Zalman King, the filmmaker behind a string of popular and steamy erotic thrillers in the ’80s and ’90s, died on Friday at age 70, according to the Associated Press, citing his son-in-law. The cause was cancer.

Micron Technology this afternoon announced that CEO Steve Appleton died this morning in a small plane accident in Boise. He was 51.

"Soul Train" creator Don Cornelius was found dead at his Sherman Oaks on home Wednesday morning. Law enforcement sources said police arrived at Cornelius' home around 4 a.m. He apparently died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the case was ongoing.

Robert Hegyes, the Jersey-born actor who played Jewish Puerto Rican wheeler-dealer Juan Luis Pedro Phillipo de Huevos Epstein on the 1970s classic "Welcome Back Kotter," died from an apparent heart attack after suffering chest pains at his Metuchen home this morning. He was 60.

Riot guitarist Mark Reale has died in Texas at the age of 56.

Actor James Farentino, who appeared in dozens of movies and television shows, died Tuesday in a Los Angeles hospital, according to a family spokesman. He was 73.

Farentino died of heart failure at Cedars-Sinai Hospital after a long illness, said the spokesman, Bob Palmer.

Former Penn State head coach Joe Paterno, his body ravaged by chemotherapy and radiation treatments for lung cancer, died early Sunday morning at Mount Nittany Medical Center in State College.

(CNN) -- Etta James, whose assertive, earthy voice lit up such hits as "The Wallflower," "Something's Got a Hold on Me" and the wedding favorite "At Last," has died, according to her longtime friend and manager, Lupe De Leon. She was 73.

In an SMNnews exclusive, information we’ve sourced indicates that Joey ”Fingers” Lombard, bassist for Pennsylvania-based death metal act Incantation, has committed suicide. He passed on January 3. Sources have made no indication how or why Lombard took his own life, but do confirm a funeral is to take place on Sunday.

Incantation has issued no official statement yet regarding this sad news.

The news came from his nephew, Toronto Maple Leafs coach Ron Wilson, who announced it on Twitter.