field.

"I was about eight or nine. I remember running up and down the sideline watching this very, very tough man playing a very physical game of football who wanted to fight everybody," Krilich told AAP.

"That was Rex Mossop, and obviously he got sent off a fair bit over the years with that style. He was an uncompromising person who really played it tough."

Later, Krilich would learn first hand just what it was like to play against Mossop - and exactly why the man known as "Moose" had such a devastating reputation.

"We used to play touch football down at Brookvale Oval when I was 15 or 16, and he coathangered me one day - in touch footy," Krilich added.

"He said 'son, if you're going to play grade football later on, you've got to learn to cop that'. I went home crying!"

Tributes flowed on Saturday for Mossop's contribution as a player and as a commentator, with the modern-day voice of rugby league, Ray Warren, describing him as the Frank Sinatra of commentary.

"He did it his way. He was the Frank Sinatra really. 'It was my way or the highway'," Warren said on Triple M's Dead Set Legends.

"He was a magical piece of equipment to have on television because he was controversial."

NRL chief executive David Gallop also acknowledged the influence Mossop had on making rugby league such a television success.

"He wasn't the first man to call rugby league on television, but he was the man who changed it forever," Gallop said.

"He was a giant character in the game.

"He was incredibly tough and talented on the field and not a lot different in the commentary box.

"Rex's sense of showmanship is something that will always be remembered and his contribution to bringing rugby league to television audiences can never be understated.

"Rugby league remains the ultimate television sport and the character of broadcasters like Rex, as they opened the game to new audiences, was a big part of that success."

Peter Falk dead at 83

Peter Falk, an Emmy winning actor who played the absent-minded but shrewd police detective Columbo, has died, a family attorney says.

A statement issued by the attorney says the 83-year-old Academy Award nominee died peacefully at his Beverly Hills home in the evening of June 23.

Like many actors of his generation, Falk began his career on the stage, honing his craft in school, community theatre and off Broadway.

By the late 1950s he began to star in Broadway productions, and soon made his move to Hollywood.

Falk's break-out film role came with 1960's Murder, Inc. in the supporting part of a killer among a gang of thugs, but it was his performance on the opposite side of the law - as police lieutenant Columbo - that earned Falk superstardom.

As a child, Falk's right eye had been surgically removed due to a malignant tumour, and it was replaced with a glass eye.

That handicap became, perhaps, the actor's major asset and physical trademark as the star of Columbo because it only enhanced the detective's image as a dishevelled and oddball crime sleuth.

But the homicide-chasing cop's probing questions always caused the murderer to reveal his true self and Columbo caught the villain.

The show became a smash hit after its debut in 1971. It continued playing on TV for many years and even spawned several TV movies later in the actor's life.

Falk is survived by his wife, Shera, of 34 years and two daughters from a previous marriage.